PhotoGav

I agree - have you connected with the SiTech ASCOM driver? From within CDC and SGP?

Have you connected to the mount in SGP and done a Solve & Sync from there?

Excellent job Steve, thank you for sharing. Your tutorial session at SGL SP2018 (the Wet One) on exactly this method is the closest I have come to being pursuaded to buy PixInsight. One day....

I can vouch for the software - it's brilliant. Thank you Mike for developing it and making it available to the world... and for free, you star!

I use a USB adapter that plugs into the 12v cigar socket on my old power tank. I guess it is down rating the power supply to whatever USB power is. I've just done a quick bit of research and apparently USB power is 5v... there you go!

I use the Lakeside motor focus system with SGP for autofocus and can highly recommend it.

Be prepared for a Canadian youff you tuber experience, with hints of sponsor driven plugging, but he has a lovely sense of humour and is very passionate about the subject. I don’t think you’ll really learn anything from him, but it is good entertainment!

Good stuff Jamie. It's always helpful to share experiences of equipment whether positive or negative. As Daz, I am a signed up life member of the Esprit 100 club, love it and look forward to putting it back on the mount very soon! Happy snapping and clear skies. P.S. Good to see Trevor Jones and his AstroBackyard YouTube channel getting a mention on here - I too enjoy his entertaining and informative videos.

Yes, I had that pop up too saying ‘suspected commercial use’, though it stopped appearing and all seems to be working properly. I hope you get your system sorted quickly. It might well be time to start investigating alternative remote control options...

That’s interesting Steve, thank you. Is this right - if I am connecting in to my home network from outside the network, I am using a WAN, however, If I am at home, connected to my home router, so within my home network, I am potentially using a LAN? Anyway, I think the problem was down to the TeamViewer servers. Thankfully it seems to be working properly tonight. Ironically I am currently in Italy, where I always thought the skies would be better than at home, dialling in to my home observatory to gather data on M2, sitting in shorts and t-shirt, under dense, humid, light polluted Italian skies, it’s even a bit cloudy here!! Thank goodness for the remote control obsy. The ice cream is better here though!

Meant to add - my retiring thought last night was that I should have a back up remote access system in place in case TeamViewer fails. My research pointed towards Microsoft Remote Desktop, but I will investigate Radmin too.

Thank you for your replies Steve & Mike. I used the obsy pc successfully a few hours earlier in the day yesterday, so it was definitely awake and it was saving all-sky-camera image updates to my website, so I knew it was up and running. Fed up by about 00:30 this morning I retired to bed. On waking this morning, the first thing I did was log on to TeamViewer and try to connect to the obsy pc - straight in, no problems... I have no idea what has changed as I have been fast asleep while it has sorted itself out! Anyway, the main thing is that it is now up and running smoothly again. Frustrating that I lost a good clear night of data collection, but hopefully I can get back to it tonight. Are TeamViewer servers involved in a remote session connection? If so, perhaps there was an issue with those servers and they have reset overnight?

I am trying to remote access my obsy pc with TeamViewer and it has worked perfectly from far away recently until today. Now when i try and connect it comes up with the error: 'No connection to partner! Partner did not connect to router. Error Code: WaitforConnectFailed'. Has anyone had this problem before and any ideas how can I get it up and running again? Thanks in advance...

A very interesting read Rob, great job. I'm happy to see that CMOS technology is improving rapidly for the field of astrophotography and hope that the perfect CMOS camera will be available by the time I am forced to replace my beloved QSI 683 CCD. As for the images - I just can't help but think that the Rosette shot with the Star 71 and 383 is the best of the lot. I'm probably just biased, but it has a clarity that the CMOS can't match, yet. Thank goodness, at that price!

Ciao Lorenzo, e benvenuto nel posto migliore nel mondo per tutto ciò che ha da fare con l’astronomia e astro fotografia! Ho guardato le tue foto sul astrobin e sono spettacolare, complimenti. Buona fortuna con i cieli da Londra, ma sicuramente riuscirai a vedere qualche cosa anche da lì, ma se ti va di uscire dal ‘Big Smoke’, posso consigliare il starparty da SGL che si svolge ad ottobre. È un ottimo opportunità d’incontrare altri pazzi come te e da guardare le stelle con un cielo meno inquinato da Londra! Clear skies! Gav.

Bit late to the party on this one, but glad I found it. The detail in this image is simply stunning. Great processing as ever, Sara, great contrast and crispy sharp, but not over-baked. The colour palette is challenging, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It reminds me of the fantasy star-scape style images, but the great thing about this one is it’s real, just dropped a tab of LSD, that’s all! I prefer ‘natural’ colour palettes, but this image is still lovely to look at. And that dust below the SeaHorseHead - swirly deliciousness! I look forward to seeing the less-lemon and sharper Flame version. Finally, composition - I was very happy to read that this is an unfinished mosaic as my immediate thought was that I would like to see more of the Nebula above the HorseHead. Thank you for posting, even if you were unsure. It’s always interesting to see something a bit different.

2017 was a good astro year for me and I had to edit down my pictures to arrive at my favourite five. All pictures were taken with a QSI 683-WSG8. The year started with the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae (Altair Astro 102ED): I then moved on to the open clusters M35 and NGC 2158 (Altair Astro 102ED): The year then got a bit galactic, starting with M109 and friends (Celestron EdgeHD 8"): Followed by NGC 891 (Celestron EdgeHD 8"): Finishing up with IC 342 - The Hidden Galaxy (Celestron EdgeHD 8" with 0.7x Reducer): Here's hoping to a clear, dark and productive 2018 for everyone!

Thank you @LightBucket - I'm afraid to say that I built the site myself using Adobe Dreamweaver. Hence it had to be simple as I am not the best web coder in the world!! I would love to suggest a good template system for you and there are many out there, but I have no experience of them, so really can't. Good luck in your search.

Good question - I have no idea! I hope that it is optically no different, or at least better!

Poised, just waiting for clear skies...!

The Esprit 100 arrived earlier this week and yesterday I was able to put it on the mount. The sky last night was very hazy, but was sufficiently thin overhead to warrant trying out the new scope. Here is the first light, a single unguided 60s luminance exposure: The stars look nice and tidy into the corners, so I am happy with things so far. In fact, depsite the scope not being as well finished as some other scopes I have or have seen, the optics look as though they are going to perform nicely and the focuser seems to be sufficiently chunky. I look forward to some decent clear and dark skies to start imaging properly with it.

Thanks for that Dave! Luckily I don’t need the larger imaging circle and by the time I do, a Takahashi FSQ106EDX4 will be providing it for me...! Perhaps...

Yes, I also ordered the flattener and a 6mm adapter, which by my reckoning will give me 55.47mm with my QSI and Baader filters. Hopefully there are some clear nights on their way - Friday and Sunday look promising. Though the Esprit won't be going on my mount until after this New Moon - I have the Beehive to complete with my current set-up!

Thanks John. I will be attaching a Lakeside motor to it. Can't wait for it to arrive now! Ooooh, new toys!

Well, folks, I finally made a decision... I very nearly scraped together every penny I have to buy a Takahashi FSQ106ED, but then I realised that I still don't have enough pennies for it. So, I have ordered a......... ...... dramtic gameshow-stylee pause..... ...... Skywatcher Esprit 100ED. [cue rapturous applause...]. Apologies for the ensuing cloud in the South of England. Thank you all for your input and help. If the Esprit is disappointing I will be coming round to each and every one of you to lament!!!! Clear skies! Gav.