John_D

1 hour ago, woldsman said:

Not sure about this and don’t ask for the maths but… a telescope can capture light photons and radio telescopes other parts of the spectrum so transmission over long distances is clearly possible. Helps if the signal repeats and it would have to be stronger than background radiation(?). The last bit of the journey through an atmosphere probably the most critical. Can radio signals be lensed (no idea!)?!

Hmm, having waded into Google I'm none the wiser really but this SETI FAQ is interesting:

If an extraterrestrial civilization has a SETI project similar to our own, could they detect signals from Earth?

In general, no. Most earthly transmissions are too weak to be found by equipment similar to ours at the distance of even the nearest star. But there are some important exceptions. High-powered radars and the Arecibo broadcast of 1974 (which lasted for only three minutes) could be detected at distances of tens to hundreds of light-years with a setup similar to our best SETI experiments.

16 hours ago, woldsman said:

Relatively few exoplanets have been discovered within 100 light years and most of these do not favour the development of life. It would also take another 100 years for the most distant of any exoplanet with technology capable of receiving and broadcasting radio signals to send a reply.  However, the strongest argument that a very advanced civilisation does not lie within range rests on the separate fact that we have not detected any evidence for its existence (eg no sign of any probes roaming the vicinity of our place in the Milky Way).  Hence, you may well be right. 

I read somewhere that radio/TV transmissions from earth decay to below the cosmic background level within a few light years. I could probably do the maths but I haven't had any coffee yet 😁

I have the same camera but never seen this problem. You could try a different capture software, e.g. the free ASIStudio from ZWO (     https://www.zwoastro.com/software/ ) and see if the problem happens with that as well. Alternatively you could try contacting ZWO to see what they say. I've found them to be reasonably helpful in the past.

YouTube video works fine on my Android phone as well but that's probably because YouTube has rencoded the video after you uploaded. Maybe the original was encoded in some proprietary(ish) Microsoft format?

However, nice video now that I can see it 😁

Android says that the video can't be played because the file is corrupt.

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

@Les Ewan Thanks for this information. I've maybe found a copy of the manual online - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1386910/Npz-Tal-2.html#manual I'm not sure if this is the one you've got.

From my measurements the eyepieces are 32mm rather than 1.25" / 31.75mm. This is a pain when you want to attach a camera.

When I got mine it had a different ( 1.25" ) focusser with it and I modified an old Barlow lens to make an adaptor so that the Tal eyepieces fitted in the alternative focusser.

29 minutes ago, Les Ewan said:

Did you get the manual with the scope? Pages 14-16 it goes into how to adjust the clutch and backlash on the drive. If you wish I'll scan the pages and put them on here but be aware the Russian translation is not good! If you remove the main cover it allows access to the three adjustment screws on the main drive wheel.  In the 10 years I used the scope I've never had to do anything with the motor so cant tell you more.

Incidentely the motor is not the most restful in the world and is on the noisy side even when running properly!

Ah a scan of those pages would be useful, thanks. I have some information that came with it but not to that level of detail.

Yes, the motor on mine makes a loud ticking noise which just adds to the overall missile launcher vibe 😁

13 hours ago, LongJohn54 said:

I seem to have lost the list of exposure times for the main camera in the Duo.   Selecting either the main camera or the guide camera and opening the Exposure(s) list now only shows the exposures for the guide camera.  This has a maximum of 10 seconds in the list.   The same list is shown when setting up an autorun of subs which currently means I have to select Custom and enter the required time there.

Restarting the app or restarting the PC hasn't fixed it.  Neither did uninstalling ASIStudio and re-installing it.

Has anyone else seen this behaviour?

Quick edit - the camera is connected via 3metre usb3 cable to a powered extender wiht a 5 metre lead to the PC so usb3 throughout.

 

 

I don't use ASIStudio in this mode so I can't help with the details but a couple of suggestions:

1. When you uninstall it's possible that ASIStudio doesn't clean up properly and leaves some configuration data lying around which it then picks up on the next install. Sometimes you have to go and manually delete this data to get a clean re-install.

2. Have you tried contacting ZWO directly? I've done this a couple of times and they've been very responsive. There are some online forums as well ( https://bbs.zwoastro.com/ )

@Les Ewan Nice, looks exactly like mine 😁 The paint inside the OTA in mine has held up fine, the outside not so much.

The drive on mine has been making funny noises since I bought it second hand last year and was only working intermittently last time out. Hopefully it's just a readjustment and a re-lube rather that a complete strip down.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I can see that plane lights could be an issue. The ASICap software from ZWO that I use has a meteor capture mode but I haven't tried it yet because I've missed all the well known meteor showers due to cloud. Maybe I should just point it at the sky the next clear night and see what it makes of aircraft or satellite trails.

