teoria_del_big_bang

Dick, Have you installed Stellarium scope as well as stellarium? stellariumscope If not then download and follow the instructions on the website. Steve

A couple of questions regarding ideal filters for DSO's when using a ZWO 1600M Pro camera. LRGB According to ZWO you are better off using their filters designed for this camera a opposed to other well know and trusted brands such as Baader. Does anybody have any evidence of this? Most LRGB filters have some form of IR block but if using in areas where there is some form of light pollution is it good practice to also have a good LP filter in line somewhere such as the IDAS P2 ? If so where is best to place it, just after the flattener, After writing this I realised this is probably not the best place as it will affect the back focus of the flattener and without changing my spacers, taking into account for the way the diffraction withing the filter affects the light path, I will not have correct back focus. SO I suspect it is best to put the filter in front of the flattener. There is a Baader LRGBC filter set. When would you use the clear filter? Steve

Couldn't agree more. Yes thankfully times have changed and I think now most people will know his name and remember him for what a tremendous thing he did for our country. And in recognition I will now try to collect as meany of those notes as I can get my hands on 🙂 Steve

Definitely an improvement on what was already a great image. Funnily enough I am over working in Sweden at present for a week or two. I bet it is almost impossible to get good data this time of year, daylight nearly all the time and where I am at least the weather not much better than UK. 🙂 Steve

It works for me 🙂 Steve

Good idea Mt setup has run for about 5 hours today taking darks but changing filter each time with camera at -20 without putting a foot wrong. Typical, if that were a real clear night session odd it would have been different. Steve

Normally it is plugged into the 1600 hub and I originally used the flat USB leads provided with the camera and then with a 0.3M Cromo USB cable. Had same issue with both leads. Power supply is a 5A supply the one recommended for these cameras from FLO . I am pretty sure I have had the issue when plugged into a startech powered usb hub but my memory not great so not totally sure on this. Steve

Thanks for the replies, I agree about the issue with poor USB cables and hence a few months ago spent a fair bit on replacing all I had with the Lindy Cromo range making sure they were no longer than required. I currently have the filterwheel connected to the usb2 hub on the ZWO camera via a 0.3M lindy cable but I have tried with a cable through an expensive usb 3 hub as well. But it is encouraging that nobody suspects an issue with the FW itself as I really like it apart from this issue. I am currently trying the test Olly suggest and running sequences without the -20C and I will also try with a cable direct back to laptop and no hubs unvolved. Steve

I have a Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel which has my ZWO 1600 mm pro camera mounted as closely coupled as it will go. Every time so far I have had used the setup for more than a couple of hours the filter wheel seems to fault. I am using APT and when trying to get a nights worth of data using LGRB filters everything starts out fine but a few hours later it seems at some stage in the plan APT lost communication with the filter wheel, but no fault appeared and the plan continued to go through to completion just stop changing filters. When I manually try to connect to the filter it wont. Sometimes I can manage to get it going again (not sure how yet as when I do it was by closing programs and restarting them and maybe remobing power to FW). One thought I have is that it is due to the camera running at -20C which then makes the fiter wheel -20C and causes issues with the electronics. Has anyone had similar issues ? I am thinking of getting a ZWO filter wheel as this should just work wit the ZWO camera but I do like the starlight one as I have 1.25" wheel and 2" wheel that can be changed easily. As far as I can see if I wanted to progress to 2" filters with the ZWO then I have to but another full wheel assemby I have not seen the filter mounts sold seperately. Also do not want to splash out £300 if this can be fixed. Any advice? Steve

Very nice, clear image with lots of detail. Certainly worth clicking on the picture to see the full image. This is the type of image I aspire to obtain - one day I will but still on the learning curve as yet 🙂 Steve

Hi, Sorry I am doing your trick and not reading all your post. You say you have wound your focusser fully in and out and not achieved focus ? In the end of the focusser is there another tube that can be pulled out to extend the focusser tube, i.e. makes the eyepiece come further out of the scope ? If so it may need this tube extending. Maybe if you can take a good photo of the focusser with eyepiece and put in your post it might help. Steve

