Dean

Cheers Blinky.

Hi so far I have been keeping things simple by using the noise reduction setting on my canon 350. Is it better to take darks and if so how many should I take?

Thanks Dean

Guiding-wise - whats the problem you are having??

Cheers,

Richie

I haven't really nailed the problem yet, I think it may be related to the backlash on my mount, but I am going to have another go at sorting it tonight.

Thanks for asking. I will post an update on my findings but would be grateful if you have any ideas on the problem.

Thanks

Hi Starflyer, great thread - thanks for sharing it with me. I think I will have a go at that.

Hi Cloudwatcher, great improvement, I like your view too.

Thanks to you all

Dean

Hi Deneb,

I have been thinking about how I could get over this problem by maybe using a two inch camera adaptor or would I still have to take flats?

Thanks Dean

Thanks Richie, I live just outside Bath and south of Bristol. I had a slot of about half an hour between 21.30 and 22.00 and got the subs over a couple of nights when the weather permitted, as well as dodging neighbours bonfires!

Cheers

Dean

Here is my attempt at the eagle nebula taken over a few nights last month.

Image for M16 is a stack of 31x 60 secs at ISO 1600 using an unmodded canon 350 and a Equinox 80.

My mount is an EQ5 with a synscan upgrade kit.

The subs were taken after polar aligning with polefinder and using the mount to track. I bought the upgrade kit so I could start auto guiding but I am still having problems which hopefully I will sort out soon.

Thanks Dean

Hi I have found that I have a 4 sec backlash in Dec while using a rate x1. Will I still be able to use PHD to auto guide with this?

Thanks Dean

Hi I have been trying to auto guide over the last few weeks and have tried to trouble shoot my equipment.

I could not get PHD to work, so I tried guide master and when I tried to move the star in the compass I could not get any movement. I thought it must the mount or GPUSB.

My set up is:

· EQ5 mount with synscan goto upgrade kit

· Opticstar AG-130M Auto-guiding System (Guide camera and shoestring GPUSB box)

I have:

· Balanced the mount

· Not over loaded it

· Cleaned the connection ports with cotton buds

· With a continuity tester found the lead going to the mount green red black and yellow are all switching while using GPUSB check on the computer

· Can switch the green and red LED on and off

· With the mount is not tracking using auto guide speed of .5x looking south

· RA + movement up in eye piece

· RA – movement up in eye piece same as RA+

· DEC + no movement for 1min then moves right

· DEC – No movement for 2.5mins then moves left

· Using the hand controller at rate x1

· DEC- moves right straight away

· DEC+ moves left after 40secs

· RA- moves up after 20secs

· RA+ no sound from motors no movement

It would be great if anybody had any ideas of what is wrong, what is right or what I can do next would be a great help.

Sorry for the long post or if I am not very clear in explaining the problem.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks Dean

Thanks SteveL

Hi is there a reason why you cant use a visual UHC filter with a SLR while the moon is out for imaging nebula?

Thanks for the posts guys

Thanks brianb now im out there imaging these answers are helping me fill in the gaps.

Ok Thanks I have been doing 1min at 1600 and like you said have been getting alot of noise. I will try more at 800 and below tonight. I was thinking that I would not be able to capture the faint parts of a object even if i stacked them after.

Thanks Dean

Hi I have not been able to get my auto guiding equipment to work yet so am doing short exposures at the moment and stacking them.

Can you get just as much faint detail by doing 4x 30secs at 800 iso as 1min at 1600?

Thanks Dean

That's great Rob, you have really filled in the gaps for me there. It’s really cleared up some questions I have had for a while on using my set up for imaging.

Thanks Mike if I see a second hand DSI I think I may go for it.

Thanks again Dean

Have you got DEC guiding set to "on" in the brain

Hi i have it on auto thanks to your post to dean watson at the begining of the month

Thanks for sharing your experience Mike . If cannot resolve this problem maybe I should think about putting some money by for a DSI II. While having a go at M16 I found it hard to find a guide star because I did not have enough adjustment in the guide scope rings. So may be with a DSI ll I would be able to pick out faint stars closer to the object that the AG-130M could not detect?

Thanks Dean

Hi over the last few weeks I have been trying to get PHD to work with my set up but I am still having problems getting it to keep locked on to a guide star.

My set up is

Synscan Pro upgrade kit with a HEQ5 mount

EVOSTAR 100ED Pro with a focal length 1000mm (Which I am using as a guide scope)

EQUINOX 80 (for imaging)

Opticstar AG-130M with shoestring GPUSB interface box

.I am using pole finder to get polar alignment

.Getting focus with the opticstar

.Selecting camera/mount

.Finding and selecting a guide star

.Going through the calibration process

.Starts guiding for about 10secs then star drifts quickly to the top right hand corner of the green box

.Box goes orange and says star lost but to the left it still says guiding and star seems move around very slightly with each frame for about 5mins until it leaves the orange box

I am using all the default setting in PHD

Thanks Dean

Hi this is a great thread for me too. I have just started using PHD with the same mount as you and had the same problem during my last night out. My dec guide mode was off should it always be set to auto?

Thanks Dean

Thanks Arran

Thanks for the reply Steve

That makes sense the only thing is I dont think I was testing it in tracking mode because I wanted to listen to the sound of the motors moving while testing. But I will check again when the power tank has recharged. Thanks for your help with this.

Hi I fitted a synscan Pro Goto upgrade kit for my HEQ5 3 months ago and everything seemed to be working fine until I wanted to test a GPUSB guide port adapter. I aimed my scope at a chimney picked a spot and the results were

No movement + RA (left)

Fast movement – RA (right)

Slow movement +DEC (up)

Slow movement - DEC (down)

I then Disconnected the GPUSB and checked the mounts motor movements. Everything above a slew speed of rate 2=8X worked fine.

When selecting Rate 1=1X and below there was no movement +RA (left) but all other directions seemed fine.

If anybody has any ideas on what the problem could be or any ideas on what to do next I would be very great full.

Thanks Dean

Thanks Steve 22% just right. Its amazing what difference even 2% makes.

I now have a better image after 2 mins work than I did after 2 hours of editing yesterday.

Thanks again Dean

Hi I am having trouble bringing back the natural colours after using deep sky stacker.

Has anyone got any tips on how I achieve this?

I'm using a canon 350d SLR and a stack of about 17 images 20secs to about 1 minute.

Thanks Dean

Hi Just thought I would share some pictures of the telescope I have been reconditioning over the last few months ready for jupiter. It has an 8" mirror focal length 1700mm f/8.3.

The telescope tube was built by my father 33 years ago to coincide with the viking landing on mars.

The tube was made using 10"drainage pipe and copper tube.

The primary and secondary mirror was in bad condition so they needed aluminising.

BEFORE

I fixed the scope to the base using a square to round tile vent adapters which were filled with disks of MDF. I then drilled out the MDF and inserted studding connecters for the T-Grips to screw into.

I was able to try it on jupiter last weekend and was very pleased with the views.

Am looking forward to the next clear night so that i can compare its views with my other scopes.

Dean

Thanks for your posts they have all been very helpful.

Thanks Dean