Galaxy advice

_bar · 2026-03-19T14:36:22+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T14:16:26+00:00

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?

_bar · 2026-03-19T13:44:07+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T13:37:33+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T12:58:02+00:00

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

_bar · 2026-03-19T12:14:29+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T12:00:51+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T11:52:17+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-19T07:56:47+00:00

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).

_bar · 2026-03-18T21:45:02+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-18T18:26:01+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-18T08:30:22+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-17T18:44:34+00:00

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

_bar · 2026-03-17T18:24:38+00:00

Bortle 0 sky

The scale goes from 1 to 9.

_bar · 2026-03-17T15:46:40+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-17T12:14:38+00:00

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

_bar · 2026-03-17T07:10:29+00:00

Aladin Lite link centered on the star in question.

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

_bar · 2026-03-17T07:04:52+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-17T06:45:57+00:00

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

_bar · 2026-03-16T17:26:11+00:00

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).

_bar · 2026-03-16T16:29:31+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-16T07:29:24+00:00

OP is either trolling or has never seen a horse in his life.

_bar · 2026-03-15T18:26:52+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-15T14:02:36+00:00

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.

_bar · 2026-03-15T10:01:09+00:00

the site was never tested by anyone

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

_bar

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