Jamgood

16 hours ago, braybarr said:

Well, I managed to remove the mirror cell with a drill in reverse. Primary mirror is looking crisp! 

Here’s to hoping this solves my dew issues and I don’t need to buy heaters… although with my luck I’m expecting to have to drop a chunk of cash. 

A shower cap over the end of the scope can help with due and also block out stray light pollution getting under there.

A black cloth and an elastic band will also do the same. 

A Dew Shield up the top will also help.

9 hours ago, JimFR said:

Is this now the longest thread on SGL?

 

Not quite. The "What did the postman bring?" Thread in the Astro Lounge has 488 pages.  There are probably others but this one is still going strong.  The 130PDS still has it's loyal followers and newbies coming in all the time. 👍

Can you lower the USB Buffer in your software? It is usually set to 80. Dropping it down to 40 can help with random disconnects, etc.

Interestingly, my usual Darks that I've had no issues with work fine on a normal stack in APP and the issue seems to be when doing a mosaic with APP. 

Strange. 

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

I think darks are greatly over-rated, even with my old-school Atik 11000 CCD whose darks looked like a snow storm. If you have amp glow then, yes, you will certainly need them but, if you don't, it might be worth trying hot pixel filtration when stacking and, maybe, a bad pixel map. Don't be persuaded that darks are compulsory. Do your own testing. When I did that I stopped using them - as many others have done. 

Olly

I need Darks for the amp glow on the 294MC Pro. Unless there is another way? Do Dark Flats remove it? I've never tried without Darks.

APP does create a Bad Pixel Map but these pixels don't get removed. On the new Darks I'm making now, I can clearly see 5 really bright pixels. 2 red, 2 green and 1 blue. Would they be classed as Hot Pixels rather than Dead. I'm not very clued up in these things.

9 minutes ago, andrew s said:

PS on my tablet I don't see a signature. 

Never thought of that. 👍

In my light frames I'm only seeing one pixel in each of the areas.  Nothing in my Flats and cannot really tell in dark files.  I think the pattern maybe being created by the dithering between subs which would make sense in my mind.  

I'll create a new set of Dark Frames this evening and try them out. 

46 minutes ago, andrew s said:

It would help to know what camera, processing  etc. Regards Andrew 

Camera info is in the signature along with everything else. 294MC Pro. Astro Pixel Processor is use for stacking.

This is one of a few strange shapes that appear in my light frames. Some are red, some blue, some green. All in groups like the one above.

I've not long noticed them and not looked in darks and flats to see if they are in there as well. I look soon as I get chance.

Just strange random pattterns make me think it's not any single pixel issue. I've search for other similar issues but cannot find anything. 

I'm probably answering my own question here but when do you know it is time to create a new Dark Library?

I'm starting to see things like this creeping in to my lights and they're still there in the final stacks. 

I'm going to make a new Dark Library over the next couple of days and see if they rectify the issue.

Anyone seen this before and know the cure?

TIA

To be continued......

Just a quick look at the data from last night. This is a 3 panel mosaic to fit it all in. Because of the large crossover, the middle has around 4 & 1/2 hours while the outer edges where the faint stuff lies only have an hour each. When the weather allows, I'll add some more. 👍

9 minutes ago, braybarr said:

I believe so. I’lll have to get a black shower cap for the back end of the tube. 

A dark piece of cloth and an elastic band will also do the trick. 👍

2 hours ago, Laurieast said:

Did it say somewhere that images will be released on a weekly basis? 

Can't find it now...

I heard the same. They said it in one of the live shows. 

18 minutes ago, StuartT said:

It looks like to download the data from MAST you need to be a university employee (registration asks for an institution and a job title). Any other way of getting it?

 

https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/july-2022/accessing-jwst-science-data-after-the-end-of-commissioning

Just leave those options blank.

The detail in this shot is just exquisite! Incredible!

20 minutes ago, Jonk said:

Carina nebula (screenshot)

Link to full image: https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7ETNMR8CBHQQ64R4CVA1E6T.tif

 

Phenomenal!

It almost like a really bad, late night, shopping channel with ham presenters showing off amazing images every now and then.

3 minutes ago, Dinglem said:

is it me or have they got the apprentice on the camera in the studio?

 

Not the best production is it. The can put a man on the moon but can't make a decent TV stream.

True but we already know how amazing they all are. We don't need to be reminded before every reveal. 

More trumpet blowing. Get on with it. 

32 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

Some new times for the next images:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-updates-coverage-for-webb-telescope-s-first-images-reveal

I'm glad I'm not working tomorrow. 👍

Incredible! The images from this telescope in the future are going to be beyond immense.

Now that's an APOD!

I didn't realise we had to suffer the trumpet blowing of each of the hosts. Get on with it!

Either poor old Joe is having his siesta or they're giving him a lesson in what space is.

Wake up Joe!!!!!

As stated above, it will be fine. I actually use a 13.8v supply for my Pegasus Power Box Advanced and never had an issue.

5 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

For anyone interested, I recently ordered a 3D printed copy of this mask, designed to block the stray lights coming from the back. It fits perfectly!

The material I selected might be a bit fragile though, perhaps I didn't select the best material and density for the job, but I don't know anything about 3D printing... Let's see if it holds!

Skywatcher 130PDS Primary Mirror Back Cover by RolandKol - Thingiverse

I had one of them that I got with another 130PDS bundle I bought and used it on my scope for a time. While it worked at blocking the stray lights, I found that it to be the cause of really slow cool down periods for the primary mirror. Not too bad if you keep the scope outside but if you move from indoor to out, especially in the winter, it was a nuisance that more than doubled the cooling period or left you with thermal spikes in your images.. A black shower cap does the same job but is easily removable for cooling. YMMV.