Stickey

How is the PA? I've seen images with similar issues caused by the PA being slightly out. 

Very nice image. Nice tight stars and plenty of nebulosity.

Is that LP lower right?

46 minutes ago, Grant93 said:

Thanks for the advice everyone! Its all helped save a couple of frustrating hours of clear skies (I hope 😅). Couple of questions;

1. I read a lot about polar scope allignment, when pointing mine at a distant object, getting it into the centre crosshair, it all seems ok when rotating through 180 Degrees. Is this too good to be true that its right first time? If anything I can see absolute minimal drift, but still sticks in the centre of the crosshair.

2. Is it normal sitting at 52 Degrees, that I've pretty much sunken my bottom altitude bolt, and the other one is scarily close to the counterweight? (a few mm)

Thanks again

Grant

1. Congratulations. It looks like your polar scope is well collimated. It should be if the scope is new, but you never know unless you check.  

2. Umm, that doesn't sound right. There should be plenty of room for manoeuvre. Are the bolts the same length? Could they be accidentally swapped? I have a HEQ5,  at ~53°N and plenty of free adjustment for the latitude bolts. 

Ditto all the above.

For your 1st session,  practice indoors first then just use simple alignment - point the tripod North using a compass,  level it, attach the mount and set the latitude using the bolts. 

That should get the telescope pointing close to the NCP and you should see Polaris in the view through the eyepiece. 

Then just try the basic 1 and 2 star alignment using the handset. You need to get used to the fine adjustment using the movement controls on the handset. There's a knack to the final right/up movements to centre the target alignment star.

Clear skies for your 1st outing 🤞

I may be missing something,  but couldn't you just loosen the RA or Dec clutches?

I feel for the sufferers. My neighbour got burgled while they were asleep and now has security lights front and back. The good news is that they're PIR, the bad news is that they pick me up when I'm out observing in my back garden.

I don't blame him, he's got some justification, I just wish the sensors weren't so sensitive. 

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Are we allowed to discuss it though? 

I don't know what others think, but for me if someone calls someone else's beliefs "blind ignorant" on a thread, then that thread needs steering back on course.

I'm sure we're able to do that on our own without the mods involvement right? 

Hear, hear 👍

2 hours ago, Andy ES said:

One comment that Brian Cox said made me wince (for other people) was when he stated that we don’t need to “make up God to explain the universe” (to paraphrase him) because the stars are the real Gods.

Best not go there eh....😬

Lol 😆.  I had a similar thought,  but I did wonder if it was a subtle attempt to engage with the science deniers 🤔.

17 hours ago, tomato said:

Comes with a free poster, do you get one of those with Strictly Come Dancing on Ice?

I've ordered one 😳.

I'm fascinated by concepts in cosmology,  but I do think this series is aimed more at the general public than the likes of us on this forum. At least, I hope so. The graphics were beautiful, if sometimes unlikely and the language was quite poetic, if that's to your liking. 

As others have said,  Jim Al-Khalili uses more scientific language and less CGI.

Having said that, the 'Universe' series might help more people become interested in some pretty esoteric stuff. 

Just my 2 pennywort.

Hi. This might be teaching granny to suck eggs and apologies if it is,  but you never actually said you inserted the barlow and then used an e/p to centre again. Did you try that? 

Alternatively,  is it possible that the extra length of the barlow and the weight of the camera are slightly misaligning the optical train, such that the target is too far outside the field of view?

Just a couple of thoughts.

Very nice 👍

On 09/10/2021 at 16:12, Chefgage said:

I agree! I mean we are spoiled now aren't we. I really do like the way it takes a test image to see if it's centred and then if not moves a bit to re-align itself. 

I have not used my star adventurer pro for a while. To go back to manual framing is going to be a bit weird.

I totally agree. I've just got the V1 and it's been a game changer for me. I'm just beginning in astrophotography and the V1 does everything I need at this stage. In 1 box,  I get accurate PA, catalogue based target selection with plate solved centring and guiding. I just set up, point and shoot. Most of my observing time is capturing data,  not pfaffing around trying to correct the handset goto. 

Maybe, when I grow up and get a proper astro camera, I might upgrade. But for now, even a V1 meets my needs

9 hours ago, PeterCPC said:

May sound silly but have you tried another USB cable/port.

Peter - Yes,  I did try another USB port on the laptop but it didn't make a difference, but thanks for the suggestion. 

Luke - Interesting suggestion, I'll give it a try, thank you. But getting the same result from ASICap and SharpCap made me think that the problem was either with the camera or a low-level parameter in the laptop. 

Geoff - I generally used the Auto setting in both programs for the Exposure. I did try playing around with it a bit but it didn't seen to help. I'm surmising from what you say that to get 30 f.p.s., the Exposure needs to be less that 30ms?

I'll try again being more targeted at the Exposure to see if it helps.

IIRC? Do you have any inkling of what the circumstances were in which the USB 2 120mc  misbehaved ?

I appreciate everyone's help.  Thank you

Hello everyone. This is my 1st post and I'm asking for some advice please. 

I have a 2nd hand ZWO ASI 120MC, the USB 2 version and I'm struggling to get it to run at speed for any length of time. It will start at perhaps 25 f.p.s, but within a few seconds,  the dropped frame count will rise quickly and the frame rate will drop to somewhat less than 1/sec.

My laptop is less than 2 yrs old, has superspeed USB ports,  Intel i5 processor and ssd disc.

This happens with both ASICAP and SharpCap and I've installed the latest versionsof these and the ASI drivers. 

I've played around with various parameters, admittedly without knowing what they do, but nothing really helps,  apart from 1 thing.

The only thing that made a difference is using a powered USB hub, but even then, it only improved in SharpCap. 

I also have a 120MM-Mini and it works like a charm without any tweaking. 

I've trawled the Internet and the problem has been reported more than I expected,  but most of the causes relate to older PCs.

Given that it runs fine in SharpCap with a USB hub,  I assume the camera itself is fine and that the slowness is caused by some very subtle setting somewhere. 

Did anyone know the magic to get an ASI 120MC USB 2 running at its intended speed?

Can't say I've ever done it for protecting me from light intrusion. Done it plenty of times for warmth 🥶. I guess it would depend on each individual and the amount of light intruding into the viewing site while observing. 

The thing is,  even if it helps to use some kind of hood, as soon as one looks away from the eyepiece, our eyesight dark adaptation will be affected, which kind of negates the benefit of using a dark hood. 

On 05/10/2021 at 08:50, Clarkey said:

I think at the end of the day it is a 'horses for courses' debate. There are multiple different options for image processing all of which have positives and negatives. For me I use the option that gives me the best results I can, in the time I have available. I find the Affinity interface easy to work with so it is what I use. Is PS better? Probably - but only if I can get it to do what I want. PI might be the 'best', but it is no good if I can't get it to work correctly.

FWIW I use different software combination for different types of image. I find Startools really good for galaxy images, but I struggle to get the result I want with nebulae. Whether this is the software or my incompetence is somewhat irrelevant. So as I have said - the best software is the one you can get the best result with. If I gave my data to someone else they might well get a better result with their software and processing skills - but if I cannot repeat it then it is meaningless other than to make me want to improve my own work flow. (What is 'better' is often subjective anyway).

I agree.  Like any set of tools,  different ones are better suited for different tasks, although many tools will overlap to some degree or other. But which ones do we KNOW how to use well and in which situations?

A better tool is only better when we know how to use it properly

Great images 👍

Wow,  they're great. Why would you want to pay the price of PixInsight? What problem are you trying to fix?

I use a HEQ5 with an RVO Horizon 72ED and the guiding is ~0.75". The 5kg counterweight is about half way along the bar. 

However, I use the same mount for a  SW 200PDS and I need both c/ws. They're right at the end of the c/w bar.

It's a chunky mount and tripod, it's intended for larger scopes. It can be moved around in bits, but I wouldn't want to move the thing fully assembled very often. 

I got it to take a larger reflector. It may be too chunky,  but it's a dream to guide with the smaller scopes

On 01/10/2021 at 09:15, Starwatcher2001 said:

Well spotted, thanks. But those fractions only work out to be less than a couple of miles, which I don't think is significant where the weather is concerned.

Not sure that's totally true about miles not mattering. I've often experienced rain-soaked ground vs. completely dry within 2 miles. I was up in the Peak District a couple of days ago and was looking over the Cheshire Plain at the approaching weather. I could see separate rain showers about a mile or 2 apart. 

Like others, I use multiple weather apps for early warning but none of them are that reliable. In the end, I also use my eyes, the clouds, the direction of the wind and radar to tell me whether I've got enough time that makes it worth setting up.

JMO

9 minutes ago, Lee_P said:

I haven't used the V1 -- maybe someone that has experience of both the V1 and the Pro / Plus can help. Failing that, I guess my question to you would be: is there anything you wish your V1 did that it doesn't? (Other than control your Sony camera).

I think that's the point. I don't think I'm missing anything - yet.  I don't have a proper ZWO astro camera,  only a 120mm-mini for guiding and PA. Nor do I have an EAF or Filter Wheel or dew straps - again, yet.

I think the ASIAirs are great,  so as I develop my abilities,  I'll look out for an upgrade at some point. 

I've got the V1 and it has been an absolute game changer for me. But here's my question - is there any merit in upgrading, to either the Pro or Plus? 

I'm into astrophotography but my camera is a Sony a5000 and so far, ZWO don't intrude to add Sony cameras to the list of compatible brands. 

Surely the question is the problem,  not which is the "one scope to rule them all"?

For there to be one scope, there has to be one task? Looking for wide field views is not the same as looking at a planet or a DSO.

I don't believe there is 1 answer to all  problems.

JMO

I'm no expert, but I discuss the topic frequently with people who are very capable. Aim for a fast wide angle lens of about 12mm focal length. 

Branded lenses are quite expensive,  but Samyang gets great reviews and is very affordable.