EAA arrives on Astrobin Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA) · Bruce Donzanti · ... · 49 · 3531 · 2

umasscrew39 12.53
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Hi Salvatore and All

I am very glad and excited  to see that electronically assisted astronomy (EAA) has made it to Astrobin, a site which I think is fantastic to share your EAA "images", aka views,  and discuss your  techniques with others who practice this form of astronomy.   While different than traditional AP, it does  use many of the same principles and tools but has it own distinct set of challenges vs. traditional AP.   I hope we can build a solid EAA community here as time goes on to share our learnings and help educate each other while simply having fun in this wonderful hobby.

Bruce
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robinandcurtis 0.00
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Thanks Bruce and Salvatore for making this happen! Now I just have to go back and tag all my images with the EAA acquisition tag!
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alphatripleplus
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It is  good to see a new EAA (or whatever you want to call it) community start. Hopefully, many Astrobin users will be interested enough to give it a try.

Errol
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sky-watcher 3.01
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Is this a joke ?
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Epox 0.00
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I have a question if I have a manual mount and I'm making pictures with an analog film camera but I use a flashlight to look around and avoid bumping into something.... that would be Electronically Assisted Astronomy, right? The flashlight is electrical...

Is this a joke ?


I guess not, there's the choice option when you upload a picture.
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robinandcurtis 0.00
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If you are unfamiliar with EAA, this is a good place to start: https://astronomyconnect.com/forums/articles/an-introduction-to-electronically-assisted-astronomy-eaa.77/

EAA is another way to enjoy our hobby. Camera manufacturers such as Atik, ZWO, Mallincam, and Starlight Xpress all offer cameras and software that cater to folks interested in EAA. If your interests lie elsewhere, please find other forums that are a better match for your interests.
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Epox 0.00
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Robin Clark - EAA imager:
If you are unfamiliar with EAA, this is a good place to start: https://astronomyconnect.com/forums/articles/an-introduction-to-electronically-assisted-astronomy-eaa.77/
EAA is another way to enjoy our hobby. Camera manufacturers such as Atik, ZWO, Mallincam, and Starlight Xpress all offer cameras and software that cater to folks interested in EAA. If your interests lie elsewhere, please find other forums that are a better match for your interests.


So... a certain Jim Thompson says that what I called Astrophotography now becomes Electronically Assisted Astronomy and that's it? We all have to call it like this now?
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sky-watcher 3.01
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If you are unfamiliar with EAA

If you search folks unfamiliar with "EAA"  there would be  better places to find them, places like facebook and co.
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umasscrew39 12.53
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Andrea Alessandrelli:
So… a certain Jim Thompson says that what I called Astrophotography now becomes Electronically Assisted Astronomy and that's it? We all have to call it like this now?

If you search folks unfamiliar with "EAA"  there would be  better places to find them, places like facebook and co.

Is this a joke ?

I have been on Astrobin for over 2 years and have really enjoyed it.  Some months ago I brought up the topic of EAA on the forum and received some very intelligent comments and discussion.  That is what led me to suggest an area of EAA on Astrobin.  Thus,  I am totally perplexed by the rudeness  or perhaps your feeble attempt at humor.  One would think if you do not know what it is,  you would ask and try to learn something you are not familiar with or just ignore it .   Not sure what the purpose is to criticize something you do not even understand.   Despite all of that,  I'll make an effort to explain what EAA  is and clarify a few points:

1- EAA is not new.  It has been around for many years.  It has also been called live viewing and realtime viewing.

2-  It is very popular at star parties and planetariums since it allows views of many DSOs and solar system bodies within seconds to a few minutes,  making it an ideal approach to educate and have social interaction.

3- It is NOT astrophotography and is not meant to be a form of it or replace it other than you end up with a picture (called an image in AP and a view in EAA).  So, nobody said or implied, "we all have to call it like this now?".  You apparently did not understand what Salvatore wrote.

4- You will find reference to EAA on other astronomy forums, not just FB and co.

5-  It involves using much of the same equipment used in astrophotography but does not involve  long exposures and post-processing.   The camera views are usually short, unguided stacks.

6-  Believe it or not, there are actually people who do both.

I am not sure if any of this will help but my intent was to have a forum where the EAA community can share their ideas and techniques just like the astrophotography community and, god forbid, even learn from each other and enjoy doing it.  I did not anticipate negative or defensive responses.
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KuriousGeorge 1.20
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Not clear how EAA differs from what most everyone's doing here?  Are you publishing a photo of a monitor screen that had an image form in under 1 minute? If so, how does that differ from me publishing a 1 minute unguided exposure?

Maybe change this to "Unguided Astrophotography with less than 1 minute total exposure and processing time"? Then nearly everyone here can contribute to that technique. 

