mgirdwood

Hi Everyone I had a problem last night during setup where the Dec was making an awful noise. So decided to stop and look at it in the light of day. I took off the dec cover this morning and lifted the motor away from the dec gear so its not connected to the worm drive gear, and this is what i can hear, so not worm gear but rather sound like there is a motor problem ? Quick vid where the problem can be heard : https://www.dropbox.com/s/q2qx3chnjox72s1/Motor.MOV?dl=0 Any ideas if this is fixable or is it a new Dec Motor required ? Thanks Again Mark

Hi, Not sure if this is in the correct forum area so please move if not. I have been having an issue with an area of my images using my Newt (GSO 150/750 ) and would now like to try to get to the bottom of it. ASI1600MM. Processing is with PI Here is an overstretched view of a Master flat taken with the Red Filter. All the filters show the exact same issue at the same angle and position on the respective Flat. The area starts to show itself in the integrated image once I start to increase saturation and stretching beyond the standard initial processing steps. These Flats were taken at night using NINA auto flats. I am using a panel to try to get consistency. I checked back over some flats that were taken in March and the "lighter patch" appears in the same area of the Flat at the same angle, even though I have rotated the camera between those 2 nights. I use Dark, Dark Flats and Flats in the PI WBPP I do have the base of the Newt covered with a sleeve to try to exclude light from around the Primary mirror ( and there were gaps you could drive a truck through). Where the telescope is located is on a pier with no obvious external bright light sources. Given the apparent shape of the "blotch" could this be some form of phantom reflected Secondary mirror ? Focuser light bleed ? Any suggestions to track further would be very much appreciated as I would really like to both Me/this scope working so I can use it to its best. In a stacked image the areas where the "patch" is appears to cause colour aberrations once it gets past a certain amount of processing. Perhaps this is normal however i don't recall having the same issue when working of data taken with the refractors. Below is a a very rough quick view on the latest image, simply integrated, DBE, background neutralisation, and then ramped up the saturation to show the difference in the pixel colour that seems to correlate to the same area that is showing through with the Flat. I have just checked an ASI1600MM Mater Flat taken with the Quad earlier this year and it shows a clean "flat" image with the usual dust motes plus i have a vignette, nothing like the Blotch that i am seeing with the Newt - hence my thought that this is a specific issue with this telescope or with Newts in general. Thanks for any suggestions. Mark

I dont know the target but I feel the edges of the nebulosity in the original have more clarity, although there is more of the inner darker clouds in the new version ...

Thanks Phil

HI With first 2 clear skies here in nearly 2 months a quick try out at the Tadpole and flame in one image, a bit tight but i think i have most of the best areas. 70 * H, 180 secs. 57 * O 180 Secs. Bin 1x1. ASI1600 on the TS 65mm Quad. Taken with NINA and processed in PI. Mix was H, (H*.4+O*.5), O Seeing wasn't too good with quite a bit of moisture in the air. All C and C welcome. IC410_1C405_final.tif

Hi Lee, Thanks for pointing out the error in the position, edited the title accordingly . I will need to use a larger FOV next time 🙃 Nice Photo of yours, lovely detail

Pretty sure i stretched the heck out of the data as only had an opportunity at 20 * 180 secs on Ha and Oiii. very new to NB so any critique/pointers are very appreciated ZWO 1600MM on ED80, HEQ5. i think i also have an issue on the equipment as my stars are elongated yet PHD was showing reasonable guiding at around .4 total. Mark

Hi With Galaxy season starting I moved my ASI 1600M with filter wheel over to a GSO 150mm Newt. i have had some issues with in the past as i normally use either a TS 65 quad or a 80 ED. on stacking using PI (weighted batch Process) a test run on M65 I found a horrible "gradient" on the right hand side of the stacked image. Thinking it was a Flats problem I shot some new Flats but this time also DarkFlats in Nina and re ran the stack in PI WBP. This time the gradient was gone but on checking the MasterBias file i notice this - ( Dark Flats actually) Can anyone shed a some thoughts as to what this is ? I did do a collimation before the image session but I am now wondering if what i see in the master DarkFlat image is actually a misaligned secondary mirror? Thanks Mark

