mrflib

On 17/03/2023 at 14:45, markse68 said:

It does look neat- I like the way the head can be stored in the central tube, but the legs and the bracing look a bit iffy to me

Mark

Mark I actually messaged JTW about this because I was curious:

Quote

The legs are pneumatic and made from 30 mm thick walled carbon fiber. Because it is only carrying 15 kg they do not need bracing. Two of the legs are individually actuated for levelling and cams stop any slipping. It is rock solid!

This backlash free Harmonic Drive actually needs imbalance to operate... I appreciate that there's no shortage of overloaded Harmonic Drive mounts falling over on YouTube though! This is why the design for the tripod legs trace such a large diameter. To do this they must be incredibly strong.

For comparison this is the same carbon we would use to hold the truss of a 600 mm telescope.

Hope this helps!

I have been following JTW for quite a while (they have their Trident mount out in the wild and it’s really well reviewed). I had my mind set on a new Minotaur mount from them for the obsy… and then they announced this and have as such thrown a spanner in the works of my brain.

It appears to be a small 2kg (ish) strain wave mount with a 15KG imaging payload capacity. I guess weight roughly comparable to the RST-135? The tripod/pier that comes with it is a self-contained carry system for the mount head, which is straightened out and stored within the tube. All-in, with the tripod, it’s supposed to be about 5kg… and everything fits in a carry on airline suitcase with space for a small frac next to it. I have heard that they are putting much higher quality strain wave drives in than we have seen so far in mounts such as AM5/Nyx/Rainbow etc.

They are putting, or rather giving the option I think, for modular battery to be put at the base of the tripod, in line within the tube. In addition a counterweight can be added at the base for extra stability. The battery also acts as ballast and cabling goes up within the tube to the base of the mount.  Power can then be distributed from the mount to a Pegasus / ASIAIR etc.

Looks like 2 versions

The Ant will be lower priced (though can’t see any actual prices yet), no encoders but some sort of novel drive system which has only been hinted at. And the Fire Ant - the same mount but with dual encoders and expected to be unguided.

It looks like someone just said “let’s put absolutely everything someone needs, short of the imaging train, in one portable bit of kit”. And now they have planned it I can’t work out why this sort of thing has not been done before.

A pic that I’ve seen of the plan is attached. Preorders seem to be £0 no commitment, which is what they have done with the other mounts.

I messaged JTW and asked about prices and they said they would be announced shortly. I also asked about delivery dates and they said they are aiming for the first deliveries within 3 to 4 months.

Now I don’t know whether to proceed with the new Obsy mount I had planned on or to switch to this. I still have questions but I guess I’ll wait for the full spec release which apparently is forthcoming.

Cheers guys. Though, this has not helped. I was banking on you saying that they are effing perfect and I should buy 10 of them. I guess it's not that big a deal to print out a custom lid for the flat panel for this scope I made already.

@teoria_del_big_bang

Steve I am necroing this thread because there a precious few reviews on the DSD flat flip thingy! I hope you don't mind.

I'm building a completely grab and go Askar 200ACL and I'm interested in the DSD Flat Panel with heater as it would save me a dew strip if it works, and act as a lens cover and flat panel - less stuff to pack and get out!

Penny for your thoughts on the dew heater aspect, the flat aspect and whether you believe it a tight enough fit for darks?

Cheers mate

1 hour ago, scotty38 said:

To be honest the XT processes along with Starnet are about the limit of tools that will use a GPU so I wouldn't fret about it too much. I just built a new machine with a very fast processor and went with a cheaper AMD GPU as it wasn't worth spending double to get the equivalent performing Nvidia GPU just for a couple of PI processes, especially given I don't have Russ's tools.

The thing that really impacted me was the speed of WBPP and that is now blazingly fast as it doesn't need a GPU anyway.

 

BTW I only bought the GPU to dabble with a few games....

I think the main advantage of it is the ability to quicky iterate BXT and NXT incase you were not happy with the settings. This is good because BXT can sometimes affect SPCC's colour and having to re-run selecting Lum mode only can add time.

It should be noted that these can be run on preview boxes much quicker in its dedicated preview mode.

1 hour ago, malftobe said:

 Very nice images - fantastic results!  I've also finally downloaded the trial of pixinsight.  After bookmarking the Lucamatico's set of tutorials some time back, I'll hopefully get to follow along and do some processing tonight to get a good overview of what this software can do! 

 

Quick question @mightymonoped - I'm not planning to add Blurxterminator just yet - I think I have enough on my plate getting get my head around the basics in Pixinsight.  As the tutorials on youtube from Lucamatico predate Blurxterminator, at what point did you use this process in your workflow? 

