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Altair8389

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Everything posted by Altair8389

  1. Thanks Olly. I am not entirely clear how your method uses "inverted"" layers. I am used to inverting a black into a white mask, but how do you invert a layer ? And then divide blending mode to get the stars, after flattening the result. Is that right ?
  2. Hello WolfieGlos, I am finding this a bit confusing,sorry. Does stars2 contain the stars or is it starless (no stars) ? Also in point 7….there are 2 starless images so how do you get stars from the layer mode (SCREEN)? Sorry if I am not getting the sense of these actions correct. Thanks, Magnus
  3. Thanks Olly. Your method described here is more easy to understand than WolfieGlos method. Does your method work better than RCAstro StarXterminator program, assuming you have Pixinsight? Thanks. Magnus
  4. Hi Steve, Thanks, I did not think of that - choosing Atik 2 option in Ascom. Well I reinstalled the Atik drivers using an old driver version from 16/8/2018 : SetupAtikCamerasUniversal-4.2.2.9.exe (download from the Atik Camera website), not the latest version of the Universal drivers in March 2023. Now the Atik 314+ seems to be better controlled and works normally in APT (taking test shots), not tried out in the dark sky yet. It also works for Artemis Capture and SharpCap 4.0 (choose Atik Camera in the drop down Camera menu). Superb! Magnus
  5. Yes, it seems to. I tested darks with Artemis capture. Tried imaging the moon with Sharpcap which seemed to work ok despite my focus not optimal. Magnus
  6. Hi SGL, I recently purchased a licence for APT and am testing it on my dSLR and also cooled Atik 314L+ camera. It seems to work ok with the dSLR but it is not doing so well for the Atik 314L+. I am using the ASCOM ATIK driver for Atik 314L(1396) in APT. I have tested image capture with the lens cap on and I am getting abnormal images such as lines across the sensor for a 1 second and a bright thick white line at the bottom of the sensor. This did not happen with SharpCap 4.0 and Artemis Capture (ATIK software). Does anyone know if there is another driver, or is the legacy drivers pre 2019 which might work better ? Or shall I reinstall the Atik drivers. I am using the latest version of ASCOM. Here are some error messages I found in the log in APT. I tested APT again and I did choose the ASCOM camera option (shift+connect: CCD: Ascom). I tested a short and long exposure (30 secs) and show you the equivalent image in jpg. There is an error exeption message in the log which I also attach. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG FullWellCapacity - Exception occurred. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG electronsPerADU - Exception occurred. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG Error reading camera parameters. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) Op Connected to Camera Atik Camera Driver 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG ASCOM driver 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG Get Gain - Exception occurred. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG Can't read gain setting. 2023/06/06 11:48:52 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:52) DBG Get BlackLevel - Exception occurred. 2023/06/06 11:48:58 (UT 2023/06/06 10:48:58) Op CCD auto cooling stopped. Use the Cooling Aid to cool the camera. 2023/06/06 11:49:00 (UT 2023/06/06 10:49:00) DBG SC Status - checking for plan triggers 2023/06/06 11:49:00 (UT 2023/06/06 10:49:00) DBG Refocus Check: Skip check because daytime Is there an error in the camera driver or is the camera driver wrong? Ivo (APT forum) says the problem is the driver, as APT does not change anything. Many thanks. Magnus
  7. Hi, I was wondering how vital this is, as I got a cooled camera the Atik 314L+ recently. I have been testing it and not warming the camera sensor after shutting down the camera/computer. I read this can damage the sensor due to “thermal shocks” Does everyone warm their cameras up? Do you wait for it to reach near ambient temperature? What about taking camera indoors after imaging? Would that be a thermal shock to the sensor? Thanks.
  8. Nice imaging! What mount do you use for this C8 telescope. Does it work on Skywatcher HEQ5-pro? Why is Jupiter smaller than Damien Peach images of Jupiter. His one is 3 x larger than my moon taken with a 3 inch refractor!
