Tomatobro

When I set up my latest NUC mini pc from what I can recall the plate solving data files can be copied but all the rest were downloads and fresh installs. NINA and PHD requires a configuration set and a calibration. Sharpcap will need its license file copying across. At least you will start with all the latest upgrades👍

Sounds like you have the same issue that I had. As I moved towards a fully automatic system (using an EQ8-r) I found that over a long session the camera would disconnect and would not recover. To fix I installed a Startools 4 port 3.0 unit ( industrial grade powered )and connected the camera to that. that gave me (from the USB 3.0ss port on the computer) a connection to the Startools unit and then port one direct to the camera. The camera has not disconnected once with this setup.

My understanding of the EQ8 usb hub is that it has to be powered by 12 volts so do you have 12 volts plugged in at the input side?

We both have observatories so are a bit rusty in setting up from scratch an EQ6-r and Altair 4 inch. Together with laptop software issues it was a bit of a challenge. We allowed two hours before the first ISS pass to get organised and we missed it by a few minutes. We practised on other satellite passes before the next ISS pass. I have not seen the results yet but we have some images with a bit of luck

A wire (usually the centre one) has broken free and shorted to the negative. Take a Stanley knife and split the moulding to reveal the connections and you will see what I mean. I have seen this kind of failure before. If the connections are ok then its whatever it was connected to is the problem.

Watched a very large prom (arrowed). Part of the prom became detached as per lower sketch

Either of those two piers will work just fine. I have been involved in the construction of two observatories, the first using a Pulsar pier and the second a DIY pier. The Pulsar pier supports a Mesu 200 mount and two SW esprit 150 refractors with all the accessories (about 70kg). Savings can be made by going down the DIY route but it depends on what you are willing to tackle. You may also need an adapter for the pier top to take the mount.

Secondary support arms?

The dual rig is operated remotely and has two small stepper motors one each for the Samyang lens. I only had one black version Hitec stepper motor controller available so there is a comm port switched relay bank to switch the Hitec focuser output from one stepper motor to the other. With the comm port switched one way the ZWO can be focused and then switching the comm port the other way the Atik can be focused. The rubber focus grip ring on the lens has a 2mm pitch which looks as if the lens designers had in mind a toothed belt driven focuser.⭐

Thanks. Although I allowed for the rotation of each camera/lens for image alignment what surprised me was (despite my careful engineering) just how much left/right and up/down movement was required to get the star fields to align so keep this in mind when putting the rig together. At least once its done its done so its not a maintenance issue.

This Dual setup has an ATIK Horizon 2 with an IDAS NBZ filter on one side and a ZWO ASI1600 mono with filters on the other. Lenses are Samyang 135mm F2 It works reasonably well but given the budget I would change the cameras for Rising Cam OSC both with the IDAS NBZ filters The ATIK and ZWO cameras have the same sensor but for the OSC version in the Atik

On a Pulsar dome controller operated by N.I.N.A software there is a whole host of measurements that have to be programmed in in order for the controlling software to position the dome to match the scope position. Steve Richards did a write up and spread sheet to help with the measurements. I built a controller for a early Pulsar dome which used two lasers mounted either side of the dome aperture which sensed when the scope broke the laser beam and nudged the dome round to re-establish the laser light. Its also possible to wind a coil round the end of the scope and use a switching circuit to create a alternating magnetic field which can induce a current in a coil of wire looped round the shutter aperture. Electronics sense the rising current as the scope approaches the edge of the aperture and nudges the dome round to null the current. I built a mock up of this method but settled on the lasers illuminating light dependant resistors as a reliable method. I did have to write a routine that allowed for moths flying through the laser beam in that the beam had to be broken for a number of seconds before the dome got nudged.

Tomato posted this picture which should give you some comfort

When I had a bad back I stopped using my EQ6-r for a while and got a star adventurer. Its a cracking mount and I used it with a variety of cameras (DSLR and others) and scopes including the Samyang 135. The problem you will have is finding the object to photograph. A laptop with plate solving software sorts this problem out but its best with a dedicated astro camera as this will have the sensitivity and high speed that will make it a pleasure to use. With the camera and lens pointing to roughly the correct bit of sky, expose and plate solve, make a note of the declination number and adjust the declination axis till the numbers match with the object of interest. Keep going through this loop but don't be tempted to alter the right ascension till the DEC is correct. Then its a matter of adjusting the RA till the object appears on the laptop screen. I resisted using plate solving software for ages but would not be without it now as it saves a great deal of time.

My remote (well at the bottom of the garden) observatory runs two Intel NUCs and up until the last couple of months the Remote desktop connections have been super reliable but recently the latency and dropouts have become a real pain. Thinking that it might be a frequency drift issue due to the high temperatures I tried many things to see if I could improve the situation. With everybody out the house I removed the NUCs into the office right next to the router and did some load testing by running all the software and watching YouTube videos. It all seemed to be ok but I noticed that sometimes when I connected NINA or Sharpcap I could hear a voice message from the smart speaker in the kitchen. To cut a long story short the cause of the latency and dropouts is down to the smart speaker. Disconnecting it and reinstalling the NUCs back in the observatory the remote desktop connection is once again reliable as an anvil. Seems like the smart speaker takes up quite a bit of WiFi bandwidth.

I had a go at improving the "look" of the sketch. I used 3D paint to create a colour disc with the light direction tool to create a PST style image. I tried using different colors and inverting to get it right but the original looked the best with red, yellow and brown pencils. Anyway here is the end result

two large filaments seen today

Just occasionally these Sangemo Western ammeters come up for sale on Ebay. I paid £10 for this one and apart from a clean and some adjustment works well. When I got it the calibration certificate was dated February 1949 and it said that at 20 degrees C you had to multiply the readings by 0.0008 Inside is a work of mechanical art and heaven knows what it cost new

As long as the ring did not drop onto the mirror and mark it you should be ok. By all means use masking tape to record the orientation of the top plate before taking the screws out. It seems scary if you are not used to doing this kind of work but you should find that removing the corrector and putting the retainer back on not too difficult.

I smell a cost reduction as the move from flexible to solid.......and then marketed as an improvement.

Telescope Express list replacements but they are not cheap

If you don't mind a bit of DIY then a vibration switch can be soldered across the push button contacts of a wireless door bell and then fasten the door bell switch to the scope. The door bell can then be plugged into the mains so you get a warning if the scope is interfered with. This is the one I used from Ebay. The vibration switch also is available in various levels of sensitivity TECKNET Wireless Door Bells 400M Range Home Cordless 38 Chimes Plug In Doorbell

No problem with the wind but plenty with brain fade in forgetting to turn it off.

Bicycle anti theft motion alarms are good. Cheap and battery powered. This one has a remote control to set and its very LOUD........

Draco triplet. NGC5982 eliptical Galaxy NGC5981 Edge on Spiral Galaxy NGC5985 Spiral Galaxy These galaxies are probably not related and reside at different distances so the triplet is purely a line of sight effect. NGC 5985 is about 120 million light years away, NGC 5982 about 130 million years and the small edge on NGC 5981 about 100 million light years away. NGC 5981 is quite a small dwarf galaxy. NGC 5982 and 5985 were found by William Herschel in 1788 but NGC 5981 had to wait until 1850 when it was found by J Stoney at Birr castle, probably with the 72". NGC 5985 is an almost face on spiral. It is classified as a Seyfert type 1 galaxy with an active black hole at its nucleus. It is also classified as a LINER. NGC 5982 is classified as an elliptical galaxy class E3. Although it looks quiescent now deep images reveal shells surrounding which are the results of a merger with another galaxy. These shells were found in the optical but were among the first to be discovered in the mid infra-red using data from Spitzer. NGC5982 may also be an active galaxy hiding a black hole. The merger probably happened about a billion years ago. Although it is an elliptical galaxy it also contains a young population of stars, perhaps as a result of the merger. Telescope 10 inch RC Camera ZWO ASI1600 MM 180 x 30 second exposures luminance 30 x 30 second exposures RGB Imagies taken over the nights of 25th/26th and 27th May 2022 Stacked with APP and minor processing with GIMP