Viktiste

Truly amazing pictures!

If  you aregoing to use it for PixInsight only, they state pretty clearly that Linux is the best performing OS. 

https://pixinsight.com/sysreq/index.html

Just something to also take into account.

We have had very clear skies this week in Norway, so I have been out a few nights to observe the Venus & Jupiter Conjunction. On Wednesday I also attempted my first planetary image. 

I am cheating a bit since the image is a combination of two different exposure times, one to capture the moons ( where Jupiter saturates) and another one to capture Jupiter without saturating it. I stacked about 50% of about 1000 images for both. Captured in Firecapture and stacked in AutoStakkert.

This was taken with the ASI120MC through a  2x Telvue barlow on the Esprit 80 ED.Jupiter01Mar2023.tiff

What version of windows is on the NUC? Home edition does not support Windows Remote Desktop.

15 hours ago, Louis D said:

Wow, what part of Norway did that theft occur in?  I picture a mostly empty country filled with fishing villages, fjords, and snow capped mountains.  Norwegian cities are typically portrayed as utopian paradises on travel shows here in the US.

He he, Sorry to spoil your picture. Just a normal suburb in a mid sized city. Drug addicts are everywhere, even here and they need daily funds for their bad habit. 

IMHO the only thing you achieve with security cameras/cctv is to be able watch the theft afterwards.  Probably not likely to scare anyone off. And there is no guarantee that the police have the resources to follow up on a camera recording.

As others have said, it depends on the thieves. Drug addicts or kids looking for some quick cash will be in and out quickly and only steal stuff that is easily fenced, and will probably flee if spooked by lights and sirens. But if it is as gang of pro thieves - then maybe not. And they might be more likely tho steal the expensive stuff (imaging setup) in addition to the cheap stuff (pc).

After this incident I never leave my gear unattended for long periods, and sadly it kind of ruined the hobby for me.

Hi and welcome. 

'Ovenpaa' - I smell something Norwegian here?

On 16/05/2022 at 12:52, Alien 13 said:

Nice, already have Affinity Photo but notice that "Designer" is reduced too so will hit the button.

Me too. I am sure I will find some good use for the "Designer". 

11 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

So to whom do the authors of this menu think they are talking?

To those who try big numbers and small numbers and see what happens? Same as PS I think. A Feather of 2 is...? Good ? Bad? 

10 hours ago, Budgie1 said:

Have a look at the tutorials by Mitch, I found them useful when I started with PI.

I got going with those videos too, highly recommended. However they are a bit outdated, particularly when it comes to Image Integration. I took notes/screenshots, it is so much quicker to refer to later instead of re-playing videos. 

6 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I'm amazed that you'd find Pixinsight easier than...well...anything. However, those who become very expert in its use can match the results from Photoshop. 

Olly

I suspect you must have been proficient  at Photoshop before you started AP processing (?) I started with zero knowledge of either Photoshop or PixInsight. From my perspective Photoshop had a next to impossible learning curve. PixInsight, while not easy, was at least possible for a beginner to learn, Photoshop was not. 

I am (very sloooowly) getting the hang of Affinity Photo though, which is similar to PS I guess.

As for matching Photoshop results - I do agree that some of the filters you can apply in PS/Affinity works magic, and is hard to do in PI.

Since the camera is out of warranty, and the dealer suggest the fix is swapping out one or two boards, I would consider to ask the dealer if it is feasible to DYI. If they send you the board(s)...  

Hi. This is my 8x50 SW finder scope as a guide camera. It works sufficiently for a small (80mm) aperture refractor, Guiding with PHD2 I can take longer than necessary exposures with it on a HEQ5 pro mount.

The pictures shows it in focus with the ZWO 120 MC camera. 

I very much doubt you will get it in focus with the helical adapter. It is not needed anyway, just focus by adjusting the front like you would if using it as a finder scope. A bit touch and go to get focus, but definitely doable.

Edit: Oh, just now realized the OP is from 2016 😜  Hope he got sorted out.

On 24/02/2022 at 19:48, vlaiv said:

I just figured out the way to "3d" print - circuit boards

Well, not really, but it did occur to me to use filament to create etching mask on PCB - and quick search online showed that it is really not feasible as filament won't stick well enough to PCB and etching usually fails.

