AnakChan

Thanks! Not heard of them before....will take a look at 'em.

Thx for your response. Yes I have reached out to ASA pending their response but their focus these days are more towards professional level rather than the amateur astronomer. The ASA mounts are actually quite simplistic devices - unlike other mounts that have handheld controllers (effectively mini computers with GOTO, star maps, etc.) the ASA mounts only have a USB interface for USB to Serial comms. Beyond that, it's actually the AutoSlew Windows software (I think it's written in Visual Basic, but not certain) to drive the mount. So the ASA mounts actually need a computer to operate unlike most other normal mounts. The ASA AutoSlew software tunes the motors at start up, identifies home position, sets time, Lat/Long of the location, etc. So even pointing and slewing is done via the AutoSlew software. The closest I can think of would be the mounts that use OnStep or SiTech (e.g. GTD, JTW, Mesu, and maybe Avalon with its Raspberry Pi StarGo? etc.). I don't think it's going to be as simple as hiring a university Computer Science student who have no knowledge of astronomy to code it up, and am seeking someone with mount driver development experience.

Giving this another gentle bump. Pursuing a different angle are there any recommendations of developers who can recode/rewrite the entire AutoSlew and a N.I.N.A plugin for this and depending on the cost, setting aside a budget for it. The question I have is, "where do I start?". How does one source a developer to write such software? I'm also open to other kinds of solutions e.g. say a RaspberryPi that can drive the mount and support Alpaca & INDI, or if someone else suggests an On-Step or SiTech-type solution (drivers till need to be written). I'd gather the challenge would be due to the developer needing access to the mount directly, or would setting up remote access work?

Hi folks, I'd like to call ASA DDM60 (Std/Pro) & DDM85 owners with regards to support on the AutoSlew/Sequence software. If my understanding is correct, ASA no longer provide upgrades and development support for these obsolete mounts. There are newer versions of AutoSlew (and presumably Sequence) but only for the current DDM100+ mounts. With my DDM60 at least I'm on AutoSlew 5.2.4.8 & Sequence 2.1.1, ASCOM compliance has been somewhat spotty especially with integration with N.I.N.A. where TrackingRate is failing, and having to connect to the mount via ASCOM Hub rather than directly. Using an all ASA solution (i.e. AutoSlew & Sequence) is also an issue for me at least as Sequence's AutoFocus bombs out with my focuser's ASCOM driver - not certain why but I suspect it's 32-bit vs 64-bit issue. I suspect there are other DDM60/DDM85 owners who are in a similar boat as me. I'm therefore interested in trying to band a group of ASA legacy mount owners who have similar issues, and brainstorm together on a strategic and open-system solution. As an example, I'd like to propose a Raspberry Pi-styled solution that can serve Alpaca & INDI, and (at least a) N.I.N.A. plug-in that can perform both an all-sky Autopoint, and localised MLPT modelling. Anyone else in the same boat as me and interested in brainstorming a solution?

Thanks. That’s good news to hear. So if there’s any sudden loss of power the DEC wise it looks like it’ll still hold pretty well. The HD mount I have doesn’t have any active braking on either axes so my OTA can flop & crash into the tripod legs.

Are the active brakes only on the RA or on DEC too? So if you suddenly lose power, aside from DEC balance, is there anything that could prevent scope flop?

I believe from the serial # you should be able to tell the year of manufacture. Also I think Takahashi changed their colour to light blue in mid 2016. That may give an idea on the age of if. Unfortunately I don’t recall what year the EDX4 was released.

The 1st iteration was a little too "hot" and I've toned it down a little in the 2nd iteration.

