kirkster501

Yes with Sitech. Sitech "remembers" where the park position is with respect to the sky so this must be what I need to do. If it stays clear so I can sync the mount I can try it.

I have set up. That said, been clear and sunny in Nott's last three days since Thursday and once it has got dark it has clouded over every time. It is most frustrating as we all know.

The one thing I have not tried is to slew and plate solve as per normal BUT then, when scope is synced and knows where it is pointed, I *then* manually move to the position I want to be the park position and then set the park position in the hope that the scope then knows where it is pointed.

Hi all, Recently moved to another capture PC in the obs. It is all set up and everything a.ok other than one weird issue that I cannot fathom out.. I set the mount park position in Sitech. Cool. Start an imaging session and all tracking and plate-solve works brilliantly. Guiding with my TEC140 was sub 0.2pixels the other night. Extremely good. But when I park the scope either manually or automated or to to the "set park" position, it ignores it, tracks past it and collides into my peer. All settings are correct as per @steppenwolfguide. Latitude/longitude and GEM settings etc. I have deleted the sky horizon files (never used them anyway) but it still collides. Set and reset the park position multiple times. MESU motors have torque sensors that stops them if it senses resistance, fortunately. However, I am now at the stage that I can't trust it to auto park when sequence ends, which means no more imaging through the night - whenever we get a clear night that is! Any thoughts please folks? Must be a setup issue but I can't think what... Thanks, Steve

The chip used in the ASi2600 and the QHY268C does not have amp glow. I created master flats and BIAS just playing around yesterday and they are extremely clean.

Ok guys many thanks. I am taking set of BIAS and Darks at my chosen Gain/Offset/Temperature/Exposure. I will play around with this when I get some real data.

AbsolutelyN has nailed it! Super image.

Hi all, I read that with CMOS your darks should exactly match the lights in terms of length, with no scaling of the master dark?? Do you also need to have dark-flats (to be clear, darks that match the length of the flats?) ?? And in some places I read you should use BIAS and others that they are not needed.... I have recently acquired a QHY268C OSC CMOS and getting my head around the differences from CCD. Since it is OSC I at least only need one set of flats and flat-darks and not per filter. Thanks

One of the most amazing pictures by an amateur I have ever seen, Peter. Utterly spectacular. I have also acquired the QHY version of this sensor. Not had first light as yet. I run an i7-8700K with 64Gig of RAM and terrabyes of storage so I think I should be OK.

With Moravian G2-8300 and 12:12:10 of R:G:B each exposure 300s. Astrodon RGB. 14 September 2020.

Wow, super!

100% agree Nigel.

We are basing this theory on earth based assumptions about the production of Phosphine. It could be that there are unknown ways this can be produced in alien environments that are nothing to do with life. The media rush to conclusions and sensationalise everything. To be fair the professor lady behind this was the first to acknowledge that.

Four hours of Ha and an hour each in RGB on 13 September 2020. Samyang 135mm and Moravian G2-8300 with Astrodon RGBHa (3nm).

Welcome aboard with us. Nice place where you live at WF, I spent a bit of time there. It's not clear from your post what it is you want to do? Ask that in the Telescopes section.

What did you decide? I'm quite a strong and tall guy and I must say the CPC1100 is quite a heavy and unwieldy beast to manoeuvre (even for me) if you have to set up and take down every time. Doable but I would consider very carefully. Any sort of shoulder, back, hip or knee twinge as you get older could result in issues.

Live within your means Dave. The camera can wait if needs be. I am thinking longer term about my astro gear too since I want out of the rat race when I'm 55 (in three years).

Superb. Not heard of this target before.

Excellent for the modest aperture of the TEC 140.

Thanks for that mate.

You can't collimate a refracting telescope without specialist gear, less so a triplet or Petzval design. Back to the manufacturer or distributor.

... I need to get my head around gain and offset in a CMOS context and need to add an OAG to it. Speaking to Bern about it tomorrow.

I have pulled the trigger on a QHY268C and I await the mono version of this to add to it. I like very much what I see of this camera.

Indeed. I am going to be controversial. Based on my experience (which is not a lot I readily concede), I reckon the Baader LRGB are "better" than the Astrodon. I am convinced that since the "upgrade" to Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E series, my luminance and blue are more bloated than they were with the Baaders. I need to look into this further, which is not easy under the UK permacloud of recent months. I am considering placing a UV/IR cut in front of the filter wheel on both my sets of Astrodons. I am convinced the Astrodon luminance and blue is too permissive and lets through near range IR and UV in L and B and bloats the stars somewhat on my TEC140 and FSQ85. I i were buying LRGB now I would without hesitation go for the Baader. I have a set still and they are fabulous.

Now that would be of great interest. I hope that indeed is the case.