Jkulin

Just thought I'd give a heads up, the latest version has now been made available, it does seem as though there are a number of improvements, but one of the scripts that I regularly use is NRGBCombination, it makes adding Ha into an RGB so simple. Fortunately I was chatting to the EZ Developer Darkarchon and he said that it should be available to copy over from a previous installation, sure enough I fired up my laptop that I had not updated and there it was to copy over at \program files\pixinsight\src\scripts\NBRGBCombination If anyone has already installed the new version and needs this script then send me a PM with your email and I'll send it to you as it is only 17KB, it is dead easy to add into PI Starnet has now been added in by default now so that should help some of you. Whilst we are on about PI, why the h*** does the developer insist on your uninstalling the current version along with all your scripts and repositories and settings and then having to add them all in afterwards, its an absolute PITA. I can't see a way on keeping all these settings.🤬

My good mate always says to me, "Why the rush, the stars aren't going anywhere soon" I will still be able to image, as I shall revert to just using my pier and covering it up at night time. The biggest positive is rectifying my own stupidity in not isolating the pier. I've learnt a tremendous amount, and thankfully my wife has been fully supportive, which is unusual when I spend money, but I work hard and considerably long hours with very few if any holidays, so what's a little extra being spent when needed?

Thanks Steve, I think Bob will be joining the Norwich Astro Society when he moves, I have said to him that it might be beneficial to join up here.

Well the old dome is now sold to a very pleasant Gentlemen called Bob who is moving to Norfolk, from Peterborough. The new dome has been ordered and paid for with the latest motors etc. Bob is coming over on the 2nd September to see it dismantled and then will collect within a couple of days after that. This will give me time for my builder to isolate the pier whilst all the flooring is up (a job that I should have paid heed to advice in the first place) So I am hoping between 4-6 weeks and it should all be up and running again. The offsets should just be transferable so no worry on that part, so should just be in time for the autumn 🙂

@Nigella Bryant lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Is it straight?

That's fine, but there is enough documented advice from many experts who will advise otherwise.

Hi Chris, like you with the RC I found that running on auto was not a good idea, my mate Peter Shah advised me when I was getting odd shaped stars that the cause was the secondary getting too warm, I now use the barest of warmth to stop dew on the secondary. Indeed on the primary fans, I just run the power from a 12v output of the UPB, I did try to run it on a dew heater output and I found I had to bump it to full blast, so there was no benefit. With regards to your stars all elongating NW, I would hazard a guess at two potential problems, tilt and/or Polar Alignment, it could also potentially be that you need to re-run a calibration in PHD. Hope that helps?

Hi Chris, I do believe that one of the fundamental causes of the vibration is the length and thickness of those rods. I posted a video sometime ago which explained that there was no need to have any form of adjustment as your Polar Alignment should take care of that, I have never used rods on my pier and it has never affected my images.

Chris can I make a suggestion? Get those thread bolts for separating the two aluminium plates as close as you can together, you really don't want them more than a couple of inches at the very most and bigger rods means bigger prizes, so see if you can up the size to 16mm!

On my RC10 I have the fans on from the start powered by my UPB, I have a Kendrick dew heater that I have fitted discreetly and I run that from 10-40 on the UPB scale depending on the forecast for dew. be very wary as a warm secondary can really wreck your images. I have never had any dew on the mirrors or distorted stars from the air currents or fans. The only thing I did as soon as I bought my RC was obtain a 3" R&P Feathertouch focuser as I previously had had an RC8 and the focuser was poor on that and I replaced that with a moonlite. For the RC10 IMHO it was the best £800 I had ever spent (Purchase+Shipping+taxes). For the last 3+ years once I fit an OTA to my pier, its stays mounted and I cover it up after each session, until I got my dome. The worst thing you can do to an OTA is keep lifting it on and off, I have never had to adjust my collimation and that included my washing the mirror in situ. HTH

Hi Carole, Glad to see you are fine.👍 There is so much nebulosity around that had it been a wider shot it would have shown up as that, but because it was done on my RC it it is a very close shot, the milkiness is nebulosity, but I stand to be corrected.

Thanks Mark, indeed when I first processed with the SII I thought it might prove a problem as there was quite a bit there, but it wasn't too bad in HOO and took about 4 hours to get to what you see now. Maybe when I get some time then I might have a play to include the SII.

I started this on the 30th May 2020 and it was n't until the 20th July that I finished grabbing all the subs. I did capture some SII, but some how it didn't look right, maybe I need to have a longer play with it, so this is HOO with RGB for the stars. I have quite enjoyed working on this as the NB part needed hardly any playing with curves. With my Bortle 5 / bordering on 6 skies, I don't think it has come out too bad. Total integration was 14hours: - 14 x 1200s Ha 14 x 1200s OIII 8 x 1200s SII but not used yet 8 x 396s Blue 8 x 348s Red 8 x 300s Green Here's the Bumf: - The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792.[2] It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000[3] to 400,000[citation needed] years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures. It is a rather faint object located about 2 degrees SW of Sadr. For most telescopes it requires a UHC or OIII filter to see. Under favourable circumstances a telescope as small as 8 cm (with filter) can see its nebulosity. Larger telescopes (20 cm or more) reveal the crescent or a Euro sign shape which makes some to call it the "Euro sign nebula". Taken with my GSO/Altair 10" F7.9 RC, Moravian G2-8300 CCD, iOptron 120EC, Chroma 2" NB and RGB filters, Pegasus UPB and focuser, Ultrastar Guide Camera, processed in Pixinsight and PS 2020 More details here: https://www.astrobin.com/qxwsby/

That's really lovely Syed, when I did it I added some Ha and it made it go pop, you stars colours are lovely and if you could add some Ha then it would go bang!

