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Jamgood

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Everything posted by Jamgood

  1. @Budgie1 Out of interest, are you using the Ascom or the native driver for the camera?
  2. I've tried loads of different ADUs from 10000 to 35000. APT has produced Flats from 0.3s to 12s long with different methods from T-Shirt cover through to paper on an ipad. They all look the same and look like decent flats but I just can't get them to work, with DSS anyway. I've changed and tried every setting in DSS to see if it is something stupid I'm missing. Going to try SiRiL and see if that fairs any better. After a couple of stretches I currently get this. Pants!
  3. Yeah I thought mine looked funny on here but it doesn't look like that on the PC. I'm currently in the process of building my dark library as the camera is new but the image above was..... Deep Sky Stacker > 12 Lights 300s > 10 Darks > 15 Flats > 15 Darks Flats - Fits files stacked with the generic Bayer pattern RGGB.
  4. Hi all. I got a ZWO ASI294MC Pro recently and I've come to a bit of a stumbling block with it. Using APT, everything connects great, good light frames, plates solves, etc. Flat frames!!!!! Using APT CCD Flats Aid to create a plan of 0.31937s flats at 25000ADU, (histogram below) I cannot seem to get them to work in a stacked imaged. I'm left with terrible vignetting even after a couple of small stretches of the DSS stacked file. I take flats using a tablet with a white screen. This worked well for my old DSLR but no matter what method I try with it (Uncovered, White T-Shirt, Paper) with the 294MC, the flats seem to under/over compensate, I'm not sure which. Imaging train is - 294MC Pro > TS-Optics NEWTON Coma Corrector 1.0x GPU > Optolong L-Enhance > Skywatcher 130PDS The light frames have a little vignetting, as usual, but I can't seem to get a flat frame setting to calibrate it out. Everything I've tried makes it worse. Stretched Light Frame Stretched Master Flat Stacked Image with a couple of Level stretches. Am I just being absolutely stupid and missing something obvious or is there something going on that is above my level of knowledge? All help and advice welcome. 👍
  5. I started with ADU 25000 which I also read was optimal for this camera. I tried very different scale of brightness and have been getting between 1s and 12s results. All the flats I've taken look fine but just don't seen to work. Stacking in DSS, the preview looks fine. Start stretching in Photoshop and there's just terrible vignetting. (There is some vignetting in the light frames but you would expect the flats to remove that) Not sure if it's a setting in DSS that's not right or what. I'm stumped.
  6. @Budgie1 Can I pick your brains on taking Flats? What ADU do you use? Do you use the white t-shirt/sky method? Before with a DSLR I've just put a ipad thing over the scope with a white screen and shot in AV and it flats were fine. Tried this with the 294MC last night and no matter what settings I tried in APT the flats, although they looked OK, didn't work or over corrected and left me really bad vignetting in the stack. I'm stumped! Going to try the t-shirt/sky method later.
  7. I'll take the blame for all the foreseeable clouds. 😁
  8. Yeah, getting my dark library set up is on the list. (plenty of cloudy nights ahead to get them done, I'm sure.) I've sorted my power box out today and I also have a Pegasus Power Box Advanced coming. So I have fixings, cable management, balancing, etc to sort out. Looking forward to having a play with some new toys.
  9. Very nice. I've got the ASI294MC Pro arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to having a play around with it. 👍
  10. I think you're trying to run before you can walk. If I were you, I'd get outside on the next clear night and start with the basics. Learn to polar align your mount first and foremost. Use the handset to star align and get a feel of things. Get focus and take a few images and see how things work. If you have an android phone, there's an app called SynscanInit 2.1 that gives you all the info you need to put into the handset when setting up. Also a handy little Polar view which shows you where Polaris needs to be in your polar scope for alignment. Getting the basics down will help you when you go to the computer control.
  11. The EQDIR cable makes life easier as it removes the handset out of the set up but it depends on your intended workflow. PC Control is great but it's another learning curve to get over. The cable that you have does the same thing but you effectively have to disable the handset by setting it to PC Direct. Have you used the mount with just the handset, star aligning and taking a few photos, etc? Does it work?
