lux eterna

With 15 hours of 8-10 minutes exposures from different locations, this was my last trophy for this season. Captured with my modded D7000 and Meade LX200-ACF on a HEQ5 Pro, guided with NexGuide. With the reducer I used that was approx. 1600 mm FL @ F/8. Ragnar

Ok, then just forget what I said. I still think the cable (or its contacts) is likely to be causing that symptom. Ragnar

I guess it´s the same cable as I have for my HEQ5 Pro : http://skywatcher.com/product/rs-232-cable/ I am lucky to have a serial port on my laptop, so I need no USB to RS232 adapter. But before you do the upgrade, how did you check the most likely source of failure - the cable from the mount to the handset ? I would suggest replacing it with a standard Cat5 Ethernet cable ("patch cable"), BUT... make sure it is "straight" connected and not "crossed", (compare with the original). I have been using such a patch cable (3 meter long) for years instead of the original curled cable. Ragnar

I like the natural look - not overcooked. Just the core need some more efforts, but it is so easy to overdo this also. If you "HDR" it too much the punch may suffer - which is a bit too much here. But I wish it was mine... Ragnar

The guiding & tracking look good. East heavy is important, but keep in mind that it makes no difference if/when the scope is pointing due east or west (CW is pointing north). Also, a small balance offset in DEC is a good thing (but this has no effect if the scope is pointing near zenith). Anyway, you did catch the Ha regions well and also some star colour 👍. I found the blueish stars to be a little green/cyan - this can be corrected with "selective colour" in PS (and surely with some process in PI). Also, star sizes could probably be reduced a bit. Ragnar

There is a small board with the original power socket (not shown in the pic). Just solder the wires to the original socket (no need to remove it). Ragnar

Could it be a minor collimation issue with the 180ED ? Ragnar

First I did this : But later on I upgraded to this : ...and it has worked perfectly. Ragnar

I can´t decide what is worst - a spoiled night due to clouds and a too optimistic forecast, or the opposite when you commited to something else and by chance look up at the stars. Anyway, you have a very nice image here. Processing is on top. Ragnar

I like that idea, have been thinking in the same path myself. If (when) I will get rid of my most appreciated pieces of astro equipment I would like them to have a new life, bringing the same inspiration to someone else. Ragnar

I am no Arduino expert but I guess the board is faulty. Maybe the reset button is stuck ? If this is pressed during startup, it will not run the sketch. Ragnar

Thank you @vlaiv I may add that the reason I choosed the (Omron) Solid State Relays instead of ordinary opto couplers is that my NexGuide did not like the voltage drop across the opto couplers. These SSR´s have much less voltage drop. Having used this IR thing for a while, I wanted more... like additional working range and two-way communication. The Toshiba remote has lots of free space inside, so I put a small Arduino Beetle and a HC-12 radio module inside it (in fact it is a Bluetooth Beetle but the BT has very low working range). And of course I put another HC-12 by the telescope side Arduino. In the pic below you can see an IR receiver that is placed directly above the original IR transmitter, this is kind of an eavesdropping device for the Beetle, which interpreted the IR codes and then sent these to the other peer. I blocked the outside of the transmitter with some tape, to disable remote IR transmitting. I also have a buzzer here for audio feedback - one signal for "One minute left of current exposure", another for "Wake up ! ST4 signals have disappeared !" (which is a cloud warning) etc etc. The yellow package is a buck converter to feed the HC-12 with 5V. The converter itself was generating huge amounts of RF noise so I had to wrap it in many layers of plastic and aluminium foil, that helped a lot. Ragnar

Some time ago I built myself an Arduino "astro hub" which has three different duties : It manipulates the ST4 signals coming from my NexGuide, going to the HEQ5 Pro. This (almost) cancels out the small and fast PE coming from the RA motor itself. I will write a separate thread about that. Dual intervalometers for two different dslr´s. Handset emulator for the cabled NexGuide handset. The handset emulator might be something you can do in a similar way. (Anyone wondering what that weird "arm" is ? It´s a mirror on a flexible arm, so I can see (in reverse of course) the NexGuide display without breaking my neck. I used a cheap flexible usb led lamp for that). I use the Toshiba remote for this, the bottom IR remote, very small and handy to use, is intended for my current project which is a very small and portable imaging rig. Both remotes can be found on Ebay. Besides a few led´s, the Arduino also has some audio feedback via a buzzer, so I know what it does. Ragnar

