russellhq

Steel wool can be good for small gaps if you can keep it dry. They don't much like gnawing through the stuff.

The Odroid xu4 also seems to get good recommendations as an alternative to a Pi for NAS applications (which I guess is similar to high data capture of planetary imaging) https://www.odroid.co.uk/hardkernel-odroid-xu4/odroid-xu4

Maybe the admins could create a section titled "Gina's Corner" where you can put all your threads in one place. Would be an interesting place

What's the lighter area at the bottom edge of the frame, left hand side? Looks like somethings not gone right with the calibration unless it's nebulosity!

Gina, did the camera come with it's own capture software and have you tried taking bias frames with that? In my experience, using 3rd party software can sometimes lead to capture issues. That said, the 1ms bias looks more like what would be expected. What temperature was this captured at?

Gina, looking at your bias frames, do you think it's possible you're getting a thermal gradient across the sensor? I mean it might be possible if you are running the camera constantly for hundreds of frames at a time? I only say this because the pattern doesn't look like bias noise but more like dark noise. And if that is the case, it will not correct your light frames but make them worse! Might be worth adding a couple seconds pause in your imaging sequence between captures?

Some pretty impressive work has been achieved with a standard DSLR by Scott Rosen http://www.astronomersdoitinthedark.com I think the key to Scott's success is dark skies: they make everything better ?

I wonder if there is the need to run the planetarium software on the mini pc? Seems like a lot of resource just to tell the scope where to point.

Take a set of cold ones then a set of room temperature, and compare the 2. Probably quicker than googling for consensus

From what I've read, they add half their thickness to the optical path i.e. increase the overall focal length

I don't know what an xbee is but the esp8266 modules I looked at were only a couple of pounds plus postage.

Dave, for wireless control, have you looked into the ESP8266 module? It's a dirt cheap serial WiFi module that runs Arduino IDE code. Here's an example of one being used to control a stepper motor; http://www.instructables.com/id/Running-a-Stepper-Motor-from-an-Adafruit-HUZZAH-ES/

I was reading this the other day and think it might be a good contender for protecting the gold wires: http://www.designworldonline.com/enhance-electronic-performance-with-epoxy-compounds/ It's an epoxy specially designed for the task: - "epoxy based “glob top” encapsulants protect and support bare die and their wire bonds in chip-on-board (COB) assemblies" -"Specifically formulated to be thixotropic, glob tops flow smoothly in response to stress applied during application, but rapidly increase in viscosity." -"this allows them to easily cover the chip and fill narrow gaps between wires without damaging delicate parts, while preventing them from flowing beyond the desired area." Might cut down the number of dead sensors

Aluminiumwelder, I can't help thinking that your method would work better if there was an aluminium plate attached to the bottom of the tube to increase the heat transfer area.

I'm not sure if you found this video in your search, but this is a video I took showing how I removed the glass. I tried this with 2 sensors, worked both times without breaking the glass, sensors were also functional afterwards: