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WicklowSkies76

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Everything posted by WicklowSkies76

  1. OMG... after a disconnect and reconnect and choosing 'COM4' followed by Connect, I am in! HUGE THANKS!!! Would never have figured this out on my own. Never. Legend.
  2. OK I didn't have it installed as you suspected. On to the next issue thank you for bearing with me. Tried pointing to COM4 but not detecting the mount.
  3. For the life of me I cannot find that screen. That and the fact that I don't see the EQMOD.Telescope in the options dropdown would suggest I do not have EQMOD installed either fully or correctly. I will investigate and revert. Thank you all for the support thus far. You are legends... all of you!
  4. I'm going to need a bit of help accessing that screen. Had a root around and can't find it?
  5. Thanks everyone. I think we're getting somewhere. I had installed the driver for the HitecAstro USB - and consequently it showed up in Device Manager under Ports COM & LPT. It's listed under COM4 which I read was a-OK. Previously, before I had installed that driver, it was showing as an unknown USB device, so when I sorted that I thought I had it licked. But the issue is, in all of the ASCOM utilities when I try to add and configure the mount, despite the fact that it showed up in the list after I'd installed the drivers: The COM dropdown is blank: Even trying to manually add '4' or 'COM4' into it doesn't work as it throws an error. When it's left empty it also throws an error. I am befuddled. Any further things I should try?
  6. I'm trying to get set up to control my mount using my laptop and am hitting a brick wall with ASCOM so am wondering if I am doing things completely wrong. I have an AZEQ6-GT, I have plugged one end of the 'Hitecastro USB EQ Direct Interface' cable into the Hand Control port and the USB into the USB port on my laptop. I have downloaded the ASCOM driver from the Skywatcher website and it's picked up by the ASCOM telescope chooser. I have installed all manner of the latest EQMOD and ASCOM drivers and software and I've tried connecting to the Mount using Cartes Du Ciel, Stellarium Scope but I can't seem to get anywhere. It appears as though the Software needs me to select a COM port but it's 2020 and my Laptop (Surface Book 2) doesn't have any COM ports, the laptop is tethered to the Mount using the USB cable so I have no idea where to go next. Any tips?
  7. I posted this possibly on the wrong forum yesterday [Imaging - Planetary] so mods please delete the other one if necessary. Hi there, I sold my Neximage 5 a while back and am in the market for a planetary camera to use with my C11 XLT. As far as my limited knowledge and ability to research goes I think the Altair GPCAM3 385c Colour (details at bottom of post) might be the best bang for buck due to the high framerate. I was also recommended the following 2x Barlow (Altair Lightwave 2x Flat Field Tele Extender Barlow) as an ideal Barlow to accompany the 385c. The two should cost in the region of £400. Without getting into crazy money can anyone recommend a better option than this or does this look about right for the 11" C11 XLT and planets? Aside from an ADC are there any other filters or accessories I should purchase to maximise on the poor seeing and low altitude of the planets at 53 degrees North? Thanks in advance! The Altair GPCAM3 385C camera features the new Sony Exmor IMX385 CMOS sensor. It has a larger area of 7.2 x4.05mm and 2mp resolution, and is the "big brother" to the Sony IMX224, with similar super-low read noise. - 2mp Sony IMX385 Exmor Sensor 7.2 x4.05mm (larger with more pixels than the 1.2mp / 4.80x3.60mm IMX224). - Exceptionally low read noise of approx. 0.62e electrons (e-) in our tests, making the camera good for solar system imaging / stacking video frames. (See read noise vs. gain chart). - Saturation (full well) capacity approx. 19Ke electrons (e-). Video astronomy and long exposure deepsky imaging: The GPCAM3 385C delivers great results for for both deepsky imaging and video astronomy (or EAA) using the Live Stacking features in the free AltairCapture software or SharpCap. Time-lapse all-sky imaging and video is fully supported, and the camera can be used with a wide field C/CS mount lens to image large areas of sky. Speed and reliability in one camera: USB3.0 and on-board memory buffering give much faster transfer speeds than the GPCAM USB2.0 series, pushing the USB3.0 format to the limit, yet within a stable envelope. Memory buffering almost completely eliminates dropped frames and corrupted video files, a common problem with USB cameras, and enables faster more consistent frame rates, even with less powerful notebook computers. Consistency and stability is improved for video capture sequences - especially desirable for scientific applications.
  8. Hi there, I sold my Neximage 5 a while back and am in the market for a planetary camera to use with my C11 XLT. As far as my limited knowledge and ability to research goes I think the Altair GPCAM3 385c Colour might be the best bang for buck due to the high framerate. I was also recommended the following 2x Barlow (Altair Lightwave 2x Flat Field Tele Extender Barlow) as an ideal Barlow to accompany the 385c. The two should cost in the region of £400. Without getting into crazy money can anyone recommend a better option than this or does this look about right for the 11" C11 XLT and planets? Aside from an ADC are there any other filters or accessories I should purchase to maximise on the poor seeing and low altitude of the planets at 53 degrees North?
