Simon Dunsmore

Hi All, 

Just thought I'd get back to you with an update. So, success!!! Went out again last night, did my basic polar alignment and then tweaked with starcap. This time, I entered yes to DST. Went for a two star alignment. First star was way off, but after confirming that I was actually on the correct target went for a second. Almost spot on. 

Then asked the mount to slew to the Beehive Cluster, spot on, as was every other target. First time I've actually got this working properly. 

Thank you all so much for your help 

Clear skys 

Simon 

56 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

a quick process in Startools , using heal to rid walking noise , Dither is the way to head for eradicating walking noise , i image using APT and has a dither setting ,basically the image moves a few pixels between subs , so basically more Data the more the merrier once you have 4 hrs you will see a big difference , take at least 25 bias frames you only need to do this once and keep in a folder , Good flat frames again at least 25 frames you need these every time you image ,and if you don't dither then at least 25 frames again you only need to do this once .

Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for taking the time to do the and for the information. I'm inspired and will read up on dithering and bias frames. 

Really appreciate it 

Thanks again 

Simon 

17 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

autodev - crop - bin - wipe - autodev - hdr reveal core - decon - colour - entropy Ha - denoise

 

 

 

 

Issues: walking coloured pixels. 

• lose the dark frames
• take light, bias and flat frames.
• dither between each light frame.
• stack using a clip algorithm

I then made it look a bit better (with the discalaimer that I'm hopeless with colour!)

HTH

 

Wow! 🎉 

Thanks so so much for taking the time to do this. If I could, I'd buy you a pint! 

I'll attempt another go as soon as I get another clear night. 

Thanks again 

Simon 

28 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I had a quick look, you have dust bunnies, which flats would sort and dark flats help with noise as it is very noisey.

How many lights and darks are in your stack please?

What's a dust bunny? 😊 

Hi, 

I stacked 6 lights, 3 darks

Thanks 

Simon 

13 hours ago, alacant said:

Upload the file to e.g. Google drive or Dropbox and tell us where it is.

HTH

Hi,

The link to the stacked images is here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qe36udmlzf519r/Edit this.TIF?dl=0

Thanks so much for your help, looking forward to learning how to do this!

Thanks again

Simon

Hi Jager

Thanks for your message. 

Sorry but total newbie here, not too sure what you mean. 

I did try cropping but just ended with the same image but larger, still very fuzzy, grainy and not good at all. 

Thanks again 

Simon 

10 hours ago, spillage said:

what camera are you using?

Canon 60d

8 minutes ago, spillage said:

Maybe have a look here at an example.

Thanks that's a useful video. I'm determined to get this. I restack the images import them and then start again following the tutorial. 

If it still doesn't work I'll send a link to the images. 

Thanks again folks 

One quick question. Any handy links for a tutorial for an absolute beginner using StarTools? 

Hi, 

Thanks for all your help. I actually closed the program. I have to admit that this was my third attempt at editing the data and after several hours I admitted defeat. 

Ill try again tomorrow and then get back to you. Sorry if this is a silly question but how do I post a link? 

Thanks again 

Simon 

19 minutes ago, spillage said:

try to do a autodev first and check the edges for stacking issues then crop as needed. Then go back and do a maual dev and run wipe save and maybe run wipe again.

Not sure what gear you have but I just use DeepSkyStacker with the calibration frames and then import the final images into startools

Thanks for your reply, 

Tried that but unfortunately no joy. I'm going to start again, perhaps my images were not good enough. 

Hi Folks,

So I'm on my first foray into serious imaging, a few nights ago I imaged the Orion Nebula, not amazing results but not bad.

I took darks and then stacked them, making no changes. I then imported the stacked image into StarTools. I have followed multiple tutorials but just cant seem to get past this:

Any help would be much appreciated or if anyone could point me towards an idiots guide for StarTools that would be appreciated. I do not have a photographic background and all of this is a little, no a lot confusing.

Thanks for your help

Simon

Hi James, 

Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm painting the fence today. Think I'll give it a shot tomorrow morning. Great advice. Will get back to you! 

Cheers 

Simon 

Hi James, 

Thanks so much for your help. Really appreciate it. I think I'll do as you suggest but I'll do it live tonight. Hopefully, as you say it's a user related issue. Of course it could be that I centered the eyepiece on the wrong star! I have installed an app on my phone to help ensure that I'm centering on the correct one. 

Thanks again 

Thanks 

2 hours ago, jambouk said:

It would only make a difference in the “accuracy” of the first star in the Three star alignment routine, where it would be 15 degrees off. Once you’d centred that star and clicked accept, the handset would then start to build the map of the sky above it and rotate it all by 15 degrees thinking that maybe the mount wasn’t level or whatever, so the second and third stars should have been closer. If the second and third stars were not closer to the suggested locations by the mount, then this isn’t due to the BST issue. The time, date, long and lay and altitude, are used to figure out what is in the sky above the mount, once your start to do a star alignment it then just relies on a fixed map of the stars in its memory and these bits of user-input data are no longer used, other than to help what is below the horizon. This is why putting the exact date, time, location, altitude is unimportant, especially if you know which are the alignment stars, and as long as you are not on a set up which you plan to park and come back to the next night.

