DaveS

Yes, I like that, lots of fine detail there. Going to put this on my hit-list.

Ideally you should be balanced in three axes, RA, Dec, and around the OTA.

On now!

Just noticed. Gravity and Me, with Jim A-K on at 9 o/c. This is an hour and a half ( two 45 mins squashed together I think), then at 10.30 Horizon, What is Dark Energy.

I did the same thing when I made a LRGB image of the Sword and Flame, accidentally stopping the lens down from f/3.4 to f/5.6 when I made the Luminance exposures, so not only did I have huge diffraction spikes, but the L didn't bring as much to the party as I'd hoped. Dur...

Some lovely faint detail in th Curtains Gina. I see Alnitak showing some interesting diffraction patterns, was the lens stopped down at all? Oh, and it's great to see you posting in the Deep Sky Imaging section again!

Hmmm... I see a twisted 8-membered ring in the Chair conformation with side groups in the 1 and 4 positions. I won't even attempt to name it as I don't know what or where any heteroatoms are, though the two bits sticking out look like the conventional representations of methyl groups. Sorry, I used to be an organic chemist.

The "Hot Pixel" constellation?

A beginners' special with Pete joining a group of novice stargazers and Chris looking at the moon through a pair of bins. Following there's a repeat of an Horizon. How to See a Black Hole

I've just posted a question about Sesto Senso on the ASA forum, but am not holding my breath, it may be the slowest forum I've come across.

I've heard of Focus Lynx, it's a good make so I'm sure it's not the root of the problem. Probably something cantankerous in the software.

Alas, I'm not in your league when it comes to engineering Gina, so will have to make do with what's commercially available.

What autofocuser are you using? I haven't got one yet, though I was considering the Sesto Senso as it looks a good all-in-one unit with a relatively simple attachment method. I note in passing that the Sequence autofocuser routine is what caused me all the problems originally. With Maxim and PinPoint the only times I've had platesolving fail is when I neglected to update the parameters when changing the imaging configuration.

I would stick with Baader unless I had a very good reason to look elsewhere.

OK, I've been giving this some thought. Hence the delay in replying. As you're remote I'm thinking you have a lot more hardware to automate than I have ATM, but I will likely have a similar amount when my obsy and box are up and running, so I'm hoping you can point up things for me to watch out for. Has there been a pattern to when Sequence falls over? I know you said it was random, but there must have been *something* causing Sequence to crash. In my case it turned out to be a bug in the Autofocuser routines that crashed if there wasn't *something* connected (Even though the "documentation", for want of a better word, suggested it would run without one). Adding the ASCOM focuser simulator cured the problem. What does the Program Log have to say? Even before ASA had sorted the focuser problem I had been able to use Sequence to make the big pointing files, an Autopoint file using Autogrid to set up the grid of points for the pointing errors. I could also make MLPTs, though had to stop and do a manual flip if the run crossed the meridian. I don't have to do this now, as Sequence handles it automatically. I do agree that Sequence can be fragile, no well written software should throw up "Unhandled Exceptions", it should be able to deal with the inevitable exceptions that happen from time to time.

Well, you know more (A lot more lol) about IT than I do, so I'm not really in a position to advise. Has Rupert been able to shed light on the problems? I know they have a heap of ASA mounts at E-EyE (He described it as an ASA Farm). Have you tried the ASA forum? Yes I know it's not very active but they will help if they can, as will ASA support, Wolfgang was very helpful in getting my Sequence problem sorted, even though he was in the middle of commissioning a 1 metre professional 'scope package.

Not yet alas. As detailed in my Obsy Build thread there have been more delays than I care to think about.

This has been one of (if not *the*) wettest. cloudiest Autumn / Winters on record. Just plain miserable for us astronomers, but I feel for those poor souls "up north" who have been flooded out for weeks / months.

Well, I know that Sequence can be (Is) graunchy and long in the tooth (Technically, according to ASA Support, it's still beta ), however since ASA support helped me sort out the Unhandled Exception errors I was getting, (Due to a software bug) the only problems I've had have been elsewhere in the imaging / software chain. I've been able to set up a sequence, go away and watch Sequence start with a focus / synch plate solve, perform the MLPT and start the capture. I've also seen it carry out an entirely automatic meridian flip. re-synch and second MLPT without my intervention. It will also park the 'scope and warm up the camera if asked to. Yes, there could well be problems ahead when I get a real autofocuser and roof control, but I've seen nothing yet (Famous last words) yet to suggest gotchas. Having examined Sequence I can see the various settings for this. It is, after all supposedly written (Badly) for professional observatory automation. Waiting (But not holding my breath) for ASA to release their supposedly platform independent software package.

My back has been causing me problems for a couple of days now (Got an appointment for the 8th) so all I've done is another ye olde analogue drawing of the North Elevation at 1:10, and with more detail. Don't try to scale from this, as it isn't quite square, but hopefully it'll show enough detail to make my ideas clear. TBH, I think I prefer this to CAD.

Very interesting target, and well imaged. Checking Stellarium, it should be possible to start imaging this from the second half of March through to the end of astro dark in mid May.

As promised above, a couple of photos The new shelving, already with stuff being "organised" (For a given value of "organise"). And the alcove where I will put the workbench, once I've filled in the wall and cleared the floor. The large box is the tuckbox I had when I went to boarding school at 11.

A happy new year to all at SGL. Clear Skies! Going to turn in shortly, 'night all.

A happy new year from me. Let's hope the last year of this decade turns out to be the best, and sets up up for 2021 and the new decade.

Nice job, looks good despite the short time.