Andywilliams

Since accidentally frying my asi1600mm 🤦🏻‍♂️ I am relegated to dslr imaging. Im pushing my canon 1000d as hard as I can. 90 minutes of 120 seconds 40x120 seconds darks Stacked in dss and processed in Pixinsight

It’s been an up and down kind of month. I had a bit of an oppsie with my powered USB hub and have fried the hub, my asi1600mm and my eaf 🤦🏻‍♂️ So im back on manual focus and my trusty canon 6d. NGC 6188 - The romantically named ‘fighting dragons of Ara’ ....or the less romantically named ‘Rim nebula’ ....it just depends what kind of mood you’re in I guess 🤔😂 I think I can still tease more detail out of this ....but for now.... SW 150pds SW HEQ5pro Canon 6d 66X120 seconds 30Xdarks 30XFlats Pixinsight and gimp.

Thanks for your replies Stuart . im just thinking out loud really. i was thinking maybe rebars in the concrete base that would fit into the steel tube and fill the tube with concrete ....maybe ?

Does it ? I notice that with the todmorden pattern the blocks are bolted to the concrete base ? I was hoping to do the same with this

Obviously I would be mounting just the pillar into the concrete, not the legs ! 😃

Hi All, I’m planning a budget pier and the a shed type obsy. This will be the first go at this for me and I am very much NOT a handyman ! I was originally tending towards a ‘todmorden’ style pier as I have plenty of these blocks in my backyard. But then I got to thinking that I already have a centre pier tripod on wheels that fits my HEQ5 mount and I’m not using it. Would I be able to slot this straight into a concrete base with reinforcement rods for vertical stability ? As far as I can see, as long as it’s dead straight and vertical it should do the job ? or have I missed something ? Below is a pic of the aforementioned pier tripod. Thanks in advance for your expert advice. Andy

Hi Malcolm, Once again Thankyou ! I am now pointing at sigma octans in cdc ! I did your custom parking position in eqmod. Could it be something as simple as not checking the set button in eqmod once I had the park position or could it be something as simple as not checking the save button in the observatory location in cdc ? Either way, a combination of these manoeuvres has done the trick and saved me from almost certain mania ! I sometimes think that these programs are actually relatively easy to use but contain so many parameters that need to be accurate and saved/checked that one or two simple omissions can really stuff the whole thing up ! Once again, I am in your debt and I can now wait for the omnipresent clouds to depart and go on my merry way again 😃 Thanks heaps for all of your advice. Cheers and clear skies, Andy

Hi there Merlin, Its always sunny in Victoria....isn’t it ? A bearable 16c here in Hawke’s bay but plenty of scattered cloud 😞 Anyhow, basic, silly question time.....where do I find the Ini files ? Cheers and thanks, Andy

Malcolm, my apologies, I got so excited that I just batted off a Thankyou without acknowledging what had fixed it. The changes I made were : installing the EQDIR driver specific to that cable : updating windows 10 to the latest updates : changing the baud setting to 9600 . I had had it on a higher setting after reading an article that suggested that the higher number ( I can’t remember the exact number now) would give more reliable results. Again, apologies Malcolm but my poor computer skills mean I can’t be certain whether it was one of these changes or a mixture of all of them .... but it’s worked and I am grateful. I will be attempting your fix for the northern/ Southern Hemisphere issue. Thanks again, Andy

Yes, the filter set you have highlighted is the one I’m waiting on....every supplier seems to be backordered....I’m guess the supply chain out of China is the issue 🤷‍♂️

Greetings all, I have a ZWO ASI1600mm with filter wheel attached to my SW 150 PDS. Unfortunately i am missing the luminance filter and I’m keen on imaging omega Centauri and also the Virgo galaxy cluster. what results can I expect if I just image through the blank filterwheel position where the luminance filter should be (when my order finally comes through !) and then proceed with rgb filters as per normal ? I have pretty good skies and would estimate them as bortle class 3 or maybe even 2 on a good night. Thanks in advance, Clear skies, Andy

