keramos

12 minutes ago, Oddsocks said:

Hi Nihal

You can order replacement O-rings direct from Bresser DE (in Germany), you need two rings for the LS60 Tha pressure tuner but be aware that during production of the THa series Lunt changed the size of the barrel and depending on the version you have you may need the O-ring with size;

Internal diameter 32mm, external diameter 40mm:

https://www.bresser.de/en/Astronomy/Solar-Astronomy/Accessories/LUNT-O-ring-32mm-for-Pressure-Tuner-at-MT-THa-solar-telescopes.html

Or,

Internal diameter 34mm, external diameter 42mm:

https://www.bresser.de/en/Astronomy/Spare-parts/LUNT-O-ring-34mm-for-Pressure-Tuner-at-MT-THa-solar-telescopes.html

You will also need to clean the old grease from the barrel and piston and replace with fresh Lithium-Teflon grease:

https://www.bresser.de/en/By-Manufacturer/Lunt-Solarsystems/LUNT-Grease-for-Pressure-Tuner-at-MT-THa-solar-telescopes.html

Here is the instruction document explaining how to exchange the rings and the different sized rings and their Bresser part numbers:

https://www.bresser.de/out/media/4bdcac812d37f790b5f779b21fd0fa76.pdf

HTH

William.

Hi William,

Thank you for the links and detailed information, I’ll remove the rings, measure and order them.

thank you once again

Hello everyone,

Can someone advice where I can purchase O rings for Lunt LS60, and how many rings are needed to be replaced?

Thanks in advance,

Hello,

I wondered if someone could advice or suggest if there is a hand controller that is available that could connect to a stepper motor. I use to have the controller box that attached to the motor and laptop, all I'm left with is the motor, and would like to connect it to my solar scope (I have the necessary attachments).

Thanks in advance.

Hi Andrew and all who have contributed to this thread.

This has been a great read especially when I have been mulling over a dedicated DSO camera and to be honest I'm more or less inclined towards getting a mono camera (been DSLR imaging over last few months).

The one question I'm mulling over is, do I need light pollution filter?

Narrowband will happily cut through light pollution. I've been quite happy with L-Extreme and for broadband IDAS light pollution filter (2") has worked well with DSLR.

I was wondering, what do folks do for LRGB and light pollution especially for Luminance, do you replace the L filter with light pollution 
filter e.g Baader Neodymium or IDAS Filter?

Or do you simply use software to remove any effect of light pollution from Luminance data?

Would appreciate feedback from Users of Mono Camera.

Thanks in advance,

Nihal.

ps: I'm in Bortle 5 as per Clear Outside

Great, Thanks Waldemar.

I can save a few pennies by getting 1.25" filter.

Might seem obvious but I rather ask the stupid questions...

If use 2 filters

Session 1) 2" IDAS LP filter for broadband

Session 2) 1.25" L-enhance filter or L-extreme filter

And decide to combine both session, would that work i.e. using different filter sizes?

or Would both filters need to be 2" or 1.25"?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I use Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for Sky-Watcher Mount to connect EQ5 pro mount to ASIAIR pro.

Simply connect the mount (hand controller connector) and ASIAIR (USB 2) with the EQDIR cable.

Power up ASIAIR pro and select  “EQ Mod Mount”, once selected make sure the switch next to the mount name is toggled on (green) to connect the mount.

Use the manual buttons to slew test if mount is responding to ASIAIR.

I don’t use the hand controller.

I got my camera delivered earlier this week and had sticker... “may contain snow”... forecast was for snow

made me smile 😀 

Great Christmas gift, bought 4 from FLO.

Any news or update on Zwo shipments, I’m waiting on camera and filter drawer... anticipation not bothering me, honest (acting all cool).

Nihal.

Hi vlaiv,

This is brilliant, thanks for the step by step guide, this is very helpful.

I'm sure will be helpful for lot of people here. 👍

1 hour ago, Aramcheck said:

When starting out I found Richard Bloch's youtube videos on Basic Processing and Stacking useful. Also Mitch's 12 video series. I've subsequently made more use of Warren A. Keller's "Inside Pixinsight" book, which I find indispensible. Light Vortex is good too - particularly like his bit on SubFrameSelection.

Had a quick play with your M33 data - it looks to me like the focus was slightly off. Did you use the Bahtinov mask to focus?

Cheers
Ivor

Hi Ivor,

Thank you for looking at M33, I'm must say all you guys are wonderful and very helpful.

One generally gets to see end results and doesn't know what the initial data looks like...I was in despair before I started this topic but now I can't wait to get my hands on some of the softwares (at least Gimp is free) also can't wait to get out again.

• I did use the Bahtinov mask to focus before PA, guiding with this was not particularly the best and dithering was refusing to settle (I still need to find my way with the parameters in ASIAIR pro) and was a bit breezy too, I'm sure that would affect the subs.
• There are some circular artefacts, which don't appear on the unprocessed tif file (they are quite well defined circles), I reckon this could be eliminated using flats?
• Could it be dew?
• To get more detail in M33 = more subs?

