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  • Latest Posts

    • OpusElite
      Goto Handset identification needed

      By OpusElite · Posted

      This GoTo handset was in a box of bits that I bought. Does anyone know what mount it is used with please? The only connection is the USB plug on the end of the curly cable. There are no sockets on the handset, nor is there any text on the rear.  
    • josefk
      TS-Optics 8" f/12 Cassegrain telescope 203/2436 mm OTA

      By josefk · Posted

      i have this scope @magnahrl and i really rate it. It has brought and does bring me a lot of pleasure. That said in your family of scopes i'm not sure it brings any new capability versus the 6" Mak, 8" SCT and 8" newt you have??? In my family of scopes i would swap you my CC8 for your 6" Intes 🙂 The CC8 is a bit undersized (using the flashlight test) at 185mm ish and that makes the secondary a bit chunky in percentage terms and also using the flashlight test the secondary is anyway a bit bigger than specified. Still, I really enjoy it's contrast and general capability (in a compact package) at medium magnifications on DSO (including planetary nebula) and collimation holds really well (i drive down a rough track to my viewing spot and it doesn't care). For planets the diffraction spikes are a big distraction (for me) and i think the quite thick secondary support (that makes collimation so robust) contribute to those spikes being fairly prominent on the brighter planets even while the details on the face of Jupiter in particular have at times been excellent.
    • PhilB61
      Final tweaks before I'm fully dialed in?

      By PhilB61 · Posted

      Image looks great, just needs lots more total exposure time to reduce the noise.  My experience using clone and heal tools is that it's best to do so after stretching your image. If you do it on linear data, initially it may look better but when you later stretch the image, the clone/heal "repairs" stand out like a sore thumb.  I have not found a way to do a temporary screen stretch in GIMP to assist in working on linear data, and would also be interested in hearing of any way of doing the this.
    • tomato
      RASA 8 on HEQ5 - Anyone do it?

      By tomato · Posted

      Sorry, I don’t have access to a HEQ5 any more else I would have tried this combination out for you. What I would say is you would be imaging at 2.39” per pixel so you have some leeway to play with. The RASA8 and dew shield combination is a bit of a sail in windy conditions but I see you have a nice roll off roof observatory which would offer some protection. I can understand why you would like some first hand experience, it would be frustrating in the extreme to buy a RASA and then not be able to use it because the mount wasn’t up to it. It might be worth asking FLO if they could advise?
    • Paul M
      Allsky Camera, cutting the ribbon.

      By Paul M · Posted

      The software I use is Raspberry Pi specific: https://github.com/AllskyTeam/allsky It's quite comprehensive, very configurable - to the point of taking your life over!  And does have a meteor detection module/plugin that's still experimental. I haven't used it. As you'll see from the full night timelapse below, the camera is sited under a busy flight path of Transatlantic and domestic flights. There are multiple satellite flares there too. So I suspect it might be hard work training software to pick out meteors from all the noise. I could be wrong The PoE is stable, but as noted above, getting the right gear is important. The current Pi 4 reports the odd "under volt" when it's busy, such as when it's crunching the images to make the timelapse. I've already upgraded the PoE switch that supplies the power and I'm going to replace the splitter for a higher rated one.  I had some teething problems initially, long period connection drop-outs but not loss of power. It turned out that the Pi was connecting via WiFi, which is a bit flakey in that spot - outside an aluminium caravan! The Pi was set to prioritise WiFi over Ethernet. Now corrected that but still have the WiFi connected as back up. The Pi has crashed to unstable states a couple of times, VNC not connecting so unable to go in and fix it, but did have SSH. A bit complex really. I have a mini PC on site also. That lives inside. I can VNC into that then SSH to the Pi to reboot it. That's mostly just a hazard of remote computers, not particularly PoE, and it's rare. PoE has been better than I'd expected. It's not a very long run and only Cat5 cable, maybe 20mts. I do have all the bits to run power and ethernet separately or even just have the camera on its own via a long USB 3 cable. None of that was needed. Anyway, last night was very clear oop north. April 25-26.mp4        

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