Simon Pepper

My second entry here and a familiar FOV. I am hooked on mosaics at the moment so again this is two panes stitched together. Shot using my usual equipment , Redcat, ZWO 1600mm pro, ZWO Ha, Oiii & Sii filters, HEQ5 pro. Also shot using 600s exposures which is the first time I have tried that (been lazy and never had the corresponding dark library)! Images taken on the 20/09 & 21/09.

Pane1  9x600 Ha / 6x600 Oiii / 6x600 Sii

Pane2 6x600 Ha / 6x600 Oiii / 6x600 Sii

Total 6hrs 30 minutes

Resolution 6204x4469 Pixel Scale 3.158

I have been fortunate down here in the south for a few clear partial nights, but the weather appears to be turning a lot of cloud and rain for the next week at least. I hope others have a bit more luck.

Thanks 

Thanks! I like my colours bold unlike the guys here I got a Redcat so I think I would get red again but that’s just me 😂

1 hour ago, Radman40 said:

I see WO have brought out a limited edition black and white version of the RedCat 51. Whatever next.....tabby cat perhaps? A dog range maybe? A chihuahua 50 at one end and a Great Dane 156 at the other. Personally I would go for something in the middle like Retriever 81 (in gold).

Do you have a picture of it? Love my Redcat been thinking about getting a second for dual rig!

Here is my first of probably many entries here as long as the skies hold! Rather embarrassingly I spent a whole night on LDN951 at the heart of SH2-119 was just about to add it here and realised the thread was Ceph and Cass and not Ceph and Cyg! Please see technical details below in the correct part of the sky!

The Lion,  The Wizard & In HOO 2x2 Mosaic

Shot on 17/09 & 18/09 total integration is 7hr 25min images were taken with Redcat, ZWO 1600mm pro, ZWO Ha and Oiii filters, HEQ5 pro.

Pane1 12x300 Ha / 12x300 Oiii
Pane2 12x300 Ha / 6x300 Oiii
Pane3 10x300 Ha / 13x300 Oiii
Pane4 12x300 Ha / 12x300 Oiii

Resolution: 8058x5974 / Pixel Scale: 3.165 

Thanks 

I have two asi air pros and without that red little box I wouldn’t be able to Astro as I have never even polar aligned by eye! It does everything from PA to dither its hands down the single piece of equipment I couldn’t be without no AAP no Astro for me 😂

Welcome Rich 👏

50 minutes ago, AMcD said:

I have an eight hour layover at Miami International Airport on the way back from a work trip.  It is a lovely clear night in Worcester so I have fired up the observatory from the airport lounge and am collecting integrations on NGC6888.  I am sorry if this sounds a little like bragging (which I guess it is) but I (a) am quite proud it works and (b) cannot believe, when I think back 40 years to using a small Tasco refractor in the garden, that this is even possible.😊

Astro goals 👌

10 Mins up the road from me will definitely be there next tim. Thanks 

On 15/08/2022 at 20:13, Mr Spock said:

Those were the days... 😜

This looks awesome where is that?

Hi all it was Martins YouTube that I followed when making the backlash adjustments and if I had not done the mod as well probably would have been fine. However I definitely had binding that’s why the gear was so tight the belt was somehow tightening and slipping trying to move it. I have done the backlash again it’s a very fine line between removing it and getting binding I didn’t think the margin of error was so small! But that said it’s done no apparent backlash and the gear is smooth the belt is back on and it’s tracking and it’s silent! Thank you to all on this thread really helped nail down the issue. I guess the real test will be next clear night but pretty confident now. 

35 minutes ago, Clarkey said:

My HEQ5 was similar. It turned out I had marginally over-tightened the worm drive end float bearings. This sounds similar. I have actually just changed all the bearing on my HEQ5 and it is a similar age to yours. To be honest only the worm drive bearings needed changing, but as I was dismantling everything I decided to do them all.

So just to confirm this is the two little hex adjustments when the RA is rotated one under the power box? Just need to ease back a little? Thanks 

Ok the only thing I can think is that when I removed the backlash I went too far and it’s binding? I have never taken that apart before so no idea why it’s so tight. If it’s possible to burn out the RA motor well I will be surprised if I have not after all this time. Incredible I was getting 0.4 tbh! I will come back once I have opened it up. Thanks 

So the red one is smooth easy to turn the blue one is tight I have to put a lot of effort in 

Hold on!!!! The DEC big cog turns effortlessly the RA one requires force! 

