Varavall

Hi I have astigmatism in both eyes (aging is a bitch!) and visual became so unsatisfying, so I ditched visual (not the advice you were seeking I guess) and went purely photographic. That has probably already crossed your mind, but the benefit is you can sit indoors in the warmth watching TV or doing things while the computer does all the work. Not all bad news! Adrian

Fantastic!!!! Thick cloud here in Spain 😏

I drilled a hole in the wall and passed the cables that way, with a spring flap box on the outer wall so the wind doesn't blow in when not in use. You could put a box on the inside wall too if the hole was in a conspicuous place. Adrian

Hi Well I would just plug it in as it will connect to NINA without a problem, says he hopefully. Then I would use CCDCiel to get a rough focus point manually, then head for the imaging option tab in NINA and do an autofocus routine to get an idea of the focuser backlash which you can add in to the configuration options for autofocus, then use the "Filter Offset Calculator" in the advanced sequencer. Sounds straight forward, but I've done it! Adrian PS start with say a step size of 50 and see where you go

The first image without star reduction. Some brightness/contrast in the nebulosity is lost with the star reduction, well at least to my old eyes 🥺

Cave nebula imaged night of 2nd October in RGB-HSO. SW 200pds; ZWO ASI 1600MM-cool; filters: Astrodon Tru-balance RGB; Astrodon 5nm Ha, Optolong 7.5nm Oiii and Sii (30 x 60s R; 10 x 60s G; 5 x 60s B; 10 x 180s each Ha, Sii & Oiii). Calibrated, aligned and stacked in ASTAP; processed in APP; final touches in GIMP.

My colourful rendition of IC1871 imaged the night of 2nd October. SW 200pds; ZWO ASI 1600MM-cool; filters Astrodon 5nm Ha, Optolong 7.5nm Oiii and Sii (20 x 300s Ha; 20 x 300s Sii; 9 x 300s Oiii). Calibrated, aligned and stacked in ASTAP; processed in APP; final touches in GIMP.

What!!!!? You are all saying. Never heard of that one, well neither had I. But looking at my image of NGC7822, there they were, a stegosaurus chomping at the monkey's jugular. Judge for yourselves. First is annotated version to help. Adrian 😂

Nothing. Are you coming at this as a theoretical scientist and not as an experimental scientist like myself? Theory is fine if it was an ideal World, but I like to see the experimental data, i.e. images taken with those cameras using the same optical train in the same location on the same night.

Hi That's all very interesting. Could you post images you have made with each of those cameras so we can see what you are getting at?

Take read of this thread As you are at Port 16 which is the limit for eqmod, maybe the mount is being assigned port 17 or higher. Just a thought.

In the meantime take a look at this thread

Not yet. I am waiting for the planets to be at a good altitude at a reasonable hour (I like my sleep) so I progamme my setup for DSO's to work while I'm asleep. Now when the next Moon comes I will start with the planets anew. So in a couple of weeks or so, I will have the answer. In the meantime it's a fantastic guide camera!

Hi I assume the camera is the D7200, in which case it should have internal wifi so you can connect to a phone, iOS or Android, with the Nikon wireless mobility app. You can get live view that way, but not sure it's going to work with a dim DSO. You can also connect to a laptop via USB from the camera and use something like Digicam Control (free). That way you can get live view and maybe adjust the gain sufficiently to see what it's pointed at. Failing that, take a pic and see what you got and adjust the telescope approriately. Focus on a bright star before slewing to the DSO, that makes life easier. I started out that way with a D5300 with some success.

For my 2p worth, personally I would go for a Pegasus Powerbox as I don't like being locked into a single manufacturer's products. But for the moment I just run long cables into the house, cheaper and works well as long as the cable run is done well, of course that leaves more budget for the stuff that actually takes the images. Are you actually going to stand by the scope and watch it? If you ae imaging and retreating indoors once set up, any old cheap torch would do. For £2000 why not go for a used ASI2600MC Pro with 2" filter drawer at £1600, then add an EAF (£190 new, less second hand) and filter (£130 new) and that will leave you £80 to take your wife out for a good dinner or to buy some appropriate, loving gift.

Yes. I know all that. This was a question for Iskov so we can see where his mount is starting from.

Hi I am wondering how you end the session with NINA. Do you park the scope to a custom position, home position or just turn it all off?

There is a thread on this over on Cloudynights https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/782348-william-optics-slide-base-guide-scopes/ I used to guide with the SW finder that you are currently using and it gave good results. I went for an 80mm TS finder/guider; so many stars! It also gave me a better camera/guide canera pixel ratio. Pay your money and take your choice.

Hi I have had similar shape curves to this using Hocus Focus before getting the curves you have in your second image. For me it was down to focuser backlash. I use the settings below for my SW 200pds. Maybe that helps Adrian

He was probably going after the zombies

It was perfectly clear here in Spain 😀 Shame my house was in the way of my permanent setup 🤐

Well as the nights draw in and you are imaging a target for 10 hours in subzero temperatures the novelty will soon wear off 😁

Getting there after 5 hours computing time with a quad core i7 computer! I need a powerful gaming machine or a Cray for this malarkey.

Thanks for the comments, but the EAF works just fine that way round, but to use an OAG with my guide camera would just put extra stress on the focuser, not to mention all that work with back focus and no doubt more expense. As my setup gives me PHD2 RMS of 0.3-0.9, depending on seeing, I can do 15 minute subs without problems. So as they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

How about a cheap webcam to keep your eyes on the kit when the weather is freeezing.