AndrewRrrrrr

yes I've had that. i think it was a very short and fine piece of hair possibly off the cat. must have got there when changing the clip-in filter on my canon dslr. each time the shutter triggered, it moved around. 

That's great!

Here's one from my Canon 40D modded. 4.75 hours over 2 nights. Altair wave 80 with a flattener. 

Hi Ed2000, I sent my aap back to the retailer as I couldn't get to work with my ss2k, the direction arrows worked ok, but slewing to objects didn't work. However, I think it may have been down to the firmware version on the ss2k. I was running 2.05. I have it on good authority that if you bring it up to 2.10 you will get it working. unfortunately i sent mine back before I found out about the firmware issue. 

After I sent the aap back, I moved to a windows laptop setup, but had the same connectivity issues! Then I finally found out about the firmware, upgraded to 2.10 and all was golden.

What firmware have you on your ss2k? Upgrading involves popping the cover and replacing 2 ROMs. Getting the new ROMs is tricky as supply is becoming more and more limited. I think Christopher Ericsson makes and sells them, you can contact  him on the support group at https://groups.io/g/vixen-ss2k

good luck!

andrew

3 hours ago, alacant said:

Yes, of course. Just cover the telescope and/or use a dark room. Normally though, dark frames introduce more artefacts than they're worth. Just that in the case of the 40d, as with the 450d, they may just do what you want as the exception which proves the rule.

I didn't get past the trial stage of APP, but I seem to remember it had something similar to Siril's optiimistation. Have a search for dark scaling OWTTE. 

Siril also has a comprehensive banding algorithm.

One other thing we were'nt sure of is whether you're dithering in between frames. This, along with Siril's Linear Clip algorithm at something like 3 3 should also help.

Cheers

 

Hi there,

Yes dithering between every frame, although I had APT set to dither "1" and this might not be enough. Going to try 5 next time.

You seem to have removed the bands very nicely there, will have a go myself.

Took 20 darks frames and reprocessed, it's an improvement, so it's darks all the way for my 40D! 

thanks again for the advice.

regards

Andrew

13 minutes ago, alacant said:

Lovely shot. You've done far better than we ever achieved with a C8. We would have loved to tame it as well as you have. So nice to get that magnification without having to enlarge in software.

Yeah. I think the older sensors in particular were prone to this. We had a 450d which was similar. It was one of the few DSLRs which responded to dark frames. Try the dark optimization algorithm in Siril. Worth a try?

Otherwise there are good post process band removal routines in most astro software but always better to try to remove via calibration.

Chip wise, the newer 18mp sensors seem to be band-free.

Cheers

thanks for your kind words! 🙂

Have to confess didn't take dark frames last night. I've only just got auto guiding working reasonably well so was enjoying the move from 60s subs to 300s! Didn't want to spend time taking 10x 300s darks, maybe wrong decision........ It's just occurred to me that I can do that tonight (cloudy here, but nearly same temp as last night) with the scope sat on the workbench in the garage...I will do that now, reprocess and see what happens, voyage of discovery...

Thanks for the tip re: Siril, will check it out. 

hi there, Nice image!

I'm very new to AP but enjoying the learning curve. Spent some time on this object over the last week or so. Here's what I got from last night, which I'm chuffed with but aware there's loads more to look into. (My efforts with APP are baby steps at the moment!)

C8 f6.3, 42x 300 second subs (3.5 hours total), Astro modified Canon 40D, ISO800, L-Enhance clip-in filter. 

Got the horizontal bands that I see other people getting with the Canon DSLRs. Anything that can be done about that?  Where do they come from as I don't see them in the individual frames. Can't see them in your image alacant.

I've had my GP-C8 with Sky Sensor 2000PC since about 2005 but only recently tried astrophotography. This is M63 Sunflower with a 0.63 reducer. It's just under 3 hours of 90 second subs unguided. Camera is a modified Canon 40D. Still loads to learn but really enjoying it. During this night's capture there was something on the sensor that moved around (weird) at the bottom left hand and the flats of course struggled with that.  Onwards and upwards! Loving the learning curve.

we use MJD at work - the integer part of the MJD is a much smaller number than the JD and the "day" starts at midnight. The JD "day" starts at noon. 

