teoria_del_big_bang

Sounds like a real good evening, you can tell from the post it was enjoyable. Steve

Thanks, if it happens again I will try that Steve

Hi, thanks, yes I tried that and I think it said no instances of PHD2 running (I think can't quite remember) but even so after running that command it just came up again when I started PHD2. Only way (at the time) I found was to totally remove PHD2 and then re-install it, then it worked. Steve

Its a great scope, and in years to come if looked after will command a good resale price. And, I think without those bits you mention it will be well in. I guess it's a matter of whether you think you will never upgrade your HEQ5. If you think you might (and also these are easily re-sellable bits of kit) then you can't go wrong. It he HEQ5 is your forever mount (and for many it is as it is a great mount for AP) then still no reason not to but yo will have to just watch the other added bits but that's not difficult and perhaps not a bad thing. Also when I buy expensive bits of ki

I can confirm that the 100ED with usual astro gear is right on the limit. but useable. When I bought mine and replaced my WO73 I could not balance with the CW right at end of the CW post and bought an extension which is not ideal. I did not like the extension so ended up removing a few bits of extras that took it over the weight at which I could balance (mainy the adjustable SW Guidescope mount which is a great piece of kit but pretty weighty and not really needed for AP). When I was getting the weight down I actually weighed everything myself so if of any use: What is on top of mo

Here.s a few stacked Ha images, I can't really see any evidence of tilt, but again not too sure what I am looking for, I assume elongated or shaped stars on one part of image. Steve

Yes everything is bolted together apart from the last spacer that screws to the flattener. I can;t really feel any slop in the focusser that is causing tilt and not sure I personally can see evidence of any n the few images I have take,, but not too experienced with tilt and how to cure i. Steve

Does anyone know how to centralise this ? Or is it really not a big issue ? I assume there is something to adjust on the focusser but what ? I would be grateful if somebody has ad the same issue and managed to centralise this on a Esprit. Steve

Having just fitted a new FW and camera (QHY268M & QHY FW3) to my Esprit 100ED my first attempts at flats look a bit odd. An unstretched flat looks reasonable. But when auto-stretched left is new setup and right is with my old setup (ASI1600 & SX FW but same 36mm filters) stretched to same degree The original setup looks much more centralised to me whist the new setUp the centre of the image looks to be towards the bottom of the image. Using CCD Inspector, again new setup on left. So do I have a problem and how do i overcome it ? Steve

After 3 nights running EKOS / KStars without any serious issues tonight cannot get PHD2 running at all. Everytime I start it I get the following error I have shut everything down and rebooted, I have shut down any instance of PHD2 using terminal and still get this issue . Steve

I have only taken Ha so far and for 25K tool 30S, which is a bit long perhaps but that was with full brightness of my panel. But also my Ha is 3.5 Nm so will take longer than your 6 nM. Difficult to compare as it depends on filters and light intensity. Steve

With my QHY268M I am still experimenting with flats. I did use 25,000 but so far best final images I have obtained are not using any flats so far. In fact a straight stack of uncalibrated lights has really given as good an image as any calibrations so far. Now some of this might be my ding so cannot put too much on that yet as I need to do a few more tests yet. Steve

The drivers are on your laptop / computer / or RPi running the acquisition software (Stellarmate) so the software can communicate with the camera, the camera needs flashing with firmware. Steve

Ran perfectly for the 4 hours of clear sky last night. Also did the flip flawlessly, which it had failed on the previous two nights, found that DST was not set to yes on the mount so set it to Y and flipped perfectly, checking alignment before flip and setting alignment after flip then re-calibrating PHD2 and carry on with sequence. Steve

I agree with all that statement, I maybe do not understand why but I agree Steve

Another nice image, but I really like the heart image. I always struggles with getting anything worthwhile on SII or OII with that target but yours has grat colours. Steve

Not checked but updated and upgraded regularly. I am on Stellarmate and IOptron mount. Last night only crashed once in the couple of hours I got before clouds covered everything, even the moon. it seemed to crash when saving the image so I put a 4 sec delay (which may or may not have down anything) but did not crash after that. Steve

Due to persistent clouds I have not had much actual exposure time with this new camera, di get a few Ha under the near full moon last couple of nights but viewing not great as over most of my 10 min exposures I think some cloud passed by. But I did take some darks when it arrived and comparing to my ASI1600 it;s like chalk and cheese not that amp glow has gone. Left is an auto stretched master dark (360S) from my 1600 and using exactly the same stretch on the QHY 268M on the right of a 360S master dark. So, forgive my ignorance, but are darks now basically only taking out hot

I think that is incredible for 4 hours total data Steve

Can't even see the damned moon now for clouds. What with having a failed flip and guiding issues only got 3 X 600s worth anything. Steve

Well looks good in Ha

I then need a clear moonless day to get the RGB data, but God knows when I will get that. Steve

Horsehead, Looking okay for me - 600sec Ha (but I forgot to start the guider for this one so starts a bit elongated). And why is it up North always has to have a clear night and full moon ? Steve

Yes it can become a bit of a money pit can't it, but I would be pretty sure that is the issue, they do not like low voltage. Steve

Yes sounds feasible, mounts tend to complain even around 11.5V so hopefully that was the issue Steve