Hi Steve, Thanks, no I'm still going the Pulsar route but will go for a later model for updated running gear.

Now advertised for sale on here: -

I spent even more money and got wider dampers from RS Components, initially they seemed to make a difference but after a few backwards and forwards it became noisier and nosier, I have taken some videos, but I'll be blowed if they will upload to my PC. So I have made the decision to sell this and will when I have the videos uploaded put it into Classifieds, it truly has been a very disappointing affair after so much work, not to mention money as well. I'll order the replacement in the morning and just hope that I can recover some of the costs. Don't get me wrong if you live in an area where you either have very few neighbours or it won't cause you a problem, then it would be perfect for you, but if in close proximity to neighbours who would object then I would think twice as I wouldn't want to deceive anyone.

Thanks Steve, indeed I will then get some polystyrene sheet and insert that, only to stop back fill of any soil, I'll give a miss to the expanded foam. Sadly that is a lesson learned, but at least that can be fixed. I sorted out nearly all the banging now, the complaint last night was because of the constant whine from the stepper motors, which I am unsure that I can't do any thing about, if the rubber dampers help then great, that's why I am holding fire buying the replacement dome until I have checked it out.

Thanks Ray, it so tempting to change to a RoR but I physically can't build it, so the dome it has to be. Hi Ahmed, I've had first light...just but the stars were poor, which I now know why, here was a quick 1200s sub, with a medium stretch is SGP, I haven't processed any of the subs yet as I am still waiting to finish the Ha and SII, but with stars like that I doubt I will even bother for now.

Yep Neil, Shawn really is a laid back person who doesn't umm and arrh, he makes it simple to understand and adapt to your own needs.

Well things aren't going too well at the moment, I have spent the last month resolving issues, the main contentious one being the dome, banging as it misses when rotating, I've managed to identify a number of causes such as rotted rubber dampers, new ones are on order, there was a wood screw in place to secure the aluminium plate so when it missed a beat it was like running ones fingers over a comb, the shutter mechanism is a fail, which to be truthful I knew about. Now something that I am guilty of and dismissed as not worth going to the trouble of extra planning is that I never isolated the pier from the foundations, figuring that the isolation of the brick walls would be enough, how wrong I was, with a smoother quieter design I may have got away with it, but every time the domes receives a movement instruction it creates off the chart havoc with my PHD guiding. Now this might be resolved with the new dampers so I will check when they hopefully arrive tomorrow. Here is a quick grab of the effects when it send s a pulse to the dome: - OK the guiding wasn't ever going to be brilliant that night, but you can see the effects of the motors playing catchup, bear in mind that my setup normally guides at about 0.18-0.27rms Now we live in a very quiet neighbourhood, its a small village and I have always been conscious of any noise that I make whilst imaging, either side of me are older people in the late 70's so their hearing is not best, however whilst the dome was slewing to a target at about 23:00 my wife clearly heard one of the neighbours shout out angrily "Shut the F up", when I first got it up and running I thought that the noise might be an issue, that was why I have worked so heard to silence it down. The long and the short is that if the dampers don't resolve it then it will have to come down and be sold as is, I will lose a considerable amount of money with what I have invested and buying a replacement. I spoke to my builder this morning and whatever I decide, he is going to come around and grind a 1" channel between the original concrete block and the new concrete base, so that it doesn't touch at all, he reckons it will only take him an hour and he suggested to fill the void with expanded foam or polystyrene, what are peoples thoughts? I'm in discussions with Pulsar at the moment as they are able to supply a very recent sage coloured dome and would install and fit their latest motorisation system, and from chatting to @tooth_dr he seemed to indicate that it was virtually silent apart from when slewing, which does sound far more promising. I could dismiss the idea of a dome altogether, and go for a RoR observatory, but that would require new foundations and a lot more physical work to build which my back wouldn't take, but not only that it needs to be in keeping with my wife's views, which I happen to agree with. Who said Astronomy was going to be easy!

Hi Neil, As promised: - Shawn is really very good as explaining the manner in which he works https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIwWoJv_vi1US5zjyjRs_lg His website is: - https://visibledark.ca/ I have also found to be https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/ excellent. And finally Chuck gives you a rough and ready process tutorial that works: - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCllh0nUmlREEvoskaq9b3A Hope that helps?

Hi Neil, I’ll send you some links in the morning

Brilliant Ray, exactly what I was after, superb, I have spent the morning hunting and got near enough but not quite, I'll get some on order and then will work out how to make everything work. Thanks Ray.

The shutter opening on my dome is very unpredictable and noisy so I want to change it to either chain or something similar. I've tried looking for plastic chains, but have failed miserably, can anyone advise? Many Thanks.