Still waiting for trial license for pixinsight, been more than 24hrs, got the initial email still waiting for verification.

Looks like I'm going to do my bit during the lockdown by going through the tutorials 😃

2 hours ago, wornish said:

 

The Light Vortex Tutorials are very good

 

I have attached my Pixinsight crib sheet built up over quite a while.  Its far from ideal but the post processing steps on Page 12 are what I follow usually.  There are a few people who have also shared their process steps on this  forum so if you do a search you can find them.  Anyway this is in PDF format so hope you can read it.

 

I didn't follow all the steps on my crib sheet on Pixinsight, I missed out he noise reduction ones. Then the only thing I did in PS was flip the image horizontally and vertically as that's the way I like to show it.  Then I reduced the noise and colour noise using the Topaz DeNoise AI plug-in its the best I have found. I also increased the contrast a little to darken the background.  The one that Vlaiv did above had a much darker background than mine but that is always down to individual taste.

 

Have fun.

Pixinsight Process Steps.pdf 284.59 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks Dave,

Does the process change a lot between DSLR and OSC e.g. ZWO cameras?

43 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Only major issue that I found with this data is lack of flats.

This is processing that I did in ImageJ and Gimp 2.10.

If you wish, I can do a step by step guide, but I'm not sure if you'll be interested in that since you use PI and PS.

Hi Vlaiv,

That would be very much appreciated, I still don't have PS or Pixinsight installed (trial).

And I'm sure it would be helpful and beneficial to other beginners like me.

I didn't take flats as I disturbed the focus on the first night while tearing down the equipment, then did the exact same thing on the second night.

ps: like how to you the background rather dark, excellent.

1 hour ago, wornish said:

Had a very quick go with your M31 image. Processed in Pixinsight and tweaked in PS

 

Stars are good shape.

 

 

Hi Dave,

That is rather impressive, I'm glad/pleased and reassured that I'm heading in the right direction.

I reckon lots for me to learn in terms of image processing, do you have predefined scripts in pixinsight that run through the stacked image?

I found this earlier https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-pre-processing-calibrating-and-stacking-images-in-pixinsight.html

Do you think its a good tutorial for beginner? any recommendations?

Thank you for the processing, trust me its very reassuring.

Quote

Stars are good shape.

Earlier I mentioned that Polar Alignment and Guiding needed some work..

PA -

• Total error as reported by ASIAIR app was 27", I read somewhere or saw in a video that about 10" for a set like mine (WO Red cat 51 f4.9) should suffice.
• Having said that, the tripod that comes with Explorer scientific iEXOS 100 is rubbish for many reasons, now I've got the mount on EQ5 triop and its rock solid, heavier to carry to the location (car to open space) from where I image but will pay dividends.

Guiding

• Total RMS error was around 2.5", with dithering it was all over the place.
• I've read sub 1" is good
• M31 was with dithering
• M33 dithering switched off as it would complain about settle time.

Quote

Processed in Pixinsight and tweaked in PS

Lastly if you don't mind me asking, which bits are done in Pixinsight and PS

2 hours ago, ultranova said:

Hi, I am unable to download and look at the pictures at the moment,

But I can offer some advice,

In General broadband targets when the moon has come up and is less than

a 1/4 you can get some good results, if you pick a target facing as far away

from the moon as possible, some broadband light pollution filters, will help a little

as well, but not by much.

• DSS debayers the image (I've used generic RGGB for FITs), resulting image has greenish tint hardly any colour even though its a colour DSLR.  is this normal?

This is quite normal, The color Bayer matrix in your camera by its very definition RGGB, ( this is a filter that sits on top of your pixels )it has only one red, one blue but two green covering each pixel, , consequently,  your camera is more green sensitive than any other color.

If the moon is out, the data you collect, the signal from the target needs to be stronger than glow coming off the sky glow from the moon,

otherwise the sky glow will wash out the image, or you will get bad gradients in your image.

If you live in a area, where the light pollution is low, and the moon is less than 1/4, you should get some fair results,

but if you live in a moderate to high area of light pollution, even with the moon not out it will seriously affect your image

chuck the moon in the mix as well with broadband  imaging, its a real struggle to get a decent image.

I have been there and done that so to speak.

possibly go down the route of getting your camera modified, at least this would enable you to use narrow band

imaging, to a certain degree.

Unfortunately, no amount of processing can get the detail out of a image if it is drowned in sky glow,

or has a really bad gradient,

Don't get me wrong,, I am only talking about really bad sky glow, caused by the moon, or street lighting,

you will be amazed to what information can be drawn out of a image with software,

On you tube there are loads of good tutorials , try this one for a starting point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W66Okjh4P2g

Patience and persistence, is what is required, when i get back later i shall look at your images. 

hope this helps a little

Paul

 

 

 

Hi Paul, 

Thanks for the reply, its reassuring that nothing is wrong with the equipment at one point I thought that might be the case compounded by the skyglow.

I'm in Bortle 5 skies according to Clear Outside but then add the street lights (LED) and ambient light from the houses etc...it gets worst.

