david_taurus83

Agree with alacant, remove the SD card from the camera. I'm sure I read on one of the ZWO pages that this causes issues for some people.

So what is the average ADU value of the single frames with filter and without filter? My point is the frame without filter has more signal so will be masking the horizontal banding. The 600D is well known to produce banding, there is even a specific script in Pixinsight to remove Canon horizontal banding!

The banding won't be the filter. It's narrowband so far less signal getting through from the background (space) of the target so when you stretch the image you are also stretching the noise. Really, 2 and a bit hours with a narrowband filter on a 600D is not enough signal. Without the filter you would have less emphasis on the target but I think you would still have a nice image with less noise.

If you are in Bortle 4 area do you have any local light pollution? I would say you could get away with no filter at all. The L-Enhance is a narrowband filter so you will need much longer integration with a DSLR. Below is 5 hours with my 6D at 135mm and a standard LP filter. Regards to noise, do you make sure to flip open the screen and switch the display off? As mentioned above, you don't really need darks. I use a master bias file and subtract that from the lights and flats.

The rawlbolts will be fine as long as the concrete is fully cured. It will take some serious lateral force to the pier to pull them up if you were worried about that happening.

Another nice transparent Squid, love it! I know some people put a colossal amount of hours into this object with OIII filter to force it out in processing (and I appreciate the time and effort) but I much prefer to see it faint and see through like this and another a few days ago.

Hi Dave, Is the EFW plate recessed so by turning it over it sits above the recess, thus gaining a mm or 2?

I've not had much luck with my reflector and imaging so decided to switch back to the trusty Esprit 100 on the pier. I will be using the 2600MC on that this season but would like to continue with narrowband with my 533MM and Redcat. Problem is I have a SX filterwheel so not compatible with the ASIAir. I've read some accounts of the Astrodon filters not being compatible with the ZWO EFW and FLO website mentions there are some constraints with filter cell depths. Can anybody confirm? There is an apparent workaround with turning the back plate of the EFW to gain some clearance? Would like to know for sure before I part with cash.

If weight isn't an issue then you could put the feelers out and see if anyone wants to swap your EQ6R for an AZEQ6? The AZ can mount 2 scopes at the same time. I had a 200p and a 71mm frac on mine at a star party a few years ago. It's a heavy mount though but not a problem if you can leave it in your preferred observing position.

Very nice! I like the opaque look of the Squid, it's how it should look imo. I bet there's more to be revealed in this as your background looks a bit clipped.

It's roughly the same size/area as a 460. The biggest size you can practically use is something like a 294 or 1600 size sensor, and that's with the sensor as close as possible to the filters. If you want bigger then it's bigger filters, filter wheel etc

533MM. Perfect for 1.25" filters and no amp glow. I don't even use darks now as long as I dither.

Only the jpeg thumbnails are rotated. The RAW frames should all be the same rotation for stacking purposes.

I don't have one but I do have a Hitecastro one which looks the same. They will be 12v outputs. The cigar plug cable is beefy because its designed to handle lots of amps as some dew bands are quite big. The 5.5 x 2.1 plugs we use on most astro kit are only really good for a few amps before they start overheating.

It was the Esprit fine focus that was slipping. I had a DeepskyDad AF3 on there. Changed to a Pegasus focus motor and that fits onto the course focus just like the EAF. It was around that time though that I watched that video above and setup the new focuser with correct backlash settings etc. If I was you I'd take the EAF off and inspect it for excessive play in the shaft before refitting. Hopefully that sorts it. What version of NINA are you on?

I had issues last year with AF. Turned out to be a slipping focuser so been sorted since but my graph did look like your wonky one above. When I sorted the focuser I looked at Patriot Astro youtube channel on how to set up the AF steps in NINA. Been solid ever since.

Ah! Alacant! Champion of the reflector, welcome to the maddening world of refractor back spacing! Lol Seriously though, I have tried them all, WO, OVL, Planostar, Telescope Express, HoTech etc None of them ever gave me perfect stars in the corners or sides. The closest was the WO reducer as they gave specific measurement for different scopes. As you've found above, pick something you are happy with and leave it alone! FYI, the best flattener to date is the specific one made for my Esprit 100, nice round stars across the frame with both my 533MM and 2600MC. Best coma corrector for my 200P is the TS GPU.

Is Rho all broadband and reflection? I would suggest standard Canon 6D myself.

For such a demanding application I would suggest going windows based PC over an ASIAir. That way you can get full use of PHD2. I find the ASIAir guide graphs are very optimistic. You say the mount had been tuned. Did you strip it and rebuild yourself? You tuned backlash out yourself?

I image throughout the year, including summer, and I have never seen peak amps go much above 3A for everything, mounts, cameras, dew strips etc. My Nevada PSU has an ammeter gauge and also can see current draw through the Pegasus powerbox. I think people have issues with powerbricks as they only deliver 12v to first source of power and then voltage drop becomes an issue with smaller cables between devices. If you can find one, I would recommend using a 13.8v power source as voltage drop shouldn't be a concern then.

Atik stuff is pretty well engineered. My old 460EX never skipped a beat, never disconnected, never dropped a sub or failed a download. Wish the same could be said for ZWO stuff lol. I think it's pretty safe just letting the camera driver control the cool down, not sure if it controls warm up or just switches off and let's the heat sink do the work... To err on the side of caution, I let NINA control both cooling and warming with a minimum 10 minute period each.

Just to point out, DSLR's themselves have CMOS sensors and they work almost exactly like dedicated astro CMOS, the catch being they are not as efficient. Where modern astro sensors QE (quantum efficiency) range is anywhere between 60/90%, a Mark I Canon 6D, probably the best DSLR for astro work, its QE range is only around 46/49%. So if you pit it against the well regarded IMX571 sensor, you would need to gather almost twice as much exposure time with a 6D as you would with a 571 type camera. Short exposures will work with a DSLR but you would at least need to expose above the noise level and have many, many subs which would require large storage space and lots of processing power to stack them which makes it impractical in reality.

I have 2 of these, Coowoo branded or similar, bought off Amazon. They work quite well despite being only 5v. That said, they are thirsty! On low setting they draw around 0.7 amps and on high they draw around 1.2 amps! Much more than the usual 500mah from a typical USB supply. I plug mine into a Bison leisure battery box with 2.5ah USB ports. I wouldn't use any USB device unless it has a dedicated USB socket that can deliver 2.5ah

Great first image! Would also love to see some pics of the scope! Any details on the build?

If the input voltage is 12v say, then the output on each port should be the same or very similar. I doubt the Plus steps up if input is a bit lower. Whether you have 12v at the device is another question as 12v is very susceptible to voltage drop depending on the cross section area and length of the cable being used.