PhotoGav

Yes, I did get the update and am successfully running it, when clouds allow. I will also reply to @Mathieu80‘s pm.

Ooooo, very shiny and lovely!

Here is my collection of highlights from 2018. All captured with a QSI 683-WSG8, scopes as per each title. The year started pleasingly with 33 hours & 45 minutes of The Tadpole Nebula (Celestron EdgeHD 8"): I then moved to my first cluster of the year - M44, The Beehive Cluster (WO Star 71, 17 hours 25 minutes). Very proud of this one as, despite it not being the most dramatic of astrophotos, it was shortlisted for the International Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards, 2018: Galaxy season gave rise to this image of Markarian's Chain (Skywatcher Esprit 100ED, 17 hours 40 minutes): I kept the Esprit on the mount for pretty much the rest of the year, I really like this scope! This is the Coma Cluster (SW Esprit 100ED, 19 hours 20 minutes): I ended the year with a whole string of open clusters, my favourite of which is this one, The Owl Cluster (SW Esprit 100ED, 12 hours): 2018 was a remarkably productive year. Let's hope that 2019 is a good one for us all. Clear skies...!

Thanks Ian. 6.3.1 is the version I am running. I need firmware version 7.1.1 and FPGA 0.2.1.2...

Thanks Dave. I've emailed the support at QSI address, which will hopefully give me some joy! I'm happy for you that you haven't noticed this problem. Do you know what version of firmware you are running on the cameras? P.S. Three QSI 683s is just plain greedy!!!

I occasionally notice vertical banding on subs gathered with my QSI 683-WSG8. Scouring the net I have found an old thread on Cloudy Nights that goes into detail about this problem. It seems that I am not alone. My instance of the issue fits all the descriptions mentioned - it happens in very cold ambient temperatures and is most obvious down the left side of the image. It appears that there is a fix for the issue in a release of Firmware, but I cannot find the firmware for download anywhere... Has anybody else had this issue, have they fixed it and do they have the firmware available to share with me please? Here's a stack of red subs - taken in the very cold weather just recently. Hopefully I will be able to process it out, but it would be great to have a camera that doesn't create the issue in the first place!

Congratulations and welcome to the Esprit Club! This AP thing is a fiddly business, but when it works, it really is wonderful. Good luck with your onwards journey and I look forward to seeing a full image soon. As for SGP and the Auto Focus window not going away after the time period you define. That only happens when auto focus is invoked in a sequence. I am guessing that you were clicking 'Run' on the Focus panel manually, in which case it just sits there waiting for your next manual command after completing the auto focus routine. Perfectly normal behaviour!

Just to report that I successfully made a bad pixel map with my Oculus All Sky camera last night and it works a treat. I now have beautifully clean images with no more white hot pixels. Brilliant! Thank you Mike, you are a total hero!

Brilliant Mike, I’ve been hoping for a release with the better dark frame subtraction feature, so I will download and test the beta as soon as possible. I’ll report back how I get on. Many thanks for your hard work with this software. Gav.

Thanks Barry, interesting. Yes, Ha can have a tendency to overpower if not used carefully!

Very moody rendition Barry, lovely job. That's certainly some marathon, both of data collection and processing! Interesting to see that you have both Ha and Lum data - do you mix them for the final Lum? For recent projects I have been creating a SuperLum in APP using all subs - it seems to be working quite well. Interested to know what your approach is.

Tom, have you tried using a different USB cable yet?

Interesting Olly, they seem such a neat solution, but by the sounds of it are best avoided for now. I use a cheapish Windows laptop protected from the night in a cardboard box with a decent USB hub. I do always have my fingers crossed whenever it is in use though! Thankfully 2019 is starting well and I have my fingers crossed right now!!

I would say the first thing to try is a different USB cable. Then a different USB port. Then cry helplessly into your hands and send the Eagle back... I hope an alternative USB something cures the problem.

Mmm, good and bad... it sounds as though good progress is being made. I hope the Eagle issue is sorted swiftly. Once the comms are reliable it will be much easier to get the Mesu up and running properly. Good work Scope Doctor!

I agree, the mount is not working at all as it should yet, stars or no stars! Between us all we will get this thing up and running properly.

It is indeed the same init screen. I suppose the difference is that SGP will solve the image and report the exact coordinates to the Init screen, whereas from CDC it is a manual action where you choose an object in CDC and sync the system to that, rather than precise coordinates of where the mount is specifically pointing. I look forward to hearing that Steve finds a simple solution to all your woes very soon!

I'm off to do my homework on that now!

Which Eagle unit do you have?

I will defer to the Scope Doctor, but if he is too hungover from mad celebrations last night or is busy watching the next in his seasonal Bond film marathon, then I can try and suss things out. I am not fully up to speed with the Eagle box, so will do a bit of research on that first as it does seem that it is partly responsible for your angst. I await updates.

Happy New Year everyone! The video is very interesting and suffice to say, Tom, that things are not as they should be, yet... I’m sure Steve will establish a lot more with a TeamViewer session. I would be happy to TV in too and have a look if no response from him.

I wonder whether the CalStar Inits done when things weren’t quite right and saved in the system are messing things up? What does SiTech exe report in the main Scope tab in the Cal Points section? I suggest clearing out any saved points and see if that stops the weird slews.

Yes, sense made, and it is good to understand what the mount / SiTech software is up to, thank you. The important thing is that the system is working... if only sky conditions would allow it to be used! Any progress with Tom’s distant Mesu?!

Fantastic! I’m delighted to see that evidently you aren’t too stressed by all of this!!

Steve, I am not convinced by your statement that the first Init needs to be a CalStar. I am (and many others are) successfully running the Mesu with SGP with no CalStars at all. Now I have turned off Auto Tracking, my Offset Init is persisting between sessions and getting me very close to my target on the first slew. I’m interested to hear your opinion...