🔠2022 Gear Overview
Overview
Another clear (ish) night, another round of testing out the setup.
I was finally able to get the go-to functionality working. I thought I figured out the focal length last time, but it turns out I was off by exactly 2x. This is because I had it set to Bin2. Based on the dimensions of the image, I calculated a focal length of 124, but it turned out to be 248. To figure this out, I did end up setting the focal length to 0 in the ASIAir app, but the trick was increasing the gain value. Once I got that up to 220 (or so), and set the focal length to 0, it was able to plate solve in a few seconds!
Tripod
It looks like I will need a new tripod. One of the legs on mine keeps slipping. There was a near disaster when the tripod started tipping over when I was setting it up. I think the heavier payload with the new mount is too much for my current tripod. I ordered a Sirui Carbon Fiber Tripod, which is exciting.
Timing
I was able to see Polaris for polar aligning about 45 minutes after sunset, or about 15 minutes before astronomical twilight.
I want to get this all figured out before winter so I can take advantage of the long nights. At least that will be one good thing about it.
Calibration Frames
I took all the calibration frames this time: bias, dark, and flat. However, the calibration frames were 2x the size of my light frames, so I couldn’t stack them. I tried scaling the calibration frames down, but I think in that process I altered the images and when I stacked them it did not look good.
Next time I’ll have to figure out what setting I did to get the light frames to be half the image size.
Update: It was because I had them set to Bin2
Processing
Like last time, I didn’t spend a ton of time on processing. I basically just did the photometric color calibration in Siril, and some stretching.
Output