Tbh, after I set up the rig, first thing I went for was M31...and the moment I saw the smudgy image (which looked rather nice on ASIR Air pro app on iPad) I was eager to image...my excitement got the better of me..

I look forward to further feedback and will definitely look at the youtube video after work.

Morning Everyone,

So last week was my first ever proper imaging experience, got two lovely nights and managed to take image of M31 & M33.

Idea was to get the setup of the gear correct and practise polar alignment and guiding...anything more would be added bonus.

Took 30 subs @ 120s with bias and darks, didn't take any flats (for both M31 and M33)

I recognise that I need to improve polar alignment and guiding, those are things to work on over time, though was pleased with data I gathered with promise of improvement. 

So equipment, 

• WO Redcat 51
• ASIAIR pro 
• Nikon D3300 unmodded
• ES iexos 100 mount and stock tripod (going to swap the tripod for EQ5)
• IDAS LPS - D2 filter
• ASI174MM as guide camera, ASI mini guide scope

However, I need Help! with the following:

Pre processing the data. 

• At this point I have only stacked the images in Deep Sky Stacker using the recommended settings as a start (FITs file saved by ASIAIR).
• DSS debayers the image (I've used generic RGGB for FITs), resulting image has greenish tint hardly any colour even though its a colour DSLR.  is this normal?

Moonlight

• Problem was lots of Moonlight, and to make matters worst I picked target close to moon glow 🤣.
• I've read that LP filter will not help with moonlight but can this be fixed in post processing?

Processing Software

• Lastly any recommended tutorials for either Pixinsight or Photoshop, something for a dummy with detailed steps.
• I'll probably get trials for both for the moment and then decide.

I've attached the stacked Tif file for M31, M33 also attached, this is much worst as it completely washed out by the Moon

Any help advice would be welcome, obvious one would be don't choose targets close to the moon 😆

M31_27102020.tif M33_28102020.tif

Its a good portable mount, have a look here on the PMC - Eight Forum before you buy it.

I'd say the biggest hassle with this mount is Polar alignment.

1) There is no polar scope there is a tunnel thingi but I've never bothered looking through it, if you use Sharp cap or ASIAIR pro, then you have a chance at polar alignment

2) adjusting the Azimuth during polar alignment is difficult unless you invest in another £85 in one of these AZ adjuster

I've got good results and can easily carry the mount (including tripod) and telescope etc outdoors, I use it as portable setup.

I use this..

SMALLRIG Ballhead Clamp Magic Arm Adapter with Clamp and Standard 1/4 Screw - 2161
Learn more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F2WRHHF/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_zdxMFbSPRXQ3Z?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I received my scope few weeks ago (4-5 week wait) beautiful scope and quality is maintained, just one brief outing.

Only thing that was not wanted is the bad weather that came along with it...😬

I have ES iXOS 100, so the counter weights are small 2 x 1kg.

I tend to keep the WO Red cat and DSLR attached, Red Cat has its dew shield screwed on (extended) so takes more space.

Hi,

Quote

So excluding the tripod, I would really appreciate a recommendation of a backpack to be able to put all this stuff into (along with room for an ASIAir Pro and some dew strips) so when the skies look clear I can just throw the backpack in a car and head off into the hills somewhere.

I would kindly suggest not to throw your backpack, but gently place it in your car 😆

I personally use this backpack, see below.

Can get WO Redcat with DLSR in the bag, also have enough space for dew strap, finder scope and camera, ASIAIR pro, iPad, 2kg counter weights and few other bits and bobs.

Beschoi DSLR Camera Backpack Waterproof Camera Bag for Sony Canon Nikon Olympus SLR/DSLR Camera, Lens and Accessories, Black (Large)
Learn more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M4MDTNP/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_o4dJFbAH5FXVG

There are other options that might be suited for your gear.

Hello Everyone,

I'm using ASIAIR pro with Nikon D3300 DLSR, everything seems fine no majors issues expect operator error at this point 😂

• Only question is, why do I only see ISO 100, 200, 400, 800 available in ASIAIR pro (see screen shot)?
• Does the app limit the ISO because I shouldn't need more than ISO 800 or is there is glitch?
• Does the DSLR need to be set to a particular setting before connecting to ASIAIR pro?

I've asked ZWO the question on their forum, all they said install Beta v1.5 and send log file...done the needful don't see any change in ISO selection and don't know who to transfer the log file.

I wondered if anyone using ASIAIR pro and DLSR has come across something similar.

ps: Nikon D3300 is one of their tested cameras with ASIAIR Pro (as listed on their website).

How “soft” does the focus need be? Any examples so that I have an idea of what to aim for.

Well I thought I had good focus, set the guide camera and scope in ASI Air as main camera and scope and too some test shots. Then swapped back to Red Cat and DSLR as main scope and primarily camera.

In guiding it shows up the star as a fuzzy blob so I wondered if it was focus as guiding was all over the place (in one instance I had nothing on the graph).

Scope is balanced and polar aligned.