Jkulin

Cheers Bob, you need the firmware 190718, don't install any other version, guiding has been down to 0.3RMS, if you need help then let me know and I can always talk you through it.

Thanks Dave, yes after hunting around the PI forum I discovered that it had been incorporated into the scripts. i’ll have a play with that as I know just the image that needs more noise removal.

Hi Adam, I had a go but failed miserably, Carole's job was really good, I grabbed that as I couldn't couldn't do any better and just removed the magenta and a touch of green: -

It really wasn't a problem Dave (S), I just planned the sessions around it, good filters helped. Thanks Dave, is that a script for PI? If it is a plugin for PS then will need to have a look as I have never fully processed an Astro image in PS I just use it to finish things off?

Cheers Adam, don't look too closely 🙂 We have had very few clear rnights lately so this was one that I knew I could grab as it was opposite where the moon was moving, I shot Ha when it was at its worst and then OIII when it was opposite as that (so I am advised) is most affected by the moon, its probably the reason why I had to go a bit heavy than I like on the de-noise because of the moons affect. NB I'm going to have a look at yours noise, as it is bound to be brilliant 🙂

Well I tried for this last year and after having a few hiccups aborted and put it off until another year. Well this has come out different than I expected, I looked at many of the beautiful images by others on here and Astrobin and really wanted to put my own stamp on this, I wanted the colours to be subtle but heavenly without being garish, not to everyone's taste and I will probably look back and think/know I can do better. This was captured over three nights with a full moon and I tried to time the filters for when the moon was more prolific. I have got some RGB data for the stars and once I have got to grips with Straton, then will look at adding that. It is far from perfect, however for me I am rather pleased with the subtle colours. I have still loads to learn but after 4 years now it is slowly getting better. Technical Data: - RC10" Truss Moravian G2-8300 MkII CCD Lodestar X2 Guide Camera QHY-M OAG Moravian 7 position 2" FW Chroma 3nm HA, OIII and SII 2" unmounted filters iOptron 120EC Mount which is finally starting to produce the goods and guiding around 0.3-0.4 8x1200s of each filter, 8 hours total Processed in PI and finished in PS CC2019 Bortle 5 Skies 19.51sqm Processed in PI:- Batch Processed ABE Histogram Stretch TGVDenoise SHO Combined Magenta Removal SCNR - Green Various Stretches Miultilinear Transform Unsharp Mask Then into Photoshop for a final tweak Here's the Bumf: - IC1805 Nebula is in the constellation Cassiopeia. In the central part of the cloud shines Melotte 15, a cluster of giant stars, young and very hot. The ultraviolet radiation from massive stars sculpted this fantastic gas column. Is commonly identified with the name of Melotte 15. The age of the cluster is estimated at a million and a half years and its distance from Earth, about 7,500 light years.

Dave, for a 15m run that won't be thick enough as I know from personal experience and expense, you'll need a minimum of 2.5mm preferably 3.0mm for a run like that, I use a Nevada PSU (2 of them) and at that length the voltage drops with 1.5mm to under 12v, I get 13.2v with 2.5mm

Hi Alan, My CEM60EC was simply superb and I was very happy with it, it developed a fault and I took the opportunity to upgrade to the 120EC, I knew there was issues with the firmware for the 120EC but it was useable and would only be a matter of time before they fixed things. Last night I upgraded the firmware and despite wispy clouds and poor seeing I was guiding as low as 0.3RMS Error, which with 20 min subs produced truly beautifully round stars and I reckon I could have easily pushed it to 30 mins, this was in Bortle 4/5 suburban skies. For the price there really isn't anything to compare.

I leave my 120EC, Moravian G2-8300+FW and my 10"Truss outside permanently under a waterproof breathable cover from ENS and a 365 Gizmo which I bought from FLO. I had a bad experience with my first telegizmo as it leaked like a sieve thus the reason why I use two cover and then use a bungee strap wrapped around it, been keeping my equipment outside for a couple of years now and absolutely no problem with any of the equipment, in fact I think it is beneficial as no disruption to the optics and no cool down needed.

Hi Adrian, I'm please to see that the 25 is working fine, I'm waiting for their new 25EC to come out shortly before I hit the button for my travel imaging. I'm interested how you are managing to focus the 135 as I have one as well and how are you changing filters or are you using OSC?