Thanks Malcolm, I am pleased to report success ! The mount and my computer are now communicating nicely ! I only need to sort out one more issue 😬 When I park the mount it parks to Polaris on cdc ! Which is not very helpful as I am in New Zealand, so it needs and indeed did once park to sigma octans scp. Ive updated my home lat and long in both eqmod and cdc but to no avail. Again, I would value all your opinions.....and I would buy you all a nice pint if it weren’t for the fact I’m twelve thousand miles away ! Woe is me 🤬🤬🤬 Many thanks to you all thus far 🙏🙏🙏 clear skies, Andy

Hi Malcolm and many thanks for your detailed reply. I have included a screenshot of the cable I’m using. I will do a latest windows 10 update. Then I will follow your instructions, however, I can’t try the handset as this went blank and stopped functioning a while back. This was the reason for the EQ cable purchase. I am assuming that the motherboard issues you are referring to are the HEQ5 pro motherboard......this makes me somewhat anxious but I guess if all else fails then I may need to put a motherboard on my shopping list ! I apologise for the vagueness of my cry for help. Astrophotography is possibly not the best hobby for a technophobe ! I really appreciate your answer though 👍👍 cheers, Andy

Many thanks. I will certainly update windows 👍👍👍

Thanks very much for your reply 😀 I will follow your steps . I'm running windows 10

I recently had issues with ascom eqmod and decided to uninstall the whole lot and start again. Ive downloaded everything ( I’m pretty sure), connected my heq5pro to my computer with the specific cable ( I know this works fine), I’ve triple checked the comm ports are aligned.......and still the damn thing won’t connect. It shows either a time out message , a can’t connect mount message in NINA, or the eqmod panel just flickers for a second and then disappears. I’m at my wits end ! Any suggestions. would be most gratefully received. clear skies, Andy

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Also, some more from Wednesday’s eclipse. I have only just thawed out ! But it was a glorious night. the two images of partiality are avi clips of the best 50% of 200 captured with backyard eos. stacked and sharpened in autostakkert.

This is my image of totality during a very cold but clear winters evening in New Zealand. SW Maksutov cassegrain 127 SW star adventurer canon 6d single shot 4 seconds iso 800

Do come and say hi if you are over this way Peter 👍😊

Located on the outskirts of the Carina Nebula. This is my second narrowband image and data collection had to be cut short. This was done before I realised the my scope needs an urgent recollimation and also , I am on the bottom of the massive learning curve that is Pixinsight for narrowband....so please be gentle 🙏😃 SW 150pds SW HEQ5 pro ZWO asi1600mm orion starshoot autoguider 20X180 seconds Ha 5X180 seconds OIII HOO process in Pixinsight.

Thanks Vlaiv, i think my focus may have been a little soft but my guiding was spot on....I think it may be the collimating is out as you say 👍👍

NGC 3576 Statue of Liberty Nebula. Well, there’s a whole lot wrong with this image....where to start ! But it’s my first toe in the water so I thought I would post it. All advice is kindly received. skywatcher 150pds Heq5 pro zwo asi1600mm guided 12X300 seconds Ha 12x300 seconds Oiii 12x300 seconds Sii processed in Pixinsight

Greetings all, After a long lay off from astrophotography, I am back in the saddle and enjoying the highs and the lows of this wonderful hobby. Anyhow, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’ve finally gotten my HEQ5, PHD and Cartes du Ciel to all communicate with my laptop. This, then means that I have now broken the 300seconds sub barrier ! Here is my M83, the southern pinwheel galaxy in the constellation Hydra, the water snake. Taken from my backyard in Waipawa, Central Hawkes bay, NZ SW 150pds Newton SW HEQ5 pro Canon 6d 20X300 seconds lights 10 darks 20 bias 20 flats Cropped Processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom

Sorry if this question has already been asked (lots of times !) I invested in Pixinsight a while back and I absolutely love it ! I also have PS and Lightroom but I’m thinking of cancelling the subscription as I don’t use PS at all and I use Lightroom for putting the final ‘tweaks’ on an image saved from Pixinsight. This usually consists of some extra sharpening, adjusting blacks and whites and also some noise reduction. My question is Is there some free software that will take the place of Lightroom ? .....or.....am I not using Pixinsight to its full extent ? Should I be able to fully post process and publish an image from Pixinsight alone ? Thanks in advance for your comments and expertise. Andy