alacant

Hi

Do you have any need for switch servers? Maybe to remotely close your observatory/custom board/power box/WHY?
If not, just remove them.

Cheers

On 22/10/2023 at 13:22, IDM said:

any thoughts or advice

Hi
Are you sure you have the time and location set correctly? I think SC may take some values from the operating system;  the calibration took place more than 8 hours from the meridian at DEC 50º.
Cheers

17 hours ago, steveinhants said:

my setup is too heavy

I doubt it's anything to do with mass, but perhaps you could:

- check balance in both axes
- use EQMOD instead of synscan

Those are guesses. Maybe post photos of the setup and the PHD2 log(s)? That would give us a much better chance of being able to advise.

Cheers

Hi

Here's one we did by trial and error using an adapter similar to that specified by @michael8554. Since the Takumar 300 doesn't focus by moving internal elements relative to eachother, the spacing isn't critical. So long as you're within about 10mm, you can focus by simply twisting the lens barrel outward to reach infinity. I think the 183 has 17mm bf and the Takumar 45mm, so the adapter + a 20mm ring should get you there.

Note that at infinity,  the old Takumars focus only blue and green, leaving stars with a red halo. Use live stream to get you there, then back away until the red halo just disappears.

Cheers and HTH

21 hours ago, happy-kat said:

very tight stars... anything in particular 

Hi. Nothing special. Just a minimalist StarTools process, with the emphasis on minimal.

It could be that the image looks unusual these days: none of the stars have been manipulated/removed/separated/layered/WHY and the image is free of ai.

Cheers 

1 hour ago, Stuart1971 said:

second image was after it was corrected….?

Hi, yes. As you describe. 

If flat fields are correcting ok, then you may as well leave it. Only adjust if star shapes are being affected.

If you have a collimated laser, it may be easier to use that in the focuser to align, but hey, either method takes only a few minutes.

Hi everyone

A pristine 72ed landed on the bench and looked in perfect repair, Three issues; focuser, astigmatism, tilt 

We removed the 4 rubber -mainly split, hardened and distorted- 'o' rings- from the focuser, loosened the lens collar of the objective cell, rattled it about a bit and then tightened until the rattle of the lenses just disappeared. That was two out of three major issues fixed.

The tilt was a little more difficult and without a reliable laser, resorted to taking flat frames whilst wiggling the shiny collar. It worked quite well.

From tilt city:

... to something which is reasonable;

Waiting for m45 to reach imageable altitude, someone suggested we tested on this. Oh, and I finally realised the official intended purpose of the mysterious black cup which is supplied with all SkyWatcher telescopes and which is normally used to take tots of coñac on cold nights whilst imaging.

Thanks for looking and do post your low end sw refractor experiences.

apilado siril 1.3.0a, procesado st 1.9.558, ~90m

Hi everyone

Never had much luck with skywatcher refractors but this 72ed, after a little persuasion, seemed tolerable, especially with the 4 element ff. Instead of the expected fat blue blobs, reasonable stars emerged.

Does anyone else use a 72? How do you find it?

Wishing you clear skies and thanks for looking.

siril 1.3.0a st 1.9.558 ~6h

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHc94mf

Or any combination of m42x0.75 tubes to get you to 80.

Cheers and HTH

Hi

Here's an st80 at focus with a guide camera. It needs 80mm of extension for a straight connection.

HTH

8 hours ago, powerlord said:

I hate Pixinsight

+1

We were relieved when the trial period ended!

Hi everyone

One of the few occasions - two per month if we're lucky- where the atmosphere allows guiding good enough for a 1000mm fl telescope. I'm coming to the conclusion that any longer and you may as well just use something shorter; if you want closer, just enlarge it.

Not many globular clusters recently (not many nights good enough!) so in an attempt to redress the balance...

Thanks for looking. Maybe tell us what focal length limit you consider doable using low end equipment at your site.

gso203, siril 1.3.0a, st 1.9.558b, ~2h

Hi

Maybe there is something wrong with the camera bias.

Using the method I outlined, there is no banding, but there is streaking (you didn't dither) and a light leak which renders the frame difficult to process, even after a heavy crop.