Here's my version of the Seagull Nebula in SHO over 31 hrs worth of integration. I took this between 26th Nov - 24th Dec using my ASI6200MM Pro camera with Antlia Pro 3nm filters through the Takahashi FSQ-85ED. Having being used to taking pictures with my Takahashi µ250CRS at 2500mm FL for years, the FSQ-85ED with the ASI6200MM Bin1 resulting in a resolution or 1.7"/px, it was a breeze to guide with the Vixen AXD mount. I've actually had the FSQ-85ED for over 4 years but never really used it properly. The last time I did was for the SuperBlue Blood Moon back in Jan 2018. The sensor was cooled to -10C (a struggle in Australian summers), Bin1 Gain 100 Offset 50 Ha: 60x 600sec Oiii: 63x 600sec Sii: 63x 600sec Total:31 hrs under suburban Bortle 6 skies. https://astrob.in/1950tc/E/

I actually don't have many other pictures taken with that setup. I do have some other older pix taken with the Polarie but without the PCB-EQ2 counterweights. The adjustment of the XY50D to me would probably be similar to the Vixen Fine Adjustment but note I've not looked at the Vixen one too closely - only from pix. I think what the XY50D lacks is some kinda spring which would help make the adjustments smoother.

Hi @kentnek Are you planning on using the new K-Astec XY60 with the original Vixen Polarie or the new Polarie U? The cradle I have is specifically for the old Polarie & the older XY-50D. You can see from the above pix it's curved to fit the base of the Polarie, and channel grooved at the bottom to fit into the XY-50D. That way the Polarie can't pivot/twist on the base. A bolt passes through from under the XY50D through it base and the cradle into the Polarie's base. I don't know if there's a newer cradle for the Polarie U & XY-60, however with modern 3D printing these days, you'd probably can find someone who can design and print it. About the performance comparison between the Vixen & the SA 2i Pro, just to clarify you're comparing the Polarie or the newer Polarie-U? The Polarie as you can guess is a very old design, but it works well enough for my purposes of up to 200mm FL but there is no autoguiding, etc. I think the Polarie-U OTOH is probably more on par with the SA 2i Pro and you'd probably find more support for SA than for Vixen globally. Unfortunately I'm still on my old Polarie and don't own the U nor the 2i Pro so I don't have any hands-on practical thoughts to share about the two.

Here's my recent capture taken over a 3 week period, of the NGC1097 barred spiral in Fornax. I live under Bortle 5/6 skies and I normally don't image LRGB so my skills in processing LRGB is also somewhat limited. This image resulted in 15 hrs 40 mins worth of total integration in the following breakdown :- Lum: 106x 5min Red: 23x 5min Green: 25x 5min Blue: 34x 5min All taken through the lens of a Takahashi µ250CRS at its native 2500mm F10 by the ZWO ASI6200mm Pro. It was at Bin1x1 with sensor set to -10C, Gain 0 Offset 50. So the resolution was 0.31"/px (probably way oversampled). I used the Antlia Pro LRGB filters. Aside from experimenting different exposure lengths for wideband filters, I think the biggest challenge I had was processing, and going through different rounds of deconvolution - each time looking horrible. So I gave up decon in the end. One other surprise was that all the RGB channels were quite well balanced to the point that I didn't really need LinearFit - they were really close to each other, which was a nice surprise. Anyhow, I probably could get it a little sharper if I had chosen some nights with better seeing but I'm happy enough (or tired enough) with it. With the inverted view, you can see the jets emanating from the galaxy core. There's meant to be 4 but I think I've captured only the 2 most prominent ones. Astrobin: https://astrob.in/sgp4sw/0/

Vixen AXD. But it's -really- sensitive/dependent on the weather. I live approx. 8 km from the coast and prob no more than 10m above sea level. I find during the late autumn to early spring months the skies are reasonably still so can get those figures reasonably consistently. But mid-spring to mid autumn, it's more like 0.45-0.8". I probably should bin instead. Cheers! Sean

I hear you Bryan .I shoot at 2500mm and my pixel pitch is like 3.76µm. I tend to shoot at Bin1 too and that comes up to 0.31"/px. Struggle to keep PHD2 to below that so if I get guiding between 0.24" - 0.4", I'm happy enough - luck of the draw with jetstreams really! Still though the Cats Eye has come up beautifully.

That's a great resolution you got there. In the end what focal length and arsec/pixel resolution were you working at?