Astrophotography



Are these 1 x 10 min exposure or stacked exposures to a time of 10 mins overall ??

Stacks, I think each exposure is around 10 seconds or so. All automated with that device and App though, so some clever Chinese bloke should take credit for those pictures, I just switched the thing on and told it what to take a picture of.

Its still fascinating watching the image stack build up in real time mind.
 
Stacks, I think each exposure is around 10 seconds or so. All automated with that device and App though, so some clever Chinese bloke should take credit for those pictures, I just switched the thing on and told it what to take a picture of.

Its still fascinating watching the image stack build up in real time mind.
Very impressive.
 
Stacks, I think each exposure is around 10 seconds or so. All automated with that device and App though, so some clever Chinese bloke should take credit for those pictures, I just switched the thing on and told it what to take a picture of.

Its still fascinating watching the image stack build up in real time mind.

You can change it to manual I believe (I’ve not been let loose on ours yet as my son has been using it) but there’s a limitation on how long a single exposure can be before you get trails.
 
You can change it to manual I believe (I’ve not been let loose on ours yet as my son has been using it) but there’s a limitation on how long a single exposure can be before you get trails.

Yes, you can. There weren't enough clear nights in the time I had it to play around much so I was just using fully automatic modes. The only thing I did manually was turn on the dew heater.

My understanding is that 10-15 seconds is the longest single exposure that you can realistically do with it as its not an equatorial mount - works better at lower inclinations as there is less rotation there, but also more pollution to fight through.
You are dead right there i was looking at the seestar and immediately started pricing up an upgrade (from Zwo) for when i outgrew the thing i hadnt even bought yet (i was up to about 5 grands worth of kit)


The M51 and M81 photos are really good - very impressive for 10 minute exposures.

Yes, its very impressive for the size and price of it. It is obviously not for people who are seriously into the hobby though, but opened my eyes to what can be done.

The beauty of it is that it is very small and portable and very easy to setup and use. But that removes some of the sense of achievement. Still fascinating though.
 
Last edited:
You can change it to manual I believe (I’ve not been let loose on ours yet as my son has been using it) but there’s a limitation on how long a single exposure can be before you get trails.
Online reading tells methat apparently 10s is the single exposure duration but re: Cloudy Nights you can set to about 30s with the latest app and firmware update.
Yes, you can. There weren't enough clear nights in the time I had it to play around much so I was just using fully automatic modes. The only thing I did manually was turn on the dew heater.

My understanding is that 10-15 seconds is the longest single exposure that you can realistically do with it as its not an equatorial mount - works better at lower inclinations as there is less rotation there, but also more pollution to fight through.


Yes, its very impressive for the size and price of it. It is obviously not for people who are seriously into the hobby though, but opened my eyes to what can be done.

The beauty of it is that it is very small and portable and very easy to setup and use. But that removes some of the sense of achievement. Still fascinating though.
That's also clarified more of my curiosities
 
Last edited:
Well for just thinking of dabbling in astrophotography as opposed to my usual landscape photography, i've spent a small fortune recently. Purchased the following:
1. Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi goto mount
2. ZWO ASIair and cables to control and power everything from ipad. It controls the tracking of the mount, supplies power to the mount and camera and controls the functions of my DSLR camera.
3. Astronomix light pollution filter.
Just need my back to sort itself and then some clear skies.
Watching loads of you tube stuff at the moment to learn how to use all this kit.
Wish me luck, think i'll need it ...
 
Well for just thinking of dabbling in astrophotography as opposed to my usual landscape photography, i've spent a small fortune recently. Purchased the following:
1. Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi goto mount
2. ZWO ASIair and cables to control and power everything from ipad. It controls the tracking of the mount, supplies power to the mount and camera and controls the functions of my DSLR camera.
3. Astronomix light pollution filter.
Just need my back to sort itself and then some clear skies.
Watching loads of you tube stuff at the moment to learn how to use all this kit.
Wish me luck, think i'll need it ...
You Tube has a lot to answer for!
 
Well for just thinking of dabbling in astrophotography as opposed to my usual landscape photography, i've spent a small fortune recently. Purchased the following:
1. Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi goto mount
2. ZWO ASIair and cables to control and power everything from ipad. It controls the tracking of the mount, supplies power to the mount and camera and controls the functions of my DSLR camera.
3. Astronomix light pollution filter.
Just need my back to sort itself and then some clear skies.
Watching loads of you tube stuff at the moment to learn how to use all this kit.
Wish me luck, think i'll need it ...
Nice. Any questions post here, but also check out Stargazers Lounge for lots of helpful advice.

It is worth sharing some of your first pictures there and ask for suggestions on processing, to bring out the best.
 
Nice. Any questions post here, but also check out Stargazers Lounge for lots of helpful advice.

It is worth sharing some of your first pictures there and ask for suggestions on processing, to bring out the best.
Registered on that forum now, many thanks for the heads ups. Also Cloudy Nights.
Looking at adding a guide scope and camera to the set up i have above.
 
Registered on that forum now, many thanks for the heads ups. Also Cloudy Nights.
Looking at adding a guide scope and camera to the set up i have above.
With the ZWOasi it should go on quite nicely. I have not looked at that yet, I’d be interested to know how you get on.

I’ve got the Star Adventurer too, which I put my DSLR on, but have a Raspberry Pi on my telescope which does a similar job to the ZWO. I have thought about a guide scope which could be added to either setup.
 
With the ZWOasi it should go on quite nicely. I have not looked at that yet, I’d be interested to know how you get on.

I’ve got the Star Adventurer too, which I put my DSLR on, but have a Raspberry Pi on my telescope which does a similar job to the ZWO. I have thought about a guide scope which could be added to either setup.
I've seen a you tube video where he has a DSLR and a guide scope mounted onto the side of the L bracket on the camera. Looks nicely balanced. I think it is the ZWO 120 mini camera with 30mm f4 scope.
 
I've seen a you tube video where he has a DSLR and a guide scope mounted onto the side of the L bracket on the camera. Looks nicely balanced. I think it is the ZWO 120 mini camera with 30mm f4 scope.
My telescope is a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain, which makes it good for lunar and planetary imaging, but poor for deep sky. I got a camera for that years ago, the ZWO ASI 120mc, which was a fairly decent planetary camera at the time, but now a lot of people just use that as a guide camera, so apart from the guide scope, I’ve got all the bits, just never put them together.
 
We have just bought one! Well, my son has been saving up and we have put in the difference.

He has managed to get a decent shot of Jupiter but you’re right the weather hasn’t been too kind.
Hoping to get up to the Dales soon when the clouds have buggered off.

If you don't mind me asking how much do they go for in the UK? Here in Shanghai you can pick them up for 2699 RMB from ZWO online store (about 290 quid)
 
If you don't mind me asking how much do they go for in the UK? Here in Shanghai you can pick them up for 2699 RMB from ZWO online store (about 290 quid)

I’m not getting notifications from this thread?

We paid just over £500 for the S50 model. Do you want to start shipping them over and I’ll sell them? :lol:
 
If you don't mind me asking how much do they go for in the UK? Here in Shanghai you can pick them up for 2699 RMB from ZWO online store (about 290 quid)

I'll let you know when I have saved up for one!

Although in reality it would be £290 + a tip for you + shipping + VAT + Duty so wouldn't work out that much cheaper and then no local retailer to return to if there were issues, so probably not really worth importing.
 

Back
Top