bottletopburly

That’s a neat setup wish mine was so tidy 🤣

Also this bargain https://ensoptical.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=15033

My zwo120mm works in phd2 no issues, so maybe try updating to latest zwo driver and restart pc .

dave

2 hours ago, windjammer said:

>>With my 460EX I used to aim for 1/3 to 1/2 way along the histogram, 22000 to 30000.

I use similar with my 460 - perhaps a little higher, 50% to 60% of full scale reading using the native Atik software, Artemis capture.

If your ADU scale is 0 to 65,536 (ie 16 bit), and full well is 65,536 then an adu count 30% to 60% of the full well value is what you are looking for.  If your ADU scale is different, then shoot for 30% to 60% of the saturated, full well value.

So, your 490 is 16 bit: the Atik software would have its histogram 0 to 65,536. So 20k to 40k counts would be fine.

I can see there is room for confusion between the well depth in terms of electrons, and the pixel value measured in terms of what the 16bit A/D returns.  I would guess the 'ADU' value your are looking for in your software is the A/D value in range 0-65,536.  So 20k to 40k counts - 8k sounds far too low unless your ADU scale is totally different.  What is the full scale deflection value - that would be the clue?

HTH

Simon

 

 

Thanks Simon I was unsure what I was aiming for I will try 23k .

Dave

@Budgie1  @windjammer  would I be correct in thinking the Adu value for the 490ex would be approximately 8000 Adu  for taking flats ?

Dave 

What about a near infrared heater pointing at the pier ?

6 hours ago, windjammer said:

The ccd in the 490 is a sony icx814 - the well depth is 12,500e.  So a 16 bit a/d  will have 5 counts for every electron collected (65,636/12,500).  Put another way, the 16 bit space can count every electron directly with no need for analogue gain or offset.  These can be provided in your processing software.  Arguably, the camera is oversampled.  I have a 460, well depth 18,000 so 4 counts per e.  Depending on your view of Nyquist, you need two bits to count each e.

Cmos cams have been moving up to 50,000e so a 12 or 14 bit a/d needs gain/offset to move the sampling range to where the data is.  And even the 16bit cmos cams still have gain controls.  The whole world is waiting to move past 16 bit!

You will need darks IMHO, and if my 460 is similar, definitely if you bin beyond 1x1.

Simon

Thanks I’ve been creating a bias and dark’s library all night 1x1and 2x2 .

5 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

You can't set the gain & offset with the Atik 4-series CCD cameras, they are factory set and you can't change them.

Something less to worry about.

It does take a bit of getting used too if you've been used to a CMOS camera, but it does make life easier and you may also find you won't need Darks with the 490EX either.

I currently have the Atik 428EX mono and the 490EX is my next planned large purchase.

Thanks budgie  all a learning curve, just getting my head around it I had come to the conclusion you couldn’t set it using Apt as gain /offset shows as N/A..

Having just acquired an Atik 490ex mono  and ccd is new to me but what gain and offset do you set it at , currently setting up a master dark and bias library.

15 hours ago, FenderGreg said:

Sounds worrying when they ask for crowd funding but more than happy to chip in. I’ve used it enough and also tried the stellarmate route but always came but to APT because it just worked for me

I don’t think it’s worrying just got to the point that funding/subscription has to increase or to carry on as it started as a hobby , ivo has had good feedback to consider the route to take ,and it is a good piece of software that I will be supporting, yes there’s free software such as Nina but how many users actually contribute to it , we as a hobby are really lucky that so many astronomers have a skill that many reap the benefits from especially software wise .

Postman’s been , a bahtinov mask to fit my canon 100-400 lens from Astroprinter .co.uk  formally jacktheprinter

Nice presentation ivo , found it useful 👍

16 minutes ago, zernikepolynomial said:

I just want to let everyone know, that this is not a Player One bashing thread, and I just heard about someone on the cloudy nights forum having Player One do a very nice thing for them and offered a replacement as well. They do take the time to try and solve these problems. Its just mine is not bad enough to pay for shipping. The other person had a minor dust issue, but they still offered a replacement. 

Thanks for sharing your experience, I thought about player one as I’m thinking of maybe going to 533mm at some point after reading your comment regarding about paying shipping that puts me off tbh there’s no middle ground it’s either working or there is an issue, no we will fix replace but you’ll have to pay shipping that puts me off and also why they need a uk agent , I will probably stick to zwo knowing if an issue arises and if  I buy from Flo they’ll sort it .

Anyone looking for good tutorials on Siril have a look at Deep Space Astro he has some excellent tutorials videos 

Send pavle an email  great guy I’m sure he can answer your queries regarding leaving it out under cover .

Nice one ivo I must take time to watch this 👍

You can change in platesolving settings what program you use for near or blind I use ps3 for both 

5 hours ago, AndrewRrrrrr said:

i'll be chipping in to that, love APT and love the direct involvement you can have with the people who run it. 

Me too at the end of the day it has to be viable , met them  last year at PAS  , great guys  👍 obviously takes a lot of effort to keep software up too date and evolving too new hardware .

Apt is asking for some help if you use APT have a read of ivo and Maria’s statement .

https://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6323

@Adam J @teoria_del_big_bang @Priesters had in my head jellyfish 🤣 at least I got the correct NGC number we all know what it is lol 😆 👍

7 hours ago, wsteel33 said:

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

I have managed to contact the OEM and they said I can send it back to them and they will repair it.

Cheers

Wayne

Update how you get on and if they fix 

13.5 hrs on the jellyfish nebula, unheard of having a good run of nights, zwo533mc 200pds ,L Extreme filter , stacking in Siril processing in Startools 9 ,

Postie arrived and I’m quite impressed looks well made and the three secondary screws has a recess for a spring which is provided 

Dave’s a few books out and a member on here 👍 every days  a school day 

8 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Where did you get these on AliExpress?  Been looking in to something similar

mind to pick the right size they do a 150 version too I chose package 2 for my 200pds 
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