15 replies to this topic

[Noob_239869]

     I am a noob to astrophotography, and I am wondering what I am doing wrong. I will have clear skies tonight and want to attempt to get a decent image of the Orion Nebula. I have an SVBony 205 connected to a Celestron Nexstar 102gt. I also have a cable that I could use to connect my computer to the telescopes controller if need be. I have a MacBook Air and am wondering if anybody has done something like this before. I have attached the best photo I have gotten so far with a little bit of stacking in eise.app of Jupiter and its moons. (The photo was taken with a video on a phone stacked up).

     Can anybody guide me through the process to capture a decent-ish photo of the Orion Nebula with my SVBony 205 and MacBook Air? Also my telescope will move very easily when aligned in the up down direction. Is there any way to fix this to keep the alignment? I have done some research but haven't found anything.

-Noob_239869

[klangwolke]

I don’t use that type of setup, but wouldn’t you be able to connect the camera to your MacBook running something like:

https://www.astrodmx-capture.org.uk/

[Phil Sherman]

You're going to have a very difficult time imaging the Orion nebula because you have an alt-az mount which doesn't track following an equatorial path. You'll need to use short exposures, probably around 10 seconds each, take a whole bunch of images, and align them using a translate and rotate mechanism.

 

Your "loose" altitude adjustment is a consequence of the scope's large moment arm compared to the attachment area of the mount. You should be able to improve it a bit by disassembling the mount's scope attach point and tightening the internal nut that controls the amount of friction in the slider plate that lets you push adjust the altitude.

 

You'll need a decent image processing program to work on your images. An older but still adequate program is "ImagesPlus", now a free download from its author's (Mike Unsold) web site. It'll do your pre-processing (calibration, alignment, evaluation/rejection, and stacking) and has a good selection of image processing tools. Mike also has guides on his web site explaining how to use many of the program's features.

 

You'll also want a good book or two to help you learn image processing. The "Deep-Sky Imaging Primer" is one of the most recommended books. When I started imaging, I purchased "The New CCD Astronomy" by Ron Wodowski. With the exception of a few chapters describing how to use specific programs all of the information in that book still applies to today's astro imaging. Best of all, it's available in Kindle format for $5, a true bargain.

[drmikevt]

Your questions is so incredibly basic, its hard to know where to start.  You did not mention what kind of mount you are using

 

The basic process is:  

 - Focus (in your case using a focus mask)

 - Polar align your mount - if you can not do this or don't know what that means, then start here and do some research 

 - Connect the camera to your computer and open an image capture application - there are not many for the Mac.  You're better off getting a cheap PC laptop, but you can look at options here:  https://www.macobser...ronomy-software

 - Point the scope at your target

 - Take pictures

 

You can forget about guiding and dithering for now.  Just see if you can focus, point, and take pics.  If not, start to tackle those one by one.  If your mount can not hold a position without sagging you need to start there.  You will get more response here if you do some research yourself and ask more informed questions.  

[rgsalinger]

I'll go in a different direction. If you really want to get into DSO AP. First, join a local astronomy club. Second buy a copy of the Deep Sky Imaging Primer by Charles Bracken. Attend a star party and see what's going on. 

 

With an alt/az mount there are challenges. There are also things that you can do with the short exposures that you can take with that rig. Look at some of the other forums and see what's happening there. Most of the denizens here are doing long exposures with equatorial mounts. 

 

Research the available processing software that runs on Macs. Siril is a good to excellent choice and not hard to learn. 

[Noob_239869]

Thank you so much for all your knowledge, it looks like I have a lot to learn. Sorry if my questions seem uninformed, I am brand new to this. Also, if it helps, I am using the standard mount that comes with the Celestron Nexstar 102gt. Also, if I was to upgrade my mount, are there any good alternatives that are no crazy expensive?

[rgsalinger]

I'm not sure how you could "upgrade the mount". You could look into whether or not Celestron makes an equatorial wedge for the mount but you'd have to de-fork the scope even to do that. The least expensive equatorial mounts that are worth buying IMO are around 1500USD like the ZWO AM3. Some will say that there are a couple of mounts in the 1000USD class that will work like the Celestron AVX. Maybe you should consider one of the "smart telescopes". There's a forum here for that and folks are getting nice results with about a 500USD investment. 

