vineyard

Just now, Chris-h said:

Thanks all.

Yes Vin, your little Lunt is working great! 👍

You are clearly coaxing that wee beast to sing in ways that were way beyond me 😂 (still are tbh, animations 😬) so its really good to see it in such capable hands 👏🏾- looking fwd to seeing your modded captures!

That is awesome - not just the feature (its like a candle being blown out) but the capture too: fine work w that Lunt 50! 👏🏾👏🏾

Wow that is really something - the moon was fierce bright last night.  Almost missed the Crescent tucked away on the right - really shows the scale of the FOV - was this at 50mm on the lens?  Cheers

That whole setup looks so NICE! Congrats - hope you gets loads of enjoyment from it - looking fwd to seeing the images.

Thanks all.  Good to hear that @Craig a although @Louis Dthe mildew sounds scary (part of me wonders whether that's the heat & humidity of tropical Gulf of Mexico but you're 200 miles inland - is that the famous Texas dustbowl?).  Yes I think you're right @AKB & the ventilation level will be key - will keep an eye on things.

Right now there actually isn't much of a temperature difference between keeping an OTA in the house or a shed, so perhaps it will only become a choice that needs to be made as it gets colder when cool down periods become more relevant.  Until then I'll keep a weather eye on the contents of the shed & its humidity levels - I think if it stays mid-60s or below that will be good enough for me.

Cheers!

Hello,

What are folks' experiences w OTA storage & humidity?  I've seen some manufacturers' recommendations on storage being recommended in a normal temperature room with relative humidity no more than 80%.

I'm thinking of storing some bigger, higher thermal mass kit in an outdoor shed.  The shed stands on a concrete base & has a rubber roof.  There are the inevitable cracks & gaps between the panels/slats/eaves (whatever they are called!) in the shed walls so there is circulation but not draughts.  The inside stays dry (the shed is made from treated wood with water repellent paint also applied externally).  Humidity seems to hover (so far) between mid-50s to mid-60s%.  There is no power so putting in a dehumidifier is not possible.

Would it be ok to leave kit in an environment like that - should I also put a bucket of silica cat litter down?

Thank you!

Vin

21 hours ago, AKB said:

I think mine might be over-mounted…

Ooh, I think you're going to wish you had a bent pier with that & those meridian flips.

Thanks @GalaxyGael -  I didn't realise you could dither without a guidescope.  That could be v handy.  I use EKOS/INDI so will read up on that.

I've also switched to APP rather than DSS & have noticed that the processing of the same lights is much better in APP (less weird artefacts).

That is remarkable - the clarity & precision of the lines (I'd even call them tendrils they are the discrete).👏🏾👏🏾

9 minutes ago, Bernard Murdoch said:

Single 120 sec frame, Evoguide + ED50 flattener, Zwo 294 MC Pro

Nice! You should definitely post a stacked version w more data.  Its a great little setup isn't it, & the flattener really does its job.

48 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Here mine 😜 

APM LZOS 105/650 with 0.75x RR reducer, 3.5” FT focuser with motor.

That looks like an awesome setup - Mesu, Epsilon, LZOS, QHY[268M?]? 👏🏾👏🏾

Very nice - I particularly like image 3.

I use Mono16 and just ignore FPS (my laptop is an old one w USB2 anyway so it wouldn't make much difference!).  I've never really looked at how much of the histogram is being filled, judging it more by eye on the laptop screen - I should probably be more systematic.

I'm most intrigued by the gain 100 - I tend to keep gain to 0 (ASI290MM) - may experiment w higher gain next time to see what difference it makes.

Wrt barlows, I did try 2.5x PM once but I found the image a bit softer than just using ROI w/o barlow - w hindsight I should have binned 2x2.

Cheers!

Hello,

I just noticed this sobering post from Denis on UKABS: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=176545

Am lucky enough to have one of his awesome super-charged BVs - it's always been a pleasure to deal with him & he has always been v responsive (& his BVs have revolutionised my lunar & solar practice).

Have sent him a msg, but posting here in case of relevance for other SGLers (apologies if its the wrong place mods, pls feel free to move).

