Rocket Stars

I have the latest version. 

Works like a charm. And I like it.  

I had initial problems to. But was time and location settings (frustrating, but I had forgot daylight savings...) . Good polar alignment helps a lot, of coarse. 

Ah! 

Welcome!

Have visited Edinburgh several times. Have a friend who lived in Dunfermline. But have now moved closer to Rosyth. Was visiting him in September. (will be many more times, I hope!) 

Remember trying to pronounce Inverkeithing, When buying a ticket from Edinburgh station. Ended up pointing on the map at the ticket office. LOL

One cant help love Scotland! 🙂

Beautiful set up! 

I still have a very short period of darkness. Not great, bit still time to fiddle and learn. Solarscope is going to help the ”itch” 

5 minutes ago, Datalord said:

yeah, the CPWI software is really, really good. I love it, actually. Just as much as I dislike the ASA software. But it means nothing when the guide error makes even 180s at 620mm fl shots unusable. Meanwhile, 1200s is working perfectly at 2400mm fl on the ASA. You get what you pay for.

I can get between 60-120 ish. Unguided with my hyperstar/AVX set up. (not screaming with happiness of that.) 

Was going to upgrade to another mount. But got "fever". Due to nights is vanishing here. So I got a Solarscope to play with. During the summer months.  

Ive got the impression CGX is a fairly good mount. Ofcoarse not up to premium ones. But had that one, as a possible upgrade. 

Mmmm. 10 Micron, or ASA. Have that as one of my dream mounts. Just a tad expensive. I think if one gets that kind of quality mounts. Its hard to use anything less. 

Oh, did you try the CPWI software for Celestron mounts? My avx upped its performance with this! 

Oh, I can make a even trade with my avx! LOL

11 hours ago, Rusted said:

You certainly have more than a hint of fine, solar surface texture. The edge [limb] is acceptably sharp for early practice with new kit.
Familiarity with your equipment will save fiddling when your window of opportunity is tight.
The various spots and smudges are where something is focused on a glass surface somewhere in the system.
Try a rubber bulb, lens blower? Or gently, with a clean, camel hair brush? I really wouldn't worry about it right now. It is purely cosmetic.
I wouldn't worry about filter quality either at this stage. Relax and get more practice in and sort out the mechanical side.
It all needs to fit together safely and reliably and balanced on the mounting to make any real progress.
I'd say you've made a pretty good start to have this image.
 

The sun was out for a little while today. Didnt have the time.. 

I have to say, that the sun is very Intresting and fun! Very much looking forward to more timeon this! 👌

Im looking around for a barlow. Eyepice extender. Not really sure what is best for this set up. There is a adapter to get T threds to build on. An adjustable eyepiece would be fun to. Really liked observing the sun. But the cost ads up! 

28 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

 

Here you go...

Ty! 

Very nice! 

Fortunatly I have a largeformat printer. Hmm. Wallpaper or.. ? 

It very nicely made. So I going to have it on the wall, some how. 

Great work! 👌

Ok!  

Finally got something. Backfocus needs sorting. But.. Got an image!

Fockus is not very good. Bur noticed I need to turn gain to maximum. Possible maby little lower when settings is more accurate. Did not have time to work the tuning knob. As the sun was going behind the trees for the evening.. Black patch in upper right corner. + some smudges from the lens. I think..  

Here is a image. No processing. Other than saved to jpeg and sized down for the forum. Is it possible to process it, to something better? 

To be solved in hardware. Something to extend the camera further aft. This is close to not being able to stay in the draw tube. Read up about IR/Cut filter. Well, a good one seems to be used. There is one in front of the camera. But maby one should get something better? If, it is better? 

First light!!

Its very intresting! I did put my Celestron 40mm plössel and diagonal on it. Got the whole disc in field of view. Though, I could not notice any difference regarding turning the tuning knob. 

Tryed to take a picture with the mobile phone. Well.. Im impressed with all of you that can get a decent picture, just holding the phone to the eyepiece!!!

Have even tried the camera. With diagonal and without. Moved camera back and forth. Including trying turing the helical focuser. Just pitch black. 

Im having a hyperstar on my edge 8. Running on my avx. I can do 90sec exposure without guiding. Big benefit on F2. (short focal length) Is less problems guiding ect. 

Big field of view. Im happy. 

But you need a matching pixel scale. Small pixels is preferred. 

Had initially problems with collimation. But it was du to a not so well fitted sensor. Its now adjusted to 0.09mm flat level (measured to the cam body) As a normal fitted sensor usually is. Or way better.. 

Once I got that sorted. Collimation that was way out. took 30 min to get correct. Thats including me running back and forth to the computer. 

On 20/04/2020 at 20:06, CraigT82 said:

USGS have just released a downloadable geological map of the moon, and it is AWESOME!!!

https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Moon/Geology/Unified_Geologic_Map_of_the_Moon_GIS?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=a0782f18-dace-4067-ba02-d2e232c35e2a&utm_content=&utm_campaign=usgs

I can not get it to work? 

It has arrived! 

And..the sun is shining!! 😳

Unfortunally. I have to work a few hours more. Its seems the last day of good weather. So I better hurry up trying it out!! 😅

What set up are this imaged with? 

I really hope I will get something like this out of my Daystar Scope. That is confirmed delivery tomorrow! 

