szymon

Frankly I would write back and demand that the goods are sent immediately or a full refund provided. If that isn't forthcoming, you have two options. If you paid by credit card, make it the credit card company's problem; they will refund your money as you have not received goods promised. If not, then open a case in the small claims court, asking for the return of the funds plus statutory interest over the past 14 months plus court costs; it's inexpensive and easy to do online (google for MCOL, which stands for money claim online -- make sure you do it yourself directly on the government's website, don't pay an intermediary to do what you can do for free). This might not be a popular sentiment, but frankly he can still sell "your" astrotrac if it's already in production, and if it isn't then he's lying to you -- after a history of saying that it will be ready soon.

It's not intended to win any awards, but I wanted to just say how pleasurable it is to play with such high quality data. Very little processing done really, all in PixInsight. I combined all three channels into a single super luminance image, and used that as the basis for deconvolution (taking out the stars using a starmask created by StarNet++ and then putting the original stars back in using pixelmath). I played with all sorts of noise reduction until I realised that there just isn't any noise to reduce! I then stretched each channel to the same median value and combined them as SHO for colour and the deconned super being used as luminance. From there it was just cropping to my chosen angle and FoV and some balancing of the colours to taste. An absolute pleasure to play with, and thank you for providing the data.

I picked up my new AX103S on the bank holiday, and have been absolutely loving it. It's one of these: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen/vixen-ax103s-flat-field-apo-refractor.html although I got mine second hand, along with the optically matched 37228 focal reducer which turns it into a 578mm f/5.6 scope, and some assorted bits and pieces (carry handle, baader clicklock visual back, etc). It was over my budget for a triplet, but I asked and negotiated and got it for what I consider to be a very good price indeed (it helped that we were spending the long weekend near where it was being sold, so I could pick it up in person and pay cash!). When trying to get it all set up and working, I found that there was very little information on the internet regarding the telescope and reducer, in particular regarding the correct backspace to use. I started doing my own investigations, and I thought I would share what I came up with for posterity, so that if anyone else gets one of these lovely telescopes the internet should show this result in a search for it 🙂 The Vixen AX103S is a quad -- a triplet objective lens and a flattener built into the draw-tube of the focuser. Screwed on to the focuser is a dedicated 0.7x reducer, which puts the whole thing at f/5.6. The back thread of the reducer is M60. From that point, I need to get some distance in mm to my camera sensor. The reducer unfortunately doesn't provide official numbers to the sensor, only a diagram like this: The wide photo adapter 60mm is 8mm in length: DSLR + T-Ring is typically 55mm (44mm + 11mm), so the expected backfocus is 55+8=63mm. I ran some tests yesterday and had reasonable results with the following: 37mm to the filter wheel, my camera is a ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool which has 6.5mm backfocus, and the filter wheel is a 7x36mm ZWO EFW which has 20mm backfocus, so the total is 63.5mm from the end of the reducer to the camera sensor. This is pretty close to the 63mm from the diagram so I think I'm interpreting it correctly. This is the result of this spacing: (raw stack, 6 x 300s Ha through clouds, but good enough to show the stars). Looking closer it's clearly still not right, but possibly from tilt, e.g. top right seems OK, bottom right in one direction, top left in another -- a mess but possibly from tilt: I'm probably going to build up the optical train as follows: - M60 extension - 14mm - M60 male -> M48 male - 3mm - M48 CTU (M48 female -> M48 female) - 17.3mm - M48 male -> M42 male - 2.2mm - ZWO EFW - 20mm - ASI1600MM - 6.5mm Total: 63mm I will then tune out from 63mm using the CTU. I hope that's of use to someone 🙂 -simon

I'd suggest dropping into the EZ Suite discord (link in your screenshot!) and asking. Darkarchon, the author, is amazingly responsive. He also hangs around on the NINA Discord (he's one of the developers) so you could ask there on the #processing channel too.

Never seen this one I’m afraid. Might be fine!

Thanks. Another option you could consider, slightly heavier but portable, is the ioptron smart EQ pro. Weighs a bit more but seems very capable, and has a polar scope as well as goto. There’s one for sale second hand on the FB second hand astronomy UK group that might be worth an offer.

Well...it depends on how precise an alignment you need. I actually used the AZ-GTi the other day with just rough polar alignment (I was fighting through clouds and Polaris wasn’t even visible — was desperate to try and get an image as we were staying in bortle 3, but the clouds didn’t cooperate!). I held a green laser to the side of the mount head in line with the RA axis and pointed it at Polaris when it peeked through the clouds. This was enough to give me a 120s exposure with round stars on the 6D (attached — not a great photo but the best I could do). You could always attach a polar scope to the AZ-GTi. That said, I would consider getting a surface tablet, connecting your camera to it, and using that to Polar Align 🙂

To align accurately you would need to use a laptop and software. Just using the app won’t be sufficient.

