dannybgoode

Just now, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I too keep everything stored on a small server (so everything is backed up as it automatically goes onto two separate drives in the server) I bought off Ebay for about £80.

Issue I have is getting some sort of order to the directories so everything is in a logical order and easily found.

Steve 

I am starting to develop a reasonable solution to file structure.  The subs for a session are stored in a file with is yyyymmdd - [target] and an L, R, G and B sub folders.  I then create further sub folders for each step in the calibration and integration process.  In here I will also store the master flats that I used to calibrate.

I then have further folders for Darks, Bias and Flats with sub folders for the subs but will generally clear out the subs once I have created a master of each.  I may keep the dark subs just becuase of the length of time it takes to create a good library of them.

I have an 8Tb NAS drive as well where I store my lights from each session as an archive but probably won't keep all the calibration subs etc as these can be reproduced pretty easily - particularly as I will easily be able to locate the master flats for any given target.

1 minute ago, Skipper Billy said:

 

Personally, at the end of the season I transfer that seasons data to an external drive - £30 for a terabyte !  No reason not to keep the data. The way this season is going I could fit everything on a floppy disc!

 

Ain't that the truth?!  I am new to it all but this year hasn't gone well for learning - just too much cloud to get a decent few days run at something.

I am also trying to work out a set structure to my files so I can at least find stuff easily.  That's a mission in itself!

One thing I've noticed from the few processing sessions I've done just the insane amount of data you build up.  Calibrated lights, aligned lights, CosCor lights etc.  So what do folk generally keep and what do they delete?  I know storage is very cheap these days but it seems a bit overkill to maintain a complete library of every step.

I was thinking of keeping the original subs and the aligned subs and binning everything else but is there a compelling reason to keep other pre-processed subs as well?

For visual only you should get close enough using just the polar scope. I’ve attached a screen shot of the app I use and you can see where Polaris should line up. 
 

Note the app corrects the image so you don’t have to do any mental gymnastics trying to work out any image flips you need to do. 
 

This done and the alignment starts should be there or thereabouts and then the Goto reasonably accurate. 
 

A camera / guide scope combo is incredibly accurate but I doubt fit what you’re looking to achieve it’ll make a huge difference. 

If you have a guide scope and camera then SharpCap has a polar alignment routine that works in a very similar way to a Polemaster but a SharpCap licence is only £10. 
 

It works very well - very quick and very accurate. 

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

You are certainly correct, but issue is that there are people that don't quite understand what is going on because the way images are displayed by devices.

If you view your image at 1:1 (1 screen pixel for one image pixel, or 100% zoom level), then you are absolutely right - object will have dimensions that correspond to resolution "/px times size of object in arc seconds.

Problem comes when images are displayed how they are usually displayed - to fit screen of display device (be that computer screen or smart phone or tablet or whatever) - then size of object is determined by FOV. This is where cropping starts to change things - it will not change resolution or original object size in the image - it will change FOV (decrease it) and that in turn will make relative size of object larger when viewed on "fit to screen" zoom setting.

Thanks Vlaiv. It’s something I’ve been slowly trying to get my head around and what tot say makes perfect sense. It’s very hard when I’ve spent so long doing terrestrial photography to think differently but it’s an enjoyable journey learning :)

Have you considered 36mm unmounted one? Bit more flexibility when it comes to sensor size etc. 
 

Makes more sense than going from 1.25” mounted to 31mm unmounted to me   

On 22/01/2020 at 18:54, Grierson said:

Thank you gentlemen. My simple issue is that when imaging many galaxies I find that the actual galaxy is very small in the frame. (The ‘scope is fitted with a reducer and equates to a focal length of 510mm) Cropping and enlarging the image is clearly not the best approach! 

I will have a look at the iOptron spec. John

Actually cropping and enlarging is probably as good a route as any. It’s hard to stop thinking in the same manner as normal photography but if your resolution is correct for the camera / scope combo then that is what matters. 
 

I think I’m right in saying (and I’ll happily be corrected on this) but if you have two camera / scope combos, both with a resolution of 1” per pixel then the target will be the same size for both. 
 

If one of your scopes is of a longer focal length and it reduces the field of view accordingly then all that is doing is ‘cropping’ the image with the scope rather than in software. 

Looks like I’ll be visual for a while. My SX filter wheel is dead - looks like the usb socket has failed - horrible looking solder joint on it. Hopefully SX will be able to fix it but typical just as I was getting properly back in to imaging. 
 

Ah well. I enjoy visual as well - a little tricky given the amount of security lights and street lights that do nothing for adjusted vision but hey. Will have to make do...

7 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

A tracing pad on Amazon for about £15 is ideal. 

Nice - good shout.  How do you attach it to the scope or do you just balance it / hold it in place.

I have taken my first flat frames and used the old t-shirt over the scope and point at the sky method and given the results from my first attempt at calibrating my lights using the flats it is clearly something I need to do every session now.  But given the need to have the flats taken at the same rotation as the lights some form of light box seems to be the way forward.  Seen you can buy some pretty nice bespoke astro ones ones but they're quite pricey.

What diy options / non-astro specific solutions are out there?

Cheers all

Possible daft question; is it covered when not in use and do you use any form if dehumidifier? It won’t like being left outdoors for long periods of time if it is getting damp all the time. 

