Tomatobro

I purchased the bench drill second hand about 35 years ago and this was the first quill return spring failure. I tried to find one to replace it but they were all too small so I took the spring out of the frame and gently heated the centre strip to take out the temper and bend a new centre tang. Getting the spring back was a challenge in itself. I installed it, put some tension on and would down the quill and the spring broke.

And so the pulley and counterweight system was  born. I guess that has invalidated the warranty.

I see that there is a new version released. No pricing available yet but I will wait till more reviews are available. 

If you are using Sharpcap or other real time control software its the actual temperature you set it at. So setting it to -10 means its running at -10 and not ambient -10.

Like this

I had never seen the aurorae before but I will not be able to say that again....WOW

41 minutes ago, Alan White said:

no blood anywhere in sight

Getting the three cross head screws out of the support frame resulted in one skinned knuckle. They were so tight!.  Evidence of thread Loc.

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Can you connect 600d power usb and two usb dew heaters to it?

As well as guide cam and mount?

In the observatory I have three NUC's. One is called Dome NUC, another is called Pier NUC and the third is called AllSKY

Connected to the Dome NUC is the Pulsar dome and Shutter controller, ZWO astro camera (various), 7 position filter wheel, ZWO focuser, monitor with keyboard and mouse, runs NINA , Sharpcap, PHD with its own zwo guide camera. The mount is a Skywatcher EQ8-r and C du Ciel planetarium. There are also some RS232 serial devices controlled via TeraTerm and a GPS receiver.

The Pier NUC has an internal Dome camera, a Unihedron sky quality monitor, a cloud monitor (via Bluetooth) and dew heater controllers as well as an emergency system shutdown system controlled via a radio link and some switchable power ports controlled via Teraterm

The third NUC is connected to an all sky camera.

All these systems operate on their own Remote desktop from the house

I have five ( brought used of Ebay) NUC's in service (i3 and i5) which all have Win 10 pro ( for remote desktop) and all run off a 12 volt supply. Fast boot up and they range from 4 to 8Gb ram and most have 256 Gb storage.

Although the power input state 18 volts I have never had an issue running them at 12 volts

The most I have paid is £110 

Worth considering if cash is tight.

Taken with the following equipment.

Skywatcher ED72 with 0.8 reducer

Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTI

ZWO ASI585MC

ZWO ASIair Plus

180 x 30 second images dithered every 10 frames

I found my 585 produced sharper images if I had an IR filter in the optical train.  taken with an ED72. 180 x 30 second exps

I always go for the Startech industrial hubs. These are powered by a separate power supply. Sometimes can be got for a reasonable price on Ebay.

There is a used 4 port 3.0 for £34 available.

I have looked at the data sets available since joining PA but this is the first write up I have seen on what you get for the money. Nice image.

Looking at the exposure time and recording time if yours is GMT then this could be a match as ours is tagged with UTC

https://archive.ukmeteors.co.uk/reports/2024/orbits/202404/20240409/20240409_225146.475_UK/index.html

I had a pitch booked but could not justify the risk so decided to stay at home. I guess others have done the same.

Cloudy Nights has a post on this so worth a look

 search on ASIAIR Plus Speed Test, Planetary Imaging

38 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Bit apprehensive about it tbh 

I can understand this as it can be all a bit confusing.

I always do my setup tests in daylight. I aim the scope at the top of a distant tree, set the camera to a very short exposure and see what I get.  If the scope is a total unknown back focus wise I improvise something without all the reducers etc just to get an idea of what the measurement is. The cardboard tube from the inside of toilet rolls can be useful for this. It excludes the light and you can slide it in and out watching the monitor till a rough focus position is found then mark it with a pen. Now I can start putting together spacers etc.

Flo confirmed my scope was the first of the long tube versions sold by them.

Here is a photo of my setup. With the rotator, then the reducer, adapter, ZWO mini filter wheel and then the camera the EAF winds the focuser out to 9800 which is about 12 mm of focus tube showning.

Hope this helps

On 01/04/2024 at 14:41, tomato said:

I wonder what will be a hot topic then

Image processing software that looks at your subs, decides they are not up to standard, takes control of your scope, retakes them and wakes you up next morning with a cup of tea and the best picture you have ever seen. Shows you your picture and compares it with the one it took with comments as to where you went wrong.

A bit like how the  Asiair passes comments on my polar alignment performance the other night.

5000..... Wow

1 hour ago, John_D said:

Well designed ( usually more expensive ) switched mode supplies can handle transients very well. Similarly, badly designed ( usually cheaper ) linear supplies, with insufficient smoothing capacitors for example, can have poor transient performance

True of everything. But I stand by my basic advice i.e.  a good linear PS would be my first choice.

Switched power supplies are small and efficient but poor when dealing with transient loads. Linear power supplies are big and heavy and not very efficient but are good at dealing with transients.

Linear power supplies are being phased out (EU directive).

Never in the field of astro photography has one item been loved by so many and disliked by so few.  

My allsky has 25 watts of heat going into it and when its switched on in the evening the dome will show a degree of misting some nights. After about an hour its clear.

I read somewhere that someone tried reducing the volume of air  inside the canister by packing it with high density foam. The idea I think was that as its the air that is holding the moisture then reducing the volume inside with the foam it reduced the amount of water available.

I have packed the housing that holds my Unihedron SQM meter and it seems to have worked but have not tried it with my allsky.

Robin's demo of the latest version of Sharpcap shows just how far it has come from version 3.1. Met up with some from the Wolverhampton Astro Club.

And I saw a SeeStar in the flesh for the first time. I also saw some walking around with one under their arms with a "how am I going to justify this" look on their faces.

I just updated my air plus and all seems ok. The only thing I spotted is that "gain" is misspelt on the guiding page.