Pompey Monkey

I've had good results with ADUs in the range 14,000 to 30,000. I don't think that it's mega-critical as long as you are well out of the noise floor and not saturating the sensor. Flat field corrections in software are multiplictive so, in theory at least, as long as you are not clipped at the black or white ends the corrected results should be the same as long as the sensor is linear. The KAF 8300 is, apparently, quite linear and is used for scientific work. With regards to the back focus distance, you'll have a fun time sourcing all the spacers that you'll need to get it exact. I found Telescop-Express to be a very useful resource. The third screw in the eyepiece holder is an absolutely must with the weight of the coma corrector, filter wheel and camera hanging off of the PDS focuser if you want any kind of orthogonality at your chip! I used an M6 allen-head bolt that I have in abundance. There's plenty of metal in the eyepiece holder to take the bolt. Taps and dies are cheap and you just need to find a buddy with a pillar drill (every astronomer should have access to a pillar drill! ). You can see the bolt in this close up: You might also consider tightening up the focuser a bit too. See here: http://www.teleskop-shop.at/testphotos/w-erbung/Crayford_adjustment_Synta_microfoc.pdf I found that the weight of the imaging gear would slowly unwind the focuser over the evening until I had "corrected" the tension in mine.

I recently bought the Hitecastro unit and it doesn't work, despite spending hours faffing with drivers and support from the vendor. Today I spent ten minutes crimping an RJ45 connector (based on the EQMOD website instructions) onto the cable of one of these ftdi adapters: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301820203340?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and it worked first time. Prolific vs ftdi? Go figure! lol.

Very nice, but I think there could be a lot more detail in there if you relaxed the black point a little.

Hi Atreta, This looks very much like periodic error: many unguided subs are OK, followed by some that are completely elongated! Guiding with a finder guider, especially if you use PEC in ASCOM, will all but eliminate this problem. Paul PS I send you a PM

When you see that the first sub in a run has colour in it, you know it's worth all the pain getting there!

Coming along nicely. And giving me ideas as to how to continue my roll-off shed

I'm not the one having the problem!

EQMOD and ASCOM I just followed the instructions on the EQMOD page. I use the same setup for my HEQ5. The only driver issue that I recall was associated with my QHY5.

I go via the SynScan handset. I'm too much of a skinflint to buy the HiTech cable I don't use the ST4 port on my QHY5, I just let PHD do the work on the laptop. Interestingly, I am using a bog-standard Cat 5e cable from the handset to the mount. I can confirm that this method works for at least a 20 m length.

I set up my new AZ-EQ6 GT on Friday night with PHD 2.5 and it worked absolutely fine. .....Until I started experimenting with the dither function in APT. But that's another story. LOL

Whoops! I have Bortle 7 skies - the "5" is for the local dark sky site that I have access to maybe a couple of dozen or so times a year.

I'm loving this thread! I have a 150P-DS which is very similar to the 130. I've done a handful of images on an HEQ5 with PHD on a tripod, but I'm in the process of building my roll-off shed obsy with a AZ-EQ6 mount. I have a 500d that I will astro modify and I will see how far I can go with that from my suburban skies (probably about Bortle 5). Eventually, I will go to the dark side proper and get a CCD (hopefully a 8300 based set-up). But, for now, the game for me is to refine the process and understand how to push along that asymptotic curve to "perfection" i.e. that last 1%. Advice like the quoted above is priceless! I reckon I still have about 98% to go!

I've been dipping into this thread since my love of astronomy has been rekindled by modern AP. I am seriously tempted to kill debayer the sensor in my 550D (if the Ebayer ever sends it) too! Edit: Ebayer/debayer? Coincidence? lol.

Oh noes!! It has <Mysteriously> disappeared from the astroboot website... Gonna set my Dremmel on my Revelation 10" in the near future. Sorry 130'ers, but photons rule the day!

It's almost worth buying for the dual-speed focuser alone at that price...

Oh well, lets take the plunge. My first ever DSO, on my second outing with my new (secondhand) equipment. Another M42 10 fifteen second exposures at 6400 ISO, a handful of darks and bias frames. No flats as I forgot to take them before taking the camera off the 'scope. Orion was rapidly sinking below the houses and it was so murky that we could barely see the belt with the naked eye. Process with DSS, IRIS (thanks to the Astronomy Now tutorial) and levels tweaked in PS. I'm happy

Damian, You are an inspiration to every fledgling and wannabe mirror-maker out there! I may even be tempted to make my own one day. Good luck with the figuring process!