There are a few ingenious and well made carriages in this thread but I'm slightly surprised that nobody's laid down any rail tracks yet and moved the telescope in and out of the shed that way. 

I'm thinking of this sort of thing:

Bonus points if it's hauled by a steam locomotive  

Fascinating reading thank you. It's something I've thought about several times but not quite got round to ( the usual story 😁 ) A couple of questions if I may:

1. Do you use any software to detect meteor trails or do you have to manually look through every image?

2. How reliable is the POE at higher currents? Is it better than using say wi-fi and a small local power supply ( apologies if there are design decisions for this in earlier posts that I've missed )

This is the Gassendi crater and the Mare Humorum. Taken with my TAL 2M, ASI120MC-S ( 1 x 2 minute video using ASICAP ) and processed with PIPP, AutoStakkert and Registax with some tweaking in GIMP. I had hoped to use a 2x Barlow to get a more detailed view but the seeing was very "wobbly" and I didn't think that the image would be as good. I also like the composition of this one with the view of the whole Mare and the transition from bright sunlight at the top right to dark shadow at the bottom left.

On 20/04/2024 at 18:57, AKB said:

Do the folk in the southern hemisphere feel the same?  If so, then it sounds like an ideal opportunity to find a ‘telescope friend’ and offer each other some time on their own scopes.

Of course, they’d have to put up with the UK weather windows (or lack of them!)

Tony

What you need to do is to find a frustrated cloud photographer in a clear sky area and offer a swap ...

Two clear nights in a row - the weather gods must have taken the weekend off  Seeing on both nights was a little "wobbly" but, hey, we'll take what we can get.

This is the Gassendi crater and the Mare Humorum. I tried this the previous night but the exposures were way off. Second time round was better. Same capture process as for the previous night.

11 hours ago, Yawning Angel said:

Thanks! I could almost wallpaper the house with it 🙂

😁 What taking the individual images did you reposition the telescope manually each time?

Fantastic. That should be printed and hung on the wall 😁

The first decent night that I didn't have to be elsewhere for ages. I had some trouble with getting the exposure right and everything ended up too dark but I managed to salvage this one. I'm reasonably sure that it's Copernicus with Eratosthenes, Reinhold and Lansberg but my lunar geography is even worse than my terrestrial geography  

Taken with my TAL 2M, ASI120MC-S ( 2 minute video ) and processed with PIPP, AutoStakkert and Registax with some tweaking in GIMP.

Forecast for tonight is OK I think so hopefully I can have another go.

2 hours ago, Mandy D said:

I'm hoping to have another go at the Moon, tonight. I hope you get clear skies, soon, but looking at your location, I guess you don't do too well with the weather.

Computers eh, what you gonna do? That looks great for a single image though

Yeah the weather has been particularly annoying recently. I had to go out tonight but when I got home the sky was clear. It was blowing a gale but my normal observing spot is pretty sheltered so I thought I'd give it a go. However ( you knew that was coming ) I looked in the direction that the wind was coming from and there was a giant bank of cloud moving in - think alien spaceships in Independence Day. So that was that  

I like the moon. Was that one image or stacked? ( If the clouds ever part here the I'll shoo the spiders out of the TAL and have a go myself 😁 )

If you do intend selling images then check carefully the licencing terms of any software you use. For example, Autostakkert is only free for non-commercial use.

Also now reported by the BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c720gekzyyyo

Condolences to his friends and family.

1 hour ago, Tomatobro said:

Switched power supplies are small and efficient but poor when dealing with transient loads. Linear power supplies are big and heavy and not very efficient but are good at dealing with transients.

 

That's a bit of a generalisation. Well designed ( usually more expensive ) switched mode supplies can handle transients very well. Similarly, badly designed ( usually cheaper ) linear supplies, with insufficient smoothing capacitors for example, can have poor transient performance.

One point to note with cheaper switched mode supplies with multiple outputs is that only the main output is likely to be properly regulated. The secondary outputs may not be as good.

As with any engineering question the answer starts with "It depends ..." 😁

23 minutes ago, murwille said:

Hopefully all of this was a hoax!  Is Alyn Wallace Dead : “Alyn Wallace: Alive or Dead?” – County Local News  I don't know yet what to believe.

I'm afraid that website, as well as all the ones reporting his death, look very dodgy to me ☹️ As far as I can see there's no video refuting it on his Instagram page despite what the article says ( although I'm no Instagram expert so I'd be happy to be proved wrong )