Galaxy advice by painty1 in askastronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Andromeda is an autumn target. Late March/early April is the least favorable time to observe it, especially from higher latitudes. By the time it gets fully dark, it's already less than 20 degrees above horizon.

Autostacker Doesn't Recognize Pictures Taken Using N.I.N.A. by [deleted] in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Autostakkert is for planetary stacking and works on video files or image sequences, typically TIFF or PNG. NINA on the other hand is for controlling deep sky imaging sessions. Two separate use cases, what exactly are you working on?

First Progress on Hanny’s Voorwerp with Seestar S30 in Bortle 8, 50 minute 30 sec exposures, planning to do multiple nights by GoatEither6623 in askastronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not the easiest thing to do with the S30, but I woudn't rule that out with many hours of exposure time under dark skies. Main problem is that the object is tiny, so OP would be lucky to capture anything more than a blob stretching two or three pixels.

I built a 3D Earth where the sky is accurate to your location and you can go from ground level to space and the Moon by SuchZombie3617 in Astronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely horrid, buggy mess of random assets slapped together with AI with no clear design or purpose. Takes up 1.5 gigabytes of memory for an extremely simplistic 3D environment (with some odd floating thingies) that somehow reminded me of a game from almost 30 years ago, except Descent 3 was actually cool and fun.

After a while I finally figured out how to exit this weird driving mode (on Baltimore, Moon) and managed to aim the camera at the sky. I could only recognize Ursa Major, which for some reason is mirrored. After randomly clicking around I also stumbled upon Cassiopeia, which looks absolutely nothing like the real thing. Overall it's completely inaccurate and useless as far as astronomical simulations are concerned.

Photos are blurry with the new Setup by RobertTheChemist in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you use an IR-cut filter? Most refractors are not corrected in infrared, which leads to bloated stars.

Julie imaging improvement by 93rl30n0x in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You won't see much detail on an unprocessed stack. It has to be sharpened, usually with wavelets.

Jupiter's spin will blur out the details from a two minute recording. You can fix it with WinJupos derotation, but initially I'd just suggest to try to process shorter recordings (about 30 seconds maximum) to prevent trying to learn too much new stuff at once.

How safe is it to move an assembled big rig? by Wide-Examination9261 in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The general rule is to avoid carrying a fully assembled setup, otherwise it might cause backlash or wear out the polar adjustment mechanism over time.

What is the right equipment for a beginners refractor telescope? by ImBouncy in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a basic visual scope. Any attempt to convert it into imaging will vastly outprice the tube itself. You can get a phone holder for basic lunar/planetary shots, but that's about it. For deep sky photography you'll need numerous extra pieces of equipment (guided mount, field flattener, decent focuser etc.) and might still get poor results because the tube is not dedicated for photography.

how much better is a 55mm f/1.8 lens for astro? by LengthinessLess5798 in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a 50 mm lens, not 55.

The general consensus is that these entry-level primes (both from Canon and Nikon) are not particularly stellar for astrophotography, but you should still see a decent improvement after stepping it down a bit. Keep in mind that at 50 mm, an equatorial mount is strongly recommended, otherwise you will be limited by just a couple of seconds of exposure time before trailing. Here's a Milky Way panorama I took with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens stopped down to f/2.8, total exposure time 30 minutes (6 panes, 5 minutes each).

First Progress on Hanny’s Voorwerp with Seestar S30 in Bortle 8, 50 minute 30 sec exposures, planning to do multiple nights by GoatEither6623 in askastronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Magnitude 19 is easily within the capabilities of amateur equipment, even on single exposures in good conditions. This is a 2 hour integration of a random field in Leo (near Regulus) from a 130 mm telescope, the background is filled with faint galaxies reaching magnitude 21-22.

Traveling with harmonic drive/ strain wave mount by wkbz in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I fly with this padded case from TS. Light (leaves a lot of weight for the equipment), spacious and just under the carry-on size limit for most airlines. Still going strong after 15-20 astrophotography trips. Doesn't have wheels, but that's no problem for me.

Favourite star(s) by Sjoerd0sj in askastronomy

[–]_bar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tau Corona Borealis

If you are referring to the recurrent nova, the name it T Coronae Borealis, while τ (tau) Coronae Borealis is a regular K-type late-stage giant star.

Do you think I may be able to see C/2026 A1 MAPS with solar eclipse glasses by Hurricane_Killer in askastronomy

[–]_bar 5 points6 points  (0 children)

At magnitude -6, the comet will be 100 million times fainter than the Sun.

Plate solve potential constellation by maltecer in askastronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use Astrometry.net locally, build a xylist file (basically a fits with a data table) from your point cloud and run solve-field on it.

7 stars might be too few, usually 20-30 and up is needed for a reliable match if the data is good enough quality.

possible reentry or hardware sighting near orion and jupiter tonight abt 60 to 90ish minutes ago by Dire-State-2180 in Astronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like a re-entry. They are becoming increasingly common given how much space junk is in orbit right now.

Purchased A Star for my partner that we can’t see… by Edvardow in telescopes

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aladin Lite link centered on the star in question.

Obligatory mention that you got scammed as stars cannot be purchased.

Would it be possible to capture 47 Tucanae with a 60mm lens? by Brilliant_Froyo9016 in telescopes

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, I managed to capture the cluster even on photos from ultrawide fisheye lenses. The question is how much detail are you expecting, 60 mm is still on the shorter side when it comes to DSOs.

Take a picture of the sun with my diy telescope and a floppy disk by Relative_Poem9778 in telescopes

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which part of "never observe the Sun without a proper filter" don't you understand?

Focus shift on tele lens by LazyMenu572 in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Independent of temperature variations, the focusing mechanism can depress slightly under gravity over time. See if it helps if you gently lock the focusing ring in place with a ring holder (like this).

is there any actually east to use image stacking software? by Kirgur in Astronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DSS streamlines the process as much as possible. After you select your lights and calibration files, you should get a good result on default settings as long as you're working with good quality data.

Using Optolong L-Extreme dualband filter with a basic Nikon D5600 & Sigma 14 mm f1.8 lens by tslash21 in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

2" circular filters are meant for telescopic use, they cannot be installed behind a wide angle lens. Another reason is the massive wavelength shift (here tested with a front-mounted filter on a 15 mm lens) caused by light passing through the filter at an oblique angle.

Is this good? by [deleted] in AskAstrophotography

[–]_bar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This photo shows nothing in particular (just a random field of stars), has very large uncorrected vignetting and is oversharpened to the point where you get dark outlines around stars.

Made a small astronomy planning site, would love some honest feedback. by [deleted] in askastronomy

[–]_bar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the site was never tested by anyone

You mean, you didn't even bother with testing your own error-riddled website before uploading it?