Hi Both

mount was brand new in 2020 so about 2.5 years old. Tracking was about 1.2 I had bad backlash I sorted that and immediately installed the mod got down to 0.4 then the ticking started lol. It was fine before the mod other than backlash and struggled to get under 1. I will go swap out the belts give me 5 mins to revert. Thanks 

1 hour ago, Knighty2112 said:

Not done the mod (but plan to do so pretty soon), but is the belt tension correctly set? In the instructions it looks like the motor housing is positioned more to the right than your seems to be? Should only be 2mm movement on belt. If too slack then the belt can slip out of the teethed pulleys.

 

Hi knighty that one is the DEC mine is the RA issue not the one he is pointing at 

It’s just the RA but the DEC doesn’t track… if the belts are the same size I could try swapping them…

On full speed slew there is no issue runs fine I can’t do that and video at the same time as I am using the phone to slew it. I am charging another phone so I can do this soon. The belt tension is good but when it starts to track it gets tighter if I turn off tracking and press the belt there is less flex then if I press harder it makes that same clunk noise and goes back to looser the correct tension it’s like it’s riding up on a tooth but I have checked the whole belt it’s not that I can see had the magnifying glass out as well! As soon as the belt is removed it’s tracking fine. The teeth are not touching at the bottom. More to follow when other phone charged thanks 

Apologies for the heavy breathing just ran up the stairs 😂

An update if I take the belt off I don’t have this issue so something to do with the belt??? 

Hi all

i have modded my HEQ5 and for couple weeks worked a great then I noticed a knocking sound so stripped it down checked everything looked good job sorted fixed again. Couple weeks later same again any ideas what could be causing this? It’s like instead of a nice smooth rotation it’s more of like a jump knock rotation. I have tried different tensions on the belt. I think it’s something to do with the part that connects to the motor when it runs the belt gets tighter when I turn it off and pressure the belt it turns the motor back and the belt gets looser I can’t figure it out. Has anyone else seen heard or had this? Please photos and video put the sound up. Thanks 

4 hours ago, Iem1 said:

Second night completed, and I discovered a method that really improved my guiding I think...turning the guiding on.

After figuring that out, there was no 10-20 seconds of accuracy before the upwards spiral.

as an average I would say i was achieving;

RA ~ 0.75"

Dec ~ 0.35" 

My PA

Guiding

3 minute sub of the Cygnus Wall 

Are these values within the realms of what is to be expected for my set up? ( RA ~0.75 & Dec ~ 0.35)

Also, I think I might need to adjust my dithering intervals. It was set to a 60 second 'wait' during the dither, but the figures for guiding did not show as settled (back to the average 0.75 etc) until well into the next 3 minute exposure. I'm not sure how "live" the feedback is, but if it's pretty spot on then half my exposure time has been with high values for RA Dec due to the disturbance caused by dithering.

I will post one of the actual subs from my laptop in the morning for closer inspection.

Any tips/feedback are most welcome as always, cheers guys. Appreciate the guidance (pun intended).

Now that’s a PA! Also my best guiding ever that I saw anyway was 0.56 so you one up already! Glad your sorted it!

If you have issues again tonight bosh it here I’ll be out trying to figure out my mosaic that fantastically failed last night as well

You need a good PA guiding and PA are separate anything with a smiley face will be good in the AAP but this does depend on focal length. There is another setting something about restoring from last session make sure that’s off as well and make sure when calibrating that the steps count up to at least 12 West and back and 12 north and back. 

29 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

This rings alarm bells for me straight away: 'I focused and PA well via the ASI.'  Does this mean you believe in your PA because some software tells you its good?  I've had plenty of experience of software not being accurate in this regard. Once aligned I would do a simple drift test like this: point the scope towards the celestial equator in the south. Set up a 3 minute sub and, during this exposure, track at the slowest possible speed for 1.5 minutes one way in RA and then 1.5 minutes back again. This will produce an outward star trail and a return trail. If the PA is good the star trails will overlap, producing one single line. If PA is out you'll get a shallow angled vee. This test is software-free and direct so it can be believed in implicitly.

Being suspicious of all things software I also prefer to guide by the simplest means possible and that's by the old fashioned ST4 cable. This means no 3rd party software, just the camera, the mount and PHD involved.

Olly

I think you are right to suspect as I can one day the PA accuracy on AAP is not perfect but it’s good enough. Also AAP runs PHD I thought so there is no additional software here other than ZWOs OS? ST4 is dated now the OP has everything correct with cables I think the issue is RA only is on in AAP. Thanks 

Hi Lem

i have - similar setup. What guide scope are you using? That focus is fine by the way. I see you have a star tracker too and I can’t see the RA line have you left the guide the RA only box on? Couple other things. Clear calibration every time depending on guide scope you may need to lower the steps let me know

Thanks