Might this be an EAA? Just over 2 minutes total time including slewing and a 2-second stretch in PI. I can do this all night with a new image every 3 minutes or so...

http://www.astrobin.com/407470/
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Epox 0.00
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Bruce Donzanti:
I am totally perplexed by the rudeness  or perhaps your feeble attempt at humor


Sorry about that I didn't mean to upset you or others. Anyway, while I posted a joke on this thread as a sarcastic way to expose my perplexity, I also posted a way more elaborate question on this thread:https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/astrobin/annoucements/added-support-for-acquisition-type-traditionaleaalucky-imagingdrawing/

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sky-watcher 3.01
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Bruce Donzanti:
3- It is NOT astrophotography


Exactly, it is not astrophotography! It is what I do BEFORE I BEGIN WITH ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY. I shoot a few short  images, to check the focus, to check the framing, etc.  8)

"AstroBin is an image hosting website specifically targeted to astrophotographers"
Have I misunderstood something ?
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siovene
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·  7 likes
I don't understand the backlash against EAA, and it almost smells of elitism, sorry to be blunt. I even added a "Drawings" type because I've been asked many times in the past. My vision for AstroBin is that it is inclusive of all forms of visual representations of astronomical bodies.

"AstroBin is an image hosting website specifically targeted to astrophotographers"
Have I misunderstood something ?

This is unneeded knit-picking IMHO, and a straw man argument if I ever saw one.
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Epox 0.00
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Exactly, it is not astrophotography! It is what I do BEFORE I BEGIN WITH ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY. I shoot a few short  images, to check the focus, to check the framing, etc.  "AstroBin is an image hosting website specifically targeted to astrophotographers"
Have I misunderstood something ?

Johny,
the more I try to learn about this EAA the more I get confused. I don't think it makes any sense but if some people like it..... well, why not..... it's not going to change my life. And look at the bright side! Now instead of a single picture we can post hundreds of them and we have even a category that justifies them! Ops.. that was a Joke again... sorry
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sky-watcher 3.01
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Thank you for the answer Salvatore, obviously I really misunderstood something.
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Epox 0.00
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Salvatore Iovene:
I don't understand the backlash against EAA, and it almost smells of elitism, sorry to be blunt.


Mine is not elitism, I am just confused therefore asking questions (see the other EAA thread)... and I like to make jokes

I think that EAA cannot be put in a category at least not in the way it was recently added. Let me elaborate:

From what I understood reading this article https://astronomyconnect.com/forums/articles/an-introduction-to-electronically-assisted-astronomy-eaa.77/ , everything that involves the use of technological aid falls under the EAA category. Hence every single user in Astrobin does EAA and this is divided in sub-categories which in my opinion could be:

Long integration processed DSO astrophotography (guided / unguided)
Short integration processed DSO astrophotography (guided / unguided)
Long integration unprocessed DSO astrophotography (guided / unguided)
Short integration unprocessed DSO astrophotography (guided / unguided)
DSO Lucky Imaging astrophotography (processed / unprocessed?)
Planetary Lucky Imaging astrophotography (processed / unprocessed?)
Drawings/Sketches

And you're not blunt, maybe a bit blunt was the way this option was introduced. Anticipating this implementation might have started a more proactive and constructive discussion.

And just my humble opinion: Couldn't we just keep calling it Astronomy? I mean the fact that is Electronically Assisted comes with the times we live in.
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Epox 0.00
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sorry extra post ignore this
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HiloDon 0.00
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Hi All,

I just joined Astrobin and this is my first post.  I live on the Big Island of Hawaii and have access to probably the best skies in the world.  I regularly volunteer at the Visitors Information Station (VIS) on Maunakea and have introduced EAA there as a means to show visitors DSO’s.  We also have visual telescopes available on Stargazing nights.  Unfortunately, the program is on hold right now as some construction required the VIS to close before dark.  We still do a monthly broadcast called Stargazing Live to Imiloa, the planetarium in Hilo.  Both programs have been hugely successful and there are plans to expand the broadcast program to other venues twice a month.  When the VIS was open for stargazing, we did live viewing with a camera and monitor twice a week and showed about a dozen objects in a three hour period.  I use a Mac, so I was able to Airdrop the captured image to anyone who had an iPhone.  Some visitors were so excited about getting these that they stayed the whole evening just to get every object.  I hope this helps those who don’t understand EAA or why some elect to do it.  It has opened up a whole new world for me and the joy I see that it gives others, especially young people, makes me believe that it is a very worthwhile endeavor.

