tooth_dr

Alan that’s a great reply. Many thanks for taking the time to share the links also. It seems I have similar issues to the other folks. Over the past days/nights I’ve exhausted software updates, rollbacks to legacy software, new usb cables, various combinations of equipment plugged in and not plugged in, connected to SGPro and not connected. I ‘think’ I’ve found the issue. I have an old metal startech usb 2.0 hub attached to a dovetail above my scope. It was attached for balancing purposes some time ago and I forgot it was there. I connected it up to the pc and moved both the focuser and the EFW USBs to it from the Pegasus hub. Two hours of testing and touch wood all appears to be working fine. It’s cloudy now but I was able to change filters multiple times and autofocus both scopes, plus PHD2 guiding and image downloads all 100%. Got a few subs of IC1396 in the process. Im going to assume at this point there is an issue with the compatibility of the Pegasus hub and my equipment. Might be that the hub has only USB3, there are no USB2 ports on it. Or might be a mechanical issue as the female ports allow a bit of play and jiggling the connectors causes that window’s disconnect/reconnect bing. I will use the startech hub for a while and monitor the situation. Cheers! Hi Stuart I really hope SGPro continues to work for me as I’m just so used to the interface. If however it stops for good I’ll switch to NINA. I won’t be paying the ongoing subscription for SGPro for sure.

Lovely Paul, thats square sensor really works well.

EFW failed and frozen on 'moving':

The past couple of nights have been clear, and this has been my first imaging session since May. Does anyone still use the last version of SGPro that doesnt require a subscription: 3.2.0.660 I am getting USB dropouts/reconnects which in turn causes a knock-on effect and my guiding camera disconnects and my imaging camera hangs on image downloads = no images! I simplified things and ran just one camera (2600MC) and one focuser (FocusLynx Commander controller #focuser1 ). I was able to image and guide the whole night without troubles. As soon as I connect the second setup that is when the problems start. I use a separate instance of SGPro, and have been doing so for 3 years now. The second set up is camera (268M), Atik EFW3, focuser (FocusLynx Commander controller #focuser2 ) All connects ok, but 1-2 minutes into the session something happens and SGPro pops up lots of disconnect messages, and I can hear the noise that Windows makes when a USB disconnects and reconnects (multiple times) I think it's the EFW3, because I was able to use one telescope with the focuser (autofocusing working perfectly all night multiple times), and its the same focuser unit controlling both focusers. But the EFW3 works perfectly in the Atik Filter Wheel Runner progam, so I know the wheel isnt broken. Maybe it's no longer comparible with SGPro 3.2? When this instance of SGPro has issues, it affects PHD2 and the focuser, so it affects the other instance of SGPro too. I connect all through a Pegasus Powerbox Advance V2 Hub, and I'm also wondering could it be that causing the issues? I've tried connecting the focuser directly to the PC, but admittedly havent tried doing that with the EFW3, a job for later. I use Lindy cables and have tried different cables to see if there are any issues with cables. I also reseated all the power cables and I'm using the ones that came with the Powerbox. Sorry for the long message, just frustrated as I'm trying to get back into it, but this isnt helping! I downloaded NINA this afternoon, and tried to set it up, but I'm worried that I'll run into different problems getting the new software to work (meridian flips, guiding, framing, autofocusing, observatory slaving etc). I'm running two separate instances too and there is a lot to adapt to! Any input gladly accepted Adam.

Top work Rodd. Thanks for posting.

Yes it was shortly after I got them he reviewed them. They were around £1000 so not exactly ‘budget’ glass. Again thanks to flo for processing the return with zero issues.

It’s not just the cheaper brands. I fell foul of a set of Baader filters being off band on my fast scope. I spoke to Mr Baader himself and he blamed my processing but there was no oiii in 20 hours of imaging at F2.8, hard to argue with that. Plus plenty of star haloes in a product advertised as halo free too😊 I moved to Chroma and funny enough the issues resolved.

I agree on this. This year I didn’t bother swapping my dual rig off for a larger galaxy scope due to the effort required to get all aligned, rotated, tilt corrected etc. You couldn’t really have a dual rig without a permanent setup, but once set up you can really gather a lot of data quickly.

Pretty much echoing above. I love my dual rig. I have identical scopes and cameras (one mono and the other OSC). On a good night in the winter I capture 20+ hours of data in a single night. Alignment is tricky being an identical FOV so I bought a JTD saddle and utilise the manual rotators on my Starlight Instruments focusers.

