LBN 744 is a planetary nebula and may not be suitable for use with the Ha/OII filter.
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OK understood. The filter is off by default.
There are three filter settings:
VIS Filter (Visible Light):
Covers 430–650nm, designed for daytime, solar, and regular photography by filtering out infrared light for accurate colors.Astro Filter (IR Cut):
Covers 430–690nm, extending into the infrared range to improve, deep-space, and low-light imaging.Dual-Band Filter (Narrowband):
Targets OIII (500.7nm), H (486nm), and H (656.3nm) wavelengths, effectively reducing moonlight and urban light pollution for clearer nebula imaging.
(plus the clip-on solar filter of course)
Well I have finally got myself organised to have another go with the Askar 71F - and have learned how to get it polar aligned properly (using the ASIAIR camera/controller), as well as figuring out all the other steps, including using the ZWO autofocuser, to get it to point at something useful and take photos!
Last night I photographed M81 / M82 (Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy). I took 200 30-second exposures, no filter. As the moon was near full I thought it was best to shoot something in the northern sky rather than try and compete with moonlight!
I am still definitely not 100% there when it comes to post-processing in SIRIL, GraXpert and Photoshop, but have learned a lot from watching Nico Carver (Nebula Photos) on YouTube.
So here’s the result of my efforts - “could do better” will no doubt be the verdict but I feel I am making progress at last. Just need some more clear nights!
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You’ve got some really good detail in the larger galaxy. My first ever attempt was Andromeda and I had trouble with the detail so you’ve done really well there. Thinking again, it could be my very novice stacking and post processing that were the problem so I may revisit the raw data to see what I can do now.
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Yes the processing is half the battle it seems! I had another go at my Pleiades image from a few months back and I got a bit more detail out of the nebulosity.
And I even managed to get something from a single exposure of Andromeda where my tracking was so bad the sub-frames would not stack!
But now I am dialled in a bit with the image capture side of things I can hopefully do more.
Here’s one of LBN-569 which is a faint molecular cloud that I managed to take a few weeks ago. It took quite a bit of processing to bring out the detail. Still working on some of the other stuff I took during 4 nights … when I can.
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Last night’s effort - M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy.
100 60-second exposures. More would have been better of course. No filters, just the colour camera.
I still haven’t figured out electronic tracking with the secondary camera inside the ZWO 585 MC Air, so this is just relying on the mount to track reliably, which it seems to do fairly well considering the telescope etc. is pushing its 5kg payload capacity.
I may have oversharpened this a touch. 
Anyway I feel I am making progress… (click to enlarge)
Looking at the weather forecast it seems I may get one more go tonight and then it’s cloudy for the next fortnight!
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What software are you using for the capture ? What are you trying to use for the tracking ? Although the mount tracking is pretty good, you can see there’s some drift. With second camera tracking, it’ll be much better and you’ll be able to take longer exposures which ill be important for longer exposures.
It’s the ZWO iOS app for the MC585 AIR camera.
I am just using the Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTI mount, controlled by the MC585 AIR. I have been quite diligent about getting a good polar alignment though.
Yes the stars are just a bit oval. As mentioned above I tried to switch on the second camera guiding (the 585MC Air has a built in mini guide camera which you can see below the main sensor in the photo above) but it refused to cooperate saying it could not see a suitable guide star.
I suspect I didn’t have the exposure set properly for the guide camera but by that point I had done enough faffing about so just went ahead and did my 100 60 second exposures. I need to get my head around calibration frames too, all my stuff so far has been lights-only.
The 585 MC Air is still dropping its wifi connection occasionally too - that seems to be a “feature” of ZWO controllers. I tried getting it to use my home wifi via a repeater but same thing. Some astro forum folks blame insufficient voltage if you plug things like dew heaters or the mount into it, so next time I will try giving it its own separate power.
Ah. You have the Air variant of the camera, so it has a built in Asiair to control things. I used to use an external Aisiar to control my mount and two cameras, I still have it, but the Wifi on it was terrible and you needed the app on a tablet or phone to use it. Wifi seems to be a perennial issue with all the Asiair variants. I now use a Raspberry Pi 5 and control the mount using a bluetooth dongle. The software is Kstars, Indi and Phd2. I can program it all indoors and then do the polar alignment and set it going outdoors via Wifi and then just leave it to do it’s thing.
Yes that’s right - I got it because I liked its all-in-one simplicity, and it was a bit cheaper than buying a separate camera and controller. But maybe I’d have been better off with separate units. But that’s the trouble with any new hobby - the first bits of kit you buy are never quite right (though I think the Askar 71F is excellent and I’ve been quite impressed with the Skywatcher mount’s performance given that I’ve loaded it to the max).
It does, unfortunately. I am going to experiment with powering the rig via the 240V outlet on my Ecoflow battery pack and the mains adapter, rather than through the 12V cigarette lighter socket.
On the wifi itself I’m a bit stuck with that as this model does not have an ethernet port, otherwise I could hard-wire the controller to a wifi extender.
I will persevere with it for now I think, having just learned how to use the ZWO app! But yes a different cotnrol system may be the way to go in future.
it’s not a major hassle if the wifi drops, the imaging run continues unaffected - it just means I can’t monitor it remotely, unless I go outside and press the wifi reset button on the ASIAIR and then reconnect.
