alan potts

I agree with Steve above, stunning detail in that capture, think I know what scope to get for my next one when i can prize 5 grand of my money from the wife😀. Alan

Think I have solved my own problems, it is dewing up, the box was un-ticked int he APT settings program, kicked the cat as it has clearly been messing with the controls whilst I wasn't looking. Don't know how this happened, must be more careful, here I didn't know I had un-ticked the box, now images are sharp and clear of the wizard nebula, cooling off very quickly again though so I will keep an eye on things, A bit slow but great now I can type and send from the observatory, anyone want to talk me through how to set up Plate sloving. Alan

The largest I have seen of this type, F9, is fast for these where F20 is not uncommon. Lovely scope I am sure, heavy too I would imagine. Alan

Extreme climate plus 42 in the height of summer and minus 30 plus in the deep of winter, of course you will not find me outside in that. One morning about 5 years ago I looked at the system and it said it was minus 26, I had been outside in a T shirt, the air was so dry, mind you had there been a wind, my arms would have dropped off. Alan

Again last night I was very watchful about focus and failed awfully. Now I staked 32 x 4 minute subs into DSS and noticed something very odd after, these scores you get and other figures, start at 6900 plus (maybe good) and slowly drop away but not seriously so, 5900 then after 3 more subs down to 4500. However then a massive drop to 250. I wonder if I have dew forming somewhere in the system, be it on the front objective or on the sensor. I can recall seeing something like Anti Dew somewhere in the software programs but can't recall where, I wonder if this is my problem. This is what I got the other night, no anything, and not very good guiding, 6x 4mins subs same settings as the next shot. No cooling, darks, flats etc and not much care taken either. And this is what a few what looked decent subs gave from last night, cooled, darks flats etc etc, with very good guiding and a crystal clear night. Just as much care taken, if not more, BTW 20 4 min subs were sdumped as it made this even worse. This is 12x 4 mins Minus 5, gain zero. Who ever said this was easy. Alan

Dave, I do have a weather system outside and in the house, rain, wind, temp etc, but I can't see this from the obsey. I feel the temperature of about a month ago would be about 28-30 at start of session falling to about 20 at dawn maybe even a bit higher. Whereas last night I would say it was 20 at start of session dropping to about 10 in 2 hours. I paid a good deal of attention to it last night and it was a clear night with superb guiding (though one sub at start was another story). I refocused about 3/4 times but I didn't appear to get the focus I had at the start though the number suggested it was as good as it could be in APT using the focus aid. The first sub I started running a good 10 minutes before as I was using PPEC in PHD2, I noticed the target ( wizard neb) was a bit off from where I would like so moved the scope. Then I restarted PHD using tools to select a star, guiding was terrible, all over the place, though the sub looked OK. Went back into PHD and manually selected a star and would you believe almost a straight line guide with figures of .35 second on RA and better on Dec. Just goes to show the program select a star is not always that clever. I am sort of beginning to wonder why I have just bought a new mount as this one seems to perform well in many parts of the sky. It is only really when below 20-25 degrees that the guide is a bit iffy. Alan

Owning a Meade I would say not, I have the 12 inch, Meade for me are much the same as Celestron and of their scope I have read the 9.25 is the pick of the bunch. I just don't believe it is worth 400 more. Alan

That's another I haven't seen before, nice image you have taken but I personally feel it needs a bit more contrast Dave. Alan

Dave, the cut filter is in, I just can't see a thing clear enough to get the job done. It seemed to behave different last night to the night when I took the data for the Pelican, which seems odd, nothing seemed clear on the screen, focus, or after sub was taken. This is why I didn't pick up the fault, learning process but I feel what you said the other day about USB 3 is the problem. Alan This is what I was using and though I had nailed it, it could be temperature drop, it goes from 20 or so down to 10 fairly quickly here. I feel the focuser is past it's best trouble is a new one is almost as much as another scope due to its size 118mm I think it is all replacements tend to be 90mm. Alan