BlurXterminator and NoiseXterminator are the two most ridiculous tools I have used in PI and they are both very easy to use. Compared to some of the traditional deconvolution and noise reduction tools, you will laugh out loud how much easier they are to use. Honestly I never want to open the deconvolution process again. It will make learning PixInsight easier in my opinion - though you obviously should learn the traditional non-AI tools. I am new to processing myself and am going down the same road, just a bit further ahead in PI it seems.

Star halos too big? Lower the star halo number. Stars to big? Lower the star size number. Easy.

Watching blur exterminator reveal the data that is in your image, especially nebulosity or dust, is the single most satisfying thig I have ever done in processing (other than maybe that inital STF on a lum frame!). I zoom in 1 to 1 on a section and undo-redo over and over. To be clear, it is not creating / making up data. Russ, the author of BXT, trained the AI on the highest possible resolution examples of deep space images he could. He then purposefully buggered the images up with rotation, blur etc. and ask the AI to work out how to get back to the orignial image. This is the pattern the AI is doing - identifying "problems" and getting it back to how it was if they were not there. It's a big warm safety net that can help fix bad stars, to some extent, also. It's not adding data from any other source than your scope.

Processing goes something like this:

Quote

WBPP > ChannelCombination RGB > CROP (Unless done in WPBB AUTOCOP) > Image Solver (if needed) > DBE/ABE > SPCC (colour correction, again really easy to do and free) > BlurXterminator > NoiseXterminator (both work best on linear data before any processing other than DBE) > StarXterminator (so you can process RGB without stars and add them back later).

All the above happens before a stretch. I have tested BXT and NXT on non-linear data and I was still pleased.

I prefer to remove stars as soon as possible, as above, in linear. This guide is excellent for re-combining stars: https://www.nightphotons.com/guides/star-addition . I especially love the section entitled Combining Stars with the Starless Via Relinearization (Manually).

If you are going to use Russell's tools (BXT/NXT/SXT) and have an Nvidia GPU then follow this guide to take processing time down from minutes to seconds: https://rikutalvio.blogspot.com/2023/02/pixinsight-cuda.html

In conclusion, BlurXterminator (other that PI) is the single best money I have spent on this hobby. It's like doubling my telescope aperture and doubling my exposure time. Truly incredible. A long video here but some great tidbits of info below. One of the most amazing parts of it is when Adam Block takes his data before BXT and compares it to professional telescope data. He then applies BXT to his data and compares - and BXT manages to correct his data to quite accurately represent huge Chilean telescope data!

@ollypenrice @pipnina

Guys thank you for the input. I have recreated Stellarium at the date and time and got the following (attached). Not exactly sure how it all lines up, but plausible for sure!

Mars indeed - it has to be it.

When I have the scope back from FLO (they are looking at some pinched optics for me) I will take your suggestions on board and try and nail this down. I have actually pinged an email to Flo to see if that can see anything obvious inside the scope while they have it that would be a warranty repair issue - I'll do the rest when I get it back.

In the event, Ollie,  I just changed targets because dark skies are a treat for me and I'll try and nab M45 when it Mars does not have the audacity to poke its nose in.

Hello fellow space dudes

I am getting some odd refections on my subs when I try to image M45. I was at a dark site and in the end had to switch targets - I did not get these same reflections on M31 or M51. I only tried LUM and RED filters on M45 before switching targets (dark sky time, can't waste it!) and the same refecltion was on both filters. I've never imaged M45 and I've not seen these reflections before.

I've made an album linked below. All targets were taken on the same night.

SINGLE FRAME STF STRECHED SUBS HERE

I am running:

Sharpstar 94EDPH > 0.8x Matched Sharpstar Reducer > ZWO OAG-L >> ZWO 7x2 Filter Wheel >  ZWO 2600MM

I use Antlia LRGB V-series Pro filters (unmounted, black edge, 36mm) and Antlia 3nm 36mm Ha SII OIII (unmounted, black edge, 36mm).

https://www.365astro...-36mm-unmounted

https://www.365astro...-36mm-unmounted

https://www.365astro...-36mm-unmounted

https://www.365astro...-36mm-unmounted

I do have some shadow from the OAG but flats take that out - bottom 2 images in the album show them.

Looking at a wider frame image of M45 on astrobin I can't see any bright stars out of frame that might be causing this? There was no moon.

https://www.astrobin.../full/d8a4jn/0/

I can't see any scratches or marks on any of the spacers / image train. The 94EDPH is flocked with black fabric inside the tube. The OAG is adjusted on the tilt plate for a flat field and black tape is around the outside edge of the whole OAG to stop light.

Any ideas!

(I have posted this on CN too)

Some pretty weather graphs for you here mate if you want to whack that on your website when you make it https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/spain/fuente-nueva-climate#wind

30mb more than enough, it's just good to have. Not needed at the scope.