24 minutes ago, Viktiste said:

 

Rocket - this is very true. But I think I will give it untill over the summer before I rig it up again, then with some security measures in place. The imaging season is soon over here anyway.

Same here. Nights is getting very short. I treated my self with a solar scope.  Need to have something to do during the bright hours too.  

Maby you should get one to. To cheer you're self up.  

Mmm.. I won't tell you how upset I gets reading this!!! 

When my son was younger, 10 years old. We had a break-in in my shop. They stole his very beloved dirt bike. Hed had put it true its phases during the summer. During the winter. We pu in a lot of effort to restore it to racing condition again. We had fun! Then when it was ready, some XXXXX broke in and stole it while we were sleeping. 

I couldn't sleep for weeks. Mostly because of anger. Rest of the family was afraid of new break-ins in the shop. We have a dog, but the shop is a bit a way from the house. (he would have "taken care" of intruders)

Turns out I got tips on who did it. Someone I knew of coarse.. Whent to the police. They couldn't do anything without real proof. (as it should be). All I could do, was to tell the person what I knew. And keep "some" distance! 

"The person" dissapered and moved city. He lost more than me, in the long run... 

Was upset for quite some time. But, my loving wife told me (and her self) Not to let XXXXX ppl destroy something good. Ofcoarse, she was right. (she always is) 

In the end, we got a new one. And continued to have fun!  

So, don't let XXXX ppl pull you down! Keep at it!!  Get a small sign (I can make one for you) that clearly is visible and states That the equipment is antitheft marked, and video sureilence and alarm is going! 

If you drop this hobby, the assholes win!

Hi! 

I only own 1 eyepiece... the original Celestron 40mm plisse, that came with the edge 8. I works, but.. 

I have recently bought a Daystar Solarscope 60mm. And want to do some work with my real eyes too.  

Im thinking of the Baader as a good option? The kit with the Barlow is tempting. Seems you can use both Barlow and eyepiece for AP too. 

My observing will be planets and ofcoarse solar. 

There are "cheaper" variants out there. But do they compare to Baader? Price difference is quite big! (compared without Barlow) 

Or, should I get something else? 

2 minutes ago, -Joe_ said:

Using the scout with my 1600mm, i needed a tilt adapter to get rid of newtons rings.
I havent been able to get a clear image at all though, and have just been recommended the IR/UV cut filter - I've ordered one this morning to see.

My advice would be to put the camera in the scope and see what you get...

I will do that! Ty you for your info. 

Have read that when focusing. start to get a sharp edge. Then adjust to see surface or proms. Though. I have zero experience yet!  (looking forward to use it) 

Na, get a RC 16! 

I can visit and help you look at it! 😁

Maby its me. But dosent it seem to be quite topheavy? 

Would need som wheights to just balance the head? 

33 minutes ago, KevS said:

 I think the next mount I buy I will go to a showroom and ask if I can strip down their display model before I purchase.🤔.

I would love to do the same! 😂

Paramount, 10 micron ect. Is way more expensive to purchase. But in the long term, is it?  What I can see. ioptron has its issues. Celestron has their. I have a AVX. Its maby not as bad as the reputation. But its not as good as for what it costs. Especially when you consider that you pretty much has to "fix" them you're self. At least after a (not to long) while.. 

Part of the problem, is we are a bunch of hobby astronomers. That like, and often has the ability to "thinker" . Its easier to fix it you're self, then the hassle to send it back, and be without a mount for how long? 

If the vendors got a lot of returns. They would increase the "pressure" on the manufacturers and their QC control. Im not saying they don't. But we have a new thread here, where the customer selects to pay and fix the bord himself. To avoid downtime and hassle. (its under warranty) I would probably do the same. But it docent trickle down to the manufacturer then. 

30 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

It isn't. The 'mono' avi files are just un-debayered. You cant shoot mono with a colour camera.

Actually, you can in infrared on certain cameras because the R,G and B bayer filters will leak infrared through... But that's about it. 

Thank you for explaining why!  👍

Learning new things every single day!  

5 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

I seem to recall another thread where the culprit was thought to be a shorting to earth via one of the screws holding the board. Worth a scan for other threads and verify if this aflicts yours too before fitting it all and finding out later, or worse, sooner. You might be able to get an electronics shop to test and replace the failed components and get you back a working spare board down the road, assuming it can be done at a reasonably cost of course.

Tend to agree re the nanoProtech and you could also apply some dielectric grease to the connectors to keep moisture at bay on those too. As for the fuses, unlikely a quick-blow would have saved the board I'd think, by the time you hit the 5A rating it'll already be too late for the components.

+1 for the regulator/buck-converter, no idea what the actual no-load output of the power-tank is after fully charging but the EQ5 synscan I have is rated to 15v max according to the manual and the LiPo pack I have drops over 16v onto the output terminals, so I have a 12v/5A buck converter between it and the mount so I'm only putting 12V into it. A few £ for peace of mind vs >£100 when things go wrong.

What DaveL59 said. In proper English!  

Had a look again on the board assembly. Maby you should just rubber grommets/washers between the mounting screws,. And the board. 

Bayermatrix takes 30%-50%.. wow! 

But, If there is a color filter on each pixel. How is it possible to "shoot" mono avi files with a OSC? Or is it "just a software filter? 

There is a glitch in the matrix. I believe.