Varavall

4 hours ago, ninjageezer said:

is this a good focus curve

Looks like my curves. I use Hocus Focus in NINA. Now you just need to run the offset wizard.

8 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

any thoughts? I’m must admit to feeling dry deflated about the prospects

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

55 minutes ago, markse68 said:

The seeing is so good- crystal clear and steady

Fantastic!!!! Thick cloud here in Spain 😏

18 hours ago, Astroblagger said:

How do you set your gear cables up?

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

19 minutes ago, ninjageezer said:

get me off the mark.

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

On 08/10/2022 at 14:46, carastro said:

Her is a version I did with some star reduction.  Which do you prefer?

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 😂

18 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Which part confuses you?

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. 

5 hours ago, vlaiv said:

I'd recommend ASI462 (or QHY or some other version) to people that are interested in IR planetary (or IR guiding), but there are probably higher QE cameras in visible part of spectrum than that one.

Maybe ASI662 for example (peak QE in green around 91%)?

Or if blue QE is important, then maybe ASI678 (peak QE in blue around 83%)?

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?

36 minutes ago, Astroblagger said:

. Iv clicked on the com port selection box binocular symbol it then displays com 16. Iv went to my device manager windows 7. But I can't see the com port anyway in the lists

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.

1 hour ago, yelsac said:

Brilliant I look forward to hearing how you get on & what you think about image size, clear skies 👍

In the meantime take a look at this thread 

2 minutes ago, yelsac said:

Just wondered if you have had a go with the 462 on planetary?

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!

56 minutes ago, Bargee said:

I’m using a Nikon 7200 which has a fixed screen.

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.

On 19/09/2022 at 20:45, Astronix said:

what I want to buy is,

1. ASI Air Plus

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.

On 19/09/2022 at 20:45, Astronix said:

A red/white head torch.

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.

1 hour ago, newbie alert said:

Various ways to do it, you can press park, or incorporate it in a sequence.. as for position I'm sure you can have it in the home position ot horizontal, or in your own custom park..

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

On 20/09/2022 at 11:06, lskov said:

I have an issue where my mount (CGX) slew to the wrong location the first couple of times

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?

30 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Is there any performance bonus with the wo option?

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.

9 hours ago, Geordie mc said:

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

17 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

There are lights pointing off it at right angles and despite this they have managed to knock over every fifth telephone pole and gouged the tarmac out of the road at every field entrance

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 🤐

1 hour ago, OK Apricot said:

I'm not sure I'd get the same sense of satisfaction from the hobby sitting away from my kit doing its thing

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

On 09/09/2022 at 16:09, tomato said:

but in APP you need to experiment with the LNC and MBB settings at the integration stage.

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.

33 minutes ago, andymw said:

Just saw this photo and thought I would mention that you can flip those focusser wheels so that your EAF doesn't stick out of the front.  You could also ditch the finder scope and add an OAG thus getting rid of the guide scope.  

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!