Chris Willocks

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I appreciate it. As Martin mentioned, for some reason I seem to have a green bias in my images. So I've just tweaked it the colours again i.e. reduced the green, cropped it and lightened the background a little. Chris

Hi Martin, Thanks for the kind comments and feedback. You're right; it's a difficult galaxy to process. Getting the colours to pop out of the image was the most difficult thing. Fortunately, I was able to get my flat panel working and have reprocessed the image with a 2x drizzle; adding in some flats, flat darks and bias frames. I think the result is much more natural. The first version was far too overprocessed. Chris

Hi everyone, Just thought I'd share another image I acquired a while ago, of the Orion Nebula (M42). I acquired this image using my Takahashi FSQ-85EDX, EQ6-R Pro mount and an Atik 383L. Guiding was done using an Altair GPCAM2 AR0130 mono camera and slim off-axis guider. Processing was done in DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight, Photoshop and Lightroom. More details about the image can be found here: https://astrob.in/388622/B/. Thanks for looking. Chris

Hi everyone, Just thought I'd share my latest image, of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). This is the first image that I've acquired since I had a Pulsar 2.2m dome installed. A permanent setup certainly makes life easier; especially here in the UK, where the weather isn't always that great. I acquired this image using my Takahashi FSQ-85EDX, mounted on a EQ6-R Pro mount and an Atik 383L. Guiding was done using an Altair GPCAM2 AR0130 mono camera and TS Optics 2" off-axis guider. This was only a quick process in PixInsight, Photoshop and Lightroom. I think there is room for improvement, as I didn't use any flat frames, due to my flat panel not working. But I'm still fairly happy with the result. More details about the image can be found here: https://astrob.in/8egwwe/0/. Thanks for looking. Chris

Thanks very much for the replies and feedback, both of you. I appreciate it. I'll take your points onboard and have a play around with the settings accordingly. Chris

Anyone?

Good morning everyone, I recently had a 2.2m Pulsar dome installed and have been experimenting with different equipment profiles in SG Pro, and am trying to figure out which profile is the most optimal? So far there are three different equipment profiles that I have been experimenting with, with the Pulsar dome: SG Pro Equipment Profile 1 Focuser: POTH Hub Telescope: POTH Hub Observatory: POTH Hub Dome geometry and slaving set just in POTH and not in SG Pro. Cartes du Ciel connected to telescope via POTH Hub also. In this first profile, I used POTH for the focuser, telescope and observatory, with each of these set to their individual drivers in POTH i.e. Lakeside Focuser V2, EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 and Pulsar Dome driver respectively. A few questions regarding this profile: Am I correct in assuming that the dome geometry and slaving options should only be set in POTH for this profile? I assume that POTH overrides any geometry or slaving options selected in SG Pro? Should the telescope mount and focuser be controllable via SG Pro when using POTH? For some unknown reason, the mount wouldn't park when I selected the option in SG Pro? Should POTH be selected in Cartes du Ciel when using this profile? I read that this can cause a loop and that EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 should be used as the driver? Is there any way to have the dome permanently slaved in POTH without selecting the checkbox every time? I assume the slaving options in SG Pro i.e. slave on sequence start don't work, when using POTH? SG Pro Equipment Profile 2 Focuser: Lakeside Focuser V2 Telescope: EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 Observatory: ASCOM Dome Driver Dome geometry and slaving set just in the ASCOM Dome Driver window and not in SG Pro. Cartes du Ciel connected to telescope via the EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 driver. In this profile, I used the generic ASCOM Dome Driver for the Pulsar dome and the individual drivers for the focuser and telescope. A few questions regarding this profile: I assume that when using the generic ASCOM Dome Driver, which allows you to input dome geometry and slaving options, then it wouldn't be necessary to input these into SG Pro itself, as it would cause conflict between the two? Can Cartes du Ciel be connected to the telescope via the EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 if the telescope is also connected to it in SG Pro, or would this cause conflict? I presume that that is the reason for using POTH Hub i.e. to avoid conflict between drivers and programs etc. SG Pro Equipment Profile 3 Focuser: Lakeside Focuser V2 Telescope: EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 Observatory: Pulsar Dome Driver Dome geometry and slaving set just in SG Pro. Cartes du Ciel connected to telescope via the EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 driver. In this profile, I used the Pulsar Dome Driver instead of the generic ASCOM Dome Driver and set the geometry and slaving options in SG Pro. A question regarding this profile: Same as previously; can Cartes du Ciel be connected to the telescope via the EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 if the telescope is also connected to it in SG Pro without causing conflict? If you could kindly advise which of these profiles is most optimal, then that would be appreciated. Hopefully this all makes sense. Just to also add; in the very near future I will be implementing the ACP Observatory Control software with the dome, along with MaximDL and FocusMax, which are mandatory with the ACP software. Which dome driver would be best to use with this software i.e. POTH, Pulsar Dome Driver or ASCOM Dome Driver? Many thanks, Chris