astro mick

It wont blind solve as it says it cant locate the files,although i downloaded evething in the description as mention in the foremost Tutorial. Mick.

Hi Frank. Where in the Tools/APT do you do that.All i see is the object calculator at the bottom. Mick.

Hi. Having recently tried to swop over to APT,i just cant get the pointcraft plate solve to work.Everything connects ok,the scope slews to the target,i take a 20sec image,load the correct co-ordinates for the object and press solve.It starts counting as if trying to solve,but just times out. I have loaded the catalogues,both showing ok in Plate solve,i loaded them into pointcraft,and ticked the boxes,and have now run out of ideas.If i cant sort this i will go back to Astrotortilla. Is their somewhere i should be adding the camera and sensor settingd? Any help with this would be most appreciated. Mick.

What ever Goran,its still a lovely image. Mick.

I would presume so,he has a fully equipped test bench,and ajusts the lenses in the cell as needed. He re-collimated a WO 73 for me a few weeks back.Lovely now. FLO use ES to test the Skywatcher Esprits before they send out,if the customer wants reasurance. Mick. You can contact ES yourself,without going through FLO(i think). Mick.

E.S Reid is the man to recollimate your Triplet if it was ever needed. Very reasonably priced as well. Great to deal with. Mick.

This guy is pretty good on youtube. Type in AstroQuest 1.in the search box. He has posted several videos,which are really helpful. Point craft Plate Solving,just access the thread at the header for this category. Mick.

Finally got round to tying APT and Pointcraft. Why have i left it so long.Its a great piece of software,a bit daunting at first,but soon began to began to make a little sense. Following the Tutorial on Plate-solving above,i was soon able to have a crack at it. I just shot a 60 min sequence of 600 secs on the pacman in Ha as a test run. Mick.

£170 now.

E,m food for thought.

Hope you get the O111 filter soon Adam,such detail in these images its boggling(is that a word)😆😆 Mick.

Its a corker Adam. Just seen your posting,such great wide field images.Which Ha filter do you use? Mick.

Thanks for the comment,fully appreciate it. Mick.

Hi. I aquired this image of IC5146 over two nights,the second night being last night.The skies in East Yorkshire have,nt been kind of late,and i had to wait over two weeks to complete. It was taken using a Altair Astro 102mm Triplet and a Atik 314L+ ccd camera. It is a Ha/RGB image. 12x600 secs for the Ha, 9x600 secs for The Red and Blue,and 6x600 secs for the Green. Calibration was applied althougth i did not use darks. I do like the scope,but even with a Triplet the Blue Bloat of the larger stars still presents itself to some extent. Cheers. Mick.

Their are a few things that i can now check from your write up.I have been toying with the idea of moving over to APT,and i think you have just given me a push i needed. As i say everything seems fine apart from not seeing the camera in the list.I know Astrotortilla is quite old now,but when it works it is really good. Thanks for the write up,and the time taken. Mick.

I,m surprised no one is using Astrotortilla!!

Hi. I am using an Atik ccd camera,and their software Artemis.I connect through the star map CDC which is all fine.To platesolve i have been using Astrotilla,which i quite like.However trying to install on a new computer when i open up the Astrotortilla interface box,i dually connect to Ascom,but when i come to the Ascom camera chooser my camera the Atik 314L+ is not there.I must be missing something,but cant seem to overcome this. Any ideas please. Mick.

Exerllent Adam.Well done. Mick.

Hi. Just like to say i received exerllent service from Ian at Altair Astro.Always answered my emails requesting further information,often out of hours. I put my order in for the Starwave 102 Triplet,and Ian had it in stock and dispatched it promptly. Top marks for Ian and AA. Mick.

That is an exerllent image Adam.I just assumed at F5.5 it may not have a long enough F/L. Mick.

Yes sorry,i did mean the Altair Wave. I,m seeing refractors comming out the top of my head.🤣🤣

Hi. I am now looking for my next imaging refractor.My budget is £1500,and one or two Apo Triplets are within reach. 1.Skywatcher Esprit 100 F5.5 2.Altair Astro 102 Starwave. F7 3.Edmond Scientific Carbon 102.F7 Negatives. 1.Skywatcher is a great scope,but at F5.5 would not be great for Galaxies.(FPL-53) Also none are expected to be in stock for 40-60 days. 2.The Altair 102 seems to be a nice all rounder,but i know nothing about this scope as a candidate.(FPL-53) 3.Edmond Scientific.Seems to get good reviews but uses FCD-100 glass? also has a Hex Focuser,which i believe is crayford based. If anyone has or has used these scopes,i really would like to hear your thoughts. Or indeed any recommendations other than the above. Cheers. Mick.

Thanks Adam.

They do,but also incorperate a steel linear strip on top i think. Mick.

Hi Nicolas. Yes your right,i should have looked into it further.It seems like there is a linear strip bar at the top,as well as a rack underneath. Thanks for your reply,as you were the only one who responded. Better homework next time,befrore i bother the forum. Cheers. Mick.