simondodd

Yeah, I'm hoping for a picture of a working one that someone has taken when they replaced their battery Nothing so far though. Fingers crossed I studied electronics at A-levels but my dad never did although he understands a fair amount as he had to for his job before he retired, just never did circuit boards like this, he was more on the consumer and industrial electronics rather than these sorts of things. Thanks

Long shot I know but does anyone have either a picture or circuit diagram for either the Celestron 18774/Skywatcher power tank? My dad just replaced the battery on it and managed to wire it up in the wrong polarity and has blown a couple of resistors and a diode. We are looking to find the right values for these to get replacements and wire them up. Thanks in advance :)

Just wondering how much if any pre processing people do to their subs before stacking? I'm still in decision as to what is best. I check through my files and remove the crap ones and then stack generally, but I have tried a couple of times doing some very light colour balancing and touching up of the subs before stacking but I'm just not sure if it made enough of a difference to warrant the extra time spent on the image... What are all your thoughts?

Nice! I've given it another go in photoshop and this is what I came up with Thanks for the inspiration!

WOW! That was quick, looks great! Thanks.

This is the first time I've tried M45 and it appears quite tricky to process! I'm not sure if my data is good enough for anything particularly special so I thought I'd give you wonderful people the chance to have a go at it... This is the link to my stacked image... https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtusx9haj5rmx6j/Autosave.tif?dl=0

Thanks, I eventually found MS ICE. Worked a treat! Unfortunately I didn't quite get my panels lined up enough so will be going again when I next get a good run of clear skies Here is what I managed though!

Heya, So I'm attempting my first ever mosaic. Just thinking of ways to make my life easier. Should I stack the images separately and then do the process of merging manually in Photoshop or should I stack them all together in DSS in mosaic mode and would that even work? Thanks in advance Clear skies!

Having had these experiences on many occasions with the so called budget airlines I just don't fly with them anymore. It's a false economy as they charge you for everything! Flying with a proper airline always works out cheaper if you have hold luggage. I once went snowboarding and paid for my snowboard bag on the way out. On the way back it was 5Kg lighter than it was going out and they said it was overweight and charged me £10 per kilo even though I hadn't been charged on the way out. They just knew I would pay it just to get home so screwed me! Never again. If I'm paying for the flights I'll always pay that little bit extra up front for a better airline than sleazy jet or Ryanair. I'm hoping to have a case that will be strong enough and with enough padding that I can put it in the hold without worrying too much. Maybe taking the primary mirror out will be the best bet though, just need to find a way of securing it in my cabin bag now!

Now thats a very neat solution! Love it! Exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, just a little bit bigger... Will definitely be taking the primary out of mine when flying though, makes it a much safer idea!

Ooo, I hadn't thought of that! Nice idea! I've not got any plans solidified yet but a friend of mine is hooking me up with some dark sky places that have limited access in the near future so hoping to be set and ready to go at a moments notice if needed! Yes its the 130PDS so removing the mirror is an option! Just need to make sure it's well secured in my cabin baggage! I'd definitely be going with a peli case or equivalent although they certainly aren't cheap! Hopefully I can get something custom made to fit the OTA and the mount as well as a few other bits and bobs Thanks!

What are people using for packaging up their equipment when travelling to dark sites? Preferably something that is more likely to handle a flight and baggage handlers...? I was thinking about getting a large Peli case or two to hold all my equipment and then keep the tripod separate from that... Anyone come up with something innovative for this?

So you still keep all your raw data then and don't trim it down once you've stacked it?

Welcome! My images would be rubbish without this forum so stick around and read a lot and don't be afraid to ask questions!

What do you all keep in terms of files long term? Once you have stacked and processed your images to you remove the raw data files and just keep the stacked image or do you keep any of the raw data or master files as well? My folder with all my images is over 70Gb for just 14 different targets (some targets have multiple nights of data) and I'm wanting to tidy things up a bit without losing the ability to rework the images if I change my processes... I keep everything on Dropbox as I use 3 different machines for my images, one connected to the scope setup, another to do the stacking and another to do the processing due to the different capabilities of each machine. By using dropbox everything is everywhere when I need it. Any tips?

So I’m thinking it’s getting close to the time for me to upgrade my scope to get a longer focal length... i currently have a 150PDS and am thinking I might like to try a refractor but a reflector is fine too. I just want a longer focal length to capture some of the smaller deep sky objects. I also don’t want it to break the bank so something around about the £200 price range would be ideal any suggestions? Preferably 1000mm FL minimum clear skies!

Plate solving for the win haha Well hopefully anyway! haha

I've got it all setup in stellarium to see my FOV and there are quite a few galaxies that fit perfectly! I feel my main issue will be not being able to guide with PHD2 although I haven't tried using my Nikon for guiding yet so that may be an option if they can talk to each other Either that or I just stick to 30 second exposures with no guiding and see what I can get... Will give it a go next time I have clear skies! Thanks

I want to give narrowband imaging a go but haven't got the budget for a proper camera designed for DSO's so I'm wondering would it be possible to use my 120mm mono camera for this or isn't it worth it...? Should I just wait until I can afford the 1600mm version? I'm currently using an unmodified Nikon D5000 for my main imaging camera so I don't think there is a way for me to do narrowband stuff with that unfortunately Thanks in advance

OK that may have been my problem! Only just coming back to this now! OK turns out that was my problem... I feel pretty damn stupid now! haha Heres to getting it up and running!

Thanks man. I’ll be back on Monday with some more specific questions or a hooray post about getting it to work

Haha, its lucky he is kind of famous! Some of the ones I work with are known by about 100 people worldwide! Haha. thanks for the guidance. I should be able to sort it on Monday with a bit of luck

Yeah I've seen that one thanks. I sometimes do tour management stuff for bands, this time I'm just a driver. Off on the road for 7 days with David Gray.

Ahh, OK that makes sense. I just thought with the little script that is on there I wouldn't have to edit that file. Will dig into it properly when I'm back from tour Thanks!

Hmm, that may just swing it then if the dev is on here I'm currently struggling to get Astroberry to even connect to my home network! haha I'm heading away for a few days though so I'm hoping my subconscious will provide the solution for me Are there any advantages to having Stellarmate over Astroberry?