Anthonyexmouth

What are you pointing it at in that picture? 

Just looking at the SW website and see theres an app or something to allow sat tracking with the synscan app for the Heq5. Is there any alternative to this to work with a direct pc connection? I dont have a hand controller or wifi dongle. 

Latest syncan app? Does the wifi dongle need updating?

24 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

No, I think you would have to run the whole stacking process again, using all the subs & calibration frames + changing the Calibration Exposure Tolerance.

If you want to use the four stacks you already have then try the Image Integration tool under Processes. 

Thats what i ended up doing.

I couldn't get wbpp to stack my 4 stacks. Didn't like the low number. 

3 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

I'm not in front of my PixInsight PC at the moment, so details may not be completely correct.

1. Use PixelMath to add the images together is the basic way to combine them all. Although it's a bit rough & ready. 

2. Use the Image Integration tool in PI. I think you'll need to make sure all the images are star aligned (and maybe cropped) for this but I think it gives a better result than PixelMath.

3. Restack all the subs using WBPP but use either a common filename (the proper name of this escapes me just now) or change the exposure limit setting to something like 300, so it stacks all of them into one master, instead of dividing them into individual masters based on the exposure length. 

Hopefully others will help to clarify the above in more detail.  

Ah yeah, exposure limit. I did use WBPP for all of them but it spat out 4 copies. I'll try again. Will that help with core detail? 

Just now, City9Town0 said:

You are not alone...

https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/problem-with-new-spcc.19634/page-2

I managed... but cannot now remember how... but it definitely had something to do with the 'wrench' symbol. Good luck!

Sorted it, had to edit the gaia process and add the files there, not in SPCC. 

Ok, so i've got about 13ish hours of mixed exposure on M31. 60s,120s,180s and 300. Whats the best way to combine to get the most out of it?

Here are the stacks if anyone wants a play.

 masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-300.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGB_(1)_autocrop.xisf

masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-180.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGB_autocrop.xisf

masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-120.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGB_autocrop.xisf

masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-60.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGB_(1)_autocrop.xisf

masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-60.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGB_(1)_autocrop.xisf

Ok, So I downloaded the 60+gb for the SPCC but now have no idea what to do with them. When I point SPCC to the folder they don't show up, do I have to do something with them first? 

27 minutes ago, Adam J said:

You will want 2 inch so that you can use it with the larger sensor later. 

The problem with flats is as much related to the Ha wavelength as anything else and so will likely still manifest in any duel narrow band filter, for that reason I would go with the L-Extreme or the IDAS NB1 filter if you want to reduce reflections. Either way you will still need to run it at gain 200 and not 120 unless you have a lucky copy of the 294mc pro (some do exist). 

Next step up is the Antlia or the L-Ultimate and they are outside your budget. 

Adam 

Yeah, i'd be getting a 2" to drop into my filter drawer. 

OK, 294mc owners, are any of you using a dual narrowband filter. I know there are issues with the L-Extreme and flats that are worked around with higher gain but trying to get an idea what people are using and how they are getting on. I plan to get a 26c later in the year but for now want a filter.

Sub £250 really so L-Extreme or under. 

54 minutes ago, Louis D said:

If you're not short of cash or storage space, go ahead and hold onto that ED80 and FF/R for a bit.

I'm a bit of a hoarder myself (don't ask).  However, it saved me this weekend.  My upgraded receiver for my stereo system suddenly died (went into protection mode), so I swapped in my old one that I was getting ready to sell.  It turns out, it works well enough to hold me over until I can figure out my next step to replace or repair the upgrade one.

I'm not saying your new triplet APO is going to "die" at some point, but something else could happen to it (dropped, stolen, fungus, etc.).

Or I could build another pier. lol

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

No harm as far as function goes, but no benefit either.

Only thing that might be slightly worse is added weight on ST80 focuser, so there might be some tilt introduced - but for guiding, that won't matter as well as guide camera has small sensor.

Just wondered if making it slightly faster might be helpful. If not then I'll probably package the FF/R with the scope. 