Apologies, I just re-read my reply to you and it seems quite attacking -- not intentionally! Hard day at work and now I have clouds, which I clearly took out on you - sorry 🙂

I've had both mounts -- the Star Adventurer and the AZ-GTi. The AZ-GTi in EQ mode is like the Star Adventurer on steroids. Goto is a game changer. It doesn't have a polar scope, but you can polar align using software (I use Sharpcap -- if you can't see within a few degrees of Polaris, you could try drift alignment using PHD2 or NINA's PA routine). The tracking by itself is basically identical to the Star Adventurer -- more than sufficient unguided for relatively long exposures using an SLR. However, guiding the mount I've been getting about 1.1" RMS, so it's clearly superior to the SA. Frankly I can't believe how much better this mount is than the SA. The only real downside of it is that you have to make your own counterweight. I bought an M12 threaded rod from B&Q, a couple of nuts and washers and a bunch of scrap metal, and it works fine but is pretty ugly. I might order a 'real' counterweight shaft from somewhere. Other than that, I've been very impressed so far. Go for the AZ-GTi, you'll regret not having done so.

I just said that it's possible. You flash the firmware, and when you connect to the mount you get a choice of running in alt-az or eq mode -- in EQ mode the goto system is programmed (funnily enough) for EQ operation. The firmware is regularly updated (last update a couple of weeks ago) and has release notes. It works very well.

The AZ-GTi mount has firmware which, in conjunction with a suitable wedge, allows it to be used in EQ mode, thus making it suitable for imaging. It's like a Star Adventurer with Goto, which can do pulse guiding (in both axes). It's pretty awesome.

Yeah it’s only a temp solution as I don’t have enough weight for the bar. I got an m12 threaded rod and nuts but there were only five washers in the shop! Will see tomorrow elsewhere if they have some. I can try multiple nuts or something 😉

This is the initial CB solution 😉. B&Q were sold out of M12 washers!

Ok, I am working on a CB solution 😉. However, a question — should the R.A. axis be so stiff? Even when the clutch is completely undone it’s not loose enough to “balance”...

Hah. I have just gotten an AZGTi from FLO (delivered today to the dark site we are visiting in Exmoor from tomorrow, thanks Steve) and I realised that I don’t have a counterweight bar. So the plan was to pop into B&Q on the way tomorrow morning and get an M12 threaded bar and do exactly this 🙂. I have a small rechargeable usb-powered dremel with me (usually used for tidying up 3D printed items but I am hoping it will cut through metal, albeit maybe slowly) and with luck will have a working counterweight bar for imaging tomorrow 😄

Actually when it works the HitechAstro system is really pretty damned good at approximating focus steps; I have used it in NINA to achieve very good autofocus. Where it gets sloppy is in repeatability -- swapping filters, with a stepper motor you can use focus offsets and you'll be bang on, but with the DC focus you need to re-focus again from scratch. NINA has excellent autofocus (and in the nightly builds a huge choice of different algorithms) and is able to achieve the absolute best HFR possible for your seeing conditions with the DC focus. That said, because I image in narrowband and swap filters often, I have upgraded to a real stepper motor solution -- a DeepSkyDad AF3, which is absolutely brilliant.

Please jump onto the NINA discord (click the discord link on https://nighttime-imaging.eu) and we will try to help you out. We're a friendly bunch 🙂.

If you're using it with a CCD or CMOS camera and not a Canon DSLR then the autofocus is probably irrelevant anyway (set it up with a wide-field autofocuser like the Deep Sky Dad AF3 😉). I use the Canon EF200 F/2.8L with both a Canon x1.4 extender (at f/4) and a Phoenix x2 extender (at f/5.6), and even with both at the same time (at f/8 560mm), which even autofocuses with the 6D (not on the 50D though). I look forward with interest to seeing the responses on how it works with astro cameras. It's an awesome lens 😉

Something odd with your software -- histogram looks fine, e.g. in GIMP: or in a random online tool https://pinetools.com/image-histogram

Of course the answer is to set up your imaging equipment in a dedicated remotely controlled observatory that you can run from an iPad or something -- that way when you're feeling too tired, you can just run it from bed before going to sleep 😉 That said -- it's a hobby! If you're feeling guilty about not doing it, then you're doing it wrong. If you're just feeling sad about having missed an opportunity, that's different, but please don't feel guilty! -simon

Hahaha yeah I know right? Actually one of the NINA developers helped me configure it, no way I'd have gotten it working myself (I am not a windows guy at all).

Indeed, please update when you do get something back from them -- if you don't after chasing up then maybe all of us should start emailing them 🙂

Just to say that I now have a workaround for using the HiteActro DC Focus with 64bit NINA, using these instructions: https://techtalk.gfi.com/32bit-object-64bit-environment/ This basically allows the 64bit process to use the 32 bit ascom driver.