Brushman

52 minutes ago, knobby said:

Should be doable I reckon, I managed this (out of focus though 😒 ) in Lapalma. About 80% full moon. We had 2 nights where the sun set well before the moon rose.

Nothing special but sounds way darker where you're going. All the best of luck.

 

Thanks for sharing. I was gutted when I saw how the moon phase had fallen but this gives me real hope!

17 minutes ago, Spaced Out said:

Yes if the gap betwen dusk and the moonrise is long enough then it is do-able, certainly for landscape astrophotography, done it many times. It is usually dark enough about 1.5 hours after sunset, then you start to notice about 45 mins before the moon rises that shots are getting lighter and the histogram is moving to the right.

Thanks, I wasn't sure if twilight from the moonrise would be an issue or not... Makes me think that I definitely need to wait for at least the 8th. 

I'm traveling through Death Valley in early August this year and desperate to observe and image the Milky Way, however as chances have it I'm bang in the middle of a full moon cycle. 

From what I've read, a full moon - or anything near a full moon - is pretty much game over for milky way photography. 
So I'm clinging onto hope that there will be time slots when it's possible to get a glimpse... between astronomical dusk and the moon rising. 

There's not a huge amount of info out there on this so I'm hoping someone can help me out here with a confirmation of sorts... Will the Milky Way be visible between astronomical dusk and moonrise?

I've calculated the [astro dusk and moonrise] times using sunrisesunset.com : (These may be an hour off with daylight savings confusion)

1/08/20 - 3.44-4.14am (30mins)
2/08/20 - No astro dusk
3/08/20 - No astro dusk (*full moon*)
4/08/20 - No astro dusk
5/08/20 - No astro dusk                 
6/08/20 - 9.27-9.56pm (29mins)
7/08/20 - 9.26-10.22pm (56mins)
8/08/20 - 9.24-10.48pm (1hr 24mins)
9/08/20 - 9.23-11.14pm (1hr 51mins)
10/08/20 - 9.21-11.41pm (2hr 20mins)
11/08/20 - 9.20pm-12.12am (2hr 52mins)

I downloaded stellarium for the first time and have gingerly come to the conclusion that the Milky Way is out those times of night too. 

Can anyone put my mind at ease here? I only have one or two nights I'm allowed to go imaging in so I need to plan well! 
Also, anyone who's been out there around the same time have any tips/advice? 

My plan is to photograph around the mesquite flat sand dunes and Zabriskie Point regions - I'm thinking between the 8/9th due to trip logistics. 
Kit: A modest Nikon D5300 (unmodded) with a 14mm 2.0 Samyang lens. Tripod. Maybe even take my iOptron SkyGuider Pro if my luggage can take the weight hit. 

Appreciate any and all help.

4 hours ago, Atreta said:

I uploaded your cropped image to nova astrometry and it solved this: 

http://nova.astrometry.net/user_images/3379473#annotated

Using stellarium i looked for V Cas and zoomed in and it showed that c/2017 T2 PANSTARRS  seems to be around that area.

I was using Sky Safari to try and solve this myself and it said that PANSTARRS was much higher in Cassiopeia - is Sky Safari not as accurate with comets or something? 

I'm starting out learning to take nightscapes and I was testing out my new camera and lens tonight...

There's a lot wrong here...no post-editing, I was testing exposure times and I butchered the raw files into jpeg so I could quickly upload - But, have I managed to capture something interesting here? Or is this some kind of artifact? 

Nikon D5300 on a tripod
Samyang 16mm prime lens
Iso 800, F2
Single frame at 20sec exposure
(Bortle 6 sky with lots of streetlights around)

58 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Reading the last post your next easy try is to look at weight distribution and add a little weight to the primary mirror end of the tube. My little virtuoso mount is very weight sensitive on the altitude axis and slips of I've not got it right.

Hmm, I don't think it's that though as the movement is motorised 🤔

I'm going to take a video of it I think and post - might give people a better idea of what's going on. 

Sequater looks great - thanks for the tip 👍

2 hours ago, CloudMagnet said:

Also, I assume that you are not using tracking given the low exposure you are using?

No tracking unfortunately - my go-to mount is knackered (thread for that here) so I'm manually tracking and shooting short exposures for now.

I really just wanted to collect something to trial stacking. Perhaps nightscapes would be a better way for me to trial stacking as I can capture longer exposures from a static tripod? 

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

When using a static mount stick to the kit lens wide open.

I suggest you start a new thread on your altaz dob mount to help you get that working.

There's a long running thread where several contributes have an altaz dob and are imaging to the capabilities available.

Link here

That's a shame if the remote shutter port is possibly broken, is it the port or the remote release that is dodgy?

I do have a thread on the malfunctioning altaz dob but unfortunately no fix - https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/345508-goto-alignment-woes/

Port on the camera, not sure. I purchased a remote and it doesn't work and the port looks slightly damaged. My plan is to go to a camera shop to see if I can test it without buying more kit (potentially wastefully) 

Thanks for the link, I've seen that thread a fair bit. Really good inspiration - hence why I get carried away wanting to upgrade my setup! 

