#astroberry — Public Fediverse posts

My flat panel setup: a sideways laptop with a simple, auto-refreshing, html page with uniform background color opened full-screen. I `ssh` into the laptop to adjust the background color to get the desired level for each color channel depending on the filter used.

#astrophotography #astronomy #astrodon #calibration #ekos #kstars #astroberry #remmina #vim #ssh #pop_os #DYI

The Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, in the constellation Cygnus, blown by winds from its central massive Wolf-Rayet star (WR136).

This image was captured on July 26 & 28 under quite bad sky conditions; low transparency due to smoke from wild fires in the West combined with Moon illumination.

Annotated version & technical details on Telescopius: https://telescopius.com/pictures/view/195218/deep_sky/crescent-nebula/diffuse-nebula/crescent-nebula/by-drgfreeman

Image license: CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

#astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky #photography #astroberry #kstars #ekos #phd2 #darktable #astrodon #ngc6888

The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) is an emission nebula associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It is separated from the North America Nebula by a foreground molecular dust cloud.

Annotated & high quality versions and technical details available on Telescopius: https://telescopius.com/pictures/view/191806/deep_sky/pelican-nebula/IC/5070/bright-nebula/pelican-nebula/by-drgfreeman

The work on the Newtonian paid off and I'm happy with the results. This was the first time I tried the 150 mm f/5 Newtonian with the Starizona Nexus 0.75x coma corrector/reducer and my older ASI183MC Pro camera. The pixel scale (0.88"/px) with this setup is a good match with the scope's resolution limit and the faster focal ratio of f/3.7 with the reducer helps with the somewhat noisier camera.

Image license: CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

#astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky #photography #astroberry #kstars #ekos #phd2 #astrodon

A view of the extensive H II emission regions in the constellation Cygnus, just North of the star Sadr (γ Cygni), which forms the intersection of the asterism known as the Northern Cross.

At the bottom right is the NGC 6914 reflection nebula, blue halos created by the reflection of the light from blue giant stars on the surrounding interstellar dust.

The field of view is 3.2 x 2.1 degrees, with the celestial North to the left of the image.

High quality/resolution version & technical details on Telescopius: https://telescopius.com/pictures/view/191255/deep_sky/NGC/6914/bright-nebula/north-west-of-gamma-cygni/by-drgfreeman

Image license: CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

#astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky #photography #astroberry #kstars #ekos #phd2 #DarkTable #raspberrypi #astrodon

Measuring focuser backlash on the Newtonian and dialing in backlash compensation in the Ekos software focus tab.

The objective is to find the largest displacements (number of steps of the stepper motor) that does not move the dial gauge needle when making alternated in and out focuser movements. Once the backlash compensation value is dialed in, the software will add this number of steps to the requested focuser movement when changing direction. This should help repeatability of the auto-focus routine that uses measurement of star size at different focuser positions to achieve the best focus.

#astrophotography #astronomy #astrodon #precision #kstars #ekos #astroberry #foss

Linking a post from last year with a photo taken with the exact same setup and same location. https://techhub.social/@jdlbt/110605793090878469

#astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky #photography #astroberry #kstars #ekos #phd2 #raspberrypi #astrodon

All setup, listening to the birds while I wait for darkness...

#astrophotography #astronomy #kstars #ekos #phd2 #astroberry #RaspberryPi

It was also the first time I tried using a tablet instead of a laptop to remotely control the Kstars/Ekos & PHD2 software running on the Raspberry Pi attached to my astrophoto rig over VNC.

Although Kstars/Ekos are not designed for tactile use, I found it perfectly functional with the way the VNC client uses the screen as a big touchpad and allows for zooming.

Also, combining the use of the tablet's "night mode" and "extra dimming" feature with a contrasting color theme in Kstars allowed for a visually comfortable experience with little blue light that would otherwise ruin night vision.

I will probably keep using the laptop for initial setup but then use the tablet to monitor and make adjustments when required.

#astrophotography #kstars #ekos #phd2 #astroberry #RaspberryPi #foss #linux