Rustang

48 minutes ago, saac said:

If the LED in the lead is lighting then the fuse will be ok.  So it is not lighting when connected to the power supply then the power supply is either faulty, not fully charged or not making a good connection with the male cigarette socket. If the power supply is a rechargeable type then I would make sure it is fully charged first - good 12 hour charge cycle.  Then try connection, rotate the male socket to make sure it is making a good contact. If that does not work then a quick check with a multi meter  to confirm the power supply is providing the correct output voltage (12-13 V) . Hold one of the multi meter leads to the centre contact and the other to the side wall inside the female socket (select voltage on multi meter) . Do you know if the power supply has any other power take off points?  If it has, then the other take off points (outlets) could be used to check that the supply is ok. It does sound like the issue may be with the supply but you would also need to check the mount before to confirm this.  She could try powering the mount with say a spare car battery, or directly from the car cigarette socket if the lead is long enough.

Jim

Thanks, we will give all that ago, its a mains powered supply so no charge needed.

5 minutes ago, saac said:

Firstly, some of the cigarette power sockets come with an in line fuse. I would check that the fuse is ok first. If the fuse is ok and if you/she has access to a multimeter you could do a continuity check on the lead to confirm that the lead is ok. If the lead checks out ok, use the multimeter to confirm that the power supply is providing the correct voltage about 12-13 volts.  If all of that checks out other the problem may lie with the mount - unlikely but possible. 

Jim 

She has tried the lead in the cigarette socket in the car and the lead light up so I'm sure it's the new power supply that's got something going on, il pass on the info you said re the fuse 

A friend has recently started the hobby of astrophotography and purchased a SW HEQ5 pro mount. The mount came with a power lead that has a male cigarette light socket end. She brought a power supply from FLO that has a female cigarette socket but it's not powering the mount lead, the power supply turns on but the lead doesn't light up and nor does the mount. From my knowledge this should work but can't figure out why.

She has tried thecigarette lead in the car and it turns on do it's definitely something on the power supply end.

Where would you be shooting the Milkyway from!? If a back garden somewhere in a town I maybe wouldn't bother but if your looking to head out to darker skies on the coast or somewhere then I would pick up a Star Adventurer then you just need your camera and intervalometer and your good for 1-2 min exposures, maybe a little longer. If you want to lug your HEQ5 pro about and have a power pack for it then same thing really but I would definitely recommend finding dark skies for the milkyway.

Thanks guys, its plugged into a powered USB hub, it was originally plugged straight into the old laptop before the laptop died. I did try plugging it straight into the new laptop but I get the same issue. I did have a quick look into possible issues and it could be something to do with the driver (not sure why) either way I have given up for now and plugged in my 224mc into the USB hub and thats working fine in PHD2 so will use that as my guide camera for now.

So Ive finally found time to continue the slog of re setting everything up for DSO imaging since my old laptop died. Ive been doing ok so far but I'm struggling to get any software to pic up the guide camera (ZWO 120mc) . I know the ZWO driver is working because I have been able to use my 224mc in fire capture, that same driver should run the 120mc in fire capture but its not seeing it and PHD2 is not seeing it either. The camera is connected to an external USB port which has the guide camera and two other devices plugged into which the laptop is seeing so not sure what is going on here. Also I originally would connect to the "ASI Camera (1) (ASCOM)" option in PHD2 which doesn't seem available to choose, but I have a "ZWO ASI Camera" option instead which is not seeing the camera as stated.

EDIT, I have managed to go into device manager and found this against the camera

"This device cannot start. (Code 10)

Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API."

Not sure what it means?

3 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

🤣

Yeah- got to take my hat off to the processing here. It cannot have been easy, but to my eyes you've struck a really nice balance between bringing out the detail and retaining a natural look. Really nice image.

Thanks 😊

2 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

Super pic, Rustang. Love the way you've brought out Barnard's Loop and the California nebula and a great composition.

Thanks Paul 👍 I didn't think I was going to be able to bring out much at all because the data didn't look great to start with, mostly due to the light pollution but after some gentle hammering I managed to make something of it.

2 hours ago, Hawksmoor said:

Very nice image and I think you have Lowestoft in the background.

