Skipper Billy

Hello Peter

I used one for a season without any issues - other than I needed bigger pixels so I changed it for a Lodestar.

Are you using the latest driver package from Atik ??

Might be worth having a chat with Atik - I have always found them very helpful and knowledgeable.

https://www.atik-cameras.com/#footer

Well we could discuss the technicalities (which are way above my tiny mind) ad nauseum but my stars are tiny, round and tight. The mount is utterly reliable and it churns out similar numbers to the above night after night with no fiddling or adjusting. 

It makes me happy which is the main thing!! 😉 

4 hours ago, rl said:

I don't suppose you've entered the focal length in centimetres rather than millimetres? 

(Just part of my envy management strategy...)

Nope - sorry!!  (Not sorry 😉 )

4 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Image shows that you have 0.02px error in RA and 0.01px error in DEC which translates to 0.14" and 0.13" respective errors. I really don't think you have reliable data when you are trying to measure star position to 1/50 - 1/100 of a pixel. As far as I know - centroid algorithms can determine precision down to about 1/16-1/20 of single pixel.

Your guide system is just too coarse to be able to reliably measure guide error in that range (large pixels, small guide scope).

You are probably right - I use it as a guide (pun intended) to what's happening so if it says 0.10 arc sec per pixel it is better than when it says 1.2 arc sec per pixel rather than any meaningful measurement.

If this graph was a heart monitor I would not be smiling. (Or doing anything!)

As it's the guide graph from my Mesu I am grinning from ear to ear 😉 

All night all sky with special emphasis on the Spider Nebula 😉

I had one for a couple of years and was very impressed with it.

The takeaway things for me with it were....

When its windy you can see some 'bounce' on the guiding graph as the belts stretch ever so slightly in the gusts then return to normal.

The images always look far better than the guide graph suggest they might

The mount likes short sharp guide adjustments rather than long guide exposures to even out the seeing

Its beautifully made and I had zero issues with it.

It's perhaps a little foolhardy of Avalon to advertise it as 'entirely maintenance free' - nothing is entirely maintenance free. The belts are cheap and easy to change.

Its a shame that such a good mount has been marred by poor after sales service.

57 minutes ago, assouptro said:

I’ve had a few years with the loadstar and it is a cracking little guider

I have a darks and bad pixel map library for it and spent quite some time adding 4 long column defects pixel by pixel in the bad pixel map generator and to be fair, it was cleaner once done.

The main object of the exercise is to have a bigger chip to find more stars at the long focal length with the Celestron OAG and I have to admit, so far, it is better with the Atik than the loadstar. 

Also I own a point grey (flir) Blackfly camera that I use for solar and lunar, it has the same chip as the asi and qhy 174 cameras that are increasingly popular as sensitive larger chipped guide cameras for use with OAG’’s but there isn’t an ascom driver for it so I cannot get it connected to phd otherwise I would be using that.

The 174 based cameras I have mentioned are around £500 which I didn’t want to spend and as I already owned the Atik I figured it was worth an ask! 
 

I won’t be parting with the loadstar anytime soon though

Hi Bryan

That all makes sense - I know of people that see the PHD2 screen for the first time connected to a Lodestar and freak out because they cant tell the stars from the noise/bad pixels - but your reasoning all makes perfect sense.

Have fun and clear skies.

If you take a dark library and create a Bad Pixel Map for the Lodestar in PHD2 - all the undesirables vanish.

Binned 2x2 its far and away the best guide camera I have ever used.

I just stopped thinking about it to be honest - The R6 is comparable to the 5D Mk4 and there doesn't seem to be any massive advantage - the R5 is more than I want to spend. So I just parked it!

45 minutes ago, sharkmelley said:

Did you come to a decision on this?  I recently bought the Canon EOS R for astrophotography and I'm very pleased with the results.   I will certainly be using it in preference to my Sony A7S and Nikon Z6.

Hello Mark.

In the end I didn't upgrade and stuck with my 70D for now - mostly because I have been so busy at work I haven't had time to even think about it!

I will look forward  to seeing some of your images.

2 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Did you manage to take out the shaft bearings in the housing?

