Thalestris24

Hi Tommo I realise this is a slightly old thread... Was just wondering if you ever got a Smart EQ Pro? I'm currently looking at this too as I want something lightweight that I can easily carry up and down stairs (I've been trying to find some way of doing this for the last 5 years!). I've already got the SW EQ£ Synscan Pro and it's quite good value. However, it's still a bit too heavy for me - I need to get down two flights of stairs in one go... If anyone else has anything to say about this mount, that would be useful! Thanks Louise

Do you have one? How is it for you? No, I want something small and light - but slightly better than a Star Adventurer (which I have but it's never worked properly for me and, in some respects, is hard to use anyway). Flo sell these iOptron's and I'd get a new one. Thanks Louise

Thanks for the comment but I really want to hear from someone who has/used one. Louise

This ioptron : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mounts/ioptron-smarteq-pro-goto-equatorial-mount.html#specifications Any pros/cons re imaging with it (small frac)? Thanks 🙂 Louise

Thanks, though my images aren't very good. I've built a Lowspec 2 spectrometer and, if I can get it working, I'll probably just do some spectroscopy instead. Failing that, I'll abandon this hobby altogether. Regards Louise

A few stars more from 16th April: NGC6743 8x120s NGC6823 4x180s crop NGC6834 5x120s crop NGC6885 3x120s NGC6940 3 x 120s Louise

Hi Paul, if you don't need much current (<=100mA) then the little 78L05 will do There may be other alternatives if you need higher current. https://components101.com/78l05-pinout-equivalent-datasheet Louise

Thanks for the mentions. One reason I started with using platesolving was because I was unable to do a proper Polar or star alignment. I've always been severely limited by only being able to image via an open window in my flat, and under terrible skies with awful LP! I can never produce decent long exposure images from here, not even with narrowband 😞 Nowadays, I just do short exposure live stacking with SharpCap and a mono camera, but still use platesolving to locate targets. Louise

It's still a work in progress and put to one side for now

Good luck with your build! Louise

These are taken with my TS APO 80mm and GPCAM3 178M, mount = Heq5. All from April 21st. Not quite first light with the 183M but I've not done much imaging at all this year so far. Captured in SharpCap Pro 3.2, 64 bit. Stacked with a separate master flat in dss, tweaked a bit in Paint.NET M27 3 x 189s resized to 40% M56 2x120s resized to 40% M57 10 x 120s resized to 40% M57 crop NGC6834 4x120s + 30x30s resized to 40% NGC6834 crop NGC6885 5x180s NGC6940 10x180s Some subs seem to have artefacts which are probably a flats issue or could be local LP gradients. Louise

I never even bothered trying the rubbish aluminium tripod - put it straight on a HEQ5 one Louise

it was just late night musing on my part! 😄 Louise

Most stars aren't exactly black bodies cf spectrometry. I feel the pursuit of some sort of 'accurate' colour rendering in astrophotography is a neverending minefield - perhaps akin to a Mandelbrot Set!! Don't forget to take into account atmospheric extinction, monitor calibration, ambient light, and what your eyes actually see (how are you going to know for sure?). Surely a simple, approximately accurate but satisfying, pretty, coloured picture will do the job? Will anybody really care that much otherwise? Me, I mostly stick to monochrome/luminance these days - so much easier, especially when life is so short! Louise

I'm afraid mine's been put to one side for the moment. Louise

Hi again LOL221 You may also find this thread of interest Louise

Hi LOL221 The multispectral filter you mentioned would do if that's the only one you can get to fit your camera. I don't have a Nikon but I think I've seen clip filters for them - Astronomik, STC? However, I think you'll struggle with your alt-az setup. You're going to be limited to ~30s exposures. I think you'll have to take a lot of 30s exposures... Do post some of your images Louise

Oh ok - sorry, I should have read it more carefully...

I got this from the apt forum "If Settings->CCD->Manage Gain is unchecked APT will not touch the gain value and will leave the ASCOM driver to take care. If the option is checked then APT will use the gain values in Settings->Filter Wheel and Camera tab if they are not empty and if the ASCOM driver accepts setting gain value from APT." So looks like it's normally set in the Ascom driver

But maybe the ambient temperature dropped rapidly? If it's a biggish triplet it can still take a while to stabilise. Louise ps this is just an idea - I don't have any great expertise 🙂

Hi Have you got the 'manage gain' option checked under settings->ccd ?

Looks a bit like thermals to me - was the scope temperature stabilised? Louise

Some lovely and recent images of Jupiter from Juno Mission: https://www.space.com/stunning-image-of-jupiter-from-nasa-juno.html?fbclid=IwAR3OJ3gln5LPVzZHbN1c8r6_ivt4f0z97dJi9LAyEzdoIbAZtc2Ainv7fvU Louise

Unfortunately, it hasn't affected the cloud 😞 Sigh. Louise

Doubtful, unfortunately, but can enjoy the lower air pollution here in the city, while it lasts! Louise