The JD is probably more useful to an astronomer because the integer number does not roll-over at midnight, in the middle of a viewing session.

So it depends what you're doing really. Maybe something to do with being at sea in the old days - the only time you could determine exactly was midday when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. 

Just a few guesses really!!!!

On 02/03/2021 at 19:55, Neko said:

Hi,, I know it is an old post, but I was looking for this info!

Although, one thing... the original Toshiba ER6V  is 46.6mm, and the socket where it goes measures 48.8mm.. 

those batteries all are around 50mm or more.. how do you fit them ? Because I tried one 14500 and it was too long

so didn't get it . And since the electronics goes closed up in a sandwich fashion...should be same size,right? 

how did you do it? 

I used a file to lengthen the slot when I replaced the battery in mine. All good. 

The "new kit cloud gods" work in reverse it would seem. I bought some geoptik grease to re-grease my mount. So straight after it arrives and I was ready to take my mount out of service for a few days and not be fussed whether it's cloudy, I get 2 cloud free nights in a row, with 2 more expected! 

So everybody, buy some grease! 🙂

loosening the middle grub screw will allow you tighten up the meshing between the 2 worms using the outer 2 bolts. the middle one "works against" the 2 outer ones...

2 hours ago, Davey-T said:

I think there are some instructions on the ZWO site for connecting  specific mounts.

My 60Da connects and works ok using the USB cable so your 40D should work, don't forget to check the green on / off switch in the camera control settings which seems to have a habit of disconnecting at the slightest excuse.

Dave

thanks Dave. turns out I had a dodgy USB cable which is now in the bin! lol 40D working fine with USB and a shutter release cable.

18 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Which mount have you got ? most mounts have a default park position, have you tried without Sky Safari involved, you can select a star in the ASAIR app and GoTo it, plate solve it to centre it and sync the mount to it.

Need camera connected to do this.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Yes I have not been involving Sky Safari, that was more to prove to me that the cable is good for computer to mount comms. 

I have a vixen skysensor 2000pc on a great polaris mount.

am going to try with camera connected, however even though the asiair is recognising my canon 40D, but it doesn't seem able to control it! 

regards

Andrew

13 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

Have you got tracking set to on (and mount unparked)?

hi there,

Thanks for the reply. Those aren't terms I'm 100% familiar with in this context. With this mount: you put the scope in horizontal, power it up and press enter, then it's tracking. I don't think it has a park function. 

I'm thinking maybe the asiair won't let me do any goto stuff until I have attached a camera to it and it can see where it is for itself, even though it should be able to get that position info from the mount (like sky safari does for example)? Due to the weather this is an indoor shakedown....

Hi, 
Just got an asiair pro and am setting things up. Have updated to the latest firmware.
The aap and my ss2k seem to connect OK. However when I issue a goto command to the ss2k, nothing actually happens at the mount.
However the 4 directional arrows on the aap ui work fine and do indeed make the mount move.
Any clues please?
regards
Andrew

agreed the battery replacement is relatively simple. I followed this guide: https://www.atm-workshop.com/skysensor-battery.html

had to file down the board slightly to let the new battery fit properly...

On 21/01/2019 at 19:05, Vixen4eva said:

Mine is working like a charm........well atm it is ?

Alan

hi there,

Is that using the ZWO ASI 183 MC PRO mentioned in your kit-list?

On 06/04/2019 at 19:26, MJAstro said:

Hello.  I'm looking for a replacement cable for a SkySensor 2000 pc  mines broken somewhere along the line and when flexed in a certain way guiding stops and mount gets 'lost' so have to reset everything.  Anyone any idea where I could get hold of a cable or get it fixed ?

hi there, I also have a ss2k-pc. the cable is just about hanging in there! My plan is to build a new one at some stage, have you thought of doing that? I know 100% that all the parts are available, it just a matter of making it up, not too tricky. 

hi

I had some erratic behaviour with my ss2k, it turned out to be intermittent poor connection between the pin inside the 20-way connector block and the ss2k unit. I gently pressed in the metal bits you can see in the connector block to improve the "grip" on the pins. I also fudged up some gorilla tape to hold the block firmly in place in the unit. Since then, no more randomness.

regards

Andrew

don't mind you sending me your cable and I will try it with my ss2k.  I've been through a few repairs on mine over the years.....