Eddie Jones

Welcome !

Update Sorry all, probably should have reported back on this a while ago I ordered a half round diamond file online which took several weeks to arrive. it took about 2 hours of careful fileing to get the fit for the HEQ5 base. never got around to ordering a flap wheel but sandin through from 200, 400, 800 & 1000 quickly smoothed out the file marks. The next dilemma, was how to manualy drill accuratley through the thick alluminium to fit a an aluminium disk that would bolted underneath and be tapped for the HEQ5 centre Bolt. Unfortunately i was unexpectedly made redundant at the end of August - this all went on the backburner. Next thing I'm back in work with some redundancy money and a very tempting secondhand mount upgrade... (My plan was for an EQ6R-Pro but skywatchers 2020 price hike made a Losmandy G11 seem like a bargain ) Here how it ended up...

No joy with my flats and subs are strange, (Rosette Neb, Single sub, levels + stretched) I'm guessing the sensor had fogged up so I checked the scope (which had been unpacked and brought inside) there was condensation on both the sensor and flattener. Wondering if a fogged sensor might be some of the flat problem (My AA 183c Pro has a square sensor window - so I don't think it is heated ) will try slower cooling and see if this helps

Thanks Clarkey ! will give that a try later 👍

Hi All, Trying to get the hang of my camera (Altair 183 pro tec cooled) with the gain set at 410. (Never had any problems with my DSLR in AV mode usually about 5 seconds per shot) Im using Nina and an LED tracing thingy. the flat wizard complains the source is to dim. Im now shooting two minutes manually and still signal is far left of histogram. Any pointers / suggestions ?

Day off work, so had a play with DSS settings today. To test I've been stacking a single sub with no callibration images. What has solved it for me is in the 'Raw Fits DDT settings' Mine was set to 'Create Super - Pixels .........' changed it to 'Bilinear Interpolation' and all seems fine

Also getting image in top left corner. First guess - tried disabling 2x2 drizzle - got the same result! I can crop the image it in photoshop - just feel it would be nicer not to need to !

Update, finally got some clear skies last night, Diffraction problem still there Did another check this morning and found another fibre approx 8mm long (slightly thicker than a hair) on the very edge of the inside of the objective. It was 'flexibly' attached at one end so with the scope upright it sat around the edge of the lens and wasn't visible, but when the scope was at an angle it dangles into the field of view. I removed it by tapping a cotton bud to a violin bow and carefully running it into the scope from the eyepiece end. Aimed it at the fibre It stuck to the cotton bud and I was able to remove it. (Not something I'd like to have to do ever again!) Supposed to be clear again tonight - fingers crossed

Sorry, I don't know enough about DSLRs to advise you, take your best shot / guess and hopefully it will turn out fine - if not 'sell on' and you won't lose too much!

I got my 450d secondhand (in poor condition) it was a great starter DSLR and fine for daylight, but very noisy for astro! Can recommend www.mpb.com if your e in the secondhand market

no idea if this is more accurate (But its what I used for upgrading from 450d) https://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Canon-EOS-600D-versus-Canon-EOS-1200D___692_940 BTW my 600d is a 'Kiss x5' same camera different name usually sold at cheaper prices

Read the notes :- Notes: These raw values are not appropriate for comparing camera models because they are not adjusted for gain or area. The shape of the curve can tell you something about the amplifier circuitry of the camera.

Update Think I've found it! Some kind of fibre on the nearest baffle to the focuser (had to take off the focuser to get to it) Thanks all ! - waiting for clear sky to test!

Thanks all, I really can't see any obstructions, I'll take apart and clean everything later, maybe a dog hair or something has crept into the imaging path

also shot video of the moon (to get focus as I couldn't find my Bhatinov) and Jupiter Saturn conjunction (No setup changes) and saw no sign of the effect on short frames.

Hi Olly, No washing line, cant see any spider webs, single frame was FITs, I've converted it to tiff using DSS and moved it to photoshop and converted to jpg (did a RGB levels edit to make it visible) Done a little more thinking , I was using a pier extension on my HEQ5, it's possible didn't tighten it well enough to the tripod - maybe the wind was twisting the mount ?

Probably should add, was quite breezy and polar alignment was guesstimate as I setup before sunset to capture Jupiter Saturn conjunction.

Hi All, recently moved from Canon DSLR to Altair 183 Pro Tec Also moved from Backyard EOS to NINA I seem to have what looks like diffraction spikes on my test images, (I'm using a 110mm refractor with a filter drawer and 0.8 reducer) thinking it may be lack of settling time between dithering. This is a stack of 26 x 30 sec exposures on the Pleiades Would welcome more experienced opinions Pleades-30sec-small.tif

No expert here, but would guess at vibration through the mount or wind ?

Yes, observatory is sadly no more but the group is till strong, I think there were ideas about a new observatory location before covid, but out of the loop at the moment

Hi Lee, Welcome, I'm near also near Holmfirth, we have the Huddersfield Astronomical Society nearby (now based in Lockwood,) some great people there to learn from and get advise. https://huddersfieldastronomy.org/ We Just need the local lockdown to pass All the Best Eddie

Hi All, I like to keep my imaging rig setup and ready for action. At the moment it sits on a piece of foam on the scope box. I'm thinking about buying and fixing a dovetail clamp onto my wall and clamping the whole rig on the wall when not in use. Anyone tried this before ? silly idea ? How do you store a ready-to-go imaging rig ?

HEQ5 is well respected and often considered the baseline for Astrophotography The EQ6-R is the next step up (more payload capacity and belt drive - less backlash) so would be good choice and would allow you to upgrade to larger scopes.

Really great to see the finished image - stunning !!

Only been here just over a month! This forum is a wealth of knowledge and inhabited by some very polite, friendly people