Don Rudny
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robinandcurtis 0.00
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Hi Don,

Thanks for sharing your experiences doing EAA for Star Party visitors. My Windows 10 laptop doesn’t support Airdrop, although I’ve read that Microsoft will be adding an Airdrop like feature at some point. But I do have a workaround that I plan to use at the Grand Canyon Star Party in June. I can send an image from my PC to my iCloud Photos and then it automatically shows up on my iPhone, and then I can use Airdrop on my iPhone to share with the visitors. Should be fun!
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Romadave 0.00
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I am new to EAA but I think there is a disconnect for those who don't get it.

I'm a teacher and I have a university class staring at me while I try to do astrophotography live in person. I'm connected to my remote dome and showing the images on the big screen,  If I try to take darks and flats and all that I'm losing them to iphones and other devices. Or they simply walk away.

With livestacking in TheSkyX or in Sharpcap, I can have a nice representation of a DSO, maybe not Hubble quality, but I can have it in a couple minutes and as I talk about it the details fill in. The pixels gradually build up to something more presentable.

So there is definitely a place for this. I know very little about it so I would love to hear from others and get tips and tricks on how to get an acceptable image in a short time.

Don't worry about the haters.
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morefield 11.07
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·  7 likes
I actually think there is a sharp distinction between traditional astrophotography and what is call EAA.  Traditionally, we take many long (measured in minutes) sub-exposures, calibrate those, stack them, perform rejection and normalization, then post process for hours.  This is usually done with a high cost mount that is very carefully polar aligned and usually guided with a second camera.

EAA on the other hand is very short exposures (milliseconds to seconds), unguided and possibly not even tracked, no subs are touched, but a live stacked result may be post processed.  These usually use a scope that is a visual scope like a big dobsonian but almost always a scope that has a dual function as a visual scope.  By contrast, my scopes don't currently have the ability to be used visually.

This seems to be the perfect middle ground between visual astronomy and astrophotography.

Is it worthy of being on Astrobin?  Of course it is.  Should it be consider separately from long exposure astrophotography?  Certainly, and that is what was put forth.

The only potential confusion I see is that it is very similar to lucky imaging.  However, I think EAA is fundamentally about live stacking whereas lucky imaging involves a video file converted to sub-exposures.  Lucky imaging is about beating the seeing.  EAA is about using visual equipment to shoot deep sky images - and physically see what being capture live in the process.

I think a decent analogy is a track and field meet.  Sprinters and marathoners and hurdlers all compete at the same meet on the same track, but never against each other.  All belong.

Welcome EAA.
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whwang 11.57
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Kevin,

Thank you for the explanation.  This is very interesting and new to me.  At first, the name EAA was a bit confusing to me, since now even the traditional astrophotography is fully electrically operated.  Despite the confusing name, your explanation makes it clearer what it really is about.  I think this is a very useful kind of astronomical observations.  As you said, it is quite similar to lucky imaging.  In the future, when sensors have less and less read noise, even the traditional astrophotography will move to shorter and shorter exposures (to ease pretty much everything except for computing/storage resource, which can be offset by the Moore's law).  So the boundary between traditional astrophotography and EAA will be further blurred.  Anyway, for now, it makes sense to have such a category, and I fully support Astrobin to become a more inclusive community.

Cheers,
Wei-Hao
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prspastor
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Hello All,
My first post here and I'm very new to the Astrobin community. I've really enjoyed looking at all of the photographic work from the folks here. I've recently gotten into EAA and I'm really enjoying it. I'm a very busy person and I don't have time to do a lot of post-processing, but I was very unhappy with my experiences in observational astronomy as well. EAA seems to be a great fit in between for me as it allows me to see many DSOs without the need for a large investment in time or money. I use a ZWO ASI 385 camera, through a filter wheel into a Takahashi 60mm scope. I use SharpCap for live stacking. It's a great way to see quite a few objects in the sky in one night - and with surprising detail for the time involved.

Thanks for providing a place to discuss EAA on Astrobin!
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umasscrew39 12.53
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Welcome aboard!!    Glad you are enjoying EAA and Astrobin.    Yes indeed, EAA does nicely fill that gap between EP visual and traditional AP for the very reasons you mention.

Bruce
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McErono 0.00
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I do EAA and for me its this: having my kids and/or my wife besides me early in the night, running astrotoaster (way better than sharpcaps livestacking feature imo) while capturing my normal light frames. after a few minutes everyone can see what I am talking about and not just days later when I processed my images.

EAA is great and doesn‘t cost me money nor time. why would anybody not do EAA while capturing light frames? I am not sitting in my house with a wifi connection to my mount and I would never go to bed while imaging. I am oldschool and I stay besides my scope the whole night. love it!

In the beginning I did use astrotoaster with my C8 HD on its evolution alt/az mount with very short exposures but today I am using it as a sidekick while imaging.
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