Helen

You may remember a while ago I posted about the Royal Astronomical Society putting together a quilt for their bicentenary https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/ras-bicentennial-quilt and that I was giving it a go. I thought I'd report on my progress (doing OK as the deadline is now December 2020) Can you guess what the design will include?? Helen

Hi Rob, And welcome from me (about 12 miles north of you 😉 ) Helen

Yes, astro related...🤫

Thanks Graham 👍. For clarification, don't worry, I phrased that badly.... I'm not going to strip the actual mount 😳😳 but rather take the scopes off, clean those, clean the mount exteriors (remove insect debris), and then put everything back on with careful balancing 😁 Helen

I did manage to get out for a litle while last night (too many deadlines earlier in the week 🥺). It wasn't the most productive night... I think some of my settings aren't quite right in the new updated version of the sitech software. The Park command did odd things, its not loading previous models, and the guiding was awful - really sawtooth! (although I think my mount balance may be off). The Skyview sections look to have potential though, particularly the ability to search for visible comets and then automatically track at the rate appropriate for each BUT I'm getting an error when trying to download the latest comet files 😞 So a few things to make progress: - go all the way through Steve's Mesu set-up guide - serach for answers to comet file issue (unless anyone here has an answer!) - strip down the mount, remove everything, clean, and redo all the cabling etc - get the autofocus motor set up on the FLT98 - give Voyager a go! That should keep me out of mischief until the dark nights return.... Helen

Yes, I had one, heavy-duty metal lens cover and plastic gears and lightweight motors 👀 and very power sensitive too. BUT the optics are great - I've deforked and the tube works nicely on a azgti 😉 I bought a Meade LX10 from the aladin's cave of BC&F in Farindon - they were super-helpful 😎 Helen

@steppenwolf No problem Steve, interesting stuff! (I've had too much on to spend any time on this recently 😞 ) Helen

Its great seeing you posting @Ant

How about getting involved in a project classifying aurora? https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/dwhiter/aurora-zoo Some awesome pictures! Helen

Just realised that a pair of rings from an old Borg scope will fit 😎

I was really happy with my purchase too (50th birthday present to scratch an itch for a telementor I'd had since I first got into astro in the mid 1980s). I paid £350 for scope, mount, and a few Zeiss eyepieces 😎 all in excellent condition. Hmmm adding rings might make it more versatile for travel - the mount is quite robust (beautifully engineered though) Helen

Clouded out tonight, and other things to do, but hopefully over next couple of days/nights... Helen

Thanks. It came with a Yamano 3.5mm f1.4 direct drive lens. But yes, William, I've transfered the 6mm lens to the new camera and the image does seem nice and bright (I was cloud spotting with it last night 🙄). And setting up during the day yesterday (trying to nail focus) I was seeing a nice wide angle too. Having read the guidance, I can check again during daylight (will adjust the switch on the back to stop white out during daylight!). I'll also change power and see what happens. I may need to open the case to adjust the gain though... If that doesn't improve things then I'll call you William! (Maybe a WhatsApp call to more easily show you...) I've noticed we have a redundant satellite holder on the back wall of the house.... I may repurpose it 😉 Now waiting for my license for UFOCapture to come through. Thanks again guys, from my playing this week I'm convinced it will be fun 😊 Helen

Thanks 😊 The capture device is a climaxdigital vcap302 - I bought it last year, so hopefully ok. I tried sharpcap last night and get a picture - it was a bit challenging trying to get the settings optimised given the noise! I'll try a different power supply. I have also found that the gain setting can be a bit problematic with the supreme. Unfortunately you have to take the camera cover off to adjust that (why design it like that???). More testing fun to come 😊 I'll let you know how I get on! Thanks again Helen

I've made some progress with my set up and I think managed to capture a few Lyrids. The camera did have rather a lot of hot pixels though - I was getting more hot pixels than stars! So a quick google and spotted a 'new' Watec 902H2 on ebay for £70 including lens, so I thought it was worth a punt. It arrived and while having no box (I knew this) it does look in excellent condition. I've set it up this afternoon. I've been testing UFOCapture, which looks good. Just discovered my trial license has run out though, so purchased but waiting for license details to come through so can't use it. As a stop gap for testing focus etc I'm using the Arcsoft capture program which came with the converter dongle. For some reason it won't record (says there's no video feed even though I can see it on screen). But what I am seeing looks more sensitive than last cam, but I'm getting scrolling banding. Can anyone who knows about these things tell me the cause? (I've got an isolator as recommended by Adam). @tooth_dr @JeremyS @stewartw Thanks Helen

So I found out that the back of the Sony fit Samyang is different to the Canon even with the connector removed 😞 So adapter will have to go back to FLO 😞 On a happier note, the Obs computer seems ok so far! 🙂 Helen

Ok, thanks all. I'll check. My feeling is that the problem is more likely the socket. The cable is relatively new, and high quality. Helen

Thanks both - I'm not sure whether to be relieved or not! I know I hate cigar cable ends! So is the oxidation in the cable or the socket? Helen

I have some of the lovely FLO/Lynx Astro cables, including an extension. This developed a problem. When I investigated I found the end is somewhat mis-shapen. I wondered how/why.... I think I may now have got to the bottom of it. I've been using a plug splitter - commonly used one sold for in-car use. I reckon I was overly robust in ensuring the plug was all the way in, and using the end port which mirrors the functionality of the original in-car ports as a Cigar Lighter 😳😳😳. So I think I literally melted my cable 🙄 I'm going to tape that port up to avoid any future problems, but thought it might be worth alerting anyone else using same splitter... Now to replace the end and hope that's all I've damaged! Helen

Thanks everyone - so glad I posted! SGP is cheaper than I expected, but NINA cheaper still. I might well start with NINA and see how it goes. I'm pretty sure that I won't be spending hundreds of pounds on upgrading MaxIm though... Off to the obs again. Ascom installed, so now all the detailed stuff... Wish me luck! Thanks again 🤗 Helen

So my new shiney (well matt black actually) PC has arrived and I'm setting it all up. I thought it might be a good time to assess my imaging software tools. I've been running Maxim v5 for nearly 10 years. I use it for capture, guiding, plate solving for deep sky. It does what I need it to do, but I had some compatibility/driver issues (eg my atiks stopped being recognised) before the last PC died (not sure if related!). I run the Mesu mount through sitech drivers. I have used focusmax free version - with some mixed success. I use Cartes du Ceil as planetarium software. Stacking in DSS, post processing in photoshop cs2. (I must admit mostly over the past few years I've been a snapshot person - say an hour or so data per target and basic processing) For planetary and lunar I use sharcap, As3!. I'm wondering about upgrading Maxim - but it's a lot of money!! What are my options? Any neat software to make life easier/more reliable? Thanks Helen

That might well have been the starlink launch rocket itself Ant - the timing works '15-20 minutes after launch' 😎

The advantage of no night being a school night 😉

Nothing here in the half an hour after midnight

I got a couple (perhaps) on the meteor cam over like 4 hours - and I think nothing on the dslr runs. I saw nothing visually either - meteors social distancing from Earth too??? Nice star trails though Ant! Helen