mackiedlm

Now that is "up close and personal". nicely done.

3 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

This is basically the same camera as the 2600MC, and the Altair but much cheaper: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p13286_Omegon-Camera-veTEC-571-C-Color-cooled--Sensor-D-28-3-mm.html

By the way the altair one and this Omegon one are both made by the same manufacturer, ToupTek so differences are minor.

Do you know if the omegon 571 cameras, c and m, have a heated window like the ZWO AN Altair ones. I've been looking at the specs for the omegon and see no reference to heated window. Out here in West of ireland its a must. 

You mentioned the ASI 071 in your first post. Thats currently showing at FLO for£1489.

Perhaps you should consider the Altair astro 26C which is is the Altair version with the 571 sensor (same sensor as ASI2600) Currently priced at £1450

The IMX571 sensor really is a leap forward from other sensors.

17 hours ago, Padraic M said:

Very nice image David, I think I prefer the normal processing. Purely personal preference of course, both are great.

Thanks Padraic, yes I think I'm coming down on the side of the normal colours myself too.

My first session out since beginning of June - summer really is not conducive to AP in the West of Ireland. Made extra exciting by being first session with my new ZWO EAF driven by APT which worked perfectly.

So this is NGC 6823 withthe SW 80 ED, ASI 2600mc, L-enhance. Its around 4 hours of 180s subs. processed two ways - normal and HOO, I'm not sure which I prefer. I will try to get some RGB stars for it when the moon is gone.

C&C very welcome.

I just recently tried to install the EAF on my Evostar 80ED stock focuser. I had seen people use the focus stopping screw and the counter screw for fixing. I was not keen to do that as I felt removing the counter screw could be a bad idea possibly leading to difficulty tensioning the focuser (based on the document budgie linked above which I had already followed to stop my focuser slipping - because it not a great focuser anyway.). So I decided to use the 4 "fixing screws". That meant buying some longer screws because, as you say, the supplied ones are too large. ( M3 x 14mm is what I think fitted) However, because the screws were too big to come out through the EAF bracket I had to remove all 4 to start with - separating the two parts as shown.

But when I was fitting it back together I hit significant problems.

During first re-attach the teflon bearing slipped out and I needed to loosen the tension to get it back in. On second try I found that it was very difficult to get a proper tension on the focuser. After much trial and error I got a tension that seemed about right. But after the first few maneuvers with the EAF there was a cracking noise and everything went loose. One of the bearings within the focuser which the tube runs on had broken. I suspect that I'd done a bad job of tightening things back up putting stress on the bearing, I ended up buying a whole new focuser from FLO (Their Astro Essentials one specifically for the 80ED which is a much better piece of kit anyway and which I am very happy with)

So, if i were doing it again on the scock focuser I'd connect the bracket with just two diagonally opposite fixing screws (meaning the housing would not be removed or even loosened) and one in the focus stopping screw hole. As I say, several people have done it with the focus stopping screw hole and the counter screw hole but I was just not comfortable with that. But perhaps its fine.

Good luck.!

Edit ; I bought the following from amazon to ensure I had appropriate lengths of M3 screw. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075TYHG5S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There will be plenty "in depth science" coming out of JWST in many different scientific forums (and by that I dont only mean "forums" in the sense of Bulletin Boards like SGL but the many scientific publications and conferences that will be held) in the coming weeks, months and years.

This was a mainstream TV program intended to inform the general public of the technical complexity and importance of the JWST. It had to be engaging, interesting and provide the viewer with the "wow" factor.

On that basis I think it was an excellent program, pitched perfectly. In fact, one of the best I've seen.

That is simply outstanding! Incredible image.

@Rob20236 Did all that work on the offest solve your problem with the intermittent "chequerboard" effect. Or have you found a different root cause? I'm interested to hear how it has been resolved.

I wanted to see that just to confirm that there was nothing going wrong with frames that initially seemed good. And it looks fine.

So this is, as you said, an intermittent problem where some frames are showing this checkerboard. Its not light leak as one frame is good and the next can be bad. That suggests to me some sort of communication issue. I'd suggest the following,

• Confirm you have all the most recent drivers and update as necessary. thats both the drivers directly from Altair and then any updates/drivers in Nina. (With ASI and APT I need to ensure both driver sets are in place otherwise things go strange very quickly)
• Download and try captures with the Altair capture software (download from Altair website) This will remove Nina from the mix just to help diagnose.
• If that still shows the issue then go though a systematic check of all cables (dodgy USB's can have strange effects), remove any usb hubs, check that the power supply (I believe Altair provide one with the camera) is correct and functioning. I dont know Nina or Altair but in APT there is a way to adjust the speed of the USB connection, try adjusting that, try a USB2 connection if you are currently using USB3 as USB3 can sometimes be unstable with AP cameras.

If none of that works then I think you need to get in touch with Altair support.

Good luck and do get back to us here when you work it out.