James

Hi James, 

Thanks for your reply, makes sense, but leaves me a little puzzled as to why I just can't get this to work properly. As mentioned I levelled the mount, obtained a good polar alignment, used GPS to input coordinates, put in the date the right way round etc. Did a three star align. To check the accuracy I asked the mount to slew to the pliedes. I could see these just above the trees. The mount slewed in the right direction but was pointed below the horizon.  Tried everything I could think of. I read somewhere that it may help to do a one star alignment then park the mount, switch off and start again doing a three star alignment. 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated 

Thanks again and stay safe 

Simon 

36 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

A difference of 1 hour (DST v GMT}  equates to 15 degrees between the target and where the handset believes it to be based upon the handset settings.

Thanks, so that would make a significant impact on accuracy. Thanks that helps to know. 

Hi People, 

Quick question. So last night I got out under the stars, beautiful clear night. Anyway, I used starcap to polar align, so far, so good. Next I did a three star alignment, it was here that things started going wrong. 

I noticed that I was a fair way off each alignment once the mount had pointed to where it thought they should be. Subsequent objets   were also some way off target. Once I got home it dawned on me that we are now in DST in the UK. On Synscan I had selected no rather than yes to the DST question. My question is, would this have made much of a difference to the accuracy of the mount finding the target? 

Sorry if its a silly question. BTW the mount is a Heq5 Pro. 

Thanks for your help 

Simon 

On 12/04/2017 at 17:47, Space Oddity said:

Having forgotten to regularly charge my powertank it now only lasts around the 3 hour mark and I am only using it to power my Celestron 8SE. I tried searching on the forum for suitable replacement batteries or measurements as I just wanted to replace the battery. I couldn't find this info anywhere so I took the side off (8 screws on the 7ah version—see image—the only hidden screw was in the accessory tray under the lid—although you do need a long-bladed (?) Philips to reach some of the screws). Once off I measured the battery and it is Length 150mm, Height 100mm, Width 65mm. I thought at first that I would be able to fit a larger capacity battery but soon realised that you can't unless you started modifying the case. The largest capacity battery I could find with the right measurements was a Yuasa Yucel Y9-12 which is a 9ah model priced at £15.99 from Hardwareexpress. I hope this will help others with the 7ah powertank who want to change the battery and who can use a screwdriver. 

Hi, 

Thanks for this, really helpful. I have the same issue. After reading your post, I have ordered a replacement battery and will attempt the fix asap. I had read that once it was dead that was it, so pleased to read that you can replace the battery. Did you find the 9ah has made much of a difference?

Cheers

Simon

14 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

Hi Simon,

Yep, just open it up. You could put a better battery in for less than half your budget. Look at disability scooter batteries as they are designed for steady drain as opossed to say a motorcycle battery. Or RC hobby 12v batteries like this:

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/power-sonic-ps-1270-12-volt-7ah-rechargeable-lead-acid-battery-copy/

Depending on how much room there is in the tank you could fashion a way of getting 2 in whereby you could switch between the 2 or have 14ah. 

Steve

Thanks Steve, 

Great bit of advice. I just ordered a lead acid battery 9ah with same dimensions and terminals + an intelligent trickle charger to ensure it doesn't overcharge or run down. 

Thanks again for your help 

Simon 

Hi Steve, 

Is that an easy thing to do? I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't possible. I've always kept the battery charged in that tank so I'm not sure why it only lasts for 90mins.

Thanks 

Simon 

Hi folks,

Bank holiday project looming on the horizon.

I presently have a celestron 7ah powertank, it tends to last for about 90mins when fully charged powering my HEQ5pro. I was looking for an alternative. I have considered the jump starter units (EG Halfords phase 4) but I've read on here that they are not ideal as they are designed for sudden outputs of power and that the batteries wear quickly) Please feel free to correct me on this.

I am considering building a simple power bank as follows and wanted to see if you folks thought it would work.

12v 17ah Lead Acid rechargeable battery, 12v cigarette lighter socket, inline fuse, on/off toggle switch, voltmeter, small plastic toolbox to house it and a trickle charger.

I've priced it up and looks like I can get all the components for around £40.

I'd welcome your thoughts and suggestions or alternative ideas. Budget £50

Thanks

Simon

Oh OK, thanks. 

So if I slew using the handset, once I stop slewing it should just automatically track whatever it is pointing at?? 

Hi, 

Quick question, once I've set up and polar aligned my Heq5 goto mount, if I release the clutches to find an object manually, how do I then make the mount track? or does it automatically do it? 

,Sorry if this is a silly question 

Thanks for your help 

Simon 

22 minutes ago, wxsatuser said:

If your setting up each time, no permanent position, it's likely the you are moving the position of the DEC and RA relative to the home position.

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Could you elaborate a little please? 

Thanks again