SStanford

2 hours ago, KP82 said:

Liveview with a crosshair overlay is definitely going to be more accurate than a standard ep for star alignment.

Not familiar with the DARV in APT, but I used to do drift align in PHD2 for every imaging session in my previous house. When adjusting the azimuth, PHD2 would select a star close to 0 DEC and near meridian. There was a tree obscuring the views near the celetial equator, so I always selected a star around 7 DEC. When adjusting the altitude, PHD2 would select a star 60 degress to the East or West and still close to 0 DEC. I always chose a star at about 3 - 4 DEC as I had very limited views of 0 DEC to the west because of the garden fence. The resulted PA was good enough for imaging.

Excellent, thanks @KP82.

Unfortunately for me, drift alignment via PHD2 is out of the equation until I get my guidescope and guidecam. Only have my DSLR and this isn't supported by PHD2 :(.

7 minutes ago, Paul779 said:

Wow that is tricky sounds like you ve found a way round the issue though

Getting there!

Thanks @Owmuchonomy, 

Have you found 2-Star alignment is sufficient for this process? I thought you needed at least 3 for adequate alignment error...

If 2-star works then that's perfect.  I using the Crosshairs shown on liveview via APT and zooming in to increase accuracy.  Can you see any issues using this method rather than an EP?

32 minutes ago, Paul779 said:

Im very new to AP myself and all my imaging is unguided and i ve found spending more time polar aligning getting it as spot on as i can has resulted in far less star trailing issues 👍

Thanks @Paul779. I'm in quite a trick spot for PA; I have no sight of Polaris and am working form a covered balcony (see my viewing platform here and ongoing woes expressed here and here!) 

Once this is sorted I'm hoping my images will improve dramatically  

2 minutes ago, Sidecontrol said:

ah ok so i don't need anything specific to run EQmod then?

I use a