Xsubmariner

Great news Adam. A good idea to PA the base to get it aligned as accurate as possible before bolting down, it certainly eases later PA’s using the 3 mounting bolts. Looking forward to reading about your first guiding experience with the mount.

I faced the same challenge when trying to source insurance for my observatory. G&H quoted over £500 pa and home insurers don’t want to quote outside their comfort zones, if at all. I also found a lot of users who believed the equipment was covered under their house contents cover, hope they are not too disappointed when they make a claim. I found the maximum cover for outbuildings ranged from £3000-5000 for many of the core home insurers. With many of my other hobbies, membership societies offered good value insurance for members, negotiated with economy of scale due to member numbers. Following enquiries with the main Astronomy Societies I was surprised they were devoid of any insurance arrangements, or negotiated discounts for members equipment and observatories. They remind us how important our contribution is as amateur astronomers, is it too much to ask if they could negotiate a fair priced insurance package for their membership base. Until we can employ economies of scale as a group, individually we are destined to be at the mercy of specialist insurers and their premium pricing.

Hi Geoff, welcome to SGL and warm greetings from wet South Wales. I am sure you will find great support from the members here. Another great source for knowledge and hands on experience are the star parties. Martin

Hi Adam, Yes it is higher than I would hope with average seeing. Last night the passing clouds were not helpful and I was experiencing “star lost” a lot of the time. The backlash results were nice to see and I am confident the mount will meet my needs once commissioning is complete. Once I get PHD and PA refined I am sure the figures will better reflect this mounts true performance.

Commissioning the dual rig this last week has been a challenge, with slow progress principally due to the weather. The usual software and communication glitches surfaced as with any new imaging system combination, thankfully these have settled down now thanks to tie wraps. USB connections without securing clamps suck. Having reflected on feedback from other Mesu users I plan on operating my mount without a sky or PEC modelling. My modus operandi is to control the mount through SGPro with an initial plate solve after un-parking the mount. PHD2 will be used with an OAG setup to guide the system. A schoolboy error with OAG spacing didn't help, but last night I finally managed to conduct a couple of short tracking runs between rain showers. While not perfect, the seeing was reasonable and the best I have experienced with this mount, to date. Bearing in mind I am still using default PHD settings, I have been very impressed with the performance and ease of using this mount. Also using the Polar Alignment completed following initial mount installation, last nights runs indicated alignment error between 0.3-0.6 arc/sec, acceptable but will adjust when time allows. With a 40+KG load the mount slewed to target and plate-solved to within 1 pixel of my chosen target (SGP) within 2 iterations. While guiding runs were short due to cloud disruption, the MESU achieved guiding of 0.5 RMS total error at start and I am sure this figure will settle on longer runs following some grooming of PHD settings. PHD guiding assistant indicated Declination Backlash to be 0. While it is a limited sample base, the absence of backlash is clear testament to the engineering quality of my MESU mount and certainly reflects the experience of other users. At this time I could not be happier with my new mount, roll on clear skies.

It is looking likely Precision Engineering is where I will have to go for the adapters. Shame there is no U.K. manufacturing service for custom adapters.

For my mobile imaging system I went from an NEQ6 pro to an Avalon M-uno and am now back with the NEQ6 Pro. If you think you can handle the weight and moving of an NEQ6 I would go for that one. If your imaging aspiration increases and you want to upgrade to a 100mm APO with Camera, filterwheel, filters and motorised focuser this can be easily accommodated. What you think your system will be at this stage can change dramatically when the imaging bug bits.

When putting an imaging system together I have found the wide range of connections and thread sizes to be one of the biggest frustrations. Repeatedly I have excitedly received my new components only to have to wait for days or weeks to get the appropriate adapters. In most cases the primary driver is the system back-focus spacing and this can necessitate custom made adapters which can be prohibitively expensive for many users. I now need some custom made adapters and after several searches I found Precision Engineering the USA supported my need but were expensive when all taxes are added. Seeking recommendations for U.K. engineering services that support astronomy custom adapters. Thanks Martin

Advice needed. With all the bad weather lately, I have taken the opportunity to clean up some of the imaging data I collected over the last 2 years. While trying to sort the many files It became apparent I needed to adopt a more structured approach for filing the different types of data; Date, Target, Camera, Scope, Calibration frames. I am interested in how others manage their imaging data filing and what data is archived e.g. Raw files with Cal frames, Calibrated Raw files or Master aligned LRGB.

