david_taurus83

12 minutes ago, BrendanC said:

Well now, the thing is, I used to live in London. Then I moved out to the country, about 12 years ago. And, when I retire in a year or so, I'm planning on moving back to London! Because I've had enough time now to realise that. given the choice between culture and nature, for me, it's culture. So, I want the choice of visiting a world-class art gallery/museum/library etc, in the greatest city in the world, for free, even if it means something has to 'give', which is looking like it's going to be the astro, at least in its current form.

I'm the opposite. Grew up in rural Ireland with bortle 2 and 3 skies, completely took for granted at the time, moved to the second largest city in the UK when I was 19, and eventually took up astronomy imaging! Go figure!

Don't move?!

Sorted now, thanks Martin! 🙂

Wondering if anybody has downloaded this if they would kindly send me the zip folder for Windows 64 bit install? WeTransfer maybe? PM for email address.

It has been removed from sourceforge as the author has not made it open source. He did say on CN when he first released it there were going to be licence restrictions or something.

How exactly do they plan to harness any output? Will it be a conversion of heat ie water, steam, turbine etc I understand a little of the concept of traditional fission reactions but there's not much power input needed there as the plutonium rods just react and give off heat naturally. Whereas the artificial fusion reaction uses huge amounts of energy to get going and gives off huge amounts of heat. Do we or will we have the technology to harness and convert the waste heat efficiently enough to surpass the energy input?

What kind of light source is it? Is it a bulb? Could it be warming up the sensor window temporarily causing dew until the temp goes back down again?

Think what @ONIKKINEN means there about dew is frosting over the sensor due to the tec cooler on the camera. Maybe time to refresh the dessicant tablets?

Thought I would give one of these a go for powering an AZGti. At £29 on Amazon, it's a little bit more than 8 good quality rechargeable AA batteries that can run the AZ but should get more life out of this. SD card placed for size comparison. 

I delete the PI preprocessing files. I keep only raw lights, master flats etc and the stacked masters.

When you say portable do you mean back garden session portable or trips out to dark site portable? If back garden then have you considered all possibilities of a mains supply ran outside? If this isn't feasible I'd recommend a leisure battery. If its kept charged between sessions you shouldn't ever need to worry about running out of power. If for travelling, might br worth looking at a Lifepo type battery as their much lighter. Think their used in golf carts etc. The Tracer LiFePo range are good but expensive.

Wish I could get images like that after just a few months in the game!

On 02/02/2022 at 22:05, Carbon Brush said:

 hacksaw was the way to deal with a damaged screw head.

 

I have done this! It got me out of a jam a time or 2!

I'm on my second AZEQ6! Though if the EQ6R was available back in August I would have probably bought that as I have a pier mounted setup so only need to polar align once a year lol. As mentioned, the latitude adjustment on the AZ is very good, but the bolt is also its worst point simply because it sticks out like a sore thumb so you need to loop cables carefully. I got caught out once before with it!

Don't be put off. I use it with my Canon 6D with similar pixel size. Think of all the signal those pixels will soak up! By the time you've processed and saved as jpeg the stars will be fine. Currently have my Atik 460 on it. I will say though it is very sensitive to focus being f4.9. Not an issue as I have an autofocuser setup but something to consider.

Tried to tidy up the cables yesterday. Even with the Pegasus box, it's still like Spaghetti Junction. With that many USB ports and power cables distributing everywhere, I think this is as good as it gets. The good news is though when the Esprit arrives, I can just add a spare dovetail to it and bolt this top plate straight onto it.

I think for the short term it would be fine. You just might need to check polar alignment a bit more often. It certainly won't fall apart.

Thanks. I realised there would be a wait. I ordered when the estimate was 30/40 days but shortly afterwards it went out to 60/90 days! So maybe a bit longer of a wait! I can't help looking at alternatives though like the Askar FRA600 etc but my heart tells me to hold on as I know the Esprit 100 will be quality! Ordered from FLO so I know it will be checked over before being sent.

Nobody?!

Are you not using a filter? Looks like a fair bit of fringing on your stars. Certainly won't help with the elongation as it's adding to the issue.

Get a couple of these.

https://dewheater.com/?product=rca-female-to-5-5-2-1-male-adapter

41 minutes ago, Len1257 said:

Considering this OTA and it would be helpful to know which grubscrew holes are used?

The thumbscrew hole and the one opposite it in the picture above. With the DSD AF3 bracket at least, you don't remove any grub screws from the focus assembly. Can't say for sure how other auto focusers are mounted.

Been nigh on 3 months now since I placed an order? Wondering if many more are sitting impatiently? Or has anyone received theirs and how long did it take?

I aim for around 2 seconds with my 6D. The problem with the on camera histogram and APT one is they both measure the 8 bit jpeg yet we work with raw files. I use NINA and expose to around 8000 ADU, half of 14 bit Canon 6D max ADU value. On the camera, this is why over on the right edge of the histogram but they work well.

Also with NINA, set to focus if change in temperature or of HFR increases 10%. Also set to focus every couple of hours. The faster the f ratio, the fussier it will be. My Redcat is very fussy. Only a couple of steps out of focus is enough for a 0.3 HFR increase.

If I want anything German*, I speak to Zoltan at 365 Astronomy.

*from the TS site*