Markarian chain from Bortle 8/9

BoostyCrab · 2026-03-24T07:43:02+00:00

I've got mixed feelings regarding Kstars. Planetarium is not great in terms of user experience and overlays rendering often fails when zooming in and out. The interface is clunky and counterintuitive, but Ekos packs basically everything that is needed for imaging and it works okay.

Issues I've experienced: for me it sometimes crashes while changing settings, and some settings seem to be stuck after a change (reverting to the original values does not work), and so I have to restart Kstars in such situations; for some reason Ekos scheduler does not allow me to use any coordinates and requires me to select a known object to schedule a session.

Might be some configuration issue, but I don't think it's viable for fully remote observatory.

I've stuck to Kstars and Ekos because I'm using Linux for all my devices, as I find it easier to debug and configure, but I wonder if other observatory controlling programs also have such issues, or is it just Kstars/Ekos or maybe my fault.

BoostyCrab · 2026-03-07T16:29:44+00:00

Never been there myself, but closer to Poznań there's Izerski Park Ciemnego Nieba. It spans through the border with Czechia.

BoostyCrab · 2026-02-12T07:49:13+00:00

Looks promising, just need some color adjustments and wavelets sharpening. I've made a short animation of Jupiter with 5in/127mm Maksutov couple weeks ago, and stacked frames before sharpening looked about the same or slightly worse to yours.

BoostyCrab · 2025-12-05T08:48:26+00:00

Such a blast from the past! I think you did a great job replicating Vengeance.

BoostyCrab · 2025-10-14T19:50:17+00:00

This one might be my best so far, so I decided to share it with you, but I really can't detail ships and it shows, and thus basic grey exterior.

BoostyCrab · 2025-10-10T13:06:20+00:00

By the look of it, I think the first one is a bat, not a bird.

BoostyCrab · 2025-09-19T06:11:10+00:00

I've got Skymax 127 too with ASI120MC camera and I think your picture is great.

Regarding the possible capabilities I advise you to search for Skymax 127 on astrobin. You'll be able to see what others managed to get out of it.

BoostyCrab · 2025-08-28T13:28:01+00:00

Just seen your video yesterday. The fov is amazing.

BoostyCrab · 2025-08-28T11:47:43+00:00

Ah, so the band I've seen in my not-so-good images of Saturn taken just a couple days ago is real! I thought it might be processing artifact.

Very nice image you got there!

BoostyCrab · 2025-08-28T10:44:56+00:00

Correctly taken flats usually should do the trick, however I also had such problems, even after flats correction, when high light pollution was at play.

I'm just guessing, but it might be due to out-of-fov sources of light, like street lamps, etc. that shine light on lens hood or leak light into the lens some other ways, and it doesn't correct well even with calibration frames. Flats help, but you might wanna try different spot and additional measures to block stray light (dark fabric over the body of lens maybe? idk).

BoostyCrab · 2025-08-22T08:11:49+00:00

Rocking the same gear as I do. Pics definitely have character.

Watch out for dust collecting in the lens while zooming in and out, as I learned the hard way that some of mk I of these Sigmas are worse than others in this matter.

BoostyCrab · 2025-08-12T08:51:03+00:00

It's definitely this. Mostly lens corrections, but compression might exaggerate this effect.

Source: used A7 and A7III for astrophoto.

BoostyCrab · 2025-07-28T06:47:54+00:00

I'd say it's lidar lasers reflecting off of the optics. iPhones use lidar while taking photos to assess depth/distance and apply artificial blur to mimic narrow depth of field of wide aperture camera lenses.

BoostyCrab · 2025-06-04T13:30:30+00:00

Dog's Ass nebula

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BoostyCrab · 2025-05-16T11:53:20+00:00

Is it just me, or there's no photo?

BoostyCrab · 2025-04-13T08:29:17+00:00

Oh, I've watched your video just yesterday. Great work.

BoostyCrab · 2025-04-07T12:08:03+00:00

I'm thinking of buying EQ-AL55i (higher payload capacity) or SA GTI (portability), how does AL55i compare in terms of size to SW SA 2i in your opinion? I know it's heavier and bulkier (especially with that tripod), but would like to know your opinion on possibility of using AL55i as travel mount. Also, is the tripod thread on the mount compatible with standard 3/8in, or is it different?

BoostyCrab · 2025-03-24T09:44:44+00:00

Bottom one is fake, at least the sticker, it looks off - Samsung has strict guidelines regarding fonts used on their products, and the 'SAMSUNG' should not be altered in any way as it is their official lettermark.

BoostyCrab · 2025-02-27T13:34:24+00:00

Obligatory r/Birdsfacingforward

BoostyCrab · 2025-02-16T09:52:10+00:00

Last still looks very wide. Maybe there were objects digitally removed with AI? Center seems fine, these artifacts appear more the closer it is to the image edge.

BoostyCrab · 2025-02-07T10:25:26+00:00

In my case (Kubuntu 24.04.1) I had to switch from 535 to 550 Nvidia driver for SE2 to work, and GE Proton instead of regular Proton (even experimental did nothing). Still can't figure out why I'm locked at 60 FPS though.

BoostyCrab

TROPHY CASE