I have a set of the ZWO filters in my 1600 (acquired as a package) and they do appear to suffer from halos. All my other cameras have Baader which I think are much better for a small price increase. One day I aspire to merit an investment in Astrodon.

The data was captured early after I starting imaging, so it’s likely the spectrum was impacted by something I did with Nedulosity 4. I will go back to the data and reprocess with basic functions to see what happens. I have just started to learn Pixinsight and will now use this as as a test piece. Thanks for your comments they are greatly appreciated.

I would be interested to understand what caused the green in my image. Now I have just started learning Pixinsight, it would be great to see what an experienced user could do with the data. The data consists:Raw Fits Lu-180s-x9; Re-300s-x6; Gr-300s-x6; Bl-300s-x6 together with: Merged Fits master bias; master darks 180s+300s; master Lu-Re-Gr-Bl flats comes to a large 1.03GB folder. How do people manage the exchange of this data, any advice?

Welcome Dave, this is a great hobby but be advised very addictive.

Hi and welcome, great first image now the fun starts.

In my early stage of imaging I captured a set of frames for M33 and asked fellow Astronomy members at my society what was causing the two green areas in the image. In the end someone decided it was probably the ZWO filters in my 1600mm camera. I still don’t understand why it is in two localised areas and the rest of the image colour seemed ok, for my standard. It was processed with Neb4 with minor stretch, curves (contrast) used and saved JPEG.

I have enjoyed reading this thread, thanks Vlaiv for your straight forward words of wisdom. Now the confession, as a relatively new imager I have started capturing your words of wisdom in a notes document “ Vlaiv’s words of Imaging Wisdom” as a reference to remind myself in these early stages. Hope you don’t mind. Martin

Hi Alan, I note your camera is the ZWO 071mc, I assume it is not the “pro” variant. I had one of these first variant cameras and it suffered moisture (icing) problems which showed up much like your picture, some cameras didn’t show the problem while others did. After a lot of owner complaints the problem disappeared with the release of the “pro” variant. Original owners were offered to upgrade by exchange at additional cost. I was lucky to negotiate an exchange for my nearly new camera. It might be worth checking with the camera distributor.

Hi, great images and congratulations on your new hobby of Astrophotography. Martin

Thanks for the warning, you are correct in your observations. Each power circuit is protected by RCBO’s even lighting. A bit overkill but you can not be complacent.

Update with the build- having completed initial testing of the mount, I have now just completed the dual imaging setup and hope to start grooming the system when the sky allows 🥺. Last night afforded a minor window to plate-solve and slew the system to a couple of targets. All communication between devices check and working correct. My plan is to run 2 instances of SGP for dual imaging; one Atik 383 mono/TS130 Apo, One Atik 383+colour (Thanks Carlos - you are a Star)/AA130 edt Apo. When not used for guiding above , a third TAK60/Atik 383 will be used to collect simultaneous wide field frames on a second PC. Next Steps: Recheck PA. Align the 2 master telescopes, one fitted on heavy duty ADM plate for adjustment. Align the Tak 60 wide field scope. Refine auto focuser settings for all 3 camera setups Adjust PHD guiding configuration for sub arc/sec guiding for both Tak 60/Atik 383 and OAG /ZWO guider options. Wait a frustrating long time for the next quality clear sky, preferably without moon, I am allowed to dream a little.😴 Clear skies everyone, the mount guided well during trials here is a single 20 min uncalibrated Ha of Rosette Nebula, stretched and saved as JPEG in Nebulosity 4 to limit size.

Hi Chris, welcome. I think you’ve caught the imaging bug, don’t worry it is not life threatening but it will impact your savings, mind and could affect relationships. 🤪

Great result Adam, good luck with the rest of the build.

Yes it is exactly that. I have just removed my Gtf81 test rig and in the process of fitting Dual 5” APO setup. I love the through mount cabling with this mount and the rotation of the saddle through 90 degrees was the easiest I have experienced. Good luck with your build, let me know if you have further queries.

You are correct, at best you have 1/2 a day to grab a used Polemaster. I have and do still use 3 PA tools, Asi air/sharpcap with my mobile setups and Polemaster in observatory. I have found all 3 work well and dared I say will give you more than a good enough PA for most imagers. Have you tried a wanted ad yet, worth a try.

My wiring only looks different because my shutter control Tx module I mounted in a different place not next to the board as in your fit. The 2 disconnected wires are the -ve leads for the Tx module and motor board, mine are in the first connector as you have shown.