Swoop1

Roger Mike Q, We copy you delayed. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again.

Lovely memories Stu. One question however- what is the brown glass accessory on the table behind your scope? I seem to be missing it from my collection.

Thanks @Elp- that gives me an easy to understand explanation to start toying with.

@Shibby- gain settings etc. are things I still need to get my head around. My problem is I am a dinosaur and dislike on line manuals etc. with a passion. I much prefer having a hard copy manual in front of me whilst I set kit up. Look at manual, make adjustments on software as opposed to look at on line manual- switch to software screen- forget what I needed to adjust- return to on line manual- re-read instructions- switch to software screen- rinse and repeat 🙄

👍

@michael8554 I meant to add a ? to the topic title but missed it. I wasn't blaming PHD2, I just wondered if it was the cause. Missing ? rectified (I hope)

Not seen that kit @malc c. Will have to add it to the list of "Things That I Must Have"😁

Any tips on how tor remove the two black discs that have the Skywatcher logo and latitude markings without breaking them? I want to gain access to the innards where the adjustment bolts do their work to stabilise my polar alignment if I can- I'm fairly sure that the length of bolt beyond the threaded body is allowing one of the bolts to bend a bit and make the alignment a bit sloppy. Thanks, Matt.

I am thoroughly enjoying the satisfaction of reducing my set up time and having success in getting the various bits of kit to talk to each other and generally behave at the moment. I really do dislike taking it all down again at the end though.

Last night I set up for more practice and decided to try a couple of short imaging runs on The Leo Triplet. When launching guiding, PHD2 came up with a message about calibration issues close to the stellar equator (or similar). I went ahead anyway and the first 30 second sub had all stars showing trails. Not sure what was happening, I switched off tracking and did another 30 second sub and the resulting trails were around twice as long as the guided trails. Wondering if the issue was due to the warning message, I switched to M81 and restarted tracking/ guiding. No message this time but the star trails were back. I disconnected PHD2 and the trails were gone on the subsequent sub. Any ideas? Thanks. Matt.

Did an imaging run on M101 last night, just a bit of practice- 30 X 30 second lights plus some darks and bias. ASI290MC on SW150P. Came to do a bit of processing tonight and DSS keeps telling me only one of 26 images will be stacked. I've lowered the star detection to 2% and raised it to 97% but still no change. An example of a light is shown below- I can't understand why it is so dark with only what seem to be hot pixels showing as the native image. Open it in GIMP and adjust the levels and some detail is revealed. I will also try an load a raw data file of one of the lights. Light_ASIImg_30sec_Bin1_10.3C_gain0_2022-03-24_221230_frame0030.fit Thanks for looking. Matt

I wish I could get that detail through my white light solar filter.

Patrick- it is as simple as herding cats (which from your avatar, you probably have experience of). Find an app that works on your phone (or find a phone that works with the app......) Set the app up as per the instructions/ guide for it. Open the app and you will see a representation of your crosshairs with a little cross representing where Polaris should be in your polar scope. Make the adjustments using the adjuster bolts on your mounts until the view through the polar scope matches the app representation. Robert is then your fathers brother. 😉

I'm sure there are Android polar alignment apps out there. I think I had a Samsung phone with one before my current phone

I use an app called PS Align which, when downloaded to your phone/ tablet and set up to your observing/ imaging location, it shows where Polaris should sit within the reticle. On my rig, with the polar scope aligned to the polar axis, my clockface is upside down but it doesn't matter- just rotate your mount until 12 is at 12 o'clock then make your RA and DEC adjustments to move the mount so that Polaris is in the right place. This give a good idea of what you are looking to do- Polar Alignment For Astrophotography | Aligning How-To Guide (nightskypix.com)

Climbing onto the stepladder to reach the EP on my pier mounted SW150P to check alignment before fitting the camera and sarting an imaging ru, a foot of the ladde sank ino the ground and dumped me on the deck. Barked my shin a good one and winded myself. At least I had he good sense NOT to try and save myself-the only thing in grabbing range was the imaging rig!

I thought Gnats unmentionables were imperial?

Just cut my thumb on that Steve! Nice, sharp detail.

Lovely image @barbulo- nice detail.

Playing with the kit again tonight, getting better acquainted with PHD2, GSS and Cartes du Ciel interaction. Looking for a bright enough star to focus the ASI290MC so selected Sirius on C du C and instructed the system to slew. Woe! The laptop shut down after the slew commenced so the stop command didn't happen. Panic ensued and I had to power down the mount manually. I restated the laptop and, after a lengthy wait, I fired up GSS again and waited....... and waited....... and waited. The laptop screen then went a frightening shade of blue and commenced ignoring everything. Cue manual shutdown, packing away of kit and a sulk. Laptop isn't dead, but it is watching me warily just in case I decide it is

Thanks @Priesters

Fantastic image Stu!

What is meant bt setting up East heavy when balancing a scope on a mount please? Thanks.

Sony a6300/ Tamron 70-300 zoom @300mm, piggy backed onto my Celestron C6 SCT mounted on SW HEQ5PRO. Stack of 15 frames 1/2000 sec f20 ISO3200 stacked in Autostakkert!, levels tweaked in GIMP and cropped in MS Photo.

Have you tried Aotostakkert! ?