Official StarTools support forum

I was wondering if there is a way to remove the spikes from the images I will soon be taking through my Third Planet Optics RC8 telescope. I know some people love seeing those spikes. I am not one of those people. I like round stars. I feel the spikes are distracting, especially the very bright to m...

I try to use a focusing mask, but am not always that good with one, so I end up using Live View on my DSLR via BTEOS to refine things, using the digital readout to get the lowest number. Most of the time, I do have to move to a brighter star, because there aren't any bright ones in the FOV of my DSL...

Che, I usually do focusing once. Guess I should try doing it more often. The problem is I am not automated when it comes to acquiring an object. I use Precise GOTO of the mount. I've found I just cannot quit on an object, slew to a bright star to focus, and then get back to the same position on the ...

Che, I thought this was somewhat of a faint and difficult object. I guess I should be happy with what I managed. You can just discern two of the arms and of course, the core. I do have a larger telescope, a TP 8" RC, but I have been having some difficulty getting things set up properly. I'm almost t...

I accumulated this data on the 5th of February. I used my Explore Scientific ES102ED atop a Celestron CGEM DX. I used BYEOS to control my Canon 600D (unmodified). Guiding was with a 50mm Guide Scope using an Orion SSAG controlled by PHD2. Data consists of twenty one 300 second exposures at ISO 800, ...

Gentlemen, Happy New Years! Both of you are talking a foreign language at the moment. I am not even part of the way to where I start to worry about such things. I'm finding just how important your data is, when you try to develop it with Star Tools. My very early efforts in AP were, needless to say,...

Not a clue as to how to reduce the size of the brighter stars. I've also had someone mention that I should find a way to have the Trapzium shown, but again, that is something beyond my understanding in the processing area. I'm sure that eventually I will learn these, but it just will take time. Caley

My goodness! I sure am not very smart. I should have figured that out myself by going through every slider to see what it showed. Teaches me to be so intimidated by something that has more than one button or slider. :D Thanks again I'm not revisiting my M42 that got good marks for just having done t...

Ivo, I posted the photo to Astrobin. I put in the description a note giving you credit for the processing help. I thought it was the right thing to do, considering the processing was actually done by you I did go ahead and redo two more of my photos, M78 and M45, and got better results, but still ne...

Ivo, I just went through the process with what you gave me. The results are close to what you provided, but I think I am still not setting DSS on one of those parameters correctly. But, what you provided in the way of steps has shown me what a few of these modules can do. I hadn't even played with t...