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Al.Grant

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Everything posted by Al.Grant

  1. GIna .... read through this thread (any another) with great interest. I'm currently running an ASC based on an ASI120mm in a watertight enclosure and includes a dome and heater element and from Dew Control. The enclosure has a clamp on the bottom that attaches to the guttering and is easy enough to retrieve (from an upstairs window) as I want the ASC to be semi-mobile so I can take it away when we got away to Snowdonia and get under some very dark skies. I'm looking at adding some sort of passive cooling, as my ASC is mobile and I like to run it from a campsite I won't get getting too techy ... but any cooling will help. I usually run it with 15 or 20 sec exposures (longer when we're away under darker skies), but trying out a few different exposure/gain settings to see what works best. Can I ask what software you are using for your ASC? I'm using AllSkEye and having fairly good results with it but always looking at other options. I'm running it from a small stick PC (keeping it small to stay mobile) which runs without a monitor/keyboard etc and I log in remotely. Star trail image (auto generated by AllSkEye) on an unusually clear night! Typical image with current settings ... but tryhing to improve things Cheers..
  2. Reading this thread with interest ..... I've recently been running an all-sky camera using an old model ASI120mm and although these cameras are a bit noisy (15-20 sec exposure) I'm fairly happy with the results when using the software (AllSkEye) to subtract a dark frame I'm considering having 2 cameras. I often travel from my light polluted home to some nice dark skies and want to keep at least one of them as a 'portable' build and one 'fixed' at home. These 2 images are with the 120mm with no dark frame subtracted, so things look a bit better now Home skies Dark skies - new lens I've been looking at ZWO's offerings and have been considering both the ASI224 and ASI178 as possible options. As the portable camera will be used under darker skies it seems to make sense to use one with the lowest amount of noise (no good going for low noise if the neighbours keep switching on security lights!). I could just accept the noise level and go with another 120mm which would be cheaper, but my thinking (and justification should the wife ask!) is that I could use the better, lower noise camera on my telescopes when not needed for the portable all sky camera. Al
  3. Following this thread with interest .... I ran a meteor detector a little while ago but after the laptop died I didn't have a spare one I could use. That has recently changed and I just need to find a bit of free time over the next week or two and get things up and running. I've got a Funcube Pro+ dongle and found my old scripts for SpectrumLabs - however this script looks like a great place to get it back up and running again. My old script kept growing and whilst it did everything I needed when it worked ..... when something went wrong it caused me more than a few headaches!
  4. I'm off on Monday and at the moment the forecast is looking good (let's hope it's accurate) and planning on giving the Equinox 80 and Quark a run. Might also switch over to do some white light. On subject of solar safety ..... here's what happens to the plastic end cap of a Quark when you forget to remove it (too busy chatting whilst setting up). Thankfully no damage to the Quark ............... but imaging what it could do to an eyeball !
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