[acrh2]

     I am a noob to astrophotography, and I am wondering what I am doing wrong. I will have clear skies tonight and want to attempt to get a decent image of the Orion Nebula. I have an SVBony 205 connected to a Celestron Nexstar 102gt. I also have a cable that I could use to connect my computer to the telescopes controller if need be. I have a MacBook Air and am wondering if anybody has done something like this before. I have attached the best photo I have gotten so far with a little bit of stacking in eise.app of Jupiter and its moons. (The photo was taken with a video on a phone stacked up).

     Can anybody guide me through the process to capture a decent-ish photo of the Orion Nebula with my SVBony 205 and MacBook Air? Also my telescope will move very easily when aligned in the up down direction. Is there any way to fix this to keep the alignment? I have done some research but haven't found anything.

-Noob_239869

 

Here are the basic steps in broad terms:

 

1) Connect your camera to your telescope. Since you most likely don't have a field flattener/reducer, there may be issues of reaching focus. They sell 1.25" barrel extension tubes for this very reason, but you may be able to reach focus if you insert your camera into your 1.25" diagonal, like an eyepiece. 

 

2) Connect your camera to your Mac with a USB cable. Install AstroDMx Capture software, and try to verify that you can connect to the camera and you can adjust exposure time in the ballpark of about 10 ms to be able to see terrestrial views. Take a snapshot. You will have to play with the exposure time and gain so that the brightness of the image is not too dark or too bright. Alternatively, if you can access live view in the software, you could use that. Make sure that the image format is set to RAW16, and the output files are set to FITs.

https://www.svbony.c...E9kUQcn2yTc2yYT

 

3) At night, star align your rig as usual. Center it on Orion and replace the eyepiece with the camera. Set the exposure time to 1 second and take a snapshot or loop exposures. Focus on the nebula/stars. You may have to adjust the gain setting to focus. For precise focus at night, which is very important in astrophotography, it's best to use a Bahtinov mask.

https://en.wikipedia...i/Bahtinov_mask

 

4) Center Orion again, set the exposure time to 10 seconds, then take a few exposures and adjust the gain so that you can clearly see the brightest part of the nebula without overblowing the brightness to pure white. The histogram of the image should have the main peak way to the left but not touching the left side. The output files should look almost completely black when viewed in "linear" mode, with just a few stars and the brightest part of Orion showing. This is normal. To view images in full brightness a process called "stretching" is required. The stretching part is usually built in for astro software, so you can switch between linear and stretched modes at will (some times called "autostretch".)

 

5) Take an hour or two worth of 10 second exposures. Then stack them in Siril. You may have to inspect your images in Siril and throw out ones that are especially blurry.

https://siril.org/

https://siril.org/tutorials/

https://siril.org/tu...ls/first-steps/

[rgsalinger]

Great Post. You should copy it somewhere and save it as these questions come up all the time. 

[Noob_239869]

Thank you so much everybody! This is helping so much!

[Noob_239869]

My one question is what would I put into this website: https://satakagi.git...s/Bahtinov.html to get the right mask. Do the settings matter that much?

[Noob_239869]

Here are the basic steps in broad terms:

 

1) Connect your camera to your telescope. Since you most likely don't have a field flattener/reducer, there may be issues of reaching focus. They sell 1.25" barrel extension tubes for this very reason, but you may be able to reach focus if you insert your camera into your 1.25" diagonal, like an eyepiece. 

 

2) Connect your camera to your Mac with a USB cable. Install AstroDMx Capture software, and try to verify that you can connect to the camera and you can adjust exposure time in the ballpark of about 10 ms to be able to see terrestrial views. Take a snapshot. You will have to play with the exposure time and gain so that the brightness of the image is not too dark or too bright. Alternatively, if you can access live view in the software, you could use that. Make sure that the image format is set to RAW16, and the output files are set to FITs.

https://www.svbony.c...E9kUQcn2yTc2yYT

 

3) At night, star align your rig as usual. Center it on Orion and replace the eyepiece with the camera. Set the exposure time to 1 second and take a snapshot or loop exposures. Focus on the nebula/stars. You may have to adjust the gain setting to focus. For precise focus at night, which is very important in astrophotography, it's best to use a Bahtinov mask.

