pete_l

Why? If a €1500 device can give a €4000 EQ8 the same level of tracking performance as a €13000 GM2000 then it would be worth looking at I cannot say that it would, but the concept is there. The question is whether an Active Optics unit can actually deliver? That is what nobody seems to be able to say definitively: either yes or no. There are plenty of opinions, but very little practical experience.

Be aware that when you import it into your country there could well be additional taxes to pay at the Customs post.

I have had considerable success with an IMX291 based IP camera from Aliexpress link here, with 1.7mm lens It does need a network aware application to stream the video to. But it is sensitive enough, cheap and easy to work with. The only drawback is that the chip is not a good match for people wanting an all-sky view. However it does cover most of the sky

In the video, Hallas suggests "a couple" of star diameters dithering between shots. (See 8:30 into the video) He also says (for DSLRs) you don't have to shoot flats or darks - just let the software: Adobe Raw plugin for PS, do the work for you. That's the sort of advice I like 😎

Can you not use 2 of the SPDT relays together?

I would suggest getting back to basics. Take the camera off the telescope and see that you can actually get a light frame out of it. Cover it and make sure it goes dark. After that, cover the sensor with a piece of foil held on by an elastic band. Use a pin to put a very small hole in the centre of the foil - you have now made a pinhole camera! Try to get a coherent daylight image with that. You won't need a lens or telescope. Once you have proved that the sensor is receiving and processing photons, put the camera back on the telescope. In daylight check you can get an image even if it is out of focus. Then cover the scope and make sure the image darkens. Next step is to find a streetlight or the Moon and image that. Ensure that whatever finder you have is aligned with your target. After that, aim for Jupiter - repeat as necessary. By this point you will have built confidence that the camera does actually work. Even better! that it works with your telescope and that what you aim for is what you hit. You will also have got an idea of what gain / offset / exposure time settings are valid for starlight.

Arduino inputs can be defined to enable an internal pullup resistor pinMode(pin, INPUT_PULLUP)

Don't forget to take the lens caps off!

The point about OSC is that you get something, quickly. And after that each additional sub adds to the overall quality of the image. You can therefore stop when you are satisfied with the result. Or when conditions dictate. And when you stop, you have usable data - you aren't missing a channel or with an unbalanced exposure on one part of your palette. As for chasing the very faintest whiffs of nebulosity? I think we all understand that most OSC users (myself included) are not after those sorts of results. There is plenty of stuff available for DSLR / OSC imagers to capture without needing to go deeper, darker or to large + expensive imaging rigs. It is, after all, a hobby.

Your "domestic" 80D camera will also have an anti-aliasing filter in the imaging path. This is intended to reduce the possibility of Moire patterns on images. That filter works by adding some blur - so while your camera might have an "X" megapixel sensor, your images will have much less definition than you'd expect. As part of the astro-modding process, this filter will be removed. The effect being that your astro-modded camera will produce sharper images than an unmodded one.

If you have Bortle 5 skies (i.e. pretty dark) then your DSLR won't stop you getting some good quality images. A dedicated CCD/CMOS camera will set you back at least £1000 and if you want narrow band with a mono sensor, close to double that! Yet £300-400 will get you a good s/h modified DSLR which will provide many years of imaging before you run out of targets for it.

Hmmm. At my location the degree of sky darkness varies from around 21.5 up to "Bortle 1" (to the point where I thought my Unihedron SQM was broken ). The quality of the sky can vary due to many factors, including sunspot activity, prevailing winds and what seems to me to be the most important: atmospheric transparency due to dust and water content. On the best nights I can have an SQM better than 21.8 (see some captures of SQM meter readings from my garden) and on the next night it is lower. Whether you can make use of great skies is determined primarily by your eyesight. As a 60-something, I do not have either the acuity or the dilated pupils of a 20 y/o. Which must knock at least a magnitude off my personal NELM. As such, I take the Bortle descriptions with a large pinch of salt. Having said that, using SQM measurements as a proxy for seeing and transparency does provide some great views on the darkest nights. Though it bears reminding that under a full moon everywhere is Bortle 6!

1.) The component in question is labelled "D21". This implies it is a diode - by the looks of it a Schottky type. 2.) If it is getting hot, that is because it is passing an excessive current. 3.) If your power supply drops from 5V (nominal) to 1.6V when applied to this device, the drop is caused by the SMPS going into current-limiting mode due to a short circuit on its output. 4.) It is not unusual for inductors in SMPS's to "whine" when subjected to an overload condition - as your original one did / does. That sheds some light on what is happening. I cannot say why it is happening. Except to say that the daughter board looks like it is a power supply, itself.

Just by eyeballing the left side, there appears to be 6 separate "dithers". Between them they make up about 1/14th of the frame. Normally a dither would be 2 or 3 px per frame. I would suspect that if the polar alignment wasn't pretty good, there would be some field rotation which is tricky for a stacker to account for, since it is only looking for uniform X,Y displacements across the field. Not ones that vary due to curvature. How long are you allowing the mount to "settle" back into its tracking after each dither?

... and seeing. A case of choosing your nights.

Watering can?

People are much more likely to post complaints than recommendations. And almost nobody would go to the trouble of writing a post that goes into detail and summaries "it does what it says on the tin". And for a "mid-range" £1600 refractor there will always be people who retort that "X" is better. Or who suggest that the failings are "unacceptable (even if they don't own any of the kit mentioned)". So there is little to be gained by offering a target for those who will sneer at lower-priced options. Or gloat that what they spent more money on is better.

I don't know how they managed it, but it claims "combining all the technology of PlaneWave's Observatory-class telescopes". So can we expect the mount to have zero field curvature and no coma?

A longer dovetail? All you are trying to do is to set the centre of gravity of the scope + accessories to be over the pivot point of the mount. Using a dovetail with more length at the rear will allow you to slide the scope even further forward.

It does seem that when they're good, they're very, very, good. But when they are bad they are horrid; I feel a "Dirty Harry" quote coming on!

Probably use spaces to indent the following line!

A cooled camera is a definite advantage. Necessary but not sufficient is a deft hand at processing (you need the basic raw material to be good)

Many retailers terms like "serious" or "experienced" astronomer when trying to sell expensive kit. The notion being that cost equates to commitment or skill or some other factor. That promotes the idea that higher prices equals better - there is a whole new thread waiting for that topic! But if you are paying, say, £20,000 for a telescope system then a grand or two on a guide scope and guider-cam doesn't make much difference. While you may wonder who would pay that? It's only £100 a week over 4 years. You could spend that watching Chelsea. (And probably end up just as disappointed )

I've never used it (yet) but there is "nano magic tape" available from Aliexpress. 😬

I don't know about the open source camera but that curved imaging sensor looks interesting. It could eliminate the need for a lot of optical correction and make RASA type cameras (and SCTs) a lot simpler / cheaper to build.