Merlin66

Mark, 

I think the EPOCH settings vary between the programs.

Set them both to either Jnow or J2000.

I'm speechless!!!

Your results are absolutely amazing!

You have pulled out some serious detail both in H alpha and CaK....... you put my meagre efforts to shame.

Excellent results, keep them coming.

OK, but do the calculated LST in Stellarium and EQMod agree?

Yeah,

Seeing is King!!

I find down here on the Bellarine that my SM60 and ED80 give me as good as I can get with the average seeing conditions.

Like many solar imagers I dream of a >100mm aperture but in all honestly I’d have to relocate to take advantage of it. I’m not sure my wife would agree!!?

Andrew,

I use Cartes du Ciel, but the LST in EQMod should match that shown in your planetarium package. Have you checked??

Robin,

I only use three controllers at the desk:

focus

etalon#1

etalon#2

the scope end connection varies with the scope.

I’ve obviously been forced to double check the failures using the other controllers. The motors and their connectors are all good.

Thanks for the feedback.

I've tired part pressing, pushing the the knob sideways etc etc etc. Maybe once in twenty tries there a brief momentary movement of the motor but not sustained.

(The digikey switch is not a good replacement. The dimensions and pin centres are different. This one on eBay looks better.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/123690696283

the 8.5mm momentary version)

I use the Baader Hyperion x2.25 barlow for my solar imaging. It gives me a good focal ratio with the ED80 for my cameras ASI 1600/ ASI 174.

I also like the T thread option, gives more security.

Recommended.

I keep my HEQ5 mount outside 24/7 for the past ten years or so.

A towel over the head, a black garbage bag and a patio chair cover held with a bungee cord.

No issues with the mount or tripod but..... the powder coated feet have suffered...

All CMOS chips cannot be hardware binned (like the CCD chips)

The best you can do is to bin in software after acquisition.

Florin,

Drop me an email and I'll send you the PST mod document.

Unfortunately nowadays the costs of all the necessary components is getting costly.

I use a SM60 double stack on my ED80. Works well for me.

If you Google Orion nebula spectra....

https://www.google.com/search?q=M42+spectra&tbm=isch&chips

It shows the main emission lines and relative intensities.

Typical spectra shown below (from Steve Broadbent)

All's well that ends well.

OK.

Just make sure both programs use the same setting.

J Now or J2000

(Due to the wobble in the Earth’s orbit the RA and Dec positions of the Stars appears to change. The older star atlases used Epoch 1950 for their positions, newer atlases use Epoch 2000.)

Are both software using the same epoch?

J2000?

As Robin says...these cheap eBay gratings are very inefficient and really of no use in astronomical spectroscopy.

Invest in a SA100 grating.

Steve,

You need to flip the spectrum. We standardise spectra processing with the blue wavelengths to the left.

Very noisy. The major humps and bumps are probably due to the Bayer matrix filters on the camera.

Where did you acquire the 500 l/mm (?) grating?

Yes, really!

I know some users have had “issues” with Teamviewer.

I’ve used Teamviewer to link between my observatory laptop and my home office laptop for the past few years. I use a Cat5/6 cable about 25mtr long.

No internet connection involved.

Seems to work well for me.

I use FireCapture to acquire my SER videos. It allows you to set any ROI, frame rate, etc. etc.

http://www.firecapture.de/

John,

I use both the ASI 174MM (1936 x 1216, 5.86 micron) and the ASI 1600MM ( 4656 x 3520, 3.8 micron) USB3 cameras.

With the ASI 174 I select an ROI (1936 x 120 ) to suit the target line and full height of the solar spectrum, for CaK would use an exposure around 0.6ms. I have achieved frame rates >>100fps, but to reduce the file sizes ( full frame, 3Gb (!!!), ROI 500 Mb) and maintain a reasonable resolution I currently set the frame rate to 60fps.

Using x2 sidereal scanning rate, 21 sec for full disk scan, gives me 1400 frames in SER.

One issue I do have with the CMOS cameras is resonance banding......

The SW motor has a 6mm shaft.

If required, only for visual....

The CCD/CMOS cameras are not sensitive beyond 1100nm, in the NIR.

https://www.ccdware.com/resources/

The calculator allows you to assess where the dust motes are sitting.......