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BlueAstra

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Everything posted by BlueAstra

  1. I wonder if someone could give me advice. I have an original sub, which when expanded shows the faint dirt and smears in the system. My master flat also shows the smears. When I integrate all the subs with the master flat using the batch preprocessing script in PixInsight (default settings and a master flat) I still get traces of the defects (I also use a master bias, but no dark with my SX-H16 CCD camera). This also happens with DSS, but to a lesser extent. I believe the flat has a full histogram and mid value ADU. Any advice on why this could be happening?
  2. Sage advice! BTW, I think I bought the H16 off you many moons ago! Graham
  3. Do you know the polarity of the orange terminals (12v dc IN) on the side of the PSU? There's nothing marked on mine. I like your modification, but its probably too much of an irreversible mod for me. I'll probably compromise and just run the PSU off 12V rather than the mains. I can place the PSUs at the base of the pier and run the camera power cable through the mount, but its not what I originally intended. I can't get confirmation of what voltages it uses for the two feeds, or what the pinout configuration is. If it was 12V and 5V, both these voltages could be supplied by the power box using the cable you suggest. If its more than 12V then the power box cannot supply it.
  4. I'm looking to add my Meade 80mm scope to my Esprit 150 in a dual rig setup. To tidy up the power cables I'm thinking of adding a Hitec Mount Hub Pro or Pegasus Powerbox to the scope mount and changing the power cables to 5.5/2.1mm power plugs to run from these boxes rather than to mains bricks. The dual rig will run a Starlight Xpress SXV-H16 (Esprit 150) and SXV-M25C (Meade 80mm). I think the 12V power bricks for both cameras are identical, but they both use a custom cable with a 90deg 4 pin plug at the camera, and a 5 pin DIN type plug at the PSU. I think the cable may also be two feeds, one for the cooler and one for the electronics. Ideally, I would like to remove the 5 pin DIN type plug and replace it with one (or two) 5.5/2.1 power plugs to run to the scope mounted power box. The Pegasus power box also has a variable output (3-12V) which might help if the two feeds are different voltages (hopefully not > 12V). Has anyone done this sort of modification to a Starlight Xpress power supply cable to run from a power box, or does anyone know the wiring schedule for the power cables? Or is it a non-starter? Thanks in advance, Graham
  5. I have an imaging setup driven by a NUC computer. It's located on the pillar and controls the camera (SXV-H16), guider (OAG+Lodestar), filter wheel, focuser, sky sensor, and mount (MX) through TSkyX. I want to add a second scope as a piggy back on the main scope with an SX-M25C camera. This camera is fairly large format, and downloads very slowly. To avoid any potential USB issues if both cameras start to download at the same time I thought of using a mini stick PC mounted on the scope just to control the SX-M25C camera. Can anyone suggest a suitable 'stick' mini-pc, or an alternative?
  6. I got one of these holders for the hand controller. I’ve not found it from any UK supplier. It clips to the handle on the upper mount and rotates with it, so no cord wrap issues. There are some dedicated forums elsewhere that have a good discussion of the Evo and especially Wi-Fi control. I generally control my Evo 9.25 (an original version from FLO) from my iPad, but I have to use a Celestron SkyPortal adapter to avoid Wi-Fi issues (I think a lot of these are due to conflicts with home wi-fi, I get few problems at remote sites). I believe the Wi-Fi is improved in later versions. I use 21 and 8mm Baader Hyperion eyepieces, occasionally with a TeleVue x2 Barlow. I’ve tried a x3 but I’ve found it too much magnification. The 21mm gets a full moon in the eyepiece FOV. I use the Evo mainly for solar system viewing and imaging, it’s not very good for DSO in my neck of the woods. Also worth checking out is how to update the firmware in the handset and the mount to get the latest versions in, using Celestron CFM. I have the dew shield, but I’ve never needed a dew heater strap at the front. I also have a Starsense camera which can work very well, but occasionally has a problem. There were some issues when trying to control Starsense with tablets, but I think these have been overcome with latest firmware. Overall a nice accessory, and is like magic in operation, but not essential. The tripod is heavy duty and I have found no problems with it. I believe it’s more sturdy than the Evo 8. I also use the Celestron anti-vibration pads, which I got second hand. Difficult to tell if they make a difference, but if you can get them cheap probably worth having. I would also say ditch the supplied red-dot finder and get a simple one like the Vixen XY which has an ‘open’ head up display type design. Overall a great scope. If you want to see what the field of view is with different eyepieces/reducers goto FLO’s website and check out the ‘astronomy tools’ under ‘info’. https://starizona.com/collections/3d-printed/products/nexstar-evolution-hand-control-bracket
  7. I have the Evolution 9.25 with the Starsense camera. The OTA is large, but with the handle, manageable. I agree the tripod is sturdy but quite heavy and a bit awkward when you are lifting it into the car. I use primarily for visual or planetary/lunar imaging. You do have to check that the diagonal doesn’t clash at high elevations, especially if you are using Starsense auto-align. I sometimes unbalance it slightly forward to give clearance, the mount doesn’t seem to complain. I use a astrozap dew shield, I’ve never needed a dew heater strap. If you don’t use Starsense then you want a decent red dot finder.