Carole you clearly haven't been here in winter, it can get down to minus 30, not often but I seen it a few times, dry air though. He told me he is working on something now for APT and Zwo, maybe other cameras too. Alan

The only way to deal with temptation is to yield to it, Oscar Wilde. Alan

Another night wasted because of focus issues. Using APT and USB 2 makes focus very difficult, or the temperature drop is catching me out every other night. My biggest problem is I can't see anything to focus on. Last night I was playing doing a M13, an easy target, very poor result which looked fine when I focused on a nearby star. My IT mate is putting USB 3 into the laptop by way of a device that fits in the Express multi media socket. that I didn't even know was there. It may not have the voltage increase, I didn't ask him, but I hope it speed the camera up. Alan

Of course I was deeply confused by this, I looked at the ADU which meant nothing to me, saw some exposure info, set it and banged them off, seems to work alright but then I am hardly an expert. Took the data for an ADU of 20,000 which oddly was the same exposures as for the Canon. Alan

I have to say I was somewhat amused when I saw Warming, when all talk is of how cold you can get them. I haven't pushed it too hard here because it has bee 23-6C of an evening when I start so elected to cool to just minus 5, I will go colder as the nights cool off. I think I will just carry on the same then dropping a few degrees short, it isn't as you say going to jump from say 14-18 in seconds, my thoughts were it was coming through minus to just above zero, most important. Alan

Yes I do but when the ambient here is say 23 degrees does one have to bring it back up to that or can you stop at say 16 degrees was what I was asking, it seems to take a very long time. Next week I will be on a USB 3 connections so hopefully it will improve things in general because live view is poor. Alan

Just wondering what most of you do for this warming aspect of APT, I dare say other programs have it as well. Is it necessary to warm the chip right to ambient, after all some of us may not know what the temperature is after a few hours capturing, or is OK to just take through the the first 70% or so. Alan

Like all your reports, great report!! I photographed this the other night and sort of miss looking at it with the big Dob where it really comes alive. Struggling a bit at the moment and need an operation very soon to to sort me out, nothing life threatening, just old and worn out. Will be pulling up trees by hand after Christmas and pulling that Dob around again. Alan

That's a lovely close up of this difficult target, saw it a few time with the 18 inch on very clear nights, with Olll filter. great capture!! Alan

It may well be difficult to frame a print of it but that is superb!! I guess you have just stacked it as a mosaic in DSS or the like, great result and can't wait to have a go at doing similar. Alan

What you are trying Olly has told me not to go there, so that gives you some idea how tall the order is of taming a C11, though for me is was Meade 12 inch SC, even worse. I have sort of listened to his advice as I have just held off buying a CEM 120, however I don't feel it will stop me having a play. I would try 1600 iso I did and I got a usable result from 20 seconds on the Meade Fork, I would try to cut to 30secs too and take more exposures, experiment, its fun anyway but to really tame these sort of focal length you need an expensive mount that is very accurate, but I feel you know that anyway. Alan

It sure isn't easy from where I am standing to understand any of them. I have a Lumicon (original) deep sky filter. This I bought about 6/7 years ago think it would aid viewing galaxies and the like in my SC and 18 Dob, to some extent it works on them, you can see a difference. This though I later found out was only a fancy name for their CSL filter and as such I don't have any. Whether this will help or improve anything I guess I can screw in place and judge for myself, though with not having a filter wheel it means removing the IR/UV cut filter. I always though Lee filter were expensive for my photography, seeing some of the tags on Astro filters, Lees were free with Cornflakes. Alan

I don't believe I have ever seen any Astrodon filter secondhand, I guess if you use them every session and they are as good as people say, it doesn't work out too costly after 10 years with the skies we get here. Alan

Yes Andy I saw the prices on another site and almost died, they do say they are good though. Alan

Forgive me for being a bit dim here but would I be able to use one of these filters to improve an image even though I shoot from a very dark area compared to anyone in or near a town. It is something I have been looking at but a 200 quid plus a throw one needs to get it right first time. Alam

The yellow is a little strong for my taste, I am sure the data will produce better , not that i have ever tried though. Alan