saac

Postie just delivered a nice aluminium case for my Raspberry Pi5 and a rather cute round LCD display   I now need to find a suitable project lol. 

Jim 

Do we need an emergency alert sticky banner along the lines "Get Out And Look Up Now - No Seriously Do It" Maybe with an audible alert along the lines of the Enterprise Battle Stations.

Jim

2 hours ago, skybadger said:

Finally, this is normally a 'once and done 'operation, what's the argument for making it easy to repeat but expensive and heavy?

I think your last point is really pertinent. It's a clever solution nonetheless but I wonder how necessary to the average astrophotographer. 

Jim 

5 minutes ago, Ags said:

Yes exactly, and while it is capturing relatively long (a second or two?) exposures, your nose is bumping the smart eyepiece....

Surely that depends on the length of your nose  

Hey  wait a minute, is nose eyepiece rash a thing?  Need to do an investigation at the next star party - spot the visual only people lol. 

Jim

7 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I would think eye astigmatism would still be an issue even when looking at the tiny screen.  I also doubt it is as sensitive and quick responding as the more modern night vision gear, or else the DoD would be switching away from them to an imaging chip approach.

Comparison with night vision doesn't really make any sense as these are completely different technologies not to mention price bracket. I also wonder if astigmatism would be anymore an issue than it would with a conventional optical eyepiece.  Anyway, looking forward to this hitting the market and getting to read some early reports on performance. I like the thought of being able to move it from telescope to telescope - could really be a serious challenger for the emerging smart telescope market. I really do hope that they get the price point right on this -  interesting kit.

Jim 

11 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

I was imaging last night and my guiding was all over the place. I put it down to the wind. Sometimes you just need to ignore the numbers and worry about the result.👍

 

Exactly.  As the saying goes "fly the aircraft"

Jim

Nice work, looks to be solid.  

Jim 

Set it all aside for a year and come back to with renewed interest. 

Jim 

9 minutes ago, Elp said:

Gotta love self promotion 

Gotta look for opportunities

Jim

@maw lod qan - Wow look at that, it's sooo blue! Happy days   You got to come back and tell us poor cloud dwellers what it was like  

Jim 

If your longer term aim is to get serious about astrophotography then save the money for a longer term upgrade to your mount. Your mount is everything in astrophotography.  Otherwise buy a SeeStar and have some fun and it may well keep the fire in your belly for you to save and go for some serious upgrades longer term.  If you bought a See Star you would definitely have some fun with it and be sharing it with others. Once you are finished with it you can sell it to me to help fund the upgrade to a new mount  

Jim 

Just now, GasGiant said:

Crickey. Is this still going on... WE GET IT. YOU DONT LIKE THE SEESTAR. GROW UP AND MOVE ON. LOL

We do like it though it's lovely and I want one 

Jim 

Just now, 900SL said:

Indeed it does. My point was that the assertion that imagers are somehow threatened by the Seestar is incorrect. 

I agree, that is a bit of nonsense. It is a bit of kit no more intimidating than say a camera tilt adapter. Ohh, well actually maybe poor choice there  

Jim 

Just now, 900SL said:

You may choose to think that, but I don't consider that to be correct. I'm pretty certain that most astro-imagers don't feel threatened or undermined by the Seestar. Many seem to find it quite cute, like a little nodding dog doing tricks and cartwheels

It has been designed to provide a quick n dirty grab and go / point and shoot experience, and appeals to many who either lack the ability or ambition to bang their heads against the wall that is astrophotography, which ultimately produces far superior results

It also appeals hugely to those who do and have.  When my hellishly expensive main rig is working away in the background I'd love to have access to one of these. Like I said, it's all about using the right tool for the right job.  

Jim 

Just now, LDW1 said:

Make sure its the SS and not the D2 unless you want to use your engineering skills, lol !

Never miss an opportunity to use engineering in astronomy; it is after all a technical discipline.  Any bit of equipment can always be optimized and adapted else where is the fun  

Jim 

Just now, Geoff Lister said:

As a 3rd generation engineer, I agree 100%. I could not decide between the S50 and Dwarf II, so I bought both. No regrets on either purchase - I now have 2 sizes of hammer.

