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N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy

89 points by amarsahinovic 5y ago

dylan604 5y ago
I love the fact that we have so much available at our disposal now to make this kind of thing possible. The old days of manual steering to keep the object center over the course of multiple nights just to get a single image can now be done in a single night with equipment that fits in the back of an SUV. Much thanks to people that build tools like this and PHD! My retirement dream is to do this all the time. I fall prone to the traditional amateur astronomer's delima of having free time available to go to a dark sky location and the weather is bad, or be totally slammed with gorgeous viewing conditions.
crazydoggers 5y ago
This looks pretty cool. Anyone have any experience with it? Used to use Backyard EOS to control my canon for timed exposures. Edit: In case anyone is interested here’s a couple images I took with my 9.5 inch scope. The globular cluster required stacking many exposures. The double star is not color enhanced or anything, that’s how it looks through the eye piece. https://astrob.in/257816/0/ https://astrob.in/257816/0/ https://astrob.in/257435/0/ https://astrob.in/257435/0/ https://astrob.in/256165/0/ https://astrob.in/256165/0/
madaxe_again 5y ago
I would love a viable F/OSS alternative to SGPro, as it’s pretty much the only show in town when it comes to fire and forget capture sessions, and I’m too busy in the day to stay up all night nursing telescopes - I rely on it handling everything from focus to acquisition to guiding to some control, including exceptions such as weather - and will therefore do my best to find the time to contribute to this project.
joshspankit 5y ago
Looks well thought out and powerful to use. The page does, however, fall prey to a common issue among HN submissions: For someone who is not already an expert, and who does not know the rest of the pieces required: what do they need to know/have to get their first successful use? I’m vaguely guessing that someone needs a camera that can keep the shutter open, some type of servos to turn the camera?, and a laptop running next to it all night (which implies you also need necessary cables, extra battery power, and waterproof bags just in case)?
- monkmartinez 5y ago
  I am aware of Astrophotography on a limited/thats a thing basis and would like to give it a go someday. That said, I think its pretty self-explanatory that you will need some kind of imaging capturing device as a first step to even have interest in this project. The documentation is on the home page... :https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/requirements/ https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/requirements/ Not to be too snide, but I highly doubt you'll need a waterproof bag if you are trying to take images of Space at night... Kinda hard to see through clouds.
  - ksaj 5y ago
    Don't forget about dew.
    - crazydoggers 5y ago
      Dew can definitely be a problem depending on location and weather. Dew shields and heaters for lenses or scopes can sometimes be required. It doesn’t need to be cloudy for dew to be an issue.
  - joshspankit 5y ago
    Aha, then your answer to “if you don’t already know, then how do you learn?” is “you should just already know” / “use common sense”. Respectfully, that is quite unhelpful. I was thinking a waterproof bag in case you set up and a storm rolls in and you have to pack up then get back to shelter. My common sense says be prepared because you don’t even want expensive gear to get wet while being transported.
    - dylan604 5y ago
      Anyone doing astrophotography has already been watching the forecast for days in advance. There's not really going to be something rolling in they didn't anticipate, unless you're really planning for it. Depending on where you are and the type of weather you have, a storm rolling through could be the best thing. I'm in Texas, and my favorite spot to go is a place 4.5 hours away. If you want to view things around the center of the Milky Way, you'll need to be viewing during the summer. Texas and summer don't make for friendly viewing conditions. However, if you catch one of those thunderstorms that blows through in half an hour or so, they can clear the air so that you have much better conditions after. You just gotta time it right!
throw0101a 5y ago
For a pre-made hardware appliance/solution see Stellina: * https://vaonis.com/stellina https://vaonis.com/stellina * https://www.astrobiscuit.com/stellina-review https://www.astrobiscuit.com/stellina-review * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AS0R4x_cE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AS0R4x_cE

89 points by amarsahinovic 5y ago

I love the fact that we have so much available at our disposal now to make this kind of thing possible. The old days of manual steering to keep the object center over the course of multiple nights just to get a single image can now be done in a single night with equipment that fits in the back of an SUV. Much thanks to people that build tools like this and PHD! My retirement dream is to do this all the time. I fall prone to the traditional amateur astronomer's delima of having free time available to go to a dark sky location and the weather is bad, or be totally slammed with gorgeous viewing conditions.

crazydoggers 5y ago

This looks pretty cool. Anyone have any experience with it? Used to use Backyard EOS to control my canon for timed exposures. Edit: In case anyone is interested here’s a couple images I took with my 9.5 inch scope. The globular cluster required stacking many exposures. The double star is not color enhanced or anything, that’s how it looks through the eye piece. https://astrob.in/257816/0/ https://astrob.in/257816/0/ https://astrob.in/257435/0/ https://astrob.in/257435/0/ https://astrob.in/256165/0/ https://astrob.in/256165/0/

madaxe_again 5y ago

I would love a viable F/OSS alternative to SGPro, as it’s pretty much the only show in town when it comes to fire and forget capture sessions, and I’m too busy in the day to stay up all night nursing telescopes - I rely on it handling everything from focus to acquisition to guiding to some control, including exceptions such as weather - and will therefore do my best to find the time to contribute to this project.

joshspankit 5y ago

Looks well thought out and powerful to use. The page does, however, fall prey to a common issue among HN submissions: For someone who is not already an expert, and who does not know the rest of the pieces required: what do they need to know/have to get their first successful use? I’m vaguely guessing that someone needs a camera that can keep the shutter open, some type of servos to turn the camera?, and a laptop running next to it all night (which implies you also need necessary cables, extra battery power, and waterproof bags just in case)?

monkmartinez 5y ago
I am aware of Astrophotography on a limited/thats a thing basis and would like to give it a go someday. That said, I think its pretty self-explanatory that you will need some kind of imaging capturing device as a first step to even have interest in this project. The documentation is on the home page... :https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/requirements/ https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/master/site/requirements/ Not to be too snide, but I highly doubt you'll need a waterproof bag if you are trying to take images of Space at night... Kinda hard to see through clouds.
- ksaj 5y ago
  Don't forget about dew.
  - crazydoggers 5y ago
    Dew can definitely be a problem depending on location and weather. Dew shields and heaters for lenses or scopes can sometimes be required. It doesn’t need to be cloudy for dew to be an issue.
- joshspankit 5y ago
  Aha, then your answer to “if you don’t already know, then how do you learn?” is “you should just already know” / “use common sense”. Respectfully, that is quite unhelpful. I was thinking a waterproof bag in case you set up and a storm rolls in and you have to pack up then get back to shelter. My common sense says be prepared because you don’t even want expensive gear to get wet while being transported.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    Anyone doing astrophotography has already been watching the forecast for days in advance. There's not really going to be something rolling in they didn't anticipate, unless you're really planning for it. Depending on where you are and the type of weather you have, a storm rolling through could be the best thing. I'm in Texas, and my favorite spot to go is a place 4.5 hours away. If you want to view things around the center of the Milky Way, you'll need to be viewing during the summer. Texas and summer don't make for friendly viewing conditions. However, if you catch one of those thunderstorms that blows through in half an hour or so, they can clear the air so that you have much better conditions after. You just gotta time it right!

throw0101a 5y ago

For a pre-made hardware appliance/solution see Stellina: * https://vaonis.com/stellina https://vaonis.com/stellina * https://www.astrobiscuit.com/stellina-review https://www.astrobiscuit.com/stellina-review * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AS0R4x_cE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AS0R4x_cE