In one way I'm kinda reluctant to sell the ED80 as it's an old one with good glass, newer ones seem to have some unnamed glass, although probably just as good. 

I'm a bit of a hoarder, need to kick that habit. 

Also worth noting that not all t ring adapters are made equal. I had awful trouble with a cheap one. It was slightly too fat, maybe .5mm and as another poster has said, the FF/R fits directly to the t-ring. As soon as I bought a baader t-ring the problem was cured. 

I think your flattener is on backwards. 

cancel that, just checked mine, I have the same one but in the Altair flavour. 

So, I'm using my ST80 to guide but since buying my Stellamira triplet my old faithful ED80 is not getting much use, considering selling to help fund a 2600mc or 26c. Now, would it work putting my Altair .8 reducer on my st80 to bring it down to a 320mm and f3.9? Or is that a dumb idea? 

6 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

Now that I've tried the Askar Duo-band, L-eNhance & L-eXtreme, I think, for me in my Bortle 2 area, it would be the L-eNhance. 

There's nothing wrong with the other two, I just feel the L-eNhance gives me more of what I was looking for. Like you, I wanted something to allow me more imaging time when the Moon was dominating  and the L-eNhance does that for a reasonable price.

Note: This is my personal filter preference, other filter preferences are available!   

I'm in a low bortle 4 that could probably be a Bortle 3 after the street lights go out so LP isnt a huge problem for me. Guess I'll try the enhance. 

58 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

I do see the halos occasionally, both with the Optolong & Askar filters, but I'm normally able to remove them. StarXTerminator tends to leave the halos on the background and I can use the CloneStamp tool in PI to remove them.

So if you could only have one, would it be the l-enhance or extreme?

28 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

It is the £199 2" version I have. 

If it's just so you can image around the full Moon then you may be better off with the L-eNhance. It's cheaper than the Askar, works nearly as well around the full Moon (as long as you don't image too close to the Moon) and gives you little more Hb wave band. I tend to use the L-eNhance more than the Askar these days, still with the same gain & offset settings though.  

I was worried about the optolong one with the 294. You don't have any issues with it? Any halo issues? I'll be putting it in a filter drawer directly in front of the camera. 

Is that the cheaper £199 one? I have just been using a skytech LP filter until now as I'm low bortle 4 bordering on 3 but the moon really pee'd me off the other night. 

Has anyone here used the Askar duo band filter? The cheaper one. I see lots of reviews on the more expensive colour magic ones. Only seen one review and thats on the @flo website. 

8 minutes ago, Gary Clayton said:

I would have to purchase the larger M63 motorised version and install it in front my field flattener/reducer due to my back focus constraints, so this manual one will do for now. 

Really? Are you using up the whole 55mm already? The mini is only 11.5mm thick. 

12 minutes ago, Gary Clayton said:

Just a heads up guys to let you know that the William Optics camera Rotator fits and works on the SM90's focus tube, it's about 5 mm thinner than the SM90 version which is easily compensated for with the available focus tube travel.

Such a missed step not having a graduated one on the SM90 to start with. Now do I buy one of these or save for a field rotator. 

48 minutes ago, Gary Clayton said:

I bet by the time you have paid any import duty, etc that there's not that much in it price wise and it also depends on how good it is regarding any camera tilt, etc. I will have a look for any reviews online as this is something that I am interested in myself.

It's the last piece of the puzzle for me. Everything bar removing the BBQ cover is automated for me now. I never change rotation at the moment because it means going out to the garden, lazy I know but in the cold it ain't fun, summer time I often sit outside with a laptop and and my binos while imaging so not an issue then. 

1 hour ago, Gary Clayton said:

Yes a motorised one would be nice, I am thinking about replacing the manual one that it came with for the William optics M63 version, has anybody tried it?. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/williams-optics-focusers/william-optics-camera-angle-rotator-for-25-m63-focuser.html

Does the SM one unscrew off the draw tube? Be awesome if it did. Although its not a cheap mod to get a scale.