https://en.wikipedia...i/Bahtinov_mask

 

4) Center Orion again, set the exposure time to 10 seconds, then take a few exposures and adjust the gain so that you can clearly see the brightest part of the nebula without overblowing the brightness to pure white. The histogram of the image should have the main peak way to the left but not touching the left side. The output files should look almost completely black when viewed in "linear" mode, with just a few stars and the brightest part of Orion showing. This is normal. To view images in full brightness a process called "stretching" is required. The stretching part is usually built in for astro software, so you can switch between linear and stretched modes at will (some times called "autostretch".)

 

5) Take an hour or two worth of 10 second exposures. Then stack them in Siril. You may have to inspect your images in Siril and throw out ones that are especially blurry.

https://siril.org/

https://siril.org/tutorials/

https://siril.org/tu...ls/first-steps/

Thank you so much! This was very helpful, I will post results when I can.

[Spaceman 56]

   I have a MacBook Air and am wondering if anybody has done something like this before.

Noob.

 

there is software called KStars that will instal on MacBook Air.

KStars is similar to Stellarium, and allows you to see where the stars are and also Galaxies.

 

Inside KStars is a second piece of software that is called EKOS.

EKOS can do camera control, and mount control, and just about everything you need to take astro photos.

 

KStars is a free download. works very well here for me on an old Mac Pro.  

 

Good Luck. Spaceman

[TheStarsabove]

Noob.

 

there is software called KStars that will instal on MacBook Air.

KStars is similar to Stellarium, and allows you to see where the stars are and also Galaxies.

 

Inside KStars is a second piece of software that is called EKOS.

EKOS can do camera control, and mount control, and just about everything you need to take astro photos.

 

KStars is a free download. works very well here for me on an old Mac Pro.  

 

Good Luck. Spaceman

I love(d) Kstars/Ekos! It was super easy to use (SO much easier than N.I.N.A!), but you might run into problems with certain drivers (like the CGX, just doesn't work on Linux and Ekos). Oh, and it requires very little computer specs.

 

But it is great overall!

Edited by TheStarsabove, 21 March 2025 - 01:44 PM.

[Cliff Hipsher]

The noise here is terrible so I'll give you the honest truth:  The equipment you have is totally worthless for doing any form of astrophotography.

 

The telescope and mount are what we euphemistically call "Department store Christmas presents" and as such they are designed for VISUAL observation and unfortunately some specimens can't even do that. In the business world this kind of product is called a Loss Leader because it is sold at a loss to attract customers to the brand.

 

The mount you have is called an Altitude/Azimuth mount because that is how it "tracks" across the sky.   What you really need is called a GEM, or German Equatorial Mount.  To get your mount to behave like a GEM you need to mount it on an Equatorial Wedge and I seriously doubt a wedge for your mount exists. 

 

Your only other option would be to remove the telescope from the mount and put it on a GEM, but here again we will most likely run into mounting issues based on how that telescope is constructed and the materials it was constructed with.

 

Having said that, my recommendation is to use the telescope as it is, learn where things like planets, nebula, and galaxies are in the sky, read up on astrophotography, and save your money because you are gonna need it.

 

Here is a simple shopping list:

 

AT80ED Refractor:                $439.00

ZWO AM3 mount and tripod:  $1798.00

ZWO ASI Air Plus controller:  $349.00

ZWO Electronic focuser:       $149.00

  

And we haven't even mentioned the main imaging camera, the guide scope and camera, dew heaters, electronic filter wheel or a manual filter drawer, focal reducer/field flattener, or a power supply.

 

Here is the end result:  

 

 

 

 

 

[Cliff Hipsher]

I'm not sure how you could "upgrade the mount". You could look into whether or not Celestron makes an equatorial wedge for the mount but you'd have to de-fork the scope even to do that. The least expensive equatorial mounts that are worth buying IMO are around 1500USD like the ZWO AM3. Some will say that there are a couple of mounts in the 1000USD class that will work like the Celestron AVX. Maybe you should consider one of the "smart telescopes". There's a forum here for that and folks are getting nice results with about a 500USD investment. 

Its not a fork mount.  Its a "One Armed Bandit."