tomato

Maybe, the only other condition that is new is that the current spell of cold weather is probably the longest my set up has experienced since the dome was constructed. Not sure why that should be an issue, but it is an observation. I sincerely hope the camera now behaves, I could have two good nights before the moon gets in the way.

Yes, +1 for Bern at Modern Astronomy, he selflessly pointed me in the right direction 10 years ago when I had a wad of cash and not much idea. As for the errant temp control on my camera, I took it off the scope, brought it in the house this morning and let it warm up to ambient as it was still 0 deg C in the dome. I powered it up with the QHY supplied 12V power supply, connected to EZCAP and wouldn't you know it, the temp control is working fine! It cooled to the set point, would warm back up when I raised the set point and then cool back down when I lowered it, all the values making sense. I warmed it back up to+5 deg C then connected to NINA, all good except for this short lived spike in cooler power: It quickly recovered, and continued cooling to the set pt and is controlling rock steady from then on. I have seen a couple of these spikes in the past, anybody else seen them? So, is it my dome PS? I doubt it, all the other kit runs off it OK and I've never seen a problem with this camera before or the QHY268M for that matter. OK the camera started off at a positive temperature this morning, rather then -1 or 0 deg C in the dome, but the camera has seen these conditions several times in the past without a problem. I'll put it back on the scope now and see how it behaves...

I have received a prompt reply from QHY, they suspect a fault with the temperature control system, but have asked for more information (screenshot of the temperature interface) which I will sort out this morning. I’ll contact Bern at Modern Astronomy (where I purchased the camera) to see if they can assist with returning it to China, as that looks like where this is going.

I’ve been there and done that, I could cope with the setting up and operating the kit outside, it was the taking down a frost covered scope when cold induced fatigue had set in that got to me. I’m fortunate to have a permanent set up now with a warm room shed, but last night this brought another unexpected annoyance. The rise in temperature in the shed woke up 4 huge bluebottles that were constantly buzzing around my head, I was rather cruel and persuaded them to fly out into the freezing night.

Could be, the issue has arisen in the recent cold snap but I use a regulated 12v power supply, with 13.1 V displayed locally at the scope. I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I’m posting about it on the QHY 268 owners thread.

I do indeed, it will be 10 years old this year. I dip into the Sitech forum regularly, blinky mode on the Sitech II is not unheard of, hence my concern. But my immediate hardware problem is with my 3 year old QHY268c camera which appears to have developed a temperature sensor fault…😒

Updated driver has made no difference to my sensor temp anomaly on the QHY268c. It still shows -25 on start up and won’t go above -16 even with no cooling. Voltage to the camera looks good so I have submitted a ticket to the tech help centre at QHY, will keep this thread updated.

As it was a Sitech II it might be the array of screw in terminal blocks that connect all of the encoders/motors wires to the unit, however I've just re-read the post and the OP does say in the sitech II controller. I checked the terminals for tightness when I took delivery of my mount 10 years ago, I haven't touched them since.🤞

That's weird, I have never been challenged on SGL to declare I am not a robot, and then find all the bicycles in the pictures, etc. Mind you that kind of test must be small potatoes nowadays for the AI based bots out there...

Beautiful piece of work, 3D printing is great but I can’t warm to them like I can machine tools. On the subject of models, here is my very crude, hastily crafted 1:1 scale model of a Mesu 200. Why on earth? I wanted a second hand flight case for it, and as it is an irregular shape I took the model to the shop to check it would fit in the case.

No it isn’t much, Adam Block commented on one of my posts on here for the need for lots of integration to get the most out of BXT. 48 mins definitely doesn’t cut it.

Here is a very brief (48 min) NGC 1499 taken with the RASA8/QHY268c/NBZ rig, imaging at 1.94 arcsec per pixel, with BXT and without BXT. It makes a difference but works much better, I think, on images with a lot more integration. Without BXT With BXT

Does it even have a popular name? How about the Angelfish Nebula, I see one swimming left to right.

Looks good to me, I just need to remember to register all of the images to be used, so the stars end up in the right place. Glad you are back, and you still have some astro darkness from this season to go at!👍

Maybe this video will help, but you seem to be doing all of the steps: Setting Up the New SpectroPhotometric Color Calibration (SPCC) Tool — Cosgrove's Cosmos (cosgrovescosmos.com)

This is what my settings look like, you do need to activate the database files as @StevieDvd has described, the method is in the release notes I think. After a successful image solve, I open SPCC and move the instance icon over the image and let it do its stuff. If it is failing, are you getting some sort of error message?

Nice image, deep and detailed. Can I ask what was your thinking on the relative integration times for each channel, less Ha time because this is the strongest signal or perhaps the Welsh weather had a role to play? On my monitor there is a hint of green on the top right hand corner background, but this could of course be tenuous gas coming through from the nebula.

Here are my 5, less galaxies in there than I would like. Veil Nebula, RASA8,QHY268c M78, Esprit150,QHY268 NGC 925, Esprit150,ASI 178 Lacerta Nebula, SY135,QHY268c M88, Esprit150, ASI178

Cloudy all day and all night for sure here in Shropshire. Maybe a couple of nights next week as the waxing moon gets going. The heat pump is working overtime trying to keep the house warm.

Bresser have also reduced the price of the ES Ultra light weight 10" Dobsonian: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165726722971?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=U5rbRsPhTGK&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Aagh! Please don't tempt fate Göran! Every time I power up the Sitech I wait to see if the red LEDs go blinky...

Very sad news indeed. I’ve only recently been looking at the well crafted telescopes on his website to get an idea on how to properly make a truss tube Dobsonian. My condolences to his family and friends.

Do folks still make sky models in the days of rapid and reliable plate solving? It was all the rage when I bought my Mesu back in 2014, the Sitech manual had pages and pages dedicated to it, but now I slew to the target from the park position, then a 10 second plate solve and centre on the object. This assumes you are imaging with the scope of course, not visual.

Worthy winners indeed, and it is a wonderful dataset. Any chance of a galaxy based dataset?☺️

Back in 2014 I nearly purchased a used Paramount from Ian King, but the positive chatter on here about the Mesu 200 took me down that road. You are certainly buying from a trusted source, and that counts for a lot. My brother went after a used Mesu but upon inspection it ahem, had a missing encoder so he rightly IMHO, walked away.