  12. If you use an EQDIR Cable, you don't need to use the Autoguider ST4 port/cable, unless you're not connecting the guide camera to your PC. The EQDIR cable will cover the guiding by what is called Pulse Guiding. A much more stable connection between the computer and mount. The EQDIR cable connects the computer to the Hand Controller port and handles all connections from then on. Reading what you've written, I'm a little confused though? Do you have a guide camera and scope? If not, forget the Autoguider port. Are you trying to connect the mount to the PC via the Autoguider port? If so, this is incorrect. The cable you currently plugs in to the bottom on the handset.
  13. Good stuff. Glad you got it sorted and I was able to help. Let the fun begin. 👍
  14. In Stellarium, before you pressed Slew for your second star, did you click the button that says Current Object? This puts the co-ordinates in for the area the mount is to slew to. If you skip that one click, the mount won't move because the co-ordinates will still be from your last object. Like you found, CTRL+1 will slew to the object and is a nice shortcut. If you click the little Spanner Icon with the three red >>> in EQMod that will expand the program. When you click Sync in Stellarium, you should see the Point Count under Alignment/Sync in EQMod change to 1 when you've done the first star. Then 2, 3 and so on when you've done more. The Point Count always starts at 0. When you have set sync points, they will show in the Alignment Point List Editor. You'll have the co-ordinates on the left and little red markers on the graph on the right. Using this works best if you can do a few sync points and create a triangle on the graph like in the image below. So you sync with a star in the West, East and South say, then have the object you want to track inside that triangle. If you watch when you've made a few and slew to an object inside the triangle, the points will be connected on on the graph showing that you are at optimum accuracy between read points. It is not essential to do this but it helps with the accuracy of tracking objects. This was how I started before I went into guiding and plate solving. Star Alignment is a thing of the past now and probably will be for you in the future. Hope this helps. Keep asking if you get stuck. We've all been there and are here to help. 👍
  15. When you connect your mount to Stellarium do you see this box? If not, either press the Telescope Icon in the bottom toolbar or hit CTRL+0. With that control box you can select you target. Say you want Arcturus. Click the star with your mouse and then hit Current Object in the control box. Then Slew will take the mount to it. Then, depending on your set up, you need to centre the star in your camera view. Once centred, hit Sync and it will put a Sync marker in EQMod. It will place in in a sky map on this page. (You get that up by pressing the little Notepad Icon in the Alignment/Sync box. Hope this helps.
  16. When you start the slewing process within Stellarium, are you doing it from the parked position or from the last of your star alignments? When I used to use Stellarium, before plate solving, I use to do my star alignment with Stellarium and EQMod as I had completely taken the handset out of the picture. Slew to target in Stellarium, once centred in the frame using the EQMod controls, hit the Sync button in Stellarium. That was one star aligned. Repeat as often as needed.
  17. Dark Flat is the same exposure as a Flat but with the cap on.
  18. Your upgrade option are those you mention. Those and models above. 😐
  19. It bugged me at first also, but after a few times doing it I passed caring. A circle is still a circle regardless of orientation. I just eyeball it. If you want to make sure you're good, rotate the RA 180° and check that Polaris is still on the line. As long as the reticle is calibrated it's not a problem.
  20. Both mounts I've had have been the same. It makes no difference to alignment though. I just rotate the RA and do what's needed, then return the scope to the home position. The reticle could be upside down and back to front, it doesn't matter. It's only a reference circle. As long as Polaris stays on that line when you rotate, all good.
  21. Glad you got that bit sorted. Don't try and rush and learn everything at once. You'll give yourself brain damage and want to quit. Just have a play with APT via EQMOD for a few times, learn how it works. Watch lots of tutorials. Then add in other things like guiding and plate solving. Once you get it, you'll be able to do it all very quickly but there's a learning curve to all this. Fools rush in. 👍
  22. You need to set the COM Port that EQMod uses to connect to the mount. Look in Device Manager on the PC, see what COM Port is being used. Under Ports (COM & LPT) it'll say USB Serial Port and a COM number. Then open the EQASCOM toolbox. If you haven't registered EQMOD, hit Register. Then click on Driver Setup and under EQMOD Port Details, select the Port number from Device Manager.
  23. Once you get it, you'll understand why people recommend it. It's not really complicated. Computer control is much easier than the hsndset. You just need to know what you want to do and how to achieve it. I knew from the start, before I owned a scope, I wanted to control everything from inside in the warm.
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