Because it is not focused correctly you are seeing the 4 thin vanes that hold the secondary mirror. Are you using eye pieces that were supplied with the scope? If so then I would imaging they should be suitable and you should be able to achieve focus. If supplied with more than one eyepiece start with the highest mm eyepiece. These telescopes usually supplied with 10 and 20 mm EP's so then start with the 20 mm, or the highest supplied. Start with the focusser wound fully inwards and whilst looking through it wind it out and see it things start to get more into focus as it winds out. If so then looks like you are winding in correct direction (hope so as you cannot go any further in). Hopefully you will achieve focus before you wind it out fully. Make sure the locking screw is loose a little on the focusser as if this is tight then you will be able to wing the focusser knobs but it may not move. To get focus the focusser will move in and out of the scope. You could try before it gets fully dark to focus on a distant object on the earth, such as a tree or pylon etc as far away as possible. If you can get focus on that then although you will need to change focus a little to focus on a star but it will be somewhere near. If you do try to use it before dark make sure is is not a sunny day and scope is pointing well (well away) from the sun. I would always wait until sun has gone down or a real cloudy day. I never get it out on a sunny day and look through eye piece (NEVER) even if I think it is pointing away from sun as it is too easy to forget and move scope whilst looking through it 😞 Steve

Hi, I am a relative newbie so no expert by any means. But sounds like you are just way out of focus. Is what you are seeing something similar to this (This is with a telescope with 3 spider vanes whilst yours will have 4) Steve

Paul Sounds like a magic couple of hours spent relaxing in what otherwise can, at times, be a chaotic world 🙂 Something to be treasured. Thanks for sharing. Steve

Nothing much I can add to all the comments above - that image is simply stunning 🙂 Steve

I did have server enabled but I think because APT was running under administrator it also runs EQMOD as Administrator which means PHD cannot use the same instance unless it also runs as administrator. Steve

After hours trying to get it to work I think I have found a possible reason. I had APT set to run in Administrator mode but not PHD. If I set them both to Administrator mode then it seems I can connect both to the mount, I am now not sure whether both should be in this mode or both not in Administrator mode.

OK I am pretty much aware that there is a very simple answer to this and I am being a numpty but can somebody give this dummy a push 🙂 How do I connect APT and PHD to the mount. I can stat APT first and connect it to the mount using "EQMOD HEQ5/6" and it connects okay. And the EQMOD opens as normal. But then when I open PHD and try to connect to the mount it opens a 2nd instance of EQMOD which of course cannot then connect to the same mount. I sort of understand why I get the error, and obviously the same happens if I open PHD first that will connect but the APT will not, but cannot see what to connect to as both applications have to communicate with same mount. I have tried connecting to POTH hub and Generic Hub. APT will connect to POTH hub but not Generic hub but PHD will not connect to either. ???????????????? Steve

yabba dabba doo!",

That's an Amazing sketch. This is not my particular area of interest (mostly because I can't draw for my life) but I like to look at the sketching threads as I am amazed what some people can draw and the effort that goes into it. After all this is how it all started with the first telescopes and early astronomers. 🙂 Steve

If there is only 800Kg then you will not have lot left over as you need 710 KG. If you need to use all up then you could either just make it a tad bigger with the extra bag of cement or just dig the hole a bit deeper and line the bottom of the hole with some dry ballast (around 1/8 of the bag). Maybe just check with wickes what the weight of the bag is. Steve

I am not a professional builder but have done plenty of building in the garden and so far everything is still standing. I would use a 3:2:1 mix 3 parts aggregrate , 2 parts coarse sand and 1 Portland Cement You can use the calculator here:- Concrete Mix Calculator I am assuming the Wickes jumbo bag is the same size as what is often called tonne bags available from most builders merchants. Which is a bit misleading as I think they are generally 800Kg and not a metric tonne. So you need 6 bags of cement (25Kg), 11 bags sharp sand (usually in 25 or 30 Kg bags) not soft sand as used in mortar, and 21 bags of aggregate (25 or 30 Kg). The jumbo bag of ballast is actually both concreting sand or sharp sand AND aggregate mixed in the right ratio and is usually much cheaper than buying in seperate 25 Kg bags. So this replaces the sand & aggregate and just needs cement and water adding. So 1 jumbo bag of Ballast will be a bit more than the 0.7 tonnes you need + 6 bags of cement would suffice and will be the cheapest way I would think. I might be tempted to get 7 bags of cement just in case you get the quantities a bit out as you do not want to run out of cement before the foundation is done as it should be poured all in one go ( can be several mixes pored one after each other). Personally I would be tempted to put some rebar in as well. Steve

Considering the weather up this end of the country lately, the very short nights and throw in a full moon it is amazing you can get an image like that. Well done 🙂 Steve

🤣 I see where you are coming from but I am due to retire next year so thought I better get my gear in while I am earning. Well that was one of my excusses to the missus anyway.

Welcome to SGL and amazing images for such a short time of owning a scope. Steve