Hello all.
Posting my first image to the forum.
After a lot of study and input from all, this is my result from my 3rd session.
Thanks to everyone with their insight.
Thank you Robin. Fantastic software!
Frank
Andromeda 2025-12-01
Andromeda_2025_12_01.jpeg (824.63 KiB) Viewed 1871 times
Yes indeed the hobby is expensive,
but I’m hooked now. Started a year ago just observing
Then bought a camera…lol.
Just got a WO Spacecat 51 and ASI585MC
Gonna switch equipment up soon.
The setup used for the image was:
SVBONY sv503 102ed
SVBONY Reducer/Field Flattener
SVBONY filter drawer
SVBONY UV/IR Cut filter 2inch
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Cooled for imaging.
SVBONY sv106 50mm guide
ZWO ASI662MC for guiding and polar alignment.
ZWO AM3
ZWO TC40 Tripod ZWO Pier Extension
Managed 101 stacked frames. Edited in Siril.
Need to get the Meridian
Flip and darks/flats sorted out.
The ASI2600MC is a good camera had mine for several years and can't fault it. Just bought a Starfield Gear70Q that is mounted beside my APM 130/780 LZOS and the fittings are interchangeable so just swap the imaging and guide camera to which one suits the target. Your SpaceCat will give a wider field of view than my Gear70Q does with ASI2600MC mine is at 2.2 arc seconds per pixel on the Gear70Q yours will be a bit higher if you use the SpaceCat so will definitely benefit from good dither and drizzling the subs in siril to increase detail.
I plan on using the
Spacecat/ASI2600MC Pro for Deep Sky
SVBONY 102/ASI585MC Pro for planets and deep sky etc.
Failed to mention I have been running 2 instances
of Sharpcap. 1 guiding, 1 imaging and it’s been working great. I attempted a pause and resume for Meridian
flip and new GOTO my last
session but did not have a property set correctly.
That’s the goal for next session. Same equipment using
Dark and Flat I created.
Once successful I’ll change the equipment accordingly.
Fun Stuff!
Frank
Hi Frank,
Robin will correct me if I am wrong but is guiding in sharpcap not intended for use on Solar/Lunar/planetary were as for deep sky you use PHD2 I don't do planets, or the moon very often so always use PHD2 as the guide software and dither control for deep sky generally running at an exposure between 0.5s and 1.0s in my case with the M-UNO mount not sure how fast / hard you run harmonic AM3 mounts. Also with PHD2 it is looking at multiple stars for the guiding which helps with sky movement etc, so you are not chasing the seeing.
Thanks Nick
For planetary I’ll use my sv102/585 with Sharpcap planetary live stacking, no guide scope.
Prior to getting my mount, I used the ASI662MC (first camera) to capture Jupiter. The results were ok given I had minimal time and no automated mount.
If I went deeper with the sv102/asi585, then I’d get the guide scope going.
Planets down the road a bit, for now deep sky and sharpening my processes. A lot to cover and learn.
Appreciate the feedback!
Frank
It’s been cloudy and foggy for 2 weeks, so haven’t been doing much outside. Been improving my post processing and getting better. Here’s an updated image. Using GraXpert, Siril and Affinity.
Nice improvement in detail in the latest image, post processing is an area where you will always be improving and revisiting data for another go to see what else you can pull out as you learn new methods and new pieces of software or processes come out. This is especially true in the UK were usually the weather is bleeding awful most of the time so the only option you have is to play with old data in the hope of one day seeing the stars again
