spillage

If you have an android phone have a look at synscaninit. I will show you where polaris needs to be on the polar circle. As long as the lug on the puck is roughly facing polaris it will be fine. Too far out and you will not be able to make the need adjustments.

I think from memory it will also show the correct date format any possibly you co-ordinates but not 100%.

top one is a focuser from a telescope so he possibly upgraded one of his scope. The thing with wires is a light panel used to take calibration frames with a camera. I missed the first set of images so not sure if they contained the scopes so not sure what telescope it would be from.

I helped an elderly couple up the road from me do something similar. I fact I ended up testing cleaning and listing all the items and just pointed any potential buyers in their direction. We found the more expensive items were easy to sell but the smaller things just got bundled together and sold in small lots.

It is strange as I found they thought the larger things were worth more and kept overlooking the smaller items that were worth much much more.

I do find with startools that the manual dev is much better than the auto function.

Have you heard of startools? Its very easy to use and initially appears a bit basic but has lots of hidden aspects and it actually very good.  Within a few clicks you can have a good result.

I have pixinsight but find unless I am using it allot I forget the workflows so have to go back to the books and vids for help.

Knackered valve seals?

It moves the scope around in random movements during a set amount of frames. This helps the processing software remove bad pixels, pattern noise and man made streaks in the image. So it kind of makes the stuff that should not be there dance around and easier to be spotted and removed.

As you would need to take dark frames at the same time you image with the dslr it might mean that the time spent capturing darks could be spent capturing more light frames.

Just too add more to the table. You can also set up dithering. This may allow you to be able to process your image without using and dark frames.

Here you go

I think APT might be a good start as I know it supports dslr. Its also free to use but also very very cheap for the full version. More like a donation.

Is your dslr connected directly to your computer?

Have a look at this post.

platesolve involves taking a single frame, this is ran through the platesolve software (normally integrated into capture software) which works out where the mount is.

You basically choose a target, the capture software (NINA, SGPro, APT) moves the mount to the general area, takes a single frame, platesolve works out the co-ordinates and the capture software move the mount in needed and the process is ran again and again until the desired co-ordinates are reached.

In SGPro this normally take a 5 mins. Its a marvel to see in action.

I ended up using some tf2 grease when I did mine. seems okay so far after 12 months +.

@JamesF Yes I use the skywatcher reducer. I have only seen it a couple times on really bright stars but maybe its always there and I just have not noticed.

I take it you are going to be imaging?

I use platesolve so there is no need to run any alignment. It also make it easier to get 100% on target the next night its clear.

No its on the sensor. Light bouncing off the sensor lenses causing the light to go into neighbouring ones from what I can remember.

Give one of these a go. I would never use anything else now.

7 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I really don't want the harrassment of finding, say, the 1600MM doesn't work for me

Your just up the road from me. So if at any point your really thinking about it give me a shout and you can you always give my 1600 a run one night on your kit. I find that the ed80 suffers more than the quattro or 130pds.

I have been having similar issues in sgpro. I find that sometimes the guide and imaging cam get mixed up. But if on start up I opened up a old saved sequence and then connected the equipment it would be fine. Sure its the user.

If its the Rowan belt mod then the ratio should remain the same. Could it be grit or dirt in one of the gears? I would strip it down, give it a good clean and try again.

10 minutes ago, blinky said:

I just downloaded NINA and have to say it looks pretty darn good!  I'm an SGPro user so not totally convinced I will move over as I just paid for SGPro a few months ago but no harm in looking at it.....

I too am a sgpro user. I have downloaded and installed NINA and am planning to give it a go when I change over my scope. To me it looks pretty much just like sgpro but I really do like the fact that the image list actually shows you details and images. I find sgpro very slow to download this info and not as slick.

I think the 150pds is not looking that bad and I would be tempted to check how the finished images look. 

It might be worth checking that the focus tube is adjusted correctly and able to move around. I find that when connecting my kit to the skywatcher focuser I really need to take my time ensuring its sat as flat as possible in the focus tube. If I remember correctly I found that add too much spacing would cause the image in ccd to bend the opposite way to yours, so I would try adding maybe 1mm or 1.5mm and see how it then looks.

I purchased a scope I think from Bornemouth way. The chap told me to look for the obs on the garage...Yes he has put a dome on his flat roof and had a door at the top of his stairs for access and a massive steel tube running down through the roof to the floor to mount the scope. This tube actually when through his utility room.

I always thought that you guiding should be half of you imaging resolution. Be nice if I am wrong as I always thought my quattro 8 and 1600 are pushing the capabilities of the neq6 a bit too much.

14 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I don’t agree that you need to retake them every session if permanently setup ie camera isn’t moved.  Flats are a wee bit of a faff with some cameras, like those with mechanical shutters for example, or if you have a large aperture scope.

i have taken flats for each filter in the past but have found flats from just one filter works for them all.

Temperature - I always match that with the lights.

Minor focus discrepancies should make zero difference. 

+1 for this. I do not think flats are dependent on focus and I only bother using calibration frames from the L filter. 

APT is a +1 and in the early days it just made life so much easier, great support from Ivo and very good value for money. I have yet to try out NINA but have it installed ready to go. First glance it looks so similar to sgpro (which I am using now) but with the additional bonus or being able to browse an image list for targets.

I do keep looking at the 120 mounts and I think I would go for this rather than the eq8.  I think the cable management and connection options on the 120 are allot more appealing. I am just trying to find out if you can transfer data from the camera via the lan connection on the mount.

I think going from a 15min commute to 1h would be my issue or else I would have already sent off my CV. Sounds pretty much like my job now but with much more interesting stock. 0930-1700 sounds good though.