I agree with the above about leaving well alone. BXT will tidy things up if required. If you are inclined you could build a tilt jig and test your currently spacer/adapter configuration. I also do mosaics and APP has zero issues aligning and producing great results even with dodgy stars. It managed to align my F2.8 newt stars and they were far from pretty.

https://gong2.nso.edu/products/tableView/table.php?configFile=configs/averageIntensity10min.cfg

I would use this website to check the sun before setting up my solar scope https://gong2.nso.edu/products/mainView/table.php?configFile=configs/mainView.cfg

I have a set I bring to work on partial eclipses, for myself and to show my staff. You can only see the largest of spots and not in any detail but they are safe to use and handy.

Well worth the effort Paul, lovely version of the tulip. I was tempted by the skies but couldn’t motivate myself

Very nice Alan. Really milky dust against a nicely controlled background

Dont really want to clog up Lees thread on this, but here is my view on it. PS also I am not an expert, but have some experience under my belt to give my opinion I have the 2600MC now but I used to shoot with a DSLR some time ago. Unfortunately the comparison stops at the them both being OSC. The cooling, the lower read noise, different architecture of chip design, better technology, better sensor, etc, make the 2600MC just an absolutely brilliant camera and a significant improvement over any DSLR. You can still get a decent image with the DSLR, it will just require a lot more integration time and a heavy handed processing approach. In the summer when the temps are warmer, you will also find a lot more noise in your subs. But I think the two sensors are the same size, both crop size APS-C sensors? I image with both a good quality refractor and a low cost reflector (SW250PX) depending on the time of year. Bang for buck the reflectors are brilliant. Sometimes the coma correctors/flatteners used with reflectors can introduce abherrations, and I find the stars are just that bit nicer in a refractor versus a reflector. I use Astro Pixel Process and Photoshop and PI. I used to use DSS which is free for stacking. I could never get onto GIMP. The tools such as BXT and NXT are very useful, and I feel worth paying. Do the free trials and see if they are worth it, that's free. There are some many factors that influence required integration time, not least your own personal preference on how much time to dedicate to one target. I'm in a darkish site, so I aim for 8 hours per target. However it's often more like 25 hours.

I didnt bother swapping over my widefield kit this year for a longer focal length for galaxy season, so it left me looking for alternative targets more suited to a wider field view on the few clear nights we have got this year. I decided to dedicate a few nights to Polaris recently. However I was having PC issues which ended up affecting my mount, so it took 3 nights just to gather 7.5 hours of data. I'm struggling to get the colour added to the luminance data, so I thought I'd post what I have some far - lumiance only. I've maybe went a bit far with it for only 8 hours of data, but who would have guessed there was some much dust and gas around Polaris! I always assumed it was an empty and uninteresting part of the sky used for polar alignment. Info: Mesu e200, APM 105/650, Riccardi Reducer 0.75x, QHY268M, UV/IR cut filter 224 x 120s subs SGPro, APP, PI, PS C+C welcome Adam

You cant be sure if a flat is bad by looking at it, it can look awful but as long as it corrects the data properly then its good! Unfortunately the fresh batch of flats wont be any use for the lights above but it's always better to have clean surfaces as much as possibe.

Superb there Steve, very clear and detailed.

The background looks odd, like the flat calibration isn’t correct. I’m not sure what camera you used, some OSC are harder to calibrate. When I calibrate my own OSC data it either has a completely flat background or just a simple gradient running across it if imaged during the moon. If you can sort this issue it’ll make processing 100x easier.

I just got an alert on Aurora watch app. A red alert at 919nT!!!! Cloudy here

Very helpful. Thank you again 🍻

This got me well on the way to being sorted, thanks for that 👍🏻 Took a good bit of fiddling but everything appears to be working. Ill need to assess the meridian flip settings as I remember having to change something. The sequence file is corrupted so I’ve lost all the mosaic and framing set ups for approx 30 targets that I’d been working on but that’s not the end of the world. I’ll just start again. It looks like anything the pc tried to save on the 27th March failed leaving a file size of 0kb

Well looks like I've lost 233 subs at least, only 8 hours 🤢, all from the last session: So not likely to be a mesu fault, this is a PC issue. Hopefully I can sort it.

No and I checked it’s still where it should be.