  8. Sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier, I missed the post. The bracket was made up from some pieces of Dexion (I think it’s called) screwed together, the sack trolly was from Costco. I drilled two holes in the trolly to mount the bracket. It was important to have some form of clip to hold the pillar mount in the bracket Otherwise it would slip out when moving. I don’t use this setup any more so I still have a spare trolly and pillar mount (but not the eq6) available for sale, although they are a bit scruffy now. I took part of the bracket off and would have to look for it now. PM me if you are interested.
  9. I'm looking to change my camera mounted on an Esprit 150 to improve the pixel resolution (limit 0.77 arcsec) while trying to maintain FOV. I currently have an SXV-H16 which gives me a FOV of 0.83 deg and pixel resolution of 1.45 arcsec. I believe both the cameras quoted use the same chip and would give me FOV 0.68 deg and resolution 0.89 arcsec. Does anyone have any experience of these cameras, any preference between them, or maybe an alternative?
  10. The following table may help (values calculated for your scope): The Max A"*50 is the theoretical maximum magnification, the Max Dawes is a practical magnification limit. The exit pupil essentially tell you how bright the image will be, with a larger pupil letting more light into the eye. Note as you get older the ability to increase your eye's pupil size decreases.
  11. For interest, this is two separate combined daytime images taken some years ago with my Canon 1000d and a lodestar guide camera, showing the relative field of view size and position. The OAG location is not perfect, ideally it wouldn't interfere with the main camera FOV. The OAG prism shouldn't 'block' any information from the main FOV, just reduce its brightness slightly.
  12. I think I read somewhere that smaller apertures look through a smaller ‘plug’ of atmosphere, so are less susceptible to seeing effects. This could explain why the C5 looks better than the C9.25 if you have poor to moderate seeing. Conversely, the larger apertures would look better if seeing was excellent.
  13. Another thing to note is that the SCT is a mirror system so doesn’t suffer from chromatic aberration. You probably need a triplet refractor to get minimal CA. Another difference is that SCT can need collimation, whereas refractors rarely need it.
  14. Well, Takahashi have an enviable reputation for build quality and optical performance. Just check the camera is well matched in terms of pixel resolution and field of view. Its not very heavy so shouldn't need a particularly large mount. I would say with the right camera ideal for deep sky wide field photography with a portable rig.
  15. Apparently its a known bug. The solution is to type: cd "C:/program files/pixinsight/bin" (including exclamation marks) into the PI process console command line. In my case I had installed PI in the D drive of my desktop, which was probably the reason it couldn't find the files. I used "D:/program files/pixinsight/bin" which got it working on the desktop. I installed PI into the C drive of my laptop and Starnet loaded and worked OK without the fix.
  16. Tried that as well and unfortunately still not working. The image is a non linear 24MB tiff file.
  17. Tried File/Open/ from inside PI but that didn't work either.
  18. Not sure if this is any good, but LED remote control light panel at Lidl for £35
  19. I still get the 'checkpoint' error when used with PI. Downloaded from Sourceforge twice and installed twice. Process installed OK and Starnet in process menu. Process runs then comes up with following error: StarNet: Processing view: sh2_101_RGB_ps1 Writing swap files... 2320.814 MiB/s Starting star removal procedure... Stride: 128 Image size: 2048x2048 Number of channels: 3 Color space: RGB Bits per sample: 16 Has alpha channels: false Float sample: false Restoring neural network checkpoint... *** Error: Checkpoint file not found! Reading swap files... 1564.680 MiB/s <* failed *> Computer: Dell XPC8500 Core i7-3770 3.4GHz, 16GB RAM W10 Home 64bit, 18362.418 PI v01.08.05.1353, API v160
  20. Coming in a bit late on this but I once had a 10” Newtonian which had a similar problem of slipping down the tube rings, and also rotating due to the weight of the camera on the side. I solved it by wrapping some insulating tape round the tube where the rings where, to give the rings something to grip. I always wondered about the practice of using soft felt to grip on a smooth polished surface.
  21. A motor focuser can hold the focus knob tight and prevent movement if that is the issue, although it could be a temperature effect. Was the scope at high elevation with the weight of the camera pulling it down? Is the camera equipment within the load limit of the scope?
  22. If you are considering a motor focuser have a look at my thread here: I also had a custom spacer made up here for my camera to set it at the correct distance from the field flattener. I got some thin steel washers (later plated by local firm) from ebay to act a fine focus adjustment: http://www.jtechdesign.co.uk/ ESPRIT ADAPTER.PDF Graham
  23. Thanks for the replies. I’ll try again this evening following the guidelines.
  24. Not sure where the correct place to post this is, so please move if required. I have a ZWO 224c camera imaging through a C9.25. If I use SharpCap 3.2 I get the first image (single frame from video), which appears to be very noisy. If I use FireCapture I get the second image which looks much smoother. I'm pretty sure I used the default settings, more or less, with each software package. Can anyone explain what is happening and how I can get a smoother image in SharpCap? Or is it an illusion and just some display artefact which won't affect the final image? FireCapture Jup_002201.txt SharpCap 00_09_11.CameraSettings.txt
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