On 24/06/2022 at 22:09, Rob20236 said:

thank you all again.

sorry to ask again for help, but right now im redoing my darks library and ive noticed these like checkerboard patterns with light parts to the image. before changing gain to 200 it would probably only do it on the first image but now im doing 180second and 300 second frames and its showing up in probably every  other image. or mabey 3 or 4 in a row. seems random. ive just lost half my darks to it.

anyone have any ideas please.?

thank you again in advance

2022-06-24_21-03-53__-9.50_180.00s_0012.fits 49.49 MB · 7 downloads

Can you share one of the darks that dont show this pattern. And also one of your good darks at gain 100.

Also, what capture software are you using?

I moved from DSLR to ASI2600mc just over a year ago and I am honest when I say that I am still blown away by the quality of the images the 2600mc produces. So my immediate advice would be to not write it off at this stage. I think that you will eventually be impressed with the camera.

What gain and offset are the 26 c images above taken at.

I have looked at all your the images in Pixinsight and compared them to a very recent single frame taken with my 2600mc, SW 80ED, L-enhance gain 100. - so similar coditions but slightly longer FL (I've attached that frame here so you can look at it). Now I'm not someone who can do the fancy anaytical stuff in pixinsight so i'm just eyeballing them and I note the following. 

1. your 26 c does "look" noisier than your 183c - but you need to remember that there is a difference in pixel size and that could be part of what we are seeing.

2. your 26 c image looks similar to my 2600 mc image

3. your and my images were taken under less than perfect conditions - mines was only 2 weeks from longest day at 53N so hardly even dark

I've also attached my final version from that imaging session which ended up as only 2 hours total integration. While its not an award winner, i think that considering its only 2 hours in astro twighlight, its an indication of what the IMX571 sensor can produce under difficult conditions.

So I guess I'd be saying dont panic at this stage. Get some time on target, process it out and I will be very surprised if at the end you ar still not happy with it.

Good luck

PLANSHORT_L_IMGID_2329_OBJNAME_M16_GAIN_G100_EXP_180s_EXIF__-10C.fit

Arrived via "moonpig" from my only child/daughter who is in the middle of a 3 month Masters Ecology/Conservation project and is living on a beach in rural Mozambique. I touched my heart and made me realise just how modern communications through the internet etc have changed the world in ways we could not have imagined.

Heres a very quick try in Pixinsight, trying to bring out some of the Oiii- probably a bit too psychadelic but sometimes that happens🤣

good luck

Thats a wonderful image. great processing.

This of course is M16. more commonly known as the Eagle Nebula but I prefer the less common name of The Star Queen. Largely because I see the queen (particularly in the orientation below) more easily than the eagle.

We are out of astrodark for several weeks but the L-enhance is coping pretty well I think.

Again this is much shorter integration than i would like (clouds adding to the short night).it is only 2 hours (40 x 180s) but hopefully I'll be able to drip feed some more integration into it.

ASI 2600mc, L-enhance, processed as HOO

C&C welcome

Really nice image, good detaila nd nicely controlled colours

This was my first actual session with my new mini-pc. Some initial issues with set-ups in PHD2 and APT, due to my failure to transfer everything properly from the old PC meant I ended up with only 2 hours of data. Between that and the fact that I'll have no astro-dark now until August meant that I did not have high expectations.

So, all that considered, I am pretty pleased with how this worked out. I'm particularly pleased with the way NGC 6914 has shown up. I framed it to get both the propellor and NGC6914 but did not expect to see much of the relection nebula because of the L-enhance.

SW80 ED, ASI 2600mc, L-enhance 40 X180s

C&C appreciated.

I think that looks great. A good lens to add. I suspect there is more to pulll out from that data.

looking good. I'm very interested to see how this camera performs.

For 2o mins integration that is excellent. Well done.

This will be my last widefield Galaxy image before I move the ASI 2600MC to the LX 200 to go "up close and personal" with some other galaxies. This is about 6 hours from last week-end combined with about 2 hours from last year. I have decide that I will try to not rotate my camera unless I have no option so these two sessions were about 90 degrees different in fov. Hence the rather severe crop.

One of my main goals with this image was to try to capture the tidal tal coming from the Hamburger. Its there, perhaps not as clear as I'd like but it is there.

So this is 160 X 180s, SW 80ED, ASI2600MC, L-pro.

Lovely image Jim. Nice detail and colour.

I decided to try one more widefield Galaxy before I move the ASI2600mc to the 8" LX200.

This came out better - i.e. more detail in the little galaxies - than expected

This was just short of 6 hours with the SW 80 ED, ASI2600mc, L-pro

And again annotated to show the faint fuzzies - cause its cool!

3 hours ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

Well it turns out keeping things 32bit in Siril has worked.  I've got to redo my flats as they are not correcting properly, probably me playing too much to try different options.  I have taken flat darks so might switch them over in the processing instead.  But no more bullseye!

It seems to have worked well, the Siril process is a bit more convoluted and it created a mass of temporary files (132Gb...).  I am at a loss to why things suddenly changed.  I wonder whether it is to do with the focal length and oversampling.  Who knows.  Now to work out whether you can software bin X2 in Siril.

 

Thats fantastic! I'm delighted it worked. Yes I dont understand why the sudden change - happened to me too. Anyway, I look forward to seeing the final image.