I agree with you there.
Tell me about it 
. Mine was the Asiar, and in hindsight my camera, both of which I’ve replaced.
I wondered whether you could plug in a USB wifi extender or a USB ethernet adaptor ? The USB ports are only 2.0 so it wouldn’t be hugely fast but fast enough. I did a quick google and surprise surprise the AI results say YES, but if you look at the underlying articles it’s never mentioned. It very well may do though.
Could be. It does have a USB-C port as well, though whether that would work I don’t know.
I am currently testing the “insufficient voltage / wattage” hypothesis - i have it all wired up via my Svbony power distribution box, powered by a mains 12v adaptor (I think it is the one supplied with my Skywatcher mount), plugged into the 240V socket on the Ecoflow power station, instead of running from the 12V cigarette lighter socket on the Ecoflow.
I’ve set it to take 100 60-second dark frames which should be a sufficiently lifelike load (and it’s also busy cooling the sensor down). Will see if the wifi signal drops in that situation.
Update - nope - still not working reliably.
Even powered from the mains, and with my iPhone or iPad sitting a meter away and not moving, the wifi still drops after about 20-30 minutes, and requires a reset on the 585 MC AIR and a reconnection of the app.
The only saving grace is that the job being run still continues.
Switching from 5GHz to 2.4GHz, no difference; and connecting to my home wifi in Station Mode, whether directly or via a wifi repeater plugged in to the same mains power as the telescope rig, also drops the signal.
I even tried a bigger third-party antenna - same result.
So I can only conclude that the wifi on this thing is just faulty. Whether it’s this particular unit, or all 585 MC AIRs that suffer from this, I don’t know.
But the presence of a physical “wifi reset” button on the back of the unit makes me very suspicious that they were not able to get wifi working reliably when they designed this thing.
I will be talking to the supplier I got it from next week…
I think the USB-C port is for the internal storage only. I think it’s a device port you can connect that looks like a storage device.
What current is the 12V adaptor ? I would go for a minimum of 5 A but use higher just in case. The one supplied with the mount may not, on it’s own, be enough for everything. Also, the length and thickness of the cable is important. Too long and not thick enough will create a larger voltage drop. In saying that, a small drop in the 12V input to the camera shouldn’t upset the Wi-fi but any small overload in the DC power supply very well could.
It could very well be.
Did you get it from FLO ? Their after sales service a d returns policy is excellent.
Just looked up the Ecoflow specs and the Delta 2 has 12.6V on it’s ciggy output rather than 12V and can supply 10 A so that should be the best way to go. Is yours a Delta 2 ? If not, check the specs of the one you have. Do you have or can borrow a multimeter to check voltages ? I’ve been through this sort of thing myself so understand how frustrating it can be 
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It’s 10 amps which should be plenty. The Svbony SV241 power distribution box also supports 10 amps so I don’t think that’s the problem, though I am now trying the 585 MC Air powered on its own direct from the mains through the power brick, to exclude the Svbony thing from the equation in case it’s providing wobbly power.
In that state, the ASIAIR app is reporting 12.4V input at 1.5 amps, and power usage of 18.3W for just the 585 MC Air.
No, from 365 Astronomy - i thiink they have a pretty good reputation too.
I have read that the ZWO gadgets like a direct 2.4GHz connection in station mode, not a dual-band mesh-type setup. Unfortunately I can’t split off 2.4GHz to a separate SSID in my Netgear Orbi boxes, nor in the Vodafone router that sits behind them.
But even that does not explain why I can’t get a connection on the internal wifi to last more than half an hour…
I have ordered Yet Another Antenna and a wifi antenna extension cable from Amazon, in a last ditch attempt to improve the signal.
If that doesn’t work I will have to talk to 365 Astronomy and see what the can do for me.
I do have a Delta 2 which I use for powering a TV set at business expos, but for the astro setup I am using a River 3:
I think the power output specs on this are the same as for the Delta 2, it just has a smaller battery capacity and only a single mains socket.
I could try the Delta 2 but given that I have still had problems when running from 240V mains I am still inclined to blame the 585 MC Air!
That said, it’s now sitting quietly taking some dark frames on direct mains supply (no SvBony in line) so we’ll see how long that runs for!
It may be that the SvBony is the culprit - it would be a relief if that proves to be the case…
Yes I do have a multimeter (two actually!) so i will check once the current test has finished!
So, if I’m correct, you have only two powered things in your rig, the 585 camera and the mount ? If so, why do you need the power distribution box ? Or is there another reason for it ? The Camera has a DC output as well that you could use to power the mount and so you can just have one 12V power lead from your Ecoflow.
I would try the Delta 2 using the ciggy output to be sure. Have you tried just connecting everything together, connecting over wifi and just doing nothing for an hour or so to see if you still bet a wifi dropout ? I’m thinking if it happens in a very low power draw scenario then that’s a no brainer fault with the camera. If that doesn’t drop, turn on the camera cooler to say -10 C and try again. Then if that still works, also set it to take a load of dark frames, at least an hours worth and see what happens. You can do this all inside during the day which helps 
Edit: Our posts are crossing, so I’ll leave you to it. Let me know how it goes.