ZWO ASIAIR and Celestron CGEM - Easy setup and polar alignment

In this video I like to run through how I setup my CGEM mount with the ASIAIR to begin imaging

[@galacticus9845]

I bought the ASI air and its great. Saving for a RASA 11 next. The F2 focal ratio will mean faster results for live video. Many thanks Steven for this.

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Shooting at F2 is so convenient, wouldn’t mind shooting nightscapes at F0.95 with the Nikon Noct, just have to get my hands on one first.

[@cedriclejosne101]

Thank you for this great explanation. IWill try this method on my mount.

[@martynjohnstone6022]

I’ve got the new ASIAIR Pro on back order - I’m really looking forward to its arrival.

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Nice one, I haven’t ordered mine yet :)

[@aussiecqrider9524]

@@StevenMorrisPhotography There is a ASIAIR trade-in deal going at the moment. You send in your ASIAIR to either a store who is running the deal or ZWO and you get $150 (AUD) off the ASIAIR Pro. I did mine through Bintel. Downside is that you won't have an ASIAIR for a few weeks until ZWO sends the new units out.

[@stormingbarney4498]

Great video - i am waiting on the ASIair Pro to arrive

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

I still don’t have one myself

[@darkenergylambda]

I’m holding off buying the asi air until early 2020. The asi air pro will be released then

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

I too will be looking at upgrading to the asi air pro but for now I’m really happy with the asi air :)

[@medec021]

Thanks, very helpful

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Glad it was helpful!

[@OigresZevahc]

Could you please point to the correct link to purchase the RJ45 adapter?

[@chhupparustom]

Nice information on your set up - is the audio recording level too low?

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Yeah I had some issues with the wireless mic, think my batteries were getting a bit low. Had to salvage what I could audio wise.

[@deepskyproject]

Hey Steven, have been a fan of your passion and works for a long time now. My friend is looking to offload his CGEM but he warned me that it's too heavy for his liking. How is your CGEM working for ya? Is it as cumbersome to set-up for every imaging session as half of the imagers say?

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Hi mate, I'm really pleased to hear you've been enjoying my content and journey. Now the CGEM is a heavy mount and I'm lucky I was able to pick up a case on wheels for transport of my mount. I love my mount and it's been an absolute tank! It's taken plenty of bumps on it's journey and is still functioning. Now as for the weight.... it's heavy and can be a bit of a back buster if your leaning a lot to pick it up.... but it's solid! It would all come down to what your using to image with. If your only using a small telescope or a lens then the smaller and much lighter AVX mount by Celestron would be the one to go for. I will at some stage see how the RASA 8 goes with the AVX, it will be close to it's 12kg load capacity but I still think it will support it just fine. I hope this helps answer your question, if not ask away :)

[@deepskyproject]

@@StevenMorrisPhotography Thanks so much Steve, really appreciate the time and effort you you took for the reply. My bad for the late reply as I rarely use KZbin (well only mostly to catch up on astronomy videos like yours :D)) Cheers mate, hope to see your results with the RASA on the AVX!

[@AussieVeteran71]

Can the audio be alittle louder , as that was only thing I noticed that was bad in the whole video , as I had my volume up loud and the audio was still too low .

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

I agree the audio was a bit low, should be ok in future videos :)

[@akacagen]

Fantastic video. Well explained. I can't wait till mine arrives. Does the ASIAIR Pro reply on the selection of Polaris in order to polar align?

[@LZori-sp9dr]

good info Steve. Very helpful. Question about the focal length associated with the scope for the main cam. How come it's only 399mm. I would imagine your telescope has FL > 2000mm. I Had hard time plate solving using the ZWO cam on my telescopes one of them 1250mm the other 2350mm. So when I need to plate solve i make the guide cam the main cam so the FOV will be within the acceptable limits for AsiAir. What am I missing here?

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

Hi mate, the focal length of the telescope is 400mm however when I entered it into the asiair it went to 399 so I’ve just left it. With the sensor size the focal length would be a lot longer however I only enter in what the telescope focal length is and not combined with the sensor. So I’ve never had an issues with plate solving, the only time I did was when I want polar aligned correctly. I hope that help answer your question a little bit.

[@LZori-sp9dr]

@@StevenMorrisPhotography thank you Steve, for getting back to me, I just realized that your optical tube is the 8" RASA and not an 8" SC so your FL is 400mm and not the +2000mm I wrongly assumed. It seems that ASIair has a limit on the FOV below which it won't be able to plate solve. Not an issue with Polar Alignment. Seems to work well. Cheers from the other side of the blue globe.

[@barrymoroney2411]

@@LZori-sp9dr I just spent all evening trying to work around the same issue with my 8" sct, if you don't mind me asking did you come up with any other fixes to this issue

[@LZori-sp9dr]

@@barrymoroney2411 hello the only workaround I found is to use my 120 mm guide scope as both main scope when I plate solve and back to guide scope when I am done with plate solving and use it again for guiding. But then you have to super alight the guide scope to the telescope so you end up pointing to the exact object. Its very annoying process but that's the only workaround I have for now,

[@LZori-sp9dr]

@@barrymoroney2411 if the FOV (from the main telescope and the camera you are using) is less than 0.4 deg ASIair will not plate solve.

[@volleysim]

Great videos! I’ve been trying to use the asiair pro with the cgem mount. Go to and plate solving work but I have to switch back to on camera st4 for the auto guiding to work. Have you had this problem and how did you deal with it? Thanks again for the videos

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

I did have this problem and to be honest my guiding still isn’t the best. When I go out next I’ll have a look at my settings and get back to you :)

[@volleysim]

Thanks 👍

[@shaunozs1ra92]

Does it work with CCD cameras other than ZWO?

[@StevenMorrisPhotography]

No it doesn't unfortunately, the ASIair only works with ASI products

[@shaunozs1ra92]

Steven Morris Thanks for your reply. That puts me back as I cannot afford to upgrade in one foul swoop. I will have to change my main camera, guide cam and the ASIair which I cannot justify right now. Thanks

[@jstev67]

It’s a shame ASI doesn’t care. There should be a spec input sheet in their app to customize the non ASI ccd cameras. The camera is just uploading images/tif files, how hard would it be to modify the have plate solving for goodness sakes lol. The pro and plus work with most Nikon and Canon only.

[@panzerdivizzion]

ASIAIR plus destroyed my Nexstar + hand control. ( at the minimum) I can’t get a new hand control untill sometime next year. Zwo treats me like I’m a moron who didn’t know how to connect it. Now have to wait who knows how long to get another controller to even begin to diagnose. How do I plug a usb cable in wrong? I have used my mount with pc for 5 yrs. Plug ASI plus in and get error code 15,16,and 17. Backlights are dead, and tells me I’m using wrong controller. Now can’t buy the m5 mount out of principal. Their 300 raspberry pi killed my 1500 mount. I bought a celestron mount because it was them, Orion, or losmandy. Celestron had the big payload. Now I’m getting the big payload. Right in my ass. At 72ed, cgem,071mc pro, focuser, etc. Dont buy ANYTHING that says celestron, and be careful of zwo.