steppenwolf

Hi Steve, the one I built is controlled by a simple relay that is itself driven by a Velleman K8055 interface board. I use an ASCOM driver (LesveDome) via a VBScript to open and close the flap and turn on the flat panel. If EKOS can call external scripts then it would be possible for you to do the same.

This is a really fascinating image and the predominance of Ha in the surrounding regions raises some interesting questions - nicely done, Peter!

Thank you for posting up the single frame which does de-Bayer correctly in PixInsight using the RGGB setting (also the 'Auto' setting) in the Debayer process and I get the same (correct) result using WBPP at default settings so I am at a loss to explain why your mileage differs! In MaxIm DL it also de-bayers correctly using 'Generic RGB' with no offsets.

It does look like the wrong Bayer matrix decode has been selected. Can you post up a single unprocessed FITS file please?

Definitely go for it as that amount of extra ‘light grab’ will make a noticeable difference.

I think that ISO 800 is a good compromise and you have some nice, worthwhile data there. The star shapes don’t look like poor polar alignment to me as each corner shows a similar pattern so I would recommend that you experiment with the spacing of the camera from the field flattener to try and improve the star shapes. That said, this is a nice image especially considering the short integration time.

I am watching your progress with great interest and I hope it works well for you. It’s looking good so far 👍

Yes that is correct

Oh yes, Peter, that is stunning👍

To that end, I have a really heavy duty Manfrotto 143 tripod that I have modified with a central bolt for placing the mount on whenever I need to work on it not in the observatory. Of course, none of this helps our unfortunate friend but it might well help others in the future. When I first got my mount, I had it sitting on the carpet test tracking and it gently over-balanced onto it’s side but it could so easily have been on a bench with catastrophic consequences. Not a Mesu issue at all but definitely something to be aware of! My Mesu 200 (Sitech II controller) bought new in 2013 continues to work faultlessly in my automated observatory - one of the best purchases I have ever made!

I have had some great email exchanges with Martin in the past - a great guy! Have a wonderful retirement, Martin 👍

Hard to think that Covid could have given us any positives but I do think that introducing some of us to the power of a Zoom meeting is one of them. I have really enjoyed the wide range of talks that we have been presented with and believe that this format has more to offer than a simple ‘on-line’ club meeting so, for me, the current formula works well and it is refreshingly different to a typical club evening to make it stand out. The advantage of Zoom is that we have a worldwide pool of speakers to call on and that is something rather special that no UK club was likely to have enjoyed in the past. Getting good quality speakers is no easy task and the organising team have done really well in this regard but reducing the frequency to once or twice a month as we ease out of lockdown would make sense to me. Once we are out of the whole Covid thing, I believe that there is still an important place for StarGaZine within the SGL community and I hope it is here to stay. Sunday nights suit me fine but post Covid when social lives return to normal, we may have to revisit the choice of day.

Yes indeed, Mark was very much involved in getting the show on the road. I also remember @Helen setting up a great visual resource for the youngsters.

It was a great day, Jane and I had a really good time although I seem to recall that it was quite cold? The atmosphere was terrific and it was great fun handing out the free solar glasses that I got from the Sky at Night magazine editor - these were originally destined for my grandson’s primary school but at the last moment West Sussex County Council decreed that all children should be kept in the classroom to watch the event on TV to avoid any risk of damaging their eyes - I was livid and the children disappointed. Happily there were loads of schoolchildren at the BT site enjoying a a wonderful natural event in all its glory.

Yes, that would work fine - I actually switch mine off and on remotely but the important thing is that it retains its setting from the previous session.

Herbert's other offerings are very good as well - PSFImage in particular

NO, it doesn't!

This is pretty normal for this particular sensor although my 'columns' disappear as soon as I cool my (QSI 683) one to -20 degrees C. Dithering while imaging and ideally using PixInsight's 'Cosmetic Correction' algorithm before stacking will remove these noisy pixels well and you'll get some great images then.

High or low, it is certainly good enough for government work and I reckon an old amateur like me would be happy with it too! 🤣

Yes, this could easily be modified to accept a Bahtinov mask instead of a Flats panel

Can't be sure that mine was a Charles Frank but it would have been 60 years ago that my parents bought me a black cardboard tubed refractor via the 'Look and Learn' magazine. I remember well that I had to be VERY careful when focussing inwards as it was all too easy to blow the single lens off the front as the white plastic retaining ring was not a great fit!!

This would be my choice as well as I have found this camera to be an excellent all-rounder and that tilt screen makes is very much easier to view at the often strange orientations that we astronomers get involved in!

Tee hee - that should, of course, have been 16Gb RAM🤣

I'm completely with Olly on this 👍 However, I DID buy a new PC and as this coincided with a desire to try PI, I had it specced to meet PI's requirements which meant an Intel i5, Windows 10 (64bit) and 16 Mb Gb RAM - not exactly a really high specification but it works very well for me so this doesn't need to be silly expensive. I wouldn't rely purely on PI but I do think that PI and PS combined in your workflow is a great way to proceed, PI for calibration, alignment, integration and deconvolution (perhaps some noise reduction too) and then straight into PS for the 'interesting' stuff!

Yup, almost perfect. It could be argued that the bisecting line is a FRACTION high but to be honest, this really is close enough 👍