Just starting to play with stacking in DSS and I'm  looking for some advice for a beginner...

I inputted 60+ seconds of light frames but after I 'check all' and 'register checked pictures' it is supposed to display the total exposure time - as seen in tutorials I've watched - but mine just displays a '-'. No figure at all. 

I inputted 82 lights (0.77s exposure for each) however the final stacked image data shows at: 10s exposure (14 frames). Why is this? Is it disqualifying the majority of my shots? If so, is there a breakdown I get to see anywhere? 

Full disclosure - the images aren't great so this is most likely the issue, but I can't seem to find an answer through research so I'm turning to the community for clarification! 

(And I know I should be aiming for much more data, both quality and quantity - but my setup is very basic for imaging so I'm just playing and learning before upgrading.)

14 hours ago, happy-kat said:

You already own a camera, I would start with that get to practice and decide from having used it if you want to make changes. I processed a set of data that the d5100 had taken a load of short exposures with the kit lens and it was fine.

For using with your telescope in the future you would take the kit lens off and fit a t-ring and t-mount and then place into the telescope.

Another reason I'm keen to replace the 5100 is that the remote shutter port appears to be broken and with only a 2sec timer available, that's not ideal. 

11 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Much more important is the mount - do you already have an motorised EQ mount and if so which one? That’s where the money needs to go and not a new camera. 

I don't, I'm currently working with a Go-to mount but unfortunately I've never been able to get it to work (that's a whole new unresolved thread) I'd have liked to have practiced with that before graduating, but the issues I've faced make we wary of jumping to a more complex EQ mount - I probably should take the plunge eventually. Thanks for the advice though, perhaps I'll stick with the D5100 and start getting serious about a mount. 

4 hours ago, happy-kat said:

You don't have to use a modified camera for DSO imaging and not all DSO are ha rich. You could look out for a second hand modified camera though this is much more likely to be a canon but the good news is you can generally with an eos to nikon adaptor use a nikon lens on a canon camera (though not the over way around). You can image DSO with a camera lens a popular length is 135mm. You can also take wide field images using the kit lens wide open on a static mount say 18 seconds or so and take 20-30 images and stack, the Cygnus region is nice to do.

This is interesting - I hadn't considered going for a lense over a scope (I was always intending on going for a refractor set up because I currently only have a dob). Perhaps this would be a nice way to ease into DSO imaging without a big jump in extra equipment. 

Wouldn't a 135mm lens shorten the exposure time on a static mount well below 18 seconds though?  

I've used the D5100 with my scope plenty, but the goto on my dob is broken so short exposures and manual tracking makes it an uphill struggle (I was aware Dobs were not imaging scopes).

I will be using the D5100 for learning nightscapes but I'm aware there is better out there and I wasn't sure if there was a camera that could do both (when I update my scope set-up) 

Can you get a solid camera which is good for capturing Nightscapes and DSOs? (And would this dual purpose mean an astromodded camera is out of the question? 

I'm looking for something under £600 and don't mind second hand. (I currently have a lowly Nikon D5100) 

(I'm starting with nightscapes and graduating to DSOs once I've upgraded my scope set-up, so I'd like to get this right first time and kill 2 birds with one stone if possible) 

Any advice would be great! 

Olly, yes in my first attempts that is what I'd do, but to no avail.

So in an attempt to fix I'd readjust to make sure the alignment continues from the point at which the star is centred in the eyepiece.

19 minutes ago, masjstovel said:

How do you power the mount? You sure you feed it with sufficient amount of ampere?

Baader power supply plugged into extension cable. I have also used a celestron powertank with the same results. 

21 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

possibly. you could change the settings to zero and see what happens.

Also are your clutches nice and tight. I don't have this mount but found balance and clutch tightness important with the AZGTI, where the alt was always slipping.

Steve

I'll give it a try and see - thanks for the suggestion!

Yeah, its as tight as it will go - the unwanted movement is motorised)

35 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

Have you checked to see if your mount has the latest firmware for the motor controllers?

Have you tried altering the backlash settings in the handset.

Steve

 

I'm on SynScan 4.31.05, I believe there is 4.31.10 as of this month to update to (and I will), but I was experiencing this problem before then too.

I've not heard of backlash settings before... a quick read up sounds like this is just for the speed/lag when controlling the slew - would this have any hand in automatically moving the motor without any input?

26 minutes ago, Adam1234 said:

I have the same scope and the vertical axis is normally always off for me too. Not always by a lot, but some nights can be worse. 

Do you use the up and right arrows when centring the alignment stars in the eyepoece? I've heard that helps.

When my alignment is off I slew to a bright star close to the object of interest, make note of how much it is off, then when trying to view my target , use the hand controller to adjust the axis by the approximate amount I had to adjust to centre the bright star, then compare what stars I can see to SkySafari or Stellarium so I can see exactly where I'm aiming at. Sometimes that can be a bit difficult when trying to find an object that hasn't got any easily distinguishable stars close by though.

