Recent content by kiwiapple

What a very cool image, and it is quite clear why it has the common name it has!

Thanks; I just uploaded a new version of the app, speeding up launch and fixing a few little issues I discovered.

Over the past several years I have found myself perusing various astrophotography forums and seeing images that I'd like to capture myself. But then when I went to my planning software I had a hard time making sure that my telescope was aimed at the right part of the sky. That led me to work...

As far as the S50 Pro is concerned, I don't see a use case for me for it. As it is my S50 spends most of its time idle, so I hardly can get a new telescope into the house without a serious talking-to from my spouse....

I just used my recently-released freeware application, AstroFrame, to identify the image you presented, so I now know the answer (and I was way off). If anyone's interested in it, you can download it for Mac or Windows (I'm not a notarised Apple developer, so it isn't signed) at...

How fun! For me, I prefer the small star version, and I suspect that it might be the Elephant's Trunk nebula but it's certainly a northern-hemisphere target, so I'm a bit out of my depth.

I have been trying to collect enough data on this target to make a worthwhile image for a few weeks, but it only rises above my house late at night, and then before long it crosses the meridian, and the SCT I needed to use to shoot it has been giving me trouble with focus, especially after a...

It's a simple fix--just a matter of putting the right settings into the AM5 mount app, but it was not immediately obvious that it needs to be done. I'm also using a new Svbony switch to power everything, and that has a rather opaque interface, too, but someone created an alternative that I...

Thank you, but you may regret offering to help! As it is, I was using the Target Scheduler this past week, giving it two targets to keep in mind for me, the Corona Australis that I posted and M8 and M20. Unfortunately, I failed to include in the instructions the requirement that M8/M20 be above...

Yeah, it was quite the domino tumble! And now I am toying with replacing the ASIAIR on my other rig with a NINA installation too...

I have made the switch from ASIAIR-assisted imaging to the far more powerful, but far more complicated, NINA system. This was prompted by my buying a rotator for my rig, which meant ditching an off-axis guider, which meant adding a guide scope, which led to my running out of USB ports, which...

That's really beautiful--I love a good dark nebula, and having the Flaming Skull in the frame makes for a lovely composition. Well done!

Thank you on both counts--ZWO sent me a replacement controller and I also ordered a second unit, so I'm well covered for filter wheels now!

As you may know (or maybe not) I lived in China for a long time, and the one thing that I think can be reliably said about Chinese companies is that they don't tend to be customer-focused in the way that Western businesses tend to be. I think that ZWO have done an amazing job in an extremely...

When my mom and dad were relatively newly married and money was tight, my father returned from a business trip to Italy with the nicest gift for my mother that he thought he could afford--a pair of handmaid yellow gloves from Florence. What he hadn't counted on, unfortunately, was that you don't...