 

Thank you, it is indeed Lowestoft in the distance 🙂

I spent the Christmas weekend in Gorleston-on-sea, a place that I will always have a soft spot for because it was where all of my child hood holidays were. I had a clear night on the Friday when we arrived so I thought it would be nice to capture Orion over the beach. The data took some hammering because of the lack of calibration frames and light pollution from inland but I'm pleased with the result and it was nice to have Mars in frame too.

Fuji XT-2, Fuji 16-55mm f2.8 lens

SW Star Adventure

40mins of 90 sec exposures at f2.8 iso 800 - stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop.

Thanks guys 👍

I think this is my best data yet and possibly at the max of what my gear can do. Captured around 10:30pm last night, Mars was nice and high and the seeing was good in my opinion.

8inch old Orion reflector, ZWO 224mc, x3 barlow pulled out a little!, UV-IR cut filter.

FC, AS, REG6, PS

15% of 36500 frames

This £60 scope is proving again to be one of my best astro buys!

I was out last night till 11pm with a laptop, scope, mount and camera, some outer items/surfaces ended up with a layer of frost but no other issues, everything worked as normal. I have a home made cover/shell for the laptop which sits on a fold away table, I also keep the laptop on some insulation foam just to try and keep it a little warmer while out. Obviously use dew heaters and I also wrap the back of my reflector to keep any cold air and frost or moisture from possibly getting on the primary mirror.

Just make sure you bring everything in to thaw/dry out until you pack it all away again.

Not that I'm a pro at Planetary imaging but top left of re work for me, an awesome capture, it was originally anyway but the re work just gives it that edge and definitely hasn't gone to far. 

Stunning images, well done everyone 👏👏

3 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Excellent

Thanks 😊 

The seeing was lovely tonight, Mars was steady for once!. I decided to have a quick visual on the moon aswell and it blew me away because of how crisp it was!

8 inch Orion reflector, x3 barlow and UV- IR cut filter, ZWO 224mc

Firecapture, Auto Skakkert, Registax and PS

Approx 20% of 36,000 frames

7 hours ago, Matt S said:

I’ve been attempting some shots tonight too… I cant wait for the occultation though unfortunately. 
 

Nice shot!

 

will have to see what I managed to gather tomorrow

Thanks, I chose sleep over the occultation, I did get to view Mars nice and close to the moon when I walked the dogs this morning though 🙂

Even though it was close to the moon (does it make a big difference to detail?) , I decided to give it ago because I wanted to test out my x3 barlow. Either its a fluke or the x3 barlow definitely seems to have improved things over the x2 barlow.

8inch reflector & 224mc with x3 barlow (f15) and UV -IR Cut

Firecapture, AutoStakkert, Registax and PS

10% of 36501 frames

Welcome and just to say I'm pretty sure there are some women on the forum too! 😉

Thanks guys

I finally had the chance to capture Jupiter through my 8inch Orion reflector tonight. The seeing was the best Ive experienced so far while planetary imaging.

Best 20% of approx 18,000 frames

ZWO 224MC, UV IR CUT, 2x Barlow at f10

Firecapture, Autostakkert, Registax.

Its a big improvement from my 100mm refractor, the colours are so much nicer and I have no magenta cast for a start! and there is a definite improvement in detail.  I just need to try the 3x barlow that's on its way to bring it up to f15.

Do you think 120 second videos are to long with this set up, should I be using Winjupos to rotate the data?

1 minute ago, maw lod qan said:

All math and calculations aside, that's a very nice image of Mars!

Pat yourself on the back!

When I manage a decent image, I remember that I'm imaging another world. I know my image is definitely poor compared to those of others, but it's mine!

True, I was really excited when I got the big scope up and running, I'm even more excited for Jupiter  

12 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Yeah you might need a lot of extension to get up to f18, depends on the focal length of the barlow. 
 

You can calculate the required extension using this formula:

Power=(BarlowFL+distance)/BarlowFL

If the barlow focal length isn’t published you can get it by measuring the distance between the last cell and the top of the barlow, that will be the ‘distance’, you know the power is 2x so you can rearrange and get the barlow focal length. 

Ok thanks, I will try and get my head around that  

4 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Ignore that calculator it’s not meant for planetary imaging.

With the 224 you want to be up around f18 ish really. 

I see, I'm still learning! 😊

Ok so if I was to pull the camera out a little from the barlow, is there a guide as to how much and would I be able to bring it out far enough to achieve f18? Or would it be better to get a 3x barlow and bring it out alittle from there?