Lovely image - wonderful clarity

Hi, Having bought some second hand Ha and Oiii NB filters in Nov last year this weekend was the first opportunity to actually try them out. Any pointers on how to improve would be very welcome especially the Eggy stars ZWO 1600MM pro HEQ5 with TS Quad 65mm scope Ha 91*180Sec Oiii 84*180Sec Stacked and simple process using Pixinsight and PixelMath

Hi, Currently i have a 5 slot filter wheel and would like to try to gain some narrow band image experience now. have just acquired some filters, The problem is that i have L R G B Ha OIII but not enough slots for all until i can afford an 8 slot EAF and an SII filter. What would be the best layout to ensure i have a chance at the best data combination ? L Ha OIII Blue or stick with R G B Ha OIII, although i do have an Hb filter somewhere to add to the mix if that would be useful for the blue channel. the target would likely be the Witches Head due to my restricted views South. camera is the ASI 1600MMpro if that makes a difference. Thanks for any help - Mark

Hi After my attempts at processing my not so good data recently ( thanks everyone for the great help on that topic i already received ) i wonder if anyone might know of any sources where 1600MM Pro data might be available to allow me to practice processing on ? I thought to try on the same camera type data as tis will hopefully give me a better understanding on the quality of my own data once we get passed the next month of fog that we will have here and hopefully some clear skies again.... Thanks Mark

No only ran DBE on the combined image - i can certainly add the individual DBE into the workflow if its a better option

I still see this taking me quite some time to get the basics sorted - but i do appreciate the encouragement. (always have the OSC to fall back on ) Cheers everyone..

Thanks Everyone, i appreciate the helpful information and will see if i can work on the image with these suggestions. LRGB is going to be a new experience, i just hope i am up to succeeding even a little as want to head over to narrow band at some point Mark

Thanks Everyone for the replies. Apologies for poor description - i was a tad frustrated after a fair few hours trying different methods. Coming at this from a OSC the processing i realise will be quite different at least to begin with. With a clearer mind i re ran the PI older Batchpreprocess with all RGB flats and set of darks - all at 2x2binnig I think where i am most unsure is why i am getting the large colour gradients across the image, from the first suggestion i reduced the number of subs to those taken before moonrise to see how much difference it might make. these were results today. first is STF stretch of the integrated image and the second is with DBE (Division and subtraction). 19 RGB x 100 sec at -15. My skies are approx Bortle 4 i believe.

Hi, tried stacking both in DSS and Pixinsight The Moon was below the horizon for much of the run, would the Moon account for the very bad colour integration though ?

Hi Please can anyone point me as to how i made some terrible errors in last nights first light with1600MM pro. TS Quad 65mm 100 seconds at 111 gain ( i think) 2x2 binning 30 x each RGB attached , haven't added any Lum image is stacked with no flats ( looks the same with them ) but i was trying to see if the flats was the issue. The Flats do get rid of all the dust bunnies STF stretch nothing else on first and a quick ABE subtraction on second then STF stretch thanks for looking as i would really like to get the Mono sorted out - Mark

Hi, I am trying to minimise my gear changing between OSC and Mono cameras. Using a 5 slot FW, is it possible to use the OSC with the Lum filter or would i need to leave a blank slot in the FW. Reason to ask is that i would like to add an Optolong Extreme filter into one of the slots for the OSC. but would fill all the slots LRGB plus Extreme . this way i only have to switch cameras and wont mess up my back focus etc. (dont really want to buy a bigger wheel) Or am i missing a trick that others use in the same circumstances ? Thanks

Hi Please could someone suggest what i may have done wrong based on the stars in the crop of M42. This is after the basic PI pre processing and final integration. Looking at the individual subs prior to the last step they appear ok so i assume it is as a result of the integration step, or the star align ? subs were taken both prior to and after a Meridian Flip thanks Mark

thanks - i shall keep looking to see if the re is anything i can do with the pre process

again thanks, normally i would dither but last night APT was just hanging during the dither so i had to switch off or lose the whole run time. Darks bias and flats were included ( although it does look like i need a new set of flats )

thanks for the comment - hardly stretched at all so perhaps it was the pre processing that has caused a problem

Hi Does anyone have any hints on how best to process this, currently stacked, basic stretch and curves in PI. Spent a few hours hours on it today but i feel its out of focus and noisy however i am not used to this camera as yet so not so sure what i ought to be capable of taken last night with TS 65 Quad, ZWO 183C, aprox 2 hours of subs at 100secs

Like the framing with the milky way falling into the Standing Stone - a very calm image