Jonk

I just wanted to resurrect this thread as the original banding has reappeared on my camera, so I thought I’d see if anyone else‘s had? It has also developed a pixel bleed for every pixel to the right hand side, like a smear effect. Sounds like a cap is on its way out causing voltage instability. I suspect the fw 7.1.1 was to widen a tolerance or timing to counteract it. Mine has probably drifted over time and has gotten worse. Nonetheless I’ve been in contact with Atik and will need to send it in, worst case scenario it’ll need a new mainboard.

The source code needs to be compiled for the rpi, as it uses an arm instruction set I believe. Ubuntu Linux can run on intel or arm I think. Rpi OS is very good these days so probably a good idea to get the latest distro. I don’t know if a compiled mysqm file from someone else will work if shared, you may need to contact Rob to find out. In the past year +, my hardware hasn’t been setup so am just using sensors connected direct to the rpi and I’ve written my own python bits n bobs to read and display, alongside heating and cooling. The allsky software has very recently been heavily updated and is available now, so definitely update if you can.

My allsky has picked up some pink ribbons and a hint of green in the background... i have since removed the piece of nature!

Neither can I. Never seen it before! Just gutted I couldn’t find my dslr dovetails for the tripod.

I was surprised to see a red glow in the allsky last night, and this clip from last night’s timelapse confirms it. FullSizeRender.MOV Hampshire!

I keep finding them. Here’s your average USB cable…. From a space shuttle!

Thanks for sharing the reason - this serves as a good reminder to check over equipment we use - a small loose grub screw and suddenly the large expensive kit cannot work as intended! Also, the RMS you see is probably the conditions - I had my AZEQ6 at <0.4" a few nights ago for a couple of hours.

I'm going to try (weather permitting) a full frame DSLR / 400mm f5.6 combo. I did it on Neowise and it was very nicely framed, if you get enough to bring out the ionised tail.

I had an opportunity last night, now that the comet was high enough at a reasonable hour, to see what I needed to do to get a decent image. Around 20:30 there was a break in the clouds long enough to have a look. I decided on 180s in LRGB rotation (So L, R, G, B, L, R, G, B....). I used a QSI683 and Star71 combo, Astrodon LRGB filters. I didn't get enough to warrant any stacking or processing, but what I did manage to do was get a handful of frames to produce a very rough and ready animation. This is a low quality gif just for sharing here. This enables me to plan for when I get a 3-4 hour window in the next few nights, and also shows how fast it was. This movement was over about 20 minutes! You can also clearly see the tails, so this also helps with framing (although I won't rotate to suit). I may set up a DSLR with 400mm lens to capture the RGB all at the same time for a colour animation, we'll see.

I quite often have updates pop up, maybe you don’t have that option switched on if you don’t see any?

I think mine came up automatically a day or 2 ago, haven’t tried it yet though. Hoping to get a chance to image it (C2022 E3) over the weekend.

Bit late, maybe you've already tried....... but I would say if was close enough to the scope and you can diffuse the light . dim it down then try it for sure. If you're doing flats on a OSC camera, I'm not sure how good it would be unless the light was full spectrum white. For mono, I don't think it matters.

Also, what software is telling the ASCOM driver to park? I made a mistake in SGP recently, where there was a sequence running under a different profile. When the mount parked, it was parked in the "wrong" position. EQASCOM should have parked to my defined position as usual, but it parked in the first saved position 'slot' which wasn't right (well it was to the particular sequence). So, I'd also check to see what the software you're using is asking ASCOM to do. Just a thought....

Would you be happy to share a video of the noise here too? Does it make the same noise in both directions?

I've just had a peek at it - I'm in Bortle 5 and the sky is quite murky here at 20deg alt! The comet I think is there, just a fuzzy ball. I used 10x50 bins so nothing huge in terms of optics. Next weekend it will be much higher at this time, so will hopefully be set up for a look with the dob and have some lenses and cams on it too. At least I've seen it though!

The first thing I would say is you probably won't get the accuracy in the print. I 3D print all sorts of things at work and have tried C mount threads, 1..25" threads to name a couple, and they're ok but not great. If I print multiple copies of the same part, they will all be slightly different. Melting plastic is not accurate. Have you thought of the material? I have printed some small brackets in ABS, PETG and tough PLA and they're nowhere near as strong as aluminium obviously. PLA and tough PLA is essentially cornstarch and will deform and degrade in the sunlight. ABS is harder to print and build plate adhesion isn't easy, it curls up at the edges. It's also not UV stable so will become brittle over time. PETG is better than ABS and should be better in UV. Having said all that, have a go, what have you got to lose?!

Hmmmm....sorry to read this. What sort of 'noise', is it the motor or mechanical noise from the RA part of the mount? I would certainly not attempt a mechanical repair, Lucas should also tell you this. He will probably ask for the mount to be sent to him. I have done this myself when I thought I had an issue that turned out not to be. The delivery costs about £20 each way from memory. Having said that, what I would do is swap the connections on the Sitech controller, both the motor connections and encoder connections. Then see if the noise is the same and the issue is infact with the RA mechanically. Another thing to check is your power supply. Can you try another? If the output of the PSU is dipping for example, the current would increase and this might be causing the controller issues, hence the blinky mode. I can't think of much else to try immediatly, but just wait for Lucas' reply. Send him a video if you can with the noise.

Highly unlikely, this story is repeated annually.

I was imaging on bonfire night a few years ago and thought sod it, what are the chances? Sky was good that night! Well, fizz crackle bang and that’s what I got!

This is my favourite - cursing at the time, but in a way glad it happened cos I look back and laugh!

Yep, I get it all the time!

No problem - I haven't imaged using a newtonian for a while, but the sensor being centre to the secondary mirror is important. The sensor being off centre in the camera wouldn't be a huge surprise, I've opened a handful of ZWO cameras and they're just sensor boards screwed down, very easy to unscrew and move. Having said that, the flat should sort out the light frame as is, as long as nothing's moved. There may be some gradients, you need to stack and check the final image, splitting the RGB into grayscale and dealing with each one alone, then combining, and dealing with any residual on the combined image. Your issue doesn't look like collimation of the optics per se, I would guess that the camera is off axis with respect to the secondary mirror. It could be the secondary mirror is not true to the focuser drawtube. Can you try another camera at all, changing nothing else to see if the result is the same or not?

Pixinsight shows the flat to look like this (using the contour plot script), so my previous comment about 19,000 ADU not being enough may have been wrong. I would check alignment as you say. Turn the camera 180degrees, see if the issue follows the camera or not, this will give you a better idea of where to look.

A quick check for a flat is to calibrate itself with itself. I've just done that and it appears to behave. However, your flat doesn't have a great deal of change in terms of values from middle to edge. In other words, it's too 'flat'. When you take your flats, do you aim for 50% or slightly higher than your well depth? Is that where you get the 19,000ADU from? To me it doesn't look enough.

Heatgun!