  9. Hi Anthony, What is a 1.2t pier ? I am very tempted to build a pier actually, but it looks so difficult and messy. The problem is I do not know which place to put the pier - in the garden or on the patio. Maybe I need 2 piers to maximise the coverage of the sky. Thanks. Magnus
  10. Hi Anthony, How does the telescope/tripod not topple over ? How is the whole thing stable on the trolley. Did you do a DIY job on this trolley? Another problem: how do you lift the tripod and OTA on the trolley and also how do you lower tripod and OTA down on the ground where you are imaging? Thanks.
  11. I just found out about Astrobiscuits disaster : Cuiv also had a disaster in January, his covers were blown away and his equipment got wet. Not sure how much damage was done to the mount and cameras. Are they to an extent waterproof? I usually stay very vigilant. If there is rain coming I like to be able to remove the vital parts in minutes. I can leave the tripod in place with a cover, but I usually remove everything else inside the house, for those nights with no rain for a few days. An emergency cover would be nice if you can setup near the house (hausawning.tv). A nice observatory dome or a shed would be nice as well.
  12. Hi, Thank you guys! Very useful info and advice given. I did not know about Cuiv’s misfortune, I will need to search for that out. I think we all have to choose our own unique setup., what we can accept. Our circumstances, money, work, time, mood, astrophotography knowledge, skills etc are all unique. I think there is merit in keeping some things in place as it would be hard to keep taking it apart. There is merit in all the suggestions, I will try and make a logical formula for my and future imagers. Magnus
  13. Hi All, I have seen some Youtubers like e.g. Cuiv the Lazy geek say you can/should keep a rig outside in the rain and snow and heat with an outside cover. I wonder if this is good advice. And to keep one item permanently fixed ? For example a 60mm refractor can be used for more than one thing. Dissassemble a rig can take time, but I actually prefer to take something apart. For example, the camera for the guidescope or imaging camera could be used on something else and I can protect them from damage more if I take that camera out etc. It seems it should increase cost of astronomy hobby considerably if I follow Cuiv's advice. See his video: For example would I need 5 separate EQ mounts for 5 telescopes, that could be a bit expensive ? What about storage. Do you need an enormous house /space or massive garage to do this ? Many thanks. Magnus
  14. Thanks R26 oldtimer. I will do as you advise and get the dSLR fired up with the Stellalyra CC soon. I think I have enough spacers to do the appropriate spacings. Magnus
  15. Hi all, I estimated the misalignment of the focuser caused about 1 degree deviation of the laser from the centre of the mirror. Would a 1 degree deviation be serious ? I would have thought it was not so serious for imaging. What do you think ? I did a trigonometry, estimated the position of the laser on the mirror and divided this distance by about 560 mm which is the approximate distance of the primary to the secondary mirror. Not sure if it would be easy to correct this entirely by making adjustments to the screws which attach the focuser to the OTA tube. Any ideas anyone ? Thanks a lot. Magnus
  16. Hi Ole, Thank you for that tip. Yes that is excellent idea. I have found a cheap laser collimator did not work properly and collimation of the laser was difficult. I got a Bresser Messier laser collimator and that is excellent. Update: My Skywatcher 150 PDS has been collimated ok now. My secondary mirror seemed slightly rotated down too much and I have corrected it. Still not perfect but I realised my focuser tube is slightly out of alignment by a few degrees. I will think about adjusting this another time. My 8 inch Bresser Messier dobsonian is correctly collimated by both Cheshire collimators x2/Laser Bresser/Collimation cap almost perfectly. The Skywatcher 150pds: Cheshire collimates it well (I was using it wrong before !!). I will have to star test the system next and think about correcting the light leaks and also the focuser position.... Many thanks for all who helped and made comments and advice. Magnus
  17. Thanks everyone who submitted advice. I will take note of all this. I had no idea this would be needed for inaging and taking dark frames! Especially covering the parts of the scope when imaging! Magnus
