DaveS

Thank heavens for that! Very glad to hear your health is moving in the right direction, and you found the cause of the obsy roof problem Astrograph have some Observatory Automation kit, but it ain't cheap, and some Weather Monitoring equipment, though I think you might already have a weather station

Get your health sorted Gina, that's more important than anything. The stars will still be there, so, unfortunately, will the clouds.

That's very good, just seen your Pickering's Triangle in Imaging. Looks like I'll be putting one on my shopping list.

Moon's bright here too, in fact the whole sky looks clear, but the moon is just too bright, and slap bang on top of where I'm looking to image, M16. don't know if I'll be able to do anything this year.

Same here. Was just looking at Stellarium wondering if it was worth getting the minor rig running. Think I won't bother now.

I've got a lot of high cloud here, may be contrails too, quite brightly lit by the moon, hope they stay here rather than heading your way. Not going to bother tonight, it's just too bright, even for H-alpha, especially as the wheel has 7nm Baader, the Astrodons are in another set-up.

Just done a GMaps search. 3 hours 20 min from here. Will have to give serious thought.

Preliminary checks on the new computer setup on the platform, showing the red light. I'll add another strip of wood to keep the light off the monitors, and a couple of red light filters for them.

Hi Gina, have you tried taking "Twilight Flats"? They're something I've been exploring, to avoid any chance of T-shirt weave appearing. As a BTW, I've been sort-of following your battles with Kstars etc with interest. Fortunately (Or unfortunately depending on your point of view) ASA mounts have their own, Windows-only, software requiring Maxim and Pinpoint, so I'm pretty well locked in. The whole lot does integrate quite well.

I was a bit dopey (What's new 😆?) this morning too, and I managed to turn in just before 3 am. After I'd packed in I had another look at the sky (This was about 2.45) and I could see the milky way getting washed out, and the north-east horizon was looking bright, so probably a good time to stop, especially with [OIII], even 3nm isn't that light-proof.

Good luck Gina. I'm wimping out an turning in. Got another 40 mins [OIII]. Was thinking of looking at sulphur, but didn't feel like fighting IT issues at this time of night.

Very nice, some good detail in there, I can see the Veil complex. Looking forward to the final image.

Definitely looks like it. Seeing a bit more of the milky way now, but that might just be because it's higher.

You may be right about the transparency, as by this time last night the milky way was very clear and detailed, if not brilliant, while tonight it's only just apparent, and I'm not that far to the east of you.

I take your point, nevertheless "stuff" (Or another "S" word) happens, and if your kit is robotic then there may not be anyone around to fettle it, so the software had better be fault-tolerant. ATM I'm having to set up the computer stuff each session, and tear it down afterwards, though I'm working on an enclosure affair for the DDM60 control, and the '85 will go in an obsy, so it can all be left set up.

It's starting to look like an order-of-powering issue, something I've found with Autoslew, it has to be the first to be powered up or it won't start. last night I had the mount and associated hardware powered up before starting the laptop, something I hadn't done before, normally I have the lappy powered before starting everything else. I just did that, (With camera set to only -10 deg) and it looks OK as far as it goes. Did a MLPT with the 'scope covered and it made 5 exposures OK, nothing it could sove, but I'll have a go tonight if it's clear enough. Blummin' annoyed. These are expensive mounts, at least partly designed for robotic imaging, the software needs to be BOMBPROOF, not fussy about boot order.

I've never used Sequence for anything more than Autopoint and MLTP. I have tried using it for sequencing a run, but it only got as far as doing the MLPT before crashing with .Net and C++ lib errors, despite bringing both up to the latest versions. Last night MLPT got as far as making the first exposure, then when it came to doing the second it disconnected the camera, something I've not seen before, normally MLPT runs like clockwork. Ah well, more "fun and games".

Very good to hear there was no damage and the guys at E-EyE got the PA back. I'll be off to fight some more IT issues, Not the mount but some interference between Sequence and the Trius drivers, possibly Maxim as well. Dontcha just love computers. Not.

Ah, right.

Are you saying that the mount slipped in its cradle? That's a mechanical problem, rather than IT, but still annoying. TBH I've not had that one with my DDM60, but then it's a lighter mount, and only carrying a small triplet apo.

Very good to hear, you should be able to get good long subs now with the PA sorted. I should be joining the DDM85 club soon, since Rupert has got the ex demo one back here. That'll give me two DDM mounts, twice the IT "fun" .

Nothing as fancy as all those EPs, just a Baader HII 7nm filter to go in the wheel of my ASI183

No, the most you'd need is R, G, B if you were going to cycle through them during the course of a session, any L data would be added separately The reason for loading up the wheel is to have all your filters in one place, and hopefully not gathering dust, something they can do with alarming ease. A narrow band session would likely use only one filter at a time, to gather as much signal as possible.

I could use an 8 position wheel for my Trius camera, for LRGB, [SII]. [NII], HII, [OIII]. Baader LRGB, plus a full set of 3nm Astrodons. As it is, I either have to lose the L filter, or else one of the NB, usually the [SI].

I have often found the PA error reported from a whole sky model to be scary. I *think* it's because the Autopoint model runs both sides of the meridian, while PA modeling, with just 3 or 4 points is one side. But don't take my word for it, Waldemar will know better than I, hopefully he'll be along to give his input.