First light with ASIair plus - M81 Bode's Galaxy

A couple of weeks ago I bought a second hand ASIair Plus. The idea is to have two set ups for my telescopes: one telescope equiped with PC (N.I.N.A.), the other with ASIair Plus.
Having two skywatcher mounts and all camera's from ZWO, the purchase of an ASIair Plus is a good alternative in stead of an extra PC.

I installed the ASIair Plus on my TAL200K f/8.5 telescope. The main camera and guiding camera was connected using USB A 3.0 cables. After powering, connection was made with my mini Ipad. In order to make connection, the wifi should be swithed to ASIair signal. Then open the ASIair app. There are numerous youtube video's how to start using the ASIair Plus. Below some learnings using the ASIair Plus with a skywactcher EQ8-R mount.

- polar allignment and 3-star allignment was done without connection of the mount to the ASIair plus.

- allignment was done using the maincamera which was connected to ASIair Plus (experiment with the exposure time)

- once allignment completed, I connect the synscan of the mount via a USB B cable to USB A 2.0 port of the ASIair Plus.

- polar allignment was redone; take first a picture and plate solve before running the PA - polar allignment.

- to find an object, just select the target and through imaging and plate solving, the object is set in FOV.

- same with guiding, connect the camera and calibration starts automatically; guiding is done using multistar guiding. 

- autorun set up was used to make the pictures.

- afterwards bias, darks and flats were made using the autorun. Pictures are saved under the folders on the e-MMC 

- I used a 32Gb micro SD card to copy the images and to transfer them to my PC. 

- I disconnect the USB A2.0 - USB B cable between ASIair Plus and syncscan when I finishing my imaging session and to park the telescope. Keeping the cable on and choosing the park function in ASIair Plus did not gave the proper coordinates

- so far, no experience with meridian flip, live stacking and planning function. Also no experience with autofocus.

- connection inside the house was lost a couple of times but the session kept running. 

Conclusion:

Connection with camera's went well, guiding was done properly, finding the object through plate solving was fantastic (first time experience). I made 24 pictures (24x300s) on day 1 and 20 more on day two. Transfer via micro SD card was easy. 

Result:

M81, Bode's Galaxy

TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, ASI224MC on 50x240 guiding scope with EQ8-R

Lights: 40x300s, darks, bias and flats

Software: ASIair plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) on Valentines Day

 

Picture of Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) on Valentine day. The comet was "near" star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus. The comet's coma is green and the two tails can be seen. Upwards, the plasma tail and to the right the dust tail. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC

Lights:60x60s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats

Software: Sharpcap 4, Stellarium (v0.22), N.I.N.A., APP, CS4, Starnet++, DeNoise AI

Getting both the comet as the backgroudn stars sharp : 

What's needed, or at least, what I used :

    - AstroPixelProcessor (APP)

    - Starnet ++

    - Photoshop

1) APP

    a) Stack images of the comet using registration mode "Comet/one star" (Picture 1)

    b) Redo integration with "MAD" setting (Picture 2)

    c) Redo stacking using registration mode "normal" and restart integration (Picture 3)

2) Starnet++

    a) Remove stars using Starnet++ of Picture 3 (Picture 4)

3) Photoshop

    a) Load Picture 3 and Picture 4 and "layer" them together

    b) Use "Image", "Use Image" and substracted (Picture 5)

    c) Load Picture 2 and layer Picture 5

    d) Use "Layer", "Layer Style" and linear blending (Picture 6)

Edit Picture 6 as a end result.

Pleiades M45

The Pleiades, Messier M45 or The Seven Sisters is located in constellation Taurus and is about 444 ly away from Earth.

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC
Lights: 35x300s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats
Software: SharpCap4, N.I.N.A., Stellarium, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) with Star Capella

 

Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) with star Capella (Alfa Auriga) on Sunday Feb 5, 2023. Some clouds made this picture blurry.

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC

Software: SharpCap4, N.I.N.A., Stellarium, APP, CS4

Lights: 6x60s, darks, Bias, flats and darkflats

Reprocessing Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) with antitail

 

Reprocessing my earlier picture of Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) of January 21, 2023. At that moment the comet was visible with 3 tails: ion tail, dust tail and anti-tail.

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC

Lights:10x60s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats

Software: SharpCap4, Stellarium, APP, Starnet++, CS4

Processing Comet and Stars using APP Starnet++ and photoshop

This blogpost is about how to get both the comet as the background stars processed sharp.

A video I used is the one from LuckyBudd : see this link 

What's needed, or at least, what I used :

    - AstroPixelProcessor (APP)

    - Starnet ++

    - Photoshop

1) APP

    a) Stack images of the comet using registration mode "Comet/one star" (Picture 1)

    b) Redo integration with "MAD" setting (Picture 2)

    c) Redo stacking using registration mode "normal" and restart integration (Picture 3)

2) Starnet++

    a) Remove stars using Starnet++ of Picture 3 (Picture 4)

3) Photoshop

    a) Load Picture 3 and Picture 4 and "layer" them together

    b) Use "Image", "Use Image" and substracted (Picture 5)

    c) Load Picture 2 and layer Picture 5

    d) Use "Layer", "Layer Style" and linear blending (Picture 6)

Edit Picture 6 as a end result.

Two Comets: C/2022 E3(ZTF) & C/2022 U2(Atlas)

 

Last monday, February 6, 2023, two comets were visible within less then 1°: the green comet C/2022E3(ZTF) and C/2022 U2(Atlas). Comet C/2022 U2(Atlas) is very faint but visible. The difference in "speed" across the background stars is good visible: C/2022 E3(ZTF) is moving "faster" then C/2022 U2(Atlas).

Setting: TLAPO 80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC
Lights: 22x60s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats

Software: SharpCap4, N.I.N.A. Stellarium (v0.22), APP and CS4.