Newforestgimp

I would but getting errors about image size from NINA, I will try nina again.

Hi all I’ve been having issues cooling my ASI071MC PRO via APT, the initial Cool down works and maintains temp, but when I start an imaging session after the first exposure and every subsequent exposure is complete the power on the camera drops to 0% and camera temp begins to rise back toward ambient, the power remains removed for approx 20-30seconds then returns, the camera starts to cool again back toward the set point, however, before it can reach set point the next exposure completes, removes the power, temp starts to increase.

this cycle simply repeats for the duration of the image plan. I’ve updated camera drivers, I’ve tried mains 12v 5a and battery 12v 10a supplies to the rig and the pattern remains.

This is a new camera (late 2021 purchase)

Any ideas ? Similar experiences ?

regards

Andy

I’ve since moved to a dedicated Astro Camera and focusing is getting better, not 100% pinpoint but as you say that could be the stock focuser which I’ll look to upgrade when funds allow.

8 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Not sure it is any consolation but I have driven my CEM25-EC into the mount - twice! - when attempting to use Astroberry - sounded terrible but no harm was done.

Not sure I will be able to help, but it might help others help you if you tell us what you were using to control the mount.

I now use an ASIair and it works perfectly all the time - I decided there was a fundamental mis-match between Astroberry and my CEM25-EC that I was never going to get sorted.

Hope someone is able to help you.

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, that sounds like my experience last night, horrible to watch and hear. I’m hoping the fact I can manually power the mount around via laptop and commander that I’ve gotten away with it ?

As for control I was using laptop and APT until everything went south and I then reverted to Ioptron commander on the laptop.

I might try using the handset as if it was fresh out of the box and try setting park position on that.

Andy

First clear night in months and it was a total disaster.

Spent hours trying to polar align & achieve focus, got there eventually, ran a few test exposures waiting for the nights intended target to come into view and then inexplicably decided I need to check the battery status and hit the wrong button & powered it off inadvertently whilst everything was running!!!!!
Then the real fun and games started with a mount totally out of whack,I tried to park it and it crashed into the pier  I’m just hoping to god I haven’t mullered it !!!

I managed to get manual control back on the mount but I couldnt get it to park correctly and it crashed into the pier AGAIN !!!!!

once again regained manual control, released the clutches, moved scope to weights down and scope pointing north and then reset the zero position. Manual movement tested again and then returned to zero position automatically. I was literally too scared to try and park the mount.

Have I busted it ?
Do I need to use the handset to reset park/zero position ?

Is there an emergency stop button so I don’t have to frantically hit The manual STOP and wait for it to stop eventually, whilst watching it collide with the pier ?

So Pi55ed off with myself right now 🤬

the mount in question is iOptron GEM45

on a positive note the guiding until disaster struck was incredible 🤪

Regards

Andy

7 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Only difference is in sensor size. That is it.

It really depends if extra sensor size will be worth to you or not.

That sensor is about as larger as my ASI185 and here is what guiding with OAG and 8" RC and that sensor looks like:

Vignetting is already starting to show in corners of that sensor. If it was any larger - it would be waste of space really as far as guiding goes.

It's up to you to weigh if extra sensor surface will be beneficial to you. For planetary, it might be only useful for lunar and solar - all other planets fit nicely in FOV of 224.

That’s really interesting and far different view from my current 120mm where I’m lucky to get one crescent moon 🌙 shaped star 

Looks like it’s a toss up between the 224 and the 385 beyond the 385 it starts getting too pricey for me.

does the 385 justify the extra £100 ? Will my guiding accuracy improve with it over the 224 ? Using a GEM45 mount

Any thoughts on the ASI462mc for guiding ? I see it is the successor to the 290 which is also highly thought of ?

My default choice was going to be the 224 but as with everything you then look at how much the next one is and the next one and so on.

then start looking at pixel sizes, sensor sizes and end up in a mess not knowing which is going to be the best option.

Hi @vlaiv

The 120 works, I will move this to another portable set up where it seems more suited partnered with a wide field refractor. Which leaves me requiring another guide cam so I might as well get one that’s a better match for the big rig and OAG & as a bonus if I could use it for planetary once in a while that would be cool too.

my head starts to hurt when I consider appropriate pixel size and how to get best possible guide accuracy.

2 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

I use a qhy 290mm but is usb3 doesn’t work plugging into zwo533mc camera USB ports as they’re usb2, so may be worth going for a usb 2 camera to utilise the camera ports and save on trailing wire .

That’s a consideration I hadn’t made regarding the cables, good point.

Hi All,

Feel like I’m chasing my tail trying to decide which guide camera to upgrade to.

Scenario: I have an RC8” 1600 fl imaging scope with ASI071mc pro I want to guide, I’m currently using a 120mm that will move to mobile rig, I have both OAG and guide scope attached so I can easily switch between guide methods. Ideally I’d like to use the OAG but struggling with the 120mm and although not ideal for guiding id like a colour camera for planetary use.

looking at various brands versions of the following…

224, 290, 174, 178, 327

Preferably I just want to buy once and buy right or if I went the mono guide route is there a “cheap” colour planetary I should consider instead of the above cameras ?

