New Application for Live Stack in SharpCap 3.2

[VCTyree]

I posted the note shown below and the group of ten images on Instagram (@vctyree) and on the Inner City Astronomy Group (on Facebook) a few days ago. I am very pleased that the live stack function in SharpCap 3.2 is capable of stacking a sequence of short (10-second) sub-exposure deep sky images taken on an altitude-azimuth telescope mount. I wasn’t sure that it would be able to stack a continuously rotating image, but it worked flawlessly. I hope the article in the Dropbox link will be useful to other SharpCap users.

“Astrophotography with an Altitude-Azimuth Telescope Drive”

The ten images included in the posting were made with a telescope mounted on a GoTo altitude-azimuth telescope drive without auto-guiding and using a non-cooled CMOS camera. I started to experiment with this imaging method after the COVID-19 lock-down started and I could not participate in the Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) public astronomy events at the Garvey Ranch Observatory. I have posted more than 40 images taken from the Garvey Observatory on my Instagram account (@vctyree) over the past two years.

This group of ten images were and experiment to see how far I can push live stacking in SharpCap 3.2. I already knew it could deal with the 93 arc-second peak-to-peak periodic error and inaccurate polar alignment at Garvey Observatory. I ran this experimental imaging project in my Bortle 8 back yard and I was more than slightly surprised by what I was able to image. All of these images are a live stack of 360 individual ten second sub-exposure images (60 minutes) in SharpCap (except for M27, which was 20 minutes). I have written an article (Astrophotography with an Altitude-Azimuth Telescope Drive) for downloading from Dropbox if you are interested in how I was able to get these images. This article will also be posted on the LAAS web site.

Dropbox Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9a0zm86ylarwe ... e.pdf?dl=0

I will be interested in hearing from anyone else who has done deep sky imaging using an altitude-azimuth telescope drive. I would like to learn if there are any other simple methods for deep sky imaging on an alt-az telescope drive.

[cuivenion]

Good article. I don't have a alt/az myself but it was a interesting read.

[donstim]

There are a good many of us that have been using SharpCap to practice EAA with ali-azimuth mounts for some time now.

Don

[VCTyree]

Don —-

Thank you for your reply. I was fairly sure that I was not the only one using SharpCap for EAA. I would be interested in knowing if there is a discussion group either on this Forum or some other forum dedicated to exchanging information about EAA.

—- Vance

[donstim]

Vance,

Yes, the one I frequent is here: https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/73-e ... onomy-eaa/

Don

[VCTyree]

Don —-

Thank you for the link.

—- Vance

[turfpit]

Have a look at https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/astrophotography/eaa/

Dave