Hi Ahmed, I never found a need for more than one screw to hold my polemaster in the iOptron adapter. If you are worried then screw a couple more bolts into the adapter to lock it up, I'm fairly certain that isn't the issue. There was an issue with the CEM120 where it would jump and that turned out to be the firmware, I would suggest you download the latest firmware and install that and see if that fixes it, if it doesn't then I would request support from your supplier. As many have said triy a manual rotation and if it doesn't jump then it is the firmware, if it does jump then it is the mount.

Problem sorted, apparently it isn't enough to select the amount of auto-stretch in the options, you also have to check the box to autostretch in Histogram Docking Module, but as I tend to default to the other tab for image stats, I never saw that option. Ken @ SGP pointed me to the cause and now my frustration is appeased 🙂

I brought my camera inside and just inverted it on my desk so ignore that poor stretched version, the three images are from a capture of the options and then an image which should be stretched but isn’t and then an image with a forced stretch (right click on the image and select low): - In case any of the profiles are the cause I manually selected the camera and FW and just enabled them so that nothing else could be interfering.

I have a frustrating problem with SGPro whereby in has stopped autostretching despite it being enabled in the options. It was so frustrating that after trying uninstalling and cleaning the registry that I formatted the HDD and completely reinstalled and it still doesn’t work. As typical with the the SGP dev team, support is incredibly slow in coming if at all, so I’d thought I’d ask on here. Has anyone else experienced this? I need it to work for framing and focus and I’m not sure if it is needed for platesolving or even auto focusing. i can manually stretch low, medium or high but not automatically. Any thoughts or assistance would be most appreciated. Many thanks.

Yep Ahmed, it was a piece of cake. It was a little harder with the 120EC as I did have to think about that, but easily resolved with some threaded rod into the sides of the dovetails/weight bolt and then added washers to balance.

Hi Ahmed, When I had my 8" RC it had a long Losmandy Rail, I wanted the weight to be as near to the dovetail as possible, so I bought another one and using extensions fitted my UPB under the scope, I also used a losmandy clamp with weights so that I could adjust the counterweights.

I read excellent things about the MGen, so I bought one for my widefield and portable rigs, haven't used it yet but has it all setup and ready to go. I plan to give it a go around the end of September when I am up in Scotland.

I mounted all my guide scopes on vixen rails then used a skywatcher guide mount for adjuster the aim, works brilliantly but will shortly be changing completely to OAG on all scopes

Well looks like I have pulled the short straw, but at least it will allow us some sleep😎 I can’t remember how long ago it was since we had clear nights, probably June.

That is really helpful Kev, I have just had a nosey on fleabay and that had a similar setup for my Sony for £30 and it was designed to work with my Benro as well, so I bought that and then will work out a bracket for my Polemaster: - I currently have it set up like this, but have to admit I like the way yours still allows you to use the weights for counter balance: -

I had this problem when I had my Atik 383+ and @RayD put me right, it was caused through the high speed download being checked in SGP, there was also a setting in APT that created the same problem, switch it off and hopefully your problem will go away.

Hi Alan, I’ve been evaluating OAG’s and have been using the Celestron for a couple of years now and it really is very good and solid....but it’s 46mm thick and will mess up your back focus if you need a specific measurement. I have ordered and messed around with the following: - Orion Thin OAG - this appeared OK, but didn’t arrive with all the right fittings so was sent back without testing. Starlight Express Thin OAG - looked good but uses a mirror rather than a prism, and glue present untidily all over the place. ZWO OAG - Good value for money but tiny prism Moravian OAG -Absolute rubbish, the biggest waste of money that I have ever spent on a piece of Astro equipment. QHY Medium OAG - Absolutely superb workmanship, I had to make my own adapter to fit the Moravian 7 position 2” filter wheel, but it really is solid and a pleasure to use. I had to make a revised adapter as I needed the OAG to be closer to the primary, easily rectified though. you can pickup a QHY for around £90 secondhand and so far I am really impressed. Hope that helps.

Stunning, simply stunning 😎

I got mine from https://teleskop-austria.com/OctoPlus508N Worked out at just under £300, in future if I can get them to make them for my Esprits then I won’t bother with F/T’s as these are far superior up to 2.5”

I purchased the Lacerta for my Newt as the Baader clone that I had was a total waste and couldn’t hold the weight. The Lacerta is a piece of art, R&P with 8 roller bearing races and it was an excellent price. https://en.lacerta-optics.com/OctoPlus508N_Lacerta-OCTO-PLUS-2-zoll-Okularauszug-fur-Newton-auf-8#m