Jonk

Oooh....'How to process the images'....listen up folks (although I get the feeling most information we probably already know).

This broadcast is terrible.

Here’s another…

34 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

If you have access to compressed air, that'd work best.

If you can, only use cda (compressed dried air) or at least compressed air that has been passed through a water and oil trap in the least, preferably a 3 stage filter.

There's nothing worse than blasting something out with compressed air only to find it replaces the crud with oil and water!

Those 'duster cans' too - please don't use them.

At least clean out with IPA or PCB cleaner afterwards.

If you regularly unplug it, then my money's on the potential that the usb socket might be faulty.

I have a quark but not checked to see if it can easily be opened to replace the socket.

This issue appears on phones, usb speakers, rechargeable torches etc all the time, unfortunately.

On 18/05/2022 at 13:28, tomato said:

Before I saw them, I tried to download the latest file from the forum, but you’ve guessed it Win 10 wouldn’t have it, too much of a security risk..

 

Yes that also happened on FF for some versions, it’s down to how they put the file on their webserver for general download. Sometimes it’s not done correctly.

In FF you just accept the risk and it downloads.

Also, it’s worth mentioning, sometimes just the .exe file is made available, other times it’s the entire install package.

It can be confusing, so use the groups.io forum as much as possible to keep up.

There’s also a mesu specific one but it’s not as active.

People only tend to question when things aren’t working correctly - surely that tells you a lot about the mount design.

The website is not very well maintained, and the versions shared on the groups.io pages are considered beta. I believe the latest version is X as mentioned.

Don’t forget you can test sitech.exe in simulation to make sure everything works before replacing the version on the computer running your kit.

6 hours ago, Steve said:

Thanks for the suggestions and recommendations. We really appreciate them. We are confident we will together find a suitable site for future SGL star parties 🙂

Can I suggest something? Once you have a shortlist, could you list them and put them to a vote?

1 caveat could be that you cannot vote for a site that's within say 50 miles of where you live. I think that this was it would be fair and would encourage people to choose somewhere based on what it offers, rather than how easy it is to get to.

The same would go for the time of year, put it to a vote.

Personally, I would be more than happy to drive 4-500 miles north in mid-January if it meant staying and stargazing at an awesome site with the darkest skies.

I've gone back and had a look at the images for this and yep, I have it too!

Here's an animation and startrails.

Don’t forget that the Sitech wasn’t designed for the Mesu, and there are a lot of options that are not relevant to the  Mesu.

There are a lot of interesting discussions on the Sitech groups.io page.

But yes, motor encoder and shaft encoder differences can be tuned to a degree for your individual setup, regardless of the style of mount.

On 25/04/2022 at 22:49, Freff said:

Pencelli is a great site for small Star parties, The big field unfortunately does not have EHU's.

Fforest Fields is better for it's pristine skies and large events field. Unfortunately, again the events field is limited for EHU's.

Oooh I like the look of this one. Spring time would be perfect!

The e200 is meant to be stiffer and less likely to have goto errors, meaning positional encoders were not deemed necessary - this was my impression based on what I read before I bought one.

You could run unguided with a star map with either model if you wanted to, but I prefer guiding anyway.

The e200 still has motor encoders so at least Sitech knows where the motors are, the downside is it won’t account for slippage, which should never be an issue with correct balancing.

55 minutes ago, gorann said:

As I understand it Lucas got rid of the encoders in Mesu 200 mk2 so then the more advanced Sitech II was no longer needed.

I think you can fit axis encoders if you wanted to on the e200 / Sitech 1?

D'oh, I added the wrong image - this is better in terms of colour.

I definitely need to work on the stars more.

2 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

And lack of ST4 guider port in I

Ah ok, didn't know that.

He tells me that the masters are calibrated and stacked as:

R 148 x 5min

G 100 x 5min

B 100 x 5 min

L 251 x 2min

Ha 20 x 30min

I have said to him that RGBs should really be taken in bin 2, so he's going to try this on the next target. I also think longer subs of L would be possible, maybe even up to 5 mins.

The ha is added to show it up in small blotches, it's definitely noticeable.

I "think" the main differences between Sitech 1 and 2 are:

Plastic case (1) vs metal case (2)

Plug in connectors (1) vs screw terminals (2)

More memory in (2).

The reason Lucas changed on the e200 to Sitech 1 was the 2 wasn't necessary and he wanted to reduce the costs (to him and customers).

I'm not usually one to dabble with L_RGB, I'm too used to NB images,

However, a friend of mine shared his recent data (SW Esprit 120 + SX674 with Chroma LRGB and Ha filters) of M101 so that I could have a go.

I've tried all sorts of methods of star removal, noise reduction, deconvolution and general processing, and although there's a lot not to like about this image (if you look closely), there's a fair amount that I'm content with.

A couple of the main issues were uneven gradients (Bortle 5 skies) and a noisy lum background.

Anyway, here's my effort after a few hours of processing in Pixinsight. I couldn't explain the workflow as it was different methods and this one appeared to be the best of the bunch.

I added my image and report to the website. There are are stunners on there! https://ukmon.imo.net/imo_view/event/2022/2248
 

It is a good one, looked great on the video captures.

Zooming in I think I’ve caught the smoke too?

7 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

currently being analysed by the UKMON network. Caught on about 10 cameras I believe. 

Excellent! 

Here's a cracker....not even the ISS shows up this thick and bright so has to be a UFO (until confirmed otherwise!).

What say you?

I've just remembered to check and sure enough, dust all over the allsky.

Certainly cool to look at.

Heard on the news this evening about a Sahara sandstorm causing parts of Portugal, Spain and maybe France to be directly affected, causing them to be in a red haze.

We had similar a few years ago, and it may also be affecting us tonight to a lesser degree.

Here's an allsky photo from within the last few minutes, it looks to me like it could already be here? Its looking quite pink out there, loving the moon halo too.