alacant

2 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

ST won't open it

Hi. ST works only with linear -un-stretched and uncompressed- files. For DSS ensure you are saving as FITS and have nothing selected for your camera in the FITS dialogue -unless you are stacking FITS files.

On 7/10/2016 at 16:26, happy-kat said:

After cropping I like to bin

Hi. For me it's not so much a preference, more a necessity. Unless you've a top end gaming machine with oodles of RAM, it's the only way to get stacked and processed before xmas! No but seriously, it's not just StarTools. I'm sure processing raw images takes a lot of computing power no matter what you use.

Hi. Whilst sterling is still worth something (!): http://www.bresser.de/es/Sale/Ofertas-Especiales/Messier-8-Dobson.html

This is cute. Heavy, but cute. Cygnus looks awash with star fields.

EQMOD EQ6

Hi

I had a go at autoPEC. I took all the default values but there seems little if any improvement.
Also, I'm not sure which file to choose. There are two:
pec.txt
and
peccapture_EQMOD.txt

The former is smooth, the latter jagged.
These appear only under EQMOD and indicate the folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\EQMOD\PEC
but in windows explorer, neither file is visible nor can be seen if looking for hidden files. They only appear in EQMOD.

Which file should I load? Any other gotchas?
TIA
 

Everyone: thanks for hearing me out. I've got it now: the mount keeps the camera in the same orientation no mater what the time. That's the answer I was hoping for. Brilliant. Thanks again.

2 hours ago, Scott said:

I think you're overcomplicating things louise  . Regardless of orientation on an eq, providing its not altered it stays the same

Ahhgghh! I didn't see this. In one post we have orientation dependence, but now we don't.

Sorry to be a pain. Could I go back to my clouds example? Say I take 3 exposures at 23:00. Then it clouds over. I leave everything as it is; tracking and camera orientation. The sky clears at midnight. I continue with exposure number 4. Question, is snap 4 the same orientation as snap 3?

TIA

5 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

If your camera (sensor) is oriented along RA/DEC the framing won't change over time. You can check for yourself in Stellarium if you set up the framing tool with your scope and sensor data.

Louise

Ah, OK. So if it's not oriented RA-DEC it is gonna change. That's a good reference. Slowly getting there...

Hi and thanks for the reply. Are you saying that the orientetion changes? Say I start at 23:00 and take 3 snaps. Then it's cloudy. I leave the mount running until 23:45 when it's clear again. Is the chain still in the same orientation? TIA.

On 02/04/2016 at 20:16, Uranium235 said:

Looks bang-on now. Leave it there!

As for exposure times, as long as you can manage really (or as long as the camera can handle without getting too much thermal noise... 5-10min each should do it).

OK. It's been cloudless all day [1]. So, just one final check: if I leave the camera there, it's going to be that orientation all night?

TIA

[1] Precictions about what will happen 10 seconds into the first exposure anyone?

Yessss! Thanks to everyone for the sanity check. I did get a bubble level but only used it to make the RA weight bar horizontal. The biggest clue was in the camera orientation. Gonna see if I can get more detail tonight. Any tips on exposures would be great. This is 8 x 30s in dss with a blur layer subtracted.

Phew, that takes some following! My camera is still where it was. So I'm not far off if I rotate 90º to where I am and centre on 4438? This is where I get another spatial headache. Instinct tells me I should rotate 90º clockwise. But does it matter? I've 2 batteries and no mains. That gives me about an hour of trial and error. An 8Gb card gives me about 100 shots, although I suppose I wouldn't RAW for trial and error. Just thinking out loud...

Thanks, that's very neat. I take your point about camera alignment. Presumably then, I'd be nudging left-right-up-down relative to the camera frame rather than nudging and hoping? Is there an easy way to orient the camera in ra-dec, say in the home position?

Hi everyone. Galaxy expert needed.

I used a dslr which I synscan centred on m84, m86 beneath. I can see m84 and m86 in the finder. I now see m84 was a bad choice. I tried trial and error nudging and taking 10 second exposures. I tried relating what I saw through the finder to what was seen in the camera, the latter only stars. Impossible. 3 hours later, I gave up. Anyway, there's a smaller galaxy , 4438 just out of shot below m86. So, 1. I turn the camera 90º. 2. I centre on 4438 so that m84 is top right.  Question: am I heading in the right direction for the chain? Or WHY. Cheers and TIA

Tonight: the planetary in M46 or bust...

Hi

I don't know Bresser reflectors but if the quality is the same as their refractors, I'd go Bresser. They also answer emails. HTH.

Well the main difference is that the Lunt is a dedicated H alpha solar scope.  So one scope for daytime viewing and one side for night time.

Ah, OK got it. My telescope came with warnings NOT to look at the sun. I can see I've a long way to go with this astro thing!

My contribution to this - not the clearest photo but here is my TMB152 F8 and Lunt LS152 mounted alongside each other on the EQ8.

Phew! What's the (main) difference when you compare the views?

I've a Bresser 152mm on loan. It's a Petzval with good views to the edge of the eyepiece. After some time with a reflector, the diamonds on velvet stars are wonderful. You just gotta see stuff like Sagittarius the double cluster with this. Here's hoping its owner loses interest and...