If I remember correctly - yes I did - it was a few years ago though!

Its a pretty straightforward job - just take your time - photograph everything as it comes apart. Clean everything and use good quality lightweight grease.

There is a guide on my website - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gepzh1BL1M2oJCHEBoHVaOf-vWocMX7s/view

Well done. Great capture and elegant processing.

I would live to have  ago at this but I don't have anything wide field enough and I hate doing mosaics!!

Chapeau.

I have always struggled with automating the taking of flats - I like to do it properly - a full set for each filter (L,R,G,B,Ha,SIIand OIII) and binned 1x1 and 2x2 for each filter which is quite time consuming although the library that this creates lasts for for a full season.

I saw an advert for the Pegasus Flatmaster and made enquiries of the Widescreen Centre who were listed as a UK supplier as I had read reviews that the exposure time for narrowband was excessive - they were very helpful and allayed my fears.

It arrived and I set it up last night - all very straightforward and it integrates fully and easily with the NINA Flats Wizard

Part of the setup involves adjusting the brightness (from within NINA) to get acceptable exposure times - I like to always be over 5 seconds as I use a mechanical shutter camera.

Once set up for each filter NINA saves the results and when a Flats sequence is made it populates every filter with the correct exposure time and panel brightness.

I set it running and this morning I was greeted by a full set of perfectly exposed flats filed by binning and filter.

The longest exposure time was the SII filter at 42 seconds for 32000 ADU at 100% brightness.

The ability to adjust the brightness from the PC is a revelation and works really well.

The Flatmaster comes with its own software for those not using capture programmes.

It also integrates with other capture programmes such as APT and SGP etc.

Summary - not a cheap solution but a very good one.

Product details here - https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/pegasus-flatmaster-flat-field-illuminator.html

I use the 178MC with an Arecont 1.55 f2 180 degree lens as an 'All Sky Camera'.

At this time of year I use 30 second exp at gain 300 - when its properly dark I use 45 seconds at gain 325.

Dark subtraction is essential but it works well.

Sample here - I have since improved the internal reflections and masked the house lights.

I tried really hard to get everything possible mounted on the scope - that way I only have one power lead and one data cable down to the ground. Then I made correct length power and USB cables.

That's just showing off 😉 We have another month to wait before anything like darkness returns !!!

Enjoy it!!

3 minutes ago, woodblock said:

Excellent - thanks for that and also for providing the guides in the first place. Spent several hours trying to get PHD2 to do something useful last night - sigh.

You are very welcome - I didn't write any of them - I found them clear, concise and useful when I was stuck and posted the links on my website just to help others who might be having the same difficulties 😉 

18 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

3 hours ago, woodblock said:

Hi Skipper Billy, I get 'file not found" when I try to access your guides from the website. Some are ok but the two I'd like to look at are "Getting PHD2 to work properly" and "Setting up guiding in eqascom".

The pages must have moved or been deleted - I will try to find them and update the links.

Links all fixed now - fill yer boots!!!! The links were over 4 years old !!! The information still holds good.

3 hours ago, woodblock said:

Hi Skipper Billy, I get 'file not found" when I try to access your guides from the website. Some are ok but the two I'd like to look at are "Getting PHD2 to work properly" and "Setting up guiding in eqascom".

The pages must have moved or been deleted - I will try to find them and update the links.

7 minutes ago, Penguin said:

I also strongly suspect a stripped housing since, as you say, the grub screw looks ok.

If it is the female thread in the housing that is stripped its not the end of the world.

3 options spring to mind

1. Clean the hole thoroughly with acetone - then completely fill it it chemical metal - when it is fully cured retap the thread.
2. Go up a size - ie M3 to M4 or M4 to M5 etc - simply retap the thread.
3. Fit a helicoil - probably a engineers workshop job than a home task.

I think I would pay a visit in the daylight bearing a bottle of wine and with a sincere apology followed by asking which noise was it that was a problem - it might be the camera - it might be the mount. Then explain that you will do whatever you can to reduce the noise.

I wonder how well these would work with a CCD camera and a not so fast scope ???  (f5)

Much cheaper than Astrodon/Chroma !!!

Well done Ciaran - sublime image.