Seelive

Composite from 142 images taken on 12th /13th Aug 21 with the background created from the 56 cloud free images. 55 sec exposure every 60 sec using a Canon 10 - 18 mm lens at 10 mm F4.5.

Yes, you need at least a dozen or more lights for it to work its magic but if you stack sufficient lights they totally dissappear. I live underneath the flight path to an airport so planes are also a problem for me (and they are much brighter than satelites, but still are removed)

I always a use kappa-sigma stacking method so I don't waste any subs with satellite or aircraft trails.

+1 for the Canon 10 - 18 mm. At f4.5 it's fairly slow but even at wide open the optics are excellent and it can be purchased new for £206. It's only for Canon APS-C cameras but that's what you have?

Have you over-tightened it? Backlash in the RA isn't so much of a problem especially if the balance is set slightly east heavy.

Too late for flats now so just try your M16 images without them and attempt to remove any vignetting or other artifacts during processing.

I assume you're binning the guide camera 2 x 2 so if the guiding software doesn't know that you've effectively doubled the size of the guide camera pixels then I guess that the reported errors would be halved.

You need to use a planetary stacking software such as Registax or Autostakkert. DSS requires a minimum number of stars to allow stacking so if you've only got Jupiter in the image then DSS will reject them, not only because it will only find 1 'star' but, if it's large enough, it will also consider it to be an out of focus star and also reject it.

DSS copes OK with meridian flips.

Try here https://baixarapk.gratis/en/app/970161373/polar-scope-align-pro But their are plenty of free apps, I use Polaris View - basic but does the job and no adds.

Perhaps a daft question, but I assume you upgraded to the latest version of software applicable to the version of hand controller that you have (V3 or V4/5)?

I guess you should set the Time Zone to +2 and (at the moment) select Daylight Saving.

My first guess would be to look at the (linear) histogram, if you've got a spike at 0 ADU then then the offset needs to be increased?

I'm not sure how 'non-reflective' you are trying to achieve but would a black 'permanent' marker pen do the job (such as https://www.edding.com/en-uk/products/edding-2200-c-permanent-marker/ ?)

If you're not using an OAG also consider differential movement between the imaging and guide scopes?

I tend use median stacking rather than average for calibration frames (the default in DSS?) to provide some rejection of outlier pixels.

OK, so I thought I would try an experiment; I created a 5496 x 3670 pixel (the same image size as the Canon 6D) 'Bias image' using IRIS with a mean level of 2048 ADU and Gaussian noise of 8.3 ADU (RMS). Using the STAT command the image standard deviation ('Sigma' in IRIS terms) is (obviously) 8.3. Adding just 6 individual pixels with an amplitude of 14000 ADU results in a new image standard deviation value of 10.6 ADU (which is the equivalent of adding 6.6 ADU (RMS) of Gaussian noise). Or am I missing something?

Is the large deviation in the Stdev of the 2 images primarily a result of the 'hot pixels' (which are evident in dark image)? There is a significant positive bias about the mean in both the bias (-124.6, +390.4) and dark (-138.5, +11995.5) images. Presumably if the Stdev was measured in the same area of both images avoiding the hot pixels, the difference in the Stdev would be much less?

I assume that when the motor is not moving (parked), the stepper motor controller continues to output the (DC) phase currents that would be be normally be applied with the stepper motor at the 'parked' position as if it was still moving but at the 'parked' postion. So perhaps no AC current content (DC only) could indicate that the mount is parked?

It was intended for Tomatobro.

Out of interest, what did you use to measure the current?

Without going into the maths, the (close) approximate formula for determinating the arcsec per pixel is: 206 x camera pixel size / telescope focal length The formula requires the camera pixel size to be in micrometres (um) and the telescope focal length in millimeters (mm). So for your 294MC and Esprit 100 it would be: 206 x 4.63 / 550 = 1.73 arcsec / pixel

Are you connecting the handset to the USB hub before powering on the handset? If so, try powering on the handset (mount) before connecting it to the USB hub.

The fitted grub screws are M3x3 cone point (at least they are on my EQM35). I found it difficult to precisely align the polar scope with those (they tend to 'dig' into the graticule housing) so I swapped them for M3x3 cup point A2 stainless steel grub screws. They worked a treat and I've not had to adjust the polarscope since.

Strange, FLO claim that the dummy battery has a "fully decoded chip" so I wouldn't have expected that to happen. Still, glad you got it working.