alan potts

My worry about the 120, is I keep looking at the 12 inch SC and thinking de-fork, even though every man and his dog have told me don't do there. The 60 would be a cheaper option but maybe too small for decent work with the SC which weights about 17-18kg, which of course whould not matter with the CEM 120. What is is about this hobby that forever makes us want to part with cash. Alan

A very good question I don't have an answer to, I have cleaned all my system and still have them, personally I feel they hang in the air. Alan

Very pleased all went well for you, I have told FLO where to put clouds and they clearly miss read the sentence and sent them to you as I have had about 35 days clear now and I have taken a delivery and expecting another, we actually need clouds and rain. Keep looking at these mounts and I have to say I am very tempted, it is just the 60 or the 120 I need to come to terms with. Alan

I don't use Polemaster but there appears to be something wrong here. You have to take this up with FLO, they will see that what ever it is is put right in which ever way, but I am sure in the end you will be happy apart from the wait I guess. I am no expert but the guiding does not look what I would call good. Alan

I had a strange night where I tested EQmods PPEC and PHD's PPEC, alone and together and found the various different subsections of the PHD, I actually found the default normal running in PHD with EQmod's PPEC to be the best. Different scopes and cameras but I never went above 1 sec deflection on either RA or DEC, most of the time it was around 0.5 mark or better, in the seconds section, I don't actually know what RMS means, it did go out of these lines in Dither though. . The odd thing is even when what appears to look bad to me, I can never see it in the stars when I view the sub, so I guess not much is wrong and I am being somewhat compulsive. Interesting to have chatted about this and something to play with more when the Moon is out and about. However the more I look at this the more I feel it comes down to quality of seeing as a few night ago without changing anything from the night before I had almost straight lines, so good in fact for a few occasions I thought it had stopped working. Alan

Mike some how you managed a duplicate post, so I have deleted one, nice images in these shots!! Alan

Nice image Francis, I can still get on this if I get the chainsaw out and cut a walnut tree down, I feel this may be easier than taking a house out. Watching you work closely as I am thinking hard about a CEM 60 or 120. I see you corners appear nice and round, something I am not getting with my .79 reducer fitted which gives me about 638mm. not sure what I can do as it states 55mm back focus and with fitting I should get exactly that, can't believe the extra 5mm make such a difference, in any case how can I go shorter than 55mm without getting the hacksaw out. Alan

Good to see you have the new mount up and running, who knows maybe the clouds will clear off now, good start on the bubble, not an easy target I wouldn't think, did you see Olly's work on this. Alan

Mine is 805mm and I sort of thought 5mm wouldn't matter too much, Dave had a look around and said there were others with problems and were being made to jump through hoops to prove it, which sound like this outfit judging by experiences I have had. Alan

A totally stunning image you have created there. Would you tell me in brief how you join frames as a mosaic, I would like to try say the NA Neb but can't fit it into my FOV at 800mm. Alan

Yes James the large one for 3 inch focusers, not very impressed, it is a good job I didn't buy it new. Alan

Yes Alan, something I was not aware of, there is a whole box of toys there to have a play with, I think I will be giving the a try, I am reluctant to mess too much as guiding is fairly decent, if I could get rid of the odd blip, which in truth don't often show in star, things would be very nice. Alan

All very confusing, there is also a PPEC within EQmod as well which I briefly describe above. I am going to give the PHD2 version a try in any case. My guide with the PPEC in EQmod seems to be better than without it so I am sure it does something. Read the Sky Watcher manual it would appear to be very much the same. Over all my guide is fairly decent, it just has the odd blip that would be nice not there. Alan

Stub, This was something that some one touched upon the other day, I have to confess I have never seen it before though did hunt down the area in PHD without understanding anything, nothing new there. This is yet another to read up on. The PEC I was looking at and the PPEC that I am using sits in EQmod. PEC is a run of 5 and upward rotations of the worm recorded in the opening control panel of the program, you get to the various sections by clicking on the Green Cross on the upper left hand side. This can create a file that can if you wish be doctored in PECprep, another program, this seems a fair bit more advanced than I am comfortable with at the moment. The PPEC I am actually using, if indeed I am using anything at all other than imagination, sits int he open out menu EQmod on the far right hand side. This has a record/play refresh section, dependent upon whats happening in the routine running list will pulse the mounts LED, 1,2 and 3 time, 3 times meaning it's running. Maybe this is interlinked in some way to PHD2 PPEC, but I feel the PEC section is EQmod specific and is stand alone and in no way connected. I was going to have a go tonight but it was patchy cloud. Alan

For everyone, just out of shot is Sadr, fairly bright, here are 25 stacked 4mins images and some actually had Sadr in them, which I cropped. Same telescope, same reducer, same camera position, only I was a few days younger. Alan

Well that is sort of difficult to trace, one would hope not, can't see anything but I am having a better look later on. Alan

I will check but I do not believe this to be the case, but no harm looking. Alan

Interesting piece of work there and thank-you for taking the time, I personally feel this reducer is a piece of junk, best not put stronger. Dave has google this and it would appear I am not on my own but I will just have to lump it. Here is another shot not as bad from last night, withing a tad the same place, glutton for punishment, I am sure you can see from this the corners are rubbish too, near 300 pound new this, and as poor as I am at this AP game, Canon camera and 55mm back space with only one fitting for the camera and threads all around, difficult to get wrong. BTW guide was decent. Alan

I am running the PPEC now but I thought this stood for Permanent, wrong again. I was to try the minimum 5 turns of the worm PEC. Alan

Superb image and another commitment to data, 25 hours could be more than I did all August and every night was clear, though time out for the Moon. Not an easy target I am sure. Alan

Excellent image, I see you must have used it wide open as it doesn't have those annoying blade artifacts, I have a F2.8 and and F 4 Canon lens, I stopped down a stop using the F4 (it hasn't been used for years) doing this put me off it all together. Alan

No sort of got nowhere fast, thought it was some marks inside the sleeves caused by something, covered them with matt black paint and still the same but not as bad, the smallest movement seems to make it go away so it's internal reflections of some type, poor for what this would cost new. Alan

SM, can you tell me which one you actually use and briefly how. I had a read and took some subs last night and found it a little confusing, not difficult for me, there seems to be a few ways to skin a cat. I think I will try for automated one and auto load, but then as I get more confidant try to doctor the file in PECprep, which I see you can do, this guiding can get a bit obsessive, most of last night I was below .5 sec or something like .3 pixel, but them every now and then, with no real pattern, bang, a spike at 1sec plus, on Dec mainly and my PA is under 1min. That is according to Polar align and guide assistant. Most of last night Dec was a straight line. Alan

No I don't have such but thought of it, the matt black paint didn't help either, it is still there when very close to Deneb, but not the same, internal reflection of some sort for sure. Maybe just have to put up with it, turn the camera a tad and run new flats. Not the end of the world but very poor for a piece of kit costing almost 300 quid, and I'm sure it is the reducer. Alan

Superb effort make mine look tame and I can steal about 11 degrees on you. Alan