MilwaukeeLion

Inexpensive tip if mounting pc and battery to scope. Might not be pretty looking but easily adjusted to balance scope in dec. I just use 2 micro fiber car wash sponges and 2 bungees. No slippage, compressed sponges grip nicely. Have a strip of heat tape (motorcycle exhaust tape) on sponge under pc. Doesn't have a fan, gets hot doing high speed captures or sun/moon/planets. Viewing or capturing at say 1 sec exp or slower speeds is not an issue, stays warm but not hot. Was having fun remote viewing in AC last night due to heat & mosquitos. Where I am even with bug spray just sitting next to mount causes hundreds of mosquitos to land on scope trying to get at me.

Thanks, in the lunar imaging section.

Good stuff, adding to your folder of critical sampling info and formula to calculate size of balloon passing in front of sun.

Just seems counter intuitive to me being I mostly do lucky imaging / look at critical sampling and complain seeing was poor using C11. With ED80 using same cameras with exceptional seeing you get significant under sampling vs just ok seeing which is ideal pixel size. More excuses for poor result, can never have enough of those.

Calsky.com great site, set up your log & lat, it will send you emails on anything you want in advance of it happening. ISS transits from your location, other bright passes from your location, moons passing Jupiter, metor showers, comets, endless upcoming space events. You will like it guaranteed.

Thank you Dave, yes and a second possible ISS/lunar transit coming this Sun from my yard. Just dumb luck, kind of imaging I am best at 😀 This coming pass if not cloudy...would run along terminator line which would be very cool to capture.

ISS passing between Apollo 11 & 17 at actual traveling speed = 27600 kph. Capture details 7/15/2019 03:19:20 UT ED80 - ASI 178mm - 3096x2080 - 22 fps - mono8 avi - exp .002049 - gain 52 - sharpened and gamma added - gif - in PS.

Curious if anyone chooses which camera to image with based on evening seeing? Was looking at different camera combo resolutions paired with ED80 at ok seeing FWHM of 2-4". Seems odd that ASI120mm is better option than DSLR 4.88 um with ok seeing. Also seems odd if seeing improved during night both become worse - significantly under sampled. Should be rooting for poor seeing on nights I want to use my ED80 and DSLR?

Most astro sites sell JMI stuff. Pick out a JMI moto-focus here http://www.jimsmobile.com/buy_motofocus.htm Will come with hand controller to focus if standing near telescope. Can see the JMI PCFC here http://www.jimsmobile.com/buy_motor_controls.htm#PC_Focus_Control You unplug hand controller and plug in PCFC to moto-focus and pc. Below is a pic of what the pc control looks like on your pc screen. Works perfectly for remote wifi focusing. Also below are couple examples how they attach. Different for types of scopes. For crayford focuser on my refractor it just slips over fine focus adjustment and mounts to existing bolts underneath. For sct it replaces focus knob.

Like colors in first image and person standing in 3rd image. Did you yell at the guy to get out of your shot?

Nice of you to feed the bugs. Some good captures, iso 100 may have tamed that bit.

Ohh that came out nice. Like the moon with GRS.

Great image, like the blending of shadow side details.

Not sure its most inexpensive but AVX is good light weight mount for moving around yard imaging planets. Can accurately polar align from anywhere in your yard with only hand controller. Polaris not needed. Other night wanted to image ISS crossing moon. Moon was low so trees would be an issue. Noticed Jupiter was only 1 degree higher than moon and on same trajectory so looked at alt/az coordinates of moon when pass happened. Moved Jupiter in stellarium to that position and noted the time (about an hour earlier). Went outside to see where Jupiter centered up between trees at that time. Set up AVX mount where I was standing - Jupiter in center of tree gap. Only views I have in this spot is partial South, SE, SW and up. Used all star polar align in hand controller was able to accurately polar align with no view of Polaris or N, E or W. I captured the pass, was quite pleased with myself. Enjoy being able to set up and polar align anywhere in yard. Not very good mount for long exposure imaging.

Also like the images poking thru clouds, very nice!

I gained 4 G up to 10 now. Message says pc not ready for update 1903 yet nothing I need to do at this time. Maybe a smaller update in the works.

Have win 10 stick pc with 6 G free of 28 G on C drive. I do regular disk cleanups on it to free up small amounts of additional space. An option recently popped up to free up 30 G by cleaning "windows update cleanup". Could finally use for higher speed captures which require more storage. Obviously don't want to do this if high degree of risk involved. Right now all astro programs work and not very capable of fixing anything if something goes wrong? Looked at it again, now says can free up 3.45 G not 30 G. Weird..

You don't need much to get up and going or anything fancy / expensive. 1. Power in your obs (battery or live) to power mount and pc. 2. Old laptop or small pc in Obs to connect mount and camera to. 3. PC in home plus program to connect them. 4. Free program to control mount like ASCOM / EQ Mod / Stellarium scope. 5. Free program to control camera like Sharpcap or Firecapture. 6. Optional - Motorized focuser control like JMI pc focus control. I don't have an Obs but if its cold or mosquitos are bad I do remote. Pic of small set up I use for viewing taking few snap shots. Azulle stick pc on left and optional small battery pack on right to run it. Can also run on 12v power tank that runs mount but with small battery pack can strap all to scope and not worry about cord wrap. Stick pc came with win 10 pro so I use remote desktop connect. Other programs are avail to connect 2 pcs. This stick pc has 2 usb3 ports, a LAN port, HDMI connection and micro sd card port. For serious imaging you will want something with more usb ports/storage. Use Kingdel mini pc for times I want to guide and focus remotely, it has 4 usb3 ports and 1 usb2 port.

Intl space station crossing moon this evening, about a second for entire transit. ED80 refractor - asi 178mm - mono8 avi - flattener - no filter. Glad to capture, just didn't give myself enough set up time for optimal settings. Connected camera / started sharpcap had 30 seconds before pass to focus, set gain/exposure/hit capture. Exp bit high - gain bit low so not best detail. Almost made it across before frames started dropping like flies.

I like cropping elongated stars out of my AVX captures. Yes this confused me early on especially using Stellarium. Switching between cameras the selected object in Stellarium would be different sizes in the frame leading me believe one camera would give me greater FL .

I like the core detail with faint stars coming through.

Not much activity wise, sun was shining though. CS.

It has 3 plastic thumb screws to secure it into place, supposed to screw them in. Made of cardboard and weighs nothing, but if thumb screws are tight wind cant move it.

Great demonstration of hyper-tuning. I have EQS version which worked manually out of box but slow motion controls were very stiff. The RA worm was binding on the gear needed adjustment loosening retightening 2 bolts you demonstrate. Now clock drive works smoothly will eventually clean factory grease out and re-grease then same for DEC.

Great image! Definitely a win, well planned and delivered considering conditions.