Regards

Andy H

On 08/10/2021 at 10:59, FLO said:

These has been a long time coming so we are very pleased to announce their arrival 🙂 

StellaMira 90mm ED Triplet Refractor

StellaMira 2" 0.8x Reducer / Flattener for 90mm ED Triplet

Main features:

• Triplet optics with an ED glass element equal to FPL53. 
• QC checked in the UK. 
• Minimum 0.95 Strehl ratio (test report included with every telescope). 
• 2.5" Rack & Pinion, dual speed focuser with 1:10 fine focusing and integral rotator. 
• Sturdy but lightweight Carbon Fibre tube with CNC machined aluminium fittings. 
• An optically matched 0.8x StellaMira Reducer / Field Flattener is also available that enables imaging at f/4.8. 
• When used with the reducer it provides an evenly illuminated imaging circle suitable for sensor sizes up to and including APS-C. 

 

Now that looks right up my strasse!! Not literally you understand.

33 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I seen this for sale and thought it looks very impressive.  I cant help you other than confirm that your circles look pretty well lined up.  Be good to see how this translates to real life.

Yeah that’s about as far as my knowledge goes, if this works it did make the whole process 100x easier 👍

Hi All

recently received an OCAL electronic Collimation tool and tonight was first opportunity to play.

I know it’s really hard to tell but if anyone can see if it’s wildly wrong and still out by a long way I’d appreciate the feedback.

Good idea 👍 I’ll try on there.

it did work fine on APT but I guess that doesn’t rule out it needs an update.

Andy

Anybody seen Errors like the below in NINA when connecting to ASI camera ? NINA has been fine recently and just when I think I'm getting somewhere with NINA it lets me down...
Switched to APT and salvaged the session without any connectivity issues seen...

ZWOptical.ASISDK.ASICameraException: Error 'ASI_ERROR_INVALID_SIZE' from call to 
ASISetROIFormat(cameraId=0, size={Width=4944, Height=3284}, bin=1, imageType=ASI_IMG_RAW16)

Andy

28 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I would not know. I found that screen shot online to try to help - I believe it is screen shot of CEM40 drivers where it allows for guide speed adjustment - but I don't know for sure since I never operated that mount.

@Legion Of Andromeda should be able to answer that but as far as I can tell - he/she have not visited SGL since May 5th

Sorry Vlaiv, I thought I was replying to the original poster. 👍

Andy

On 01/05/2021 at 23:45, vlaiv said:

Should be somewhere in mount settings of your driver.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but did this guide speed change in commander help ? Did you adjust it in the screen shot provided ?

Andy

4 minutes ago, tomato said:

Oh, and based on the fits header entries, APP reported a  camera gain of 90 on the M27 subs.

In StarTools I just follow the elements from left to right on the tool panel on the left hand side, I didn't move the default settings a lot except for the Wipe tool (had to increase the aggressiveness) and the second auto dev where I altered the parameters to achieve a balance between background brightness and areas of maximum exposure. ST runs lightning quick on my machine so I can see what effect the changes make within a few seconds, so its easy to home in on an optimum setting.

If you want help on the optimum workflow Ivo Jager, the creator of StarTools,  has taken  SGL member's data set and provides you with a detailed workflow after applying his considerable skill. It certainly put me on the right track towards improving my processing with the package. Once you have sorted the capture issues identified, I would PM him with some data if, (like me) you like the way the software works.

I do like the way ST works, I’m definitely not after the last word in tweaking layers and masks. So I bought the full license, but my APP trial has lapsed, which I liked the stacking process.

thanks for that effort it’s given me some confidence im on the right track.

I did set gain to 90 👍

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I followed this tutorial for collimation of my RC:

https://deepspaceplace.com/gso8rccollimate.php

except I did not use Bahtinov mask (which I'm finding useless), but rather FWHM readings in SharpCap (there is focus help utility that will read FWHM values)

Interesting article, the corner stars might take a few goes to understand the method fully though.

Just now, tomato said:

I took your M27 data through Astro Pixel Processor, it successfully analysed all 36 subs. I took the best 18 and it registered, normalised and stacked these, with no errors. I took this stack through the StarTools default workflow and used the star shrink and repair tools to improve the star shapes.

I would say the biggest areas for improvement is scope collimation and focus, and taking calibration frames, that will make the image a whole lot sharper and remove the bunnies from the background.👍

 

Holy moly !! I really didn’t expect anything like that certainly not without darks or flats, I was just curious if anyone could stack them as DSS didn’t want to know.

What work flow do you use in startools ? I find sometimes my results are less that pleasant 😂 

18 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I followed this tutorial for collimation of my RC:

https://deepspaceplace.com/gso8rccollimate.php

except I did not use Bahtinov mask (which I'm finding useless), but rather FWHM readings in SharpCap (there is focus help utility that will read FWHM values)

Interesting article, the corner stars might take a few goes to understand the method fully though.

Ooh I’ll take a look at that, I was using the Orion User Manual.

6 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

I notice price fluctuations with mounts a lot. In TS the EQ5 was under 800 eur for a while and now it is back to 879eur. Supply shortages: the movie, part 2 electric boogaloo all over again? Or just price updates for other reasons? Who knows, everything is too expensive anyway 🤣.

And then you have to repair brand new gear because it doesn’t work 😂