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ChrisLX200

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ChrisLX200 last won the day on November 27 2016

ChrisLX200 had the most liked content!

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    http://www.astrobin.com/users/ChrisLX200/

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    Macclesfield

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  1. I also get some reflections around the edge but it's not too distracting. This vid is last Friday's RGB disaster, I'm hoping for better tonight - if not I'm giving up on RGB from here! ChrisH
  2. Good result Gina, you obviously have a darker sky than I do - Milky Way very obvious in your capture! I tend to use 8sec exposures with this Fujinon lens and that's good enough to show the quality of the seeing - I'm just processing last Fridays imaging run which was ruined by high Cirrus, the camera showed the potential problem well enough but I stupidly ignored it and went for RGB on M42. Captured data was useless sadly. I'll post the animation when it's uploaded to YouTube. I tend not to use a Dome with this lens as it seems to be sensitive to reflections and distortions, so I just push the camera out the door of the Obs during an imaging run. There's a lot of glass pointing at the sky but it hasn't misted over yet - perhaps because the camera keeps it just warm enough to prevent it (or I've simply been lucky!). ChrisH
  3. You can safely leave the mount outside under a waterproof/breathable cover, but just make sure to protect all the electrics (sockets, PCBs etc) with a dose of ACF50 to prevent corrosion and resultant poor contacts. Also treat any metalwork liable to rust with the same (ie., parts made from ordinary steel or plated steel rather than stainless steel or anodised alloy). You should find that a big time saver. ChrisH
  4. That 1600 is really beginning to sing for you now Gina Sounds like tough work dealing with all that data though! ChrisH
  5. Well it was his use use of the offset parameter in shorter (90-120s) I thought interesting... Anyway, here are the gain settings I use, with a 150mm aperture at f/4: Optimal SNR: Gain 75/Offset 15, 480-600s Balanced SNR/Resolution: Gain 139/Offset 30, 210s High Detail/Resolution: Gain 200/Offset 60, 90s ChrisH
  6. I don't know if you've read this thread Gina: http://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/group-forums/zwo-asi1600mm/gain-and-offset-settings-for-long-exposure/ Jon Rista is a good guy who knows what he's doing so his comments particularly may be helpful. ChrisH
  7. Just looked at mine and it's cloudy - and likely to remain so (after saying for the past 3 days it would be clear). ChrisH
  8. As you say, all have their faults and when tested some will perform better than others. So who do you pay the bribe to in order to ensure you get the pick of the bunch? ChrisH
  9. My gas boiler is more than 25years old, I thought about replacing it when I had a leak earlier in the year and advice (from a plumber) was - don't bother, old ones are easy to repair but new ones don't last anywhere near as long! The problem with mine was the seal around a steel plate had just rotted, the bolted-on plate covered a core hole in the cast iron boiler. The leak though had dripped onto the main circuit board which died as a consequence, yet I managed to get a replacement cheaply off Ebay. The only other problem I've had with it over the years is a vacuum switch which turns on the gas valve only when the extractor fan is running - I bought a spare off Ebay only to find it was a thin plastic pipe to the valve which had split. I'll save the spare valve in case I need it over the next 25 years... Oh, and a few years ago I had to put some engine oil onto the bearings of the extractor fan motor as it had begun to squeak.. ChrisH
  10. That's bad luck guys hope it's a simple fix. Not what you want at any time of year but especially now as it's just starting to get colder. ChrisH
  11. I think we have a Missed Point Error in Line.1 here We know it's been flipped 180deg but frames should still line up (just 180deg out), but folk are reporting residual rotation of a degree or two which cannot be accounted for.. ChrisH
  12. That's pretty much what I said earlier but the point is not the misalignment, that is easily corrected by plate-solving back onto target (i.e., the same centre of frame), but there remains some residual rotation comparing each side of the mount. It's the rotation that is the weird issue. ChrisH
  13. There's more than one way of getting Cone Error - one way is if the scope does not sit orthogonal to the DEC axis (the saddle may not be orthogonal to the DEC axis), another is if the DEC axis itself is not orthogonal (perfectly @ 90deg) to the RA axis. Consider the latter - the pointing error will be doubled after a meridian flip (if the pointing offset was 1deg East before the flip it will be pointing 1deg West afterwards thus requiring a 2deg movement in RA to get back on target). So you have 2 different RA positions needed to point at the same place in the sky leading to a rotational offset. ChrisH
  14. Looks good - well done! Maybe a tad bright? ChrisH
  15. I think you could safely hold your breath until the clouds arrive - I've looked at Sat24 Nothing but cloud and rain here so I'm taking new sets of Darks and Flats... ChrisH
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