  9. Yes thank you :). I was wondering why my GoTo wasn't really working accurately after alignment. The SCT must have been sliding out of position regularly. Imaging with an 11" SCT is indeed a challenge. I can't wait until I move to a widefield refractor imaging setup. I expect it will be far easier.
  10. Solved! The grub screws were loose. Sorted thank you so much!
  11. How do you get that off? I can't see any way to take that off the mount.
  12. These are the holes I am referencing. https://photos.app.goo.gl/8ab8Dmktw195kmkS6 They are empty at the moment. I'm stumped.
  13. https://photos.app.goo.gl/gco2NNpeFyN2kCW57 See video. I can't see any screws that are accessible? Just a few thread holes above the dial? Any ideas?
  14. I have a spare, secondary saddle for the AZ mode but don't think they are the same?
  15. It's the standard one that came with the Mount. I dropped the mount head many months ago. This could be collateral damage. It doesn't move 'freely' but it moves easily enough to make it a problem...
  16. As per the title, when my SCT is mounted on the dual fit saddle on my AZEQ6-GT I have noticed that there is a slight bit of give between the saddle and the mount, around half an inch or so, even when everything is tightened. Does anyone know how to fix this? I am assuming the saddle should absolutely not move at all as this would mean the heavy scope could shift due to gravity depending on its position.
  17. Hi there yes I got the link. I can figure out how to use it but the loose glass element bothers me and I was hoping someone would know if that's expected or not before I spend hours outside fiddling with it to no avail.
  18. OK thanks will give that a try. Am trying to troubleshoot. When I tighten the top thumbscrew the top piece of glass doesn't move. It's the bottom piece that still can't be secured. Even tightened it still moves. I am assuming that is not OK. I don't know if the glass inside the ADC is symmetrical, in that it doesn't have any kind of calibration that has a different angle required at zero or a different width of glass that needs to be in a certain point... anyone know? What I am getting at, if I manage to get the two pieces of glass secured does it matter what position they are secured in? I can slide left or right on the top and bottom parts from the Zero position, but I don't know if it needs to be in a certain position to begin with?
  19. I recently purchased what was listed as a used ZWO ADC on Ebay from a seller called ENS Optical from the U.K. There is no bubble level on the ADC and without really knowing how to use it yet I am trying to ascertain if it's broken/defective. The ADC comes in a few parts. The central element which contains the 2 lenses with long thumbscrews is the bit I am concerned about. The two pieces of glass inside the element are loose, even when the thumbscrews have been tightened. The seller won't respond. Have I been had? Should the glass rattle around inside the element when it's tightened? Surely not. Is there any way to fix this if it's an issue? The top element seems to be fixed at an angle... maybe that's by design? If I move the thumbscrews left and right it does move the 2 glass elements, I guess gravity is enabling it to do so but when I tighten it they can still move... won't that be an issue? Thanks in advance!
  20. Thank you Olly that sounds like really good advice. A lot of what you called out there re: vignetting is something that's unknown to me but I know how to figure out based on your instructions. Thanks. Very helpful. I could arguably get a widefield f/6 refractor plus CCD for similar price to the Hyperstar but then I would need to also invest in autoguiding equipment etc. The Hyperstar is tempting but they sell it as though you can get a great image in seconds and save hours but as you say conveniently leave out all of the other potential complications!
  21. Hi there. Despite getting lots of advice telling me not to bother, I have dabbled in Deep Sky Astrophotography with my Celestron C11 XLT and a f6.3 focal reducer and have had some surprisingly good results. There is a pretty significant amount of vignetting in my images as per image below but I am not looking to win any awards or get APOD :). I opted for the C11 as I decided to focus on Lunar and Planetary imaging but that was a mistake in hindsight as my seeing is worse than poor at 53 degrees North and in Ireland. In any case, I am stuck with it now. I am contemplating saving up for a Hyperstar which would take the f stop down to f/2 from f/10 and potentially eliminate the need for a guidescope once I get my Polar alignment nailed. The scope will be pier mounted in a few months. Is opting for Hyperstar on a non-Edge a daft thing to consider? Would I be better served spending the money on a Refractor and guidescope etc? WIll the vignetting still be so poor with Hyperstar on the C11 that it's a waste of time?
  22. Incredible. Never thought that would be possible but the C11 does seem to be an amazing piece of kit really when you think about what you can do with it. Did you invest in hyperstar? I need to learn how to measure my tracking accuracy other than just looking at the images. Beautiful images.
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