Also is your mount level? That could probably affect alignment, that's probably the issue I have as my garden is not level, I need to built a small level platform or something and see if that helps.

Maybe also use a few different sources to determine your coordinates and elevation? I recently looked at a few different sources and one told me my elevation was 19m and another 12m! 

Hey Adam, thanks for response.

Do you mean using the up and right arrows only? ...so in some cases slewing the long way around. (I haven't tried this yet)

Mount is very close to level - I'm not sure that this is what would cause the motor to engage after alignment and do its own thing though. 

My coordinates seem consistent across multiple sources, but my elevation does not - off by 25M according to a few other sources - I'll have to sort this and report back.


One question for you though - does your scope automatically move around on its vertical access during or after alignment? 

6 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

First of all welcome from Land Down  Under

When you siting the Dob, how are aligning north

There are 3 Norths

1. True north, which is the meridian line between north and south pole

2. Magnetic North, which is direction compass points. Depending on where you are on earths surface, magnetic north can be either east of west of true north, known as magnetic variation

3. Grid North, this is the lines on a map. Before advent of GPS, we all used to use a street directly, the top of the map street directly is north

As I am in the southern hemisphere, and setting up my EQ mount with goto, I have to face the north leg south

I use a compass to align the mount, allowing 12deg E for magnetic variation

You should be able to do the same, setting base of your Dob facing north

You using Polaris also to align the base of your Dob?

Next step is to ensure you entering your GPS location correctly into the SynScan controller, time as well

I also have the SynScan WiFi adapter, and SynScan App

Not sure what the difference between the SynScan App and the SynScanInit 2 is

Have you tried going back to the original SynScan controller, and see if you able to do a two star alignment with that

I also use a car jump start pack to power my EQ mount, which will work with your Dob as well

More stable power source

All else fails, then one night go along to your local astronomy club, guys there will only be too happy to solve your issues

My club, I am the go to person for Dob issues, including collimation 

John

Hey John,

The base is facing Polaris with the scope in horizontal position - that's all the aligning I do before switching the GoTo on. 

Just to also clarify, there is no EQ mount in place here. Just the GoTo which I control via the original handset - I don't have the SynScan wifi.

The other app I mentioned just confirms my gps and elevation - I'm confident this is all accurate. 

Regarding the power source I also have a power tank but I experience the same issue. 

If I have you stumped then your advice of heading to the local astro club is probably valid here, I'm long overdue getting involved.

I got it second hand, but original owner hadn't unboxed it. Had it for almost a year now and it took most that time to resolve a hardware issue. 

I'm happy with the deal I got and I want to get it working for the tracking so I can take some short exposures (I know it's not an AP scope but you can still get some good shots!)

On 05/12/2019 at 10:02, David Ettie said:

I would like to know what the subtle signs are this handset shows the issue on multiple mounts of various types whilst existing version three handsets work perfectly on all of them (as does another newer version 4, I opened it up cleaned the connectors and visually checked the board (no obvious issues) without any improvement.

David, there will be a tiny pin prick on the board circled in my image - this shows the board has blown. 

Hi All. 

Having a nightmare achieving alignment.
I've read a lot, I've tested a lot. I've sighed a lot. 

I have a 250px GoTo Skywatcher Dob. 
Motor is powered by a Baader power supply.

The problem seems to be that every time I align the first star and confirm the input into Synscan handset the motor inexplicably engages and drops by a couple of inches. (I adjust the scope back before continuing alignment) When it automatically slews to the second alignment star it seems to get the horizontal/az alignment right, but the vertical/alt is way off; in tonight's test it was off by roughly the amount it inexplicably dropped. Sometimes after alignment it intermittently shoots up and down too. Safe to say that tests after alignment are very unsuccessful - it slews but is way off targets. 

• The set up on the handset is correct - I use the 'SynScanInit 2' app to make sure everything is inputted correctly (date format, time zone, daylight saving etc)
• The scope is in a horizontal position facing Polaris before I switch on and begin alignment.
• I use the handset to navigate to the alignment stars.
• 'Brightest Star' & 'Two Star Align' has the same issue - For tonight's test I used Deneb and Capella.

I'm pulling my hair out over here - I'm hoping someone out there has experienced the same problem and can share a fix!

Final update:

It's been a while, but it turned out to be an issue with the mount circuit board. That issue in turn would blow the circuit board in the handset - thus causing a long process of experimentaion and elimination (and lots of blown handsets!)

If anyone encounters a similar problem in future I can help identify the tell tale signs of a damaged/blown handset board (it's very subtle!) Otherwise, thanks for everyone's help! 

On 02/03/2019 at 15:25, Eliastar said:

Hi. I got new eq6-r pro last night and im getting the same error after 15min of using it indoors. Have you figured it out yet??

Using 12V battery and hc says 11.4V, cables looks okay. I've tried different firmware versions but no difference. When i put power on, red led just blinks quickly and then disappears. 

Not got to the bottom of this yet - will post an update when I do though!