Skipper Billy

54 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

PHD2 can usually be left to chose the best star.

But maybe your star thresholds are incorrectly set.

I think I am going to reset it back to factory and do a loooong 'Guiding Assistant' run.

It has always behaved impeccably and I think I must have inadvertently altered something but for the life of me I cant figure out what.

@Adreneline Cheers!

13 hours ago, Adreneline said:

Picking up on @tomato's comment - I have an iOptron encoder mount and the advice I received from iOptron was to use the Delay feature in PHD rather than extending the exposure time; encoder mounts can exhibit a sort of 'hunting' behaviour where PHD is effectively fighting with the encoders. Sadly my iOptron mount failed before I got the chance to use this feature; previously I had never managed to get guiding working with my CEM25-EC.

Oooh - I didnt know there is a delay feature - I will have to investigate! Cheers.

13 hours ago, tomato said:

How is the seeing and sky transparency? Is the focus spot on? You have a Mesu so you could try extending the sub exposure time.

I think if you manually select a star while looping, PHD will use this star when you switch to guiding.

Hope you get it working, it’s a real pain to lose clear sky time to issues like this.

Cheers.

I took the opportunity of a semi clear night to recheck the PA - we had 5 earthquakes last week. It was nearly a degree out. All good after that at around ~0.4 RMS

Still guiding on the edge of a star though!

Out of all the challenges that imaging presents us with, guiding isnt normally an issue for me.

But tonight - nothing has been changed but PHD2 is all over the place.....

• Keeps telling me that the star has been lost - even though I can clearly see the star on the screen
• When it does guide its auto choosing a ridiculously dim star
• Then its massively overcorrecting giving a see saw graph
• More often than not it is choosing to guide on the edge or just off the edge of a star
• Multi star guiding isnt playing - it is just choosing one star

I have uninstalled the prog and reinstalled the latest version - just the same

Anyone have any ideas ???

I am imaging Meyers Nebula (IC2169), good seeing and transparency, not windy.

9 minutes ago, Telescopist said:

I just unboxed the GTi. I've inserted the 8  AA batteries. I'd prefer powering up using an external 12V DC source. I do have a Power Sonic 12V (sealed) 18 amp hour battery which I've used with an old CG-5 mount and with a 20-inch GoTo Alt-Az setup. It would fit nicely on top of the tripod spreader base. The initial current as printed on the side of the battery is "5.4 amps max". I wonder if that matters in the whole scheme of things. Can anyone respond to that concern? Which may be no concern at all...

It will work just fine and additionally provide extra stability for your tripod.

The GT1 wont pull anything like 5 amps.

Cant comment on the Jackery - never used one.

Good luck with the eclipse!

Many years ago I tried all sorts of guide cameras and eventually settled on the orginal Lodestar.

Like you, after a few years later I felt the need for an upgrade and tried a few options from ZWO etc but the best performer - by far - was the new Lodestar.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/starlight-xpress-cameras/starlight-xpress-mono-lodestar-pro.html

If  you need even more clearance then a pair of these bolted to the plate on the mount would give you another 10mm or so.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-vixen-type-v-series/adm_vdpa_adaptor.html

This might help you.....

Sometimes the blindingly obvious us exactly that - blinding!

33 minutes ago, ObscuredView said:

The advice I am seeking is how to attach the ADM rail as in pic one.

It looks like the two plates are simply bolted together ??

Wee update in case anyone else has the same problem and reads this.

I found the way in Pixinsight to make a Cosmetic Correction script that WBPP can be pointed at that once created, removes the dead pixel lines to perfection on every single sub automatically.

It worked an absolute treat!!!

8 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Glad to see you back and posting. 

Thank you! 🙂 

30 minutes ago, TakMan said:

And APP also has the facility to correct for bad column defects:

2) Calibrate > Cosmetic Correction > Hot Column Kappa (set to default 8.0)

This sorts my 2x bad columns out automatically (I don't have to tell it which they are, plus I also dither between shots like yourself).

Cheers Damian - I am a Pixinsight user but I will have a look at APP - it sounds interesting!