  18. Hi, I am a beginner with imaging with the Skywatcher 150pds. I noticed when collimating that there could be a problem with the focuser at the appropriate alignment with the primary mirror axis. I noticed that after collimating with a cheshire eyepiece, then when I did the Laser collimator, the laser did not line up with the doughnut on the primary mirror in the centre. I found that using the laser, I had to readjust the secondary mirror. When this kept on repeating, I stopped using the laser and used the Cheshire instead to align both the secondary and primary mirrors. 1) Is there a quick way to work out if my focuser is not orthogonal (90 degree to the primary optical axis). Is this focuser mis alignment a common problem for (cheap) reflectors ? 2) Another issue, is there a light leak problem with this reflector ? I noticed when getting a dark frame, the dark frame was NOT DARK. In fact doing a dark in the daylight led to a white out in the frame. I notice maybe you need to cover the primary mirror cell, maybe the focuser tube or front of the scope. Is there a common thing you have to do ? (I have not managed to work out where the light leak is yet) . I had no idea imaging was so difficult and so many problems....focuser not orthogonal ? Collimation and coma correctors and their use/setup !!!! [cloudy nights link to GSO coma corrector] https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/462985-setting-up-the-gso-coma-corrector/page-2?hl= gso coma corrector for imaging [after sorting out balance and focusing issues) Thanks everyone! Magnus
  19. Sorry to revive this old thread again. ! I have a Skywatcher 150pds and decided to go for the StellaLyra coma corrector (from FLO) for a reduced price. I did this as the Baader and Skywatcher CC were more expensive. However, I am not interested principally in visual, just for imaging e.g. with a dSLR Canon 100D. How do you set the StellaLyra CC for dSLR imaging on the Skywatcher 150pds. Just insert the coma corrector and insert the dSLR (with Tring and 2 inch camera adaptor into the coma corrector) ? Or is there additional spacers and other stuff to worry about ? I did read the CloudyNights thread but that seemed mainly for the visual (eyepiece) adaptions, I am not really bothered for what my eye can see as my eye is not perfect anyway. Many thanks. Magnus
  20. Hi Jeremy, I had more attempts at the dobsonian. I found that the “diffraction flares at 120 degrees separation” lessened or disappeared on using a better eyepiece. I saw the concentric rings when I defocused on a star; perfectly (?) concentric circles, and I saw the typical 4 spikes at 90 degrees to each other like you see in photos or artificially generated by software. So my original problem may be due to low quality eyepieces and using glasses (specs). My left eye has significant astigmatism; to get minimal artifacts, use your best eye without glasses! Good tip about the Cheshire! I may have to try thinking getting a longer Cheshire tube! Previously I was confusing the 4 spider vanes with the Cheshire alignment hairs!
  21. Hi, I recently bought the Skywatcher Heritage-90 Virtuoso mount (has a 90mm mak-cas scope on a mini-dob mount). After some problems, I managed to hook up a V4 handset with a AZ synscan cable. Initially the handcontrol only moves the mount up and down and left right using the rate*9 setting on the handset. There is no facility for the Panorama setting which is present in the Allview mount. In fact it was the flexibility of the Allview mount for photography that first attracted to me to this Heritage-90 unit. Will flashing the handset with the Allview mount firmware allow me to control the panorama function of the mount via the handset ? I was worried I would lose the EQ firmware if something went wrong, or can I just jumpt to whatever firmware you decide to install on the handset ? Anyone else who has this unit and has experience of using the handset will be welcome to give comment or advice. Thank you. Magnus
  22. Hi Captain Scarlet, I usually use glasses and I think the flares are there with or without, but I am not 100 percent certain. I will have another look and try and image with a camera !!! Magnus
  23. I am -6 dioptres myopic, so if I take my glasses off, I can see the cheshire cross hairs ok, but the rest of the image - spider vanes and mirror are blurred. I think the Cheshire cross hairs are in the centre and coincide with the donut dot in the centre of the primary mirror though. Magnus
  24. Hi, I just realised I cannot focus on the Cheshire collimator's cross hairs - they are out of focus no matter how I arrange the focuser and if I move the Cheshire out as much as possible or in as much as possible ! I have the short tube version of the Cheshire, what is wrong here ?
  25. Here is an attempt at the photo of the view down the Cheshire collimating tube.
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