dunc

I've had a few attempts but this is the first with 'serious' processing. This is 60x15s  at Gain 80 unbinned. This is amazing as most people reckon you need 500+ subs to get a good result. I must try it if the clouds stay away long enough.  I set up the D2 in rough polar aligned orientation, worked a treat.

Stacked in DSS5, then PI (NoiseX, SpectrophotometricColorCalibration, BlurX, SCNR, HistogramTransformation stretch, BlurX again, then Affinity Photo masked Clarity, masked Curves twice, once for the core and once for the rest. I am surprised I need shorter subs to avoid burning out the Trapezium and the colour went off somewhere along the line.

Forgot this, Astrobaby  did the definitive stripdown guides for EQ5 and EQ6 hardware years ago, all praise to Astrobaby. It's where I got my encouragement to do my first mount stripdown, never looked back.

I did my own bearing changes (SKF) and belting online belt drive upgrade (easy on an NEQ6) years ago. Well worth it, made a huge difference. Been using the mount for many years in my observatory. The only thing I would do differently is PTFE grease instead of straight lithium grease. Indeed just cleaning out the Skywatcher grease and regreasing is an upgrade in itself. If you can wield a screwdriver and an allen key go for it.

Hope that helps, good luck.

Duncan

I lived in Beckenham for many many years and am a member of the Orpington Astronomical Society who meet in Petts Wood. They are quite active and have a regular influx of new members. Have a browse on their forum and introduce yourself.

The Thing (Duncan)

My old Meade 8" LX90 UHTC circa 2006 is the epitome of mushiness despite every tweak and adjustment possible. Mind you I was awed by it when I got it (my first real scope). I suspect the quality of the average SCT has been extremely variable over the years. The bigger more expensive lower volume SCTs seem to fare better. I've just got a TS  8"Classsic Cassegrain and its soooo much better. I have a TS1506UNC f4 newt, Sharpstar 61EDPH, TAL2 1200mm f7 newt and SW AT70 travel scope  as well for comparison, they are all better than the Meade!

I did this years ago, before 3d printing. I got a Farpoint dovetail plate with tube fittings. Never looked back. But now I have a 3d printer I could save a packet if I were to do it again :{ 

On 02/07/2022 at 19:53, fozzybear said:

Duncan where abouts are you in the "Cotentin peninsula" ?

Hi Fozzy, Blainville-sur-Mer. Jersey is a stones throw off the beach. Where are you? 

Hi Tony, 

Welcome. I been in Manche full time for 7 years now and for holidays 15 years before that, usually with a scope. It's Bortle 4 where I am and can be excellent with horizon to horizon Milky Way. Compared to South London it's so amazing. Second thing I did after moving and getting the house renovations started was build an observatory!  Where you are is even better. Lucky you.

Also been to AstroFarm several times, good times were had by me and my UK based mates. Sue is a great hostess.

Duncan

 I used to have light leaks. I have a couple of layers of black plastic wrapped round the focuser and all the way to the front of the camera. I'm using a V-Power focuser (TS), ZWO OAG and a filter drawer with  a short T extension to get my 55mm backspacing. It's on a TS1506UNC newtonian. That has a stainless steel lid on the back (from a small flip top bin) covering the primary.  don't trust any of it to be light proof even when taking subs (LEDs, local streetlamps) When I take darks I put a black flocked slide in the filter drawer. Works a treat.

Duncan

I have had an ASI294MC Pro for a few years and have just got a QHY294PROC. The QHY has no problem producing a 47m colour image (after debayering). NINA, PixInsight, ASTAP have no issues with opening the files. The FITS header says: 

READOUTM= '47M MODE'           / Sensor readout mode                            
BAYERPAT= 'RGGB'               / Sensor Bayer pattern 

so presumably the driver has done whatever to make standard debayering work based on the standard BAYERPAT keyword, there are no other directives relevant in the header. It would be nice to have the ASI294MC Pro unlocked, would have saved me E1000! (I live in France).

Nice triplet.