Looks fab mate, I'd love to be a desert teletubby! Cave dwelling sounds great.

So there's a place to set up mounts on the roof?

I guess needs are few - sheltered from wind, good power supply, internet, solid surface. Would be good for some info on flights / driving if you have any. What sort of rates would you be looking at? Local shops / facilities?

Lat / Long would be great also for astro planning purposes.

+1 for bench test. You can make sure that your *imaging train* is completely aligned to your sensor, regardless of whether your sensor is actually aligned itself.

Once this is done, if you still have tilt it's most likely in your focuser.

I had this issue and it's impossible to diagnose assembled. You need to break it down.

8 hours ago, Magnum said:

Yes, now I have to give the ACF back so will be putting the Meade 127 back on the mount until I find another scope for sale that I can try. Ive been offered a 6" RC at 1370mm FL but even the seller saw this thread and thinks unless I 100% nail collimation it will struggle to beat my 127 image. Part of me wants to try it anyway but with the limited number of clear nights I get , I dont really want to waist any messing with collimation. The ACF did have to be tweaked but that only took a few minutes on a star.

Lee

Lee I don't know if this is of any use to you, but I have an Edge HD 8 and the Celestron 0.7x reducer which I'm thinking of selling? Should get you to 1400mm focal length or so. Let me know if this is of any use to you.

Bloody brilliant images though. Does kind of make me want to keep it but I need to pay for my TEC somehow!

That is really very cool, thanks for sharing!

To quote my neighbour, Rod, that's bangin', man.

There are just so many moving parts on this thing that the launch isn't the most nerve-wracking part. 

Part of me hopes that there can be many, more simple, large telescopes launched on board SpaceX Starships instead of these hugely expensive flag ship telescopes. 

The NSA gave NASA two extra Hubble telescopes (obviously need significant modification) that were made to point at the earth rather than away from it. Send those up! 

In my opinion more is better rather than best-that-can-be all eggs in one basket launches. 

This looks great!

How do you go about framing a Dark Neb so well? Not tried on yet

I had all sorts of problems with the StarXterminator. It'd remove the stars but leave large areas of background and fill it with a base colour - no noise, just smooth - stands out like a sore thumb.

I think the issue is halos around the stars are sometimes detected as stars.

On the other hand, your image looks bloody amazing and it's done a fab job for you!

Thanks for sharing.

It's worth pointing out that some ZWO CMOS cameras actually have a dew heater built in - my 2600 does. Not sure how many models have it.

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Stars are elongated - there is some trailing.

I think that trailing is either poor polar alignment or periodic error - not optical issue. If we exclude trailing - I think stars will be OK and that optics is fine.

Cheers dude.

I ran out as soon as the kids were in bed and set up as quick as I could (no pier) - by the time I was focused I had time for 30 seconds of sub only, with no polar alignment. I aimed the mount at a tree that's roughly north 😛

2 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I don't know enough to say whether you can draw any conclusion from those subs.
But, I would be hopeful, as doesn't look like it has been disastrous.

How did it slip ?
Did the whole dovetail slip through the clamp?

Steve

I've got no idea, it actually fell out sideways, as in rolled out, not up or down sliding. Very odd. I'm thinking it looks "ok" too, as in, the stars are equally crap everywhere.

No idea what happened, I swear I had it securly in the mount by the dovetail. It landed dew-shied first and chipped a bit of paint off the corner. My 3D printed top-rail then took the rest of the impact.

From what I can see the glass looks fine.

To check it last night I managed to get set up under clouds and got one 30 second sub before overcast. I couldn't polar align.

Can anything be said of this sub that scope is ok/not ok, or do I need more data?

Cheers

Preview_000_30.0s_Bin1_gain100.fit Preview_000_30.0s_Bin1_gain100.tif

Makes my problems feel small man.

Love it.

11 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

You don’t need to use Facebook to use the messenger app….👍🏼

It's more of a moral decision to not use Facebook products. As I say, I'm the outlier and it does screw me over!

I'm looking to develop some rules of thumb which I can stick to. I am pretty much exclusively an imager.

I have an ASIAIR Pro which can control the dew heater straps % power through the app. I don't think it's in any way automated though, so unless I'm up I need to set and forget. Obvs if I'm awake I can adjust.

Because I image on battery a lot, the dew straps work out as one of the biggest drainers, so I'd like to make this as efficient as possible.

So on my 115mm refractor, how high in % terms should I be running the Lynx Astro dew strap? The colder it is, the more power I run through it? The more degrees below dew point, the more power I run through it? Just whack it on 75% and go to the pub?

I've seen plenty of arguements on various forums about where to position the strap, but not a lot on how much power to give it.

Cheers