Some stuff for my current project, an Arduino based portable and stable mount for wide field imaging. Ragnar

Having learned the hard way, I would say the most important thing is to make sure the power connections are mechanically solid and secure. The motors in a mount are very inductive, and if the power is improperly broken or connected (as in a poor connection), high voltages are generated and the mount electronics are easily damaged. I consider cigarette plugs unsafe. And also the 12V connector in my HEQ5 Pro, so I modified it to a better standard : https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/277896-another-heq5-power-connector-modification/ Ragnar

Having the Stellarium app in my Android tablet, I can hold the tablet to different parts of the sky (facing the screen) and it will "slew" around with me, trying to match the built-in compass and clinometer readings with the center of the Stellarium sky map. Works pretty well. Ragnar

I like that kind of approach - you will always be a winner Just have to remember it. Ragnar

I concider that is creative thinking "out of the box", even though sometimes there is a bigger box outside waiting to be discovered... (gotcha) Ragnar

You get that bright idea that could change the world (or a small part of it), and feel so inspired to start realizing it. And then you eventually discover it is already done... You were not the first person to come up with that solution. No glory. My latest "wheel" was when I was waiting for my wife at the supermarket. Nothing-to-do pauses like this can be very productive in terms of problem solving etc, and I was contemplating over the pros and cons of a German Equatorial Mount. By the time we sat in the car I had that brilliant idea of building a mount without counterweights and without need for meridian flips. Today I realized that I am building the already existing and well known "Yoke Mount"... Well, I am still going to build it, with or without the Nobel Prize. What are your wheel inventions ? Ragnar

Have you planned for the remote control system yet ? I guess maybe a remote RPI controlled from your living room via wifi ? Do you have a power outlet nearby, or will this be battery powered ? Having read some more of the previous posts, with the tracking resolution calculations, I think what will be the limiting factor in this system is not the resolution itself (and not mechanical flex either) but the PE. With multiple small PE´s originating from different parts, these will sometimes cancel out each other but also occasionally sum up. But I am sure this design will be more than good enough for widefield imaging though. Ragnar

Please make it yellow, and you will (probably) have the first moving 3D pacman statue 🙂. But maybe it would attract too many tourists, wanting to take a selfie with it... Seriously, it looks very proffessional. It´s fantastic what is possible these days, with CAD and 3D printers. Ragnar

Good thinking with the skeleton / capping pieces solution. Now waiting to see how the dome can be operated. A real thriller...😏 Ragnar

A cricket bag. The foam inserts are for my refractor, if I remove them my Meade LX200-ACF (just like a C8) will fit. Ragnar

Good results being only 4 hours ! Are you planning for Ha-RGB or maybe Ha-OIII ? What camera, exposures, mount and guiding do you use ? Ragnar

It´s interesting to read your creative ideas, Gina. I am curious about how remote this will be, and what kind of place will be hosting this mini observatory ? Since you opt for remote PA, I guess it will either be very far away or the ground support may vary a bit from time to time. Otherwise manual PA would be good enough (?) BTW, I have experimented a bit with 28BYJ-48 steppers and I can tell that there are (at least) two different models out there. They look the same but one is 64:1 and the other just a tad different. I used it for a barn door tracker, but I found out a limiting factor being the cogs on the output shaft did not engage enough, which produced a too big PE (no problem for you as you will not use it for tracking). So now I am in the process of building something better - and it´s great fun. Since retirement I have the time, and with small steps forward each day I will eventually get there. And write a separate thread about it. One thing I have learned is don´t go too fast, because new and better ideas often spoil a lot of work done and materials used (I am reminded each time I look in the waste bin of my small workshop) 😏 Ragnar