Geoff

Well you are now in the fortunate position to sell me one  

Jim 

Wow, who would have thought such rivalry of philosophy exists within astronomy.  Maybe it's the engineer in me but it's just a bit of kit, like any other tool it has a purpose. This one seems to do its job pretty well.  I'd certainly give one a go, I'd use it to explore while my other permanently mounted kit is tied up with other tasks like, whisper it, photography! I don't feel threatened by it, it doesn't prompt any existential crisis of thought of what I'm doing with my other rig and cameras. It is just another tool giving a different opportunity to explore the night sky - there's no compulsion to buy one and it won't come and steal your babies from their beds at night!  I hope to see more of these smart scopes being developed with the price dropping and capability improving.  And as for that Smart Eyepiece by Pegasus, I'd give that a go too without feeling threatened by a lump of metal.  Yep, definitely an engineers view   

Jim 

Lovely report and really enjoyed your video. When I first saw M42 with a 16 inch Dob I felt like I was falling into the nebula, amazing experience with these large Dobs.  

Jim

I got a clear sky at the moment but the wind is picking up (Storm Kathleen) so unfortunately the observatory roof is staying closed tonight  

Jim

I'm not 100% sure but I think that the mirrorless Canon cameras use a different lens mount (EOS EF-M) compared to the  DSLR EOS range.  If you go with a Samyang 14 mm lens (which is a very good lens) then yes you will need to have an appropriate adapter for the EF/EF-S system lens mount.  Best thing is to speak to the camera dealer and they will advise. 

Jim  

I use PLA, PTEG and ABS depending on application, haven't had a need to use tpu or nylon. Since starting in 2019 I've never had any problem with bed adhesion and the magnetic bed plate works perfectly making easy release of the components.  I don't use an enclosure, the printer is situated in my workshop so it does benefit from an extractor. When printing with ABS I stabilize the temperature around the build volume with kingspan insulation boards around the printer frame but these are not permanent.  My bed levelling is done old school, manually with feeler gauges as it should be. I keep my filament in a conditioned environment and not sitting on the reel exposed when not in use. From experience in helping others and from running the 3 printers in school most problems arise from inaccurate bed levelling and filament issues.  If an Ender 5 is setup properly and maintained well it will deliver without major upgrades. 

Jim

I  bought an Ender 5 back in 2019 and have largely resisted going down the upgrade path; it's been a thoroughly reliable and capable printer. It just works so I've little cause to upgrade anything. What I have replaced are largely consumable items such as the bowden cable and one of the fans. The only thing i'm really considering is to give it wifi control via a raspberry pi controller. It's been used to pint a range of items from Paul Gehrlach's Low Spec Spectrometer,  an adjustable rising bed for my laser cutter, various threaded adapters for astro use, and various models and items for use in class (DNA model, antibody and antigen model, aircraft projectile cradle).  One item though puts a smile on my face each time I use it - it's an dial gauge adapter that makes adjusting the end float on my mgb stub axle a much simpler task.  I use Fusion 360 for modelling and the standard Creality slicer which have both worked seamlessly for me. 

Jim 

Looking good, major milestone coming up when you put the roof on. I'm sure you have already thought about it but it may be worthwhile putting a gentle incline on the roof rails to stop any rain water tracking inside. I forgot to do on mine and had to retro fit  

Jim 

24 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I'm having fun already 🙂.  Thus far I've made a variety of flashing lights, but I'm getting there.  For some reason electricity has always eluded me so it's kind of a challenge to myself this year to understand it.

Also got an eq platform on the build list and maybe an onstep setup.  The really nice thing about it is that I can potter with it whilst it rains!

Edit:  chat gpt is a godsend.  Especially when you can ask a question and then either ask it to rephrase it or (in my case) just say 'make the answer dumber'

I enjoy the physical side of using Arduino and building the kit but I do not have a head for coding. I used to find it ok but now I just don't seem to be able to find  enough motivation to learn the syntax and commands. ChatGPT, You Tube and Instructables are my Arduino project friends. I was quite chuffed with the digital setting circles we made for the school Dob, the coding was all the work of a very gifted pupil while I did the hardware side   My next project is to try out an all sky camera but I may use a Raspberry Pi for that - lots of examples available for me to learn from  

JIm 

On 28/03/2024 at 17:38, Ratlet said:

I'm wanting to build an electronic focuser and whilst there are plans available I figure it would be a good idea to actually try and understand electronics and programming (my job now involves both).  Won't be building a focuser with this, but will at least understand it a bit better.  I get stressed doing things without understanding why I'm doing it.

Figure this would be a good place to start.  Figure with the lack of clear skies I can spend an hour or so a night doing the projects.

You are going to have a mass of fun with that. Don't forget that you also get the likes of ChatGPT to write some scripts for you to help out with the learning process. Despite ending up buying a ZWO autofocuser I went down the road first of building one using the arduino - well worth it and great fun. 

Jim