21 minutes ago, Adam J said:

so with it being mono this is likely just a single bad column that is moving about between exposures. Just update your calibration frames and it will be fine, this is normal as the sensor ages and it's not on its way out. Sometimes these artifacts even vanish again over time. Also make sure your using bad pixel rejection when stacking. 

A year is too old for cal frames. 

Thanks Adam

I dither every frame so it makes sense that it moves about.

I will remake the cal frames. I was just so excited to be able to the obsy roof and grab a clear night after being laid up for months! 🙂 

Interesting that they can sometimes vanish over time !

All the best

David

52 minutes ago, Laurin Dave said:

Looks like a dead column or two David..  easy to fix in Pixinsight using the linear Defect List option in Cosmetic Correction ...  so if you have Pixinsight ...open a raw sub open Cosmetic Correction and click on Defect List, click on the bad column and it should be recognised..  Then run CC ...  if doing WBPP set up CC as a template before hand and apply it in WBPP..   Also works well for correcting this sensors hot pixels..

Good to see you back 

Thanks Dave

I just had a horrid feeling that this problem had appeared suddenly and that the camera was breathing its last!

All the best.

David

PS - I have just checked the other image I have made and the lines are in that one too but very much fainter - the only difference is the photos above were just 120 seconds - the other image is a narrowband image and the subs were 600 seconds and the lines are barely percetible. Not sure if that helps??

In one of the two images I have produced so far this season I have noticed these horrible vertical lines as shown in the attached two images.

Red and green were taken before the meridian and appeared at the top left of the image and the blue was taken after the meridian and appeared bottom right of the image.

Given that the colour of the lines matches the filters I am thinking its a camera problem.

Its a 5 year old  Atik 16200 mono CCD and a full set of bias, flats and darks were used to calibrate the image although they are 'library' calibration frames and were taken about a year ago.

Maybe a new set of calibration frames would cure it or maybe my camera is on its way out???

Any pointers or suggestions most welcome!

(I have deliberately overstretched the images to make it easier to see the lines)

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

I'll have you know that my PC is not covered against being soused in spat out coffee!  I'm already searching for ways in which I can delight my friends with this phrase...

🙂 🙂 

When our home insurance was due for renewal I shopped around with a specific requirement of a good level of cover for outbuildings and the contents.

We were originally with Halifax and a phone conversation with them at renewal time produced their Platinum policy which gives £25k cover for outbuildings and the contents.

I was very clear about my gear in the observatory and provided details and photos etc.

This and cover for a named electric bike worth 3k and two named items of my wifes jewellery resulted in a premium increase of about £60. How much of that was for the obsy and the bike and the jewellery and natural annual inflation I cant tell you but I think we pay about £400 a year for the above which now also includes full accidental damage cover and all the usual stuff for a large 4 bed detached house with multiple outbuildings etc which I thought was very reasonable although we do live in an area where you could hold a reign of terror with a balloon on a stick 🙂 

Having said all of that - we have never made a claim - yet!

Hi

I cant answer your question but just wanted to give the heads up that you are joing a thread that is well over 4 years old.

You might get more responses by starting a new thread.

Good luck.

26 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Oddly I find CW really hard to read as I only ever listen to it so it is sound not a visual thing for me.  I['ve got keep at it mate but I cannot work out the last bit.  I will though - I will fix it...

I 'think' I wrote 'Keep at it mate' but my Morse Code is quite rusty!!

-.- . . .--. ....... .- - ....... .. - ....... -- .- - . -.-.-- !! 😀

Just now, ollypenrice said:

My big thing is processing: Star X and Noise X have changed the game. Blur X is good provided your star shapes are decent to begin with. It's the least important of the three  but stretching an object without stretching the stars is bliss. Star X. You won't look back!

Better than Starnet2 ??

3 hours ago, TakMan said:

Anyhow, more importantly - good to see you back David ‘Skipper..’ and sorry to hear that your absence was due to illness - hope things are on the mend…

Thank you!

I am well on the mend thanks. 12 weeks ago I couldnt walk 200 meters. Today I have just got back from a 7 mile walk up Ben Cruachan with 1300 feet of ascent in a blizzard!!