As per the above you need to connect the camera to the computer using a USB cable and then yes, APT does have a couple of focusing aids - one where you just see what the camera is seeing and it displays the FMHW value and you aim to get this number as low as possible.  You centre a little window over a star in the image and adjust the focusser until this is the loweest number and the 'Peak' the highest number.

It also has a rather nifty Bahnitov mask aid where you put the mask on the scope, move the cross hair over a star and hit calc.  It then shows you how close to perfect focus you are.

Both work very well and are pretty easy to get the hang of.

As a word of caution I’d avoid cheap ftdi cables from the likes of Ali Express. They often use conned chips and when a driver update is released they often stop working. 
 

Buy a decent cable from a reputable astro dealer and you have far few issues in the future. Not often I recommend a ‘branded’ solution over a value alternative but having been then and done it with cables to hook up my ham gear it’s well worth it   

Thanks all to who responded on this one. Thought I’d post a quick update - bit embarrassing really but I was missing out a step. 

It turns out that just bind plate solving an image without putting a target in the first box of Pointcraft don’t quite work. To help others who may have a similar issue the workflow that seems to have best success is:

1/ Use APT’s Goto function to skew to a target and then take a frame. At this stage the targeting is likely to be out  

 2/ Then go into Pointcraft, look up the target again and do a normal plate solve (not a blind plate solve) on the image you have just taken. 
 

3/ Press Sync and Pointcraft will populate all the fields in the middle box. 
 

4/ Then use Goto++ to perform its auto routine and you then be about bob on   

@lrt75914  I’m new to AP and have spent the last year just getting cross and missing while nights of clear skies, like you, just dicking about with kit that just doesn’t bloody work. 
 

But slowly and surely it’s coming together and whilst I still have a long way to go I’m starting to get some results. I have spent a long time working things out in the warm and dry but that isn’t feasible with things like guiding so it’s still a bit hit and miss. 
 

Similarly I often think of money I have tied up in my gear and wonder if I’d be better freeing it up but then I know I’d miss it. 

Thanks both. Just ruling stuff out. Beautiful day here so going to get set up when I get home.
 

Usually get set up in the dark so will be able to spend a bit of time getting everything just so and then get some flats done before hopefully another imaging session tonight

@vlaiv quick thought on this. Could it be that might guide scope had not fully cooled? I set everything up and started imaging quite quickly and it seemed to happen earlier on in the session. Would tube air thermal’s be enough?  
 

Hopefully the weather will stay clear today and I’ll be out again tonight and see if I can improve matters

13 hours ago, RAR_MI_USA said:

Great fun for you! I have been to Kennedy Space Center a half dozen times in the 90s thru 2007, on our drive back up north from vacationing in S. Florida. It is certainly a wonderful place to see once, but not sure IMO, if it merits flying overseas to see. LOL. As far as Disney World, you could not get me near such a crowded  and over-priced place willingly, even were all the various admissions free. But that is just me. A lot of people obviously do like it. Personally, when in Florida, I always preferred the not-so-crowded beaches, nature trails (such as around Cocoa Beach), Loxahatchee National Preserve, the Gulf side islands and exploring the Keys.
We would pack up the kids and luggage, leave the February 20 degree F temp (or lower) and two feet of snow behind us, driving the full 24 hours straight, all the while experiencing the temperature get warmer and warmer as we went further south, until finally, at our destination, we would arrive to 85 degree F, sunny skies and palm trees.

Yeah for the money if it were just me there’s a million places I’d go before Disney but for our nearly 8yo it’s the pinnacle. And we’ll still enjoy it as a family (plus I’d be lying is I said I wasn’t far more excited about Star Wars Galaxy’s Edgd than a middle age man should be  ). 
 

We’ll try to get out into the Everglades as well at least and do a bit off of the beaten track stuff but my wife ever since we meet has wanted to take her eventual child to Disney, we have the money so we’re doing it. 

6 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Hm, that is interesting - mount seems to respond really well to DEC commands now - in both directions like there is no backlash.

Have look at my previous post - one thing can cause such wild behavior and that is "heat jet" from local heat source, but it lasted really short time - it means it must have been far away and due south?

 could be a periodic error that’s going to take a while to come back round perhaps? 
 

will keep an eye on it over the next few sessions and see if I can nail down the cause. 
 

thanks for your responses - as always very informative   

@vlaiv it seems to have calmed down now so don’t know the cause. It has been windy but the scope is pretty sheltered. Again don’t think it’s cable snag because bar a long USB cable back to my laptop the only cables run from the guide cam and FW into the USB hub built into the main camera so it all moves as one unit. 
 

Mount is an SW AZ EQ6GT and graph has looked like this for around 45 mins now. Next session I’ll double check the cable routing and balance of the scope and give it another go. 
 

it doesn’t appear to be affecting the subs so I’m just letting it run tonight. 

In new to guiding and don’t quite understand what the PHD graph is telling me. 
 

Does this look ok. I get the odd quite large ‘lump’ every so often but then it settles back down again. 
 

At the moment I’m only doing a quick visual PA through the PA scope. I could use the SharpCap PA routine of it would improve things. 

I don't have an astro photos to demonstrate the colour wheel on so grabbed a couple of screenshots on another photo I'm working on.  See how just by desaturating the green it only affects the engine - that is literally just by moving the saturation slider on the colour wheel all the way to the left. (top right tool bar of the tool bar under the histogram).

Got to be useful for astro work - particularly killing any green...

Been trying to nail this for a while now - a full Moonbow (if that's a word!).  Sony RX10M4 - various exposures and stacked