However - if we combine two things - we can still get decent 3d printed circuit boards.

Most basic masking method - using black permanent marker to trace out leads on PCB prior to etching - like in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VenCNTvXqFc

and then we add a bit of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmgT__nU9po

It's just 3d printed magic marker holder that attaches next to hot end . In "drawing" mode - we don't heat the bed nor heat up the hot end - magic marker will be lower than hot end which we deal with z-offset.

Then it is just matter of "3d printing" our PCB traces on board

For DYI PCB's a laser/CNC engraver is an option. Google  CNC3018 - there are plenty of info online on how to make PCB's with it. 

On 20/02/2022 at 17:50, Budgie1 said:

I used the 12 part video tutorials from Mitch.

My advice would be to start with the post-processing side of Pixinsight and get to know that first. You can leave the stacking to the likes of DSS and go back to the Weighted Batch Processing later.

I too recommend to start with the tutorials from Mitch.

I don't really need to. But it should still work. And it surprises me that is doesn't. 

I agree with that. It's probably Stellarium, and not really a big issue, but strange.

Some other thoughts I just have to vent about this mount (so far):

It seriously annoys me that a £ 3000 mount does not come with the cable needed to upgrade the FW in the hand controller.  The manual suggests some DIY solutions. Seriously??!! Also the mount parking options are a bit strange, there is no button to park to the celestial north pole, but lots of other parking options, all of which are mm's away from colliding the RA axis on itself. Which would need a few Cognac's and possibly stronger medication stuff to watch without pulling the power cord. I have already managed to have the RA axis move noisily against the body of the mount.

Two waterproof limit switches are ordered from eBay!

It is fair to say that the  CEM70C has not been love at first sight....

Perhaps she will grow on me, I hope so. I have not really used her as intended yet...

Thanks malc-c, I saw that tread too.  I suppose I can live pretty good with minimizing and restoring the Stellarium window also. Anyways, that and the other suggestions on Cloudy Nights are workarounds rather than solutions. It surprises me that this is an issue with iOptron, which I (perhaps wrongly) assumed was in a league a little above SkyWatcher. 

Here is your picture, with dynamic background extraction and some nose reduction (using PixInsight). Just to show that processing the image is half the job (and twice the fun):

You cold of course just have gone down to your ski waxing/preparing room and used some of of this stuff:

🤪

I have a strange problem with Stellarium and my new iOptron CEM70C. It connects fine in Stellarium but refuses to slew.  When select something in Stellarium and hit 'Slew' nothing happens.

Troubleshooting steps:

CEM70C connects and slews ok in NINA.

Connected my HEQ5 pro to Stellarium. That connects and slews ok (in Stellarium, as it always has).

Dowloaded Cartes du Ciel. CEM70C connects and slews to targets just fine there.

Google... Some people at Cloudy Nights reports that lowering the displayed detail in Stellarium helps with iOptron slew problems. So: Disabled meteor showers, artificial satellites and exoplanets in Stellarium. CEM70C still will not slew.

Then I  discovered (pretty much by accident) that the mount slews if I minimize Stellarium. Then when I bring the Stellarium window back up, the mount has slewed to the correct position (it looks like, I'm testing indoors) and the scope reticule is in the correct spot.  Just briefly minimizing and reopening the Stellarium window initiates the slew and the reticule and mount moves to the selected target.

Any other iOptron owners out there that has a seen this?

Software:

Windows 10.

Stellarium 0.21.2

iOptron Commander 7.00

Ascom plattform 6.5 / ASCOM.iOptron2017.Telescope

I use Firecapture for shooting movies of the moon, and Autostakkert for stacking/processing the pictures from the movie.

Moon, shot 19th Dec 2021, 57 frames, stacked the 50% best, processed with 1.5 drizzle:

Then reprocessed with 1.5 drizzle and 10% sharpen:

Re-read your post, I guess you asked about phone apps. I dunno...

100 yards is not that long for a mains extension cable. That's what I would do. No need for a buried conduit if you unplug it when you are not using it. IMHO a solar panel with an invertor sound like a bad idea compared to a 90m extension cable...

The threads on that cap are way to fine. I often find it a struggle to not cross thread the cap when putting it back on, especially when it is cold and my fingers are freezing and I want to get inside in a hurry. It's a stupid design, there is no need for precision threads on that cap.