Just my tuppence worth... I've had a ZWO ASI294MC Pro for several years now. I have used APT, NINA, Voyager, Sharpcap etc. etc. I've had the banding issues and its always related to the scan or switch rate of the light source, to counter this you need long flat exposures. Hence why the sky fl;ats with t-shirt work, no scan rate for the sun  You also need long flat exposures to counter 'features' of the CMOS sensor. 3 seconds is the minimum cleverer people than me have calculated, I just follow their recommendations after wasting loads of time trying to solve it myself with trial and error. There is loads of stuff about it on Cloudy Nights as well as here on SGL.  At least you don't seem to have the colour blotch problem!

Hi Newforestgimp,

In NINA I always forget to change Profile when I change scope, platesolve failure is my diagnostic! I have found that the platesolving in whatever app with whatever tool (I have used APT, NINA and now Voyager with Platesolve2, ASTAP, ASPS and I used to use Elbrus) always fails if I don't set the scope focal length in the appropriate place. Then it works.

HTH

I got this working with Alpaca Server on my RPi4b running Raspbian (set up initially with AstroPi3) so I could use the Pi on my scope and connect to it from Windows i.e. my laptop, using APT, PHD2. I managed to get it working but it proved a bit flakey so I've gone back to running the scope and capture on the RPi  and VNC into it. The trouble with using INDI or ALPACA servers is you then have two points of failure, the server and the client. I prefer it all to run on the same machine, whether laptop or RPi so if it doesn't work I have can simply replace with a laptop or the pi and continue imaging. 

I use silvered radiator reflector stuff on my 8" Meade. Steadies the image well and plenty on the roll for a fiver. 

Hi BrendanC,

I would think it has to be the effective focal length of the entire optical train including flattener, coma corrector, reducer and whatnot and anything else such as filters so that the displacement of the line is calculated correctly but think a bit more it shouldn't matter for exact focus, only when APT is trying to tell you how close you are to exact focus, as focus i.e. intersection of the three lines, is always at 0 displacement regardless of the optics, which is the point of the Bahtinov method. There, I sound like I may know what I'm talking about! I've used APT for years and the Original Bahtinov Grabber for longer - which I still prefer as I find its display clearer than the APT version.

Duncan

I've got a RaspberryPi running AstroPi3, pretty much the same as an ASIAir. It is welded with a sticky rubber sheet (car phone holder) to a 20000mAh usb power pack and a double power lead to give 3.1amps capability which will keep it going for hours running a guide cam, arduino PnP focuser and ASI294 (uncooled). I strap it to the tripod as I don't want excess load on the StarAdventurer with my Sharpstar 61EDPH, there is only one USB cable to it from the ASI294 and a 5 volt power lead for the focuser so cables management is simple. 

13 hours ago, wimvb said:

The suggested solution is to lower the camera offset. Have you tried that?

That's what I've done, I use 10 as the offset and also no bias frames and I use darkflats. I'm not the best processor but achieved this a couple of weeks ago with my Sharpstar 61EDPH.

I've ordered a 4GB PI4 and might get it in July according to the site KUBII (I'm in France). Initially I aim to put INDIGO on it and use APT to remotely control things (it has INDIGO support). Really I want to go the EKOS / Kstars route so I don't need a PC just a tablet to monitor things, much more portable.  Another project on the go!

I've had this in CdC for a while now, the indicator is off target when the target is plainly in the middle of the picture and the EQMOD sync data has been added to by a close by platesolved sync. I just ignore it, tried all sorts and no difference. I always save the model data on park and reload it as I have an observatory but it needs a clear out every now and then.

I did this to my NEQ6, painful. That chip is a power regulator, I tried replacing it but didn't have a hot air soldering gun at the time, so gave in a bought a new board. You would think there would be a couple of diodes to help prevent this. External to the mount I use a power module from China to get 12v from a 19V laptop power brick and that has overcurrent and reverse polarity protection, it also has voltage and current metering, all for £8.99... Skywatcher should incorporate one in the mount!

I took my SA apart a year ago to resolder the USB socket - the power connector mod is a great idea. I did the fiddling with gears and so on. On mine there is a hex grub screw for adjusting the worm mesh on the outside of the casing which makes a lot of difference but its easy to make the worm bind so it needs care. I've used it a few times in anger but never seem to be able to get anything I mount on it to focus and stay focused, even when connected to a laptop. Must be jinxed.