My advice would be to reset the camera to factory values or get it serviced, eliminate the light leak, dither and shoot again. But this time loads more frames..

Anyway, here are the steps I took applying the banding routine to the sequence. I did not use your bias or dark frames.

Thanks so much everyone.

Your comments, and especiallly the images, have helped me realise that what I thought should be blue, isn't. '... brown, dusty feature.' Indeed.

But please keep posting images of the same.

My boss tells me it's entropy and likes to see it at its natural maximum. Unless I'm working on his gear!

e.g. everyone's  favourite: INDI server installation and testing.

From this:

To this:

In under 5 minutes.

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

imaging details, telescope

Hi

UHC filter on gso203: HOO. siril 1.3.0a st 1.9.588  all night in 3min frames iso800

1 hour ago, AstroDab3k said:

are you using it for stacking

Yes. It makes the alternatives seem decidedly aged;)

But I'm strill struggling to see why the banding is so pronounced.
JTOL: do you have the latest firmware?

Also as @david_taurus83suggests, the l-enhance may not be doing you any favours. For HOO, we much prefer the UHC. Same effect, differnt price!

Cheers

Recommendation: upgrade to siril. 

Here are your before and after images. With the banding routine applied to the whole sequence, it becomes negligible.

Yes, you must remove the sd card.

To dither, you do not need to guide.

HTH

Hi everyone

The central cluster bit.

UHC filter on gso203: HOO. Not very colourful but at least something to have a go at, especially when aided by an enormous full moon to light the way!

Thanks for looking.

siril 1.3.0a st 1.9.588

On 29/09/2023 at 08:51, AstroDab3k said:

horrible horizontal banding,

The 18mp sensor is usually quite clean.

Anyway, 600d, so are you sure:

• you are powering the camera with either an in-camera battery or a stable DC supply?
• you are not using bias and/or dark frames taken In-camera during pre-processing?
• there is no memory card in the camera?
• that the screen is folded out?
• you are dithering at least 10 pixels between frames?
• sending the pre-processed sequence through banding reduction before registration?
• stacking using a clipping algorithm?

Then cables, hubs, usb sockets, software; anything you can check by substitution... then... etc. etc.

Cheers 

15 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

 StellaLyra 6" f/4

Hi

Warning: the GSO we tested suffered from questionable mirror spacing, pushing the focal plane into a different postal district from the telescope tube. If you believe you're able to hold and balance an imaging camera at the required distance from the tube, go for it. We couldn't🤥
Take a look at the position of the focal plane and you'll begin to see the problem:

There is however an excellent alternative.with sensible secondary spacing enabling stable camera conection, especially if you can source one with the proper Quattro focuser..

Apart from needing significantly less time to get something similar to the 72, you'll notice that it is completely apochromatic. The only false colour will be (a tiny amount) from the cc.

Cheers

4 hours ago, AstroDab3k said:

, Darks and Bias. So far I read that they are always needed (especially darks),

EOS? Absolutely not needed; the opposite.

Simply subtract the offset. 

4 hours ago, AstroDab3k said:

Is there such option in usual stacking software?

Yes:

https://linuxcb.blogspot.com/2023/09/siril-dslr-processing.html

Cheers

Hi

Nice shot.

I'm struggling with this traget ATM and your image is inspiring. I definitely prefer up close rather than enlarging something wider.
One small point; I bet there's loads more information in your data should you wish to extract it, but hey the bubble isolated as you have it works very well.

Cheers  

Hi everyone

Not sure about how best to image this. An image search throws up versions for all tastes and budgets, 

I made two images.

1. UHC. It works well for the red but leaves other colours lacking. Still IMO considerably better than the €silly duo filters.
2. No filter. 

Unfortunately not the same telescope but it would be interesting to know preferences and how the experts go about imaging this target.

Thanks for looking.

1.gso203, 2. nt150s siril 1.3.0a, st 1.9.558 ~3h bajo ubuntu 22.04.3; indi-EKOS

32 minutes ago, carastro said:

5hours with a Samyang lens 135mm

🤩Nice stars.

May I ask if this was taken using a filter? 

I've a feeling it is best done without a filter. The UHC, as well as relegating the stars to a secondary role, is probably considered cheating.

Cheers