Vin

Concur.  I came back to astro after many decades away & so much had changed (& I had forgotten so much!) but the return journey has been so much easier & pleasurable being able to tap into the expertise of @John and all the other folks here at SGL.  The level of knowledge & experience & openness of SGL members is wonderful, & its fair to say that John is one of the exemplars.👏🏾

Same here.  Unless the pricing is egregious, that's v high on my wishlist (late 2021...Christmas...hmm).  If EKOS can start handling multiple imaging cameras at the same time, then that's me pretty much done wrt the tech side!

Hello,

Here's my first stab at the Crescent Nebula.  3h20 of lights taken over 3 nights at the end of June & middle of July.  Only just gotten round to processing it during the course of this week.

Evo50 w flattener & Baader UHC filter.  ASI294MCPro.  Guided on HEQ5Pro.  APP & then PI.  Star-reduced (the number of stars up there is insane).  Slightly cropped to remove the rotation of the edges over the 2 weeks.

I'm quite happy w it as a first stab & very much w-i-p (a lot more data needed).

Cheers & stay safe all,

Vin

That image is the visual equivalent of a mic drop 👏🏾👏🏾

Hello,

Here are 3 shots from last night.  All taken w a Pentax Astrotracer on an unmodded K70.  Manual focus so it could for sure be sharper.  No filters, Bortle 4 (Kernow).

All 60s taken w 16mm lens at f5.6 - the first two are ISO 200, the third ISO 800.  The bright white line in the first is, I reckon the ISS (double-checked it this afternoon w what heavens-above was saying as the time & direction of the pass would have been & it all seems consistent).

Cheers,

Vin

The 3rd photo is particularly pleasing - gives a sense of a roiling, seething cauldron.  Hubble bubble, toil & trouble.

The pier is in!  Next step would be to eventually get an ethernet point close by, but for the time being powerline over an extension lead will have to suffice.  It feels pretty solid.  Just need some clear skies to PA & then - hopefully - it will be ready for quick setup imaging!

In case you're wondering what that black patch bungie'd at the bottom of the pier extension is, its a reptile heat mat (a trick I read @ollypenricerecommend on a post somewhere) to deter dewing under the hood when its covered.  I want to try connecting it to something like this solar-powered rainproof powerbank to see if a trickle charge would allow it to keep the heater running for a decent chunk of time.

Because the pier was bought 2nd hand, the fiddliest bit was attaching the pier adapter to the base (there were some bolts weren't quite straight & must've been rusted in so getting them out was very time-consuming).

Cheers all.

That's another fun video @rorymultistorey.  I'm actually learning mirror- & telescope- making from Terry - he's brilliant & the rest of the society are a good bunch as well. Nice to see them in the footage - no meetings have been possible for a while b/c of the pandemic ☹️ so a partially made mirror sits in a box on a shelf, biding its time.  How could you butcher the red tube like that you philistine 😂.  Will check out the discord server👏🏾

Sounds like one of those nights you remember for a long time!  👍🏾👍🏾

On 19/06/2021 at 22:42, Hughsie said:

Nice captures.
How do you get on with the mount locking on to the Sun? I have the same mount and I find if I switch on my laptop first the mount might as well look for Lord Lucan.
If my laptop is off before the mount searches for the Sun I have no issues. Weird.

Hi @Hughsiesorry for slow reply (only just saw this post: has been a bit manic on other fronts).  Luckily I've not had any problems w that.  I always switch on the mount and let it find the sun while I go off to bring the scope out.  Yes that is v weird b/c there's no connection between the SQ mount and the laptop - v strange.  (The only thing I can think of is if you're running them off the same external battery pack & its something to do with power usage while searching? <PS: I just use my laptop without it being wired into any power>)

Cheers

Quick follow-up Q - I see Amazon now has "Blink" outdoor cameras (that are different from Ring & seem quite a bit cheaper).  I'm not sure if they are more like Wyze cameras - has anyone tried to use those for all-sky work yet?  Cheers!

Hello,

Finally caught up w last unprocessed batch of data from 2 weeks ago (!) - the sunshine seems so distant now.  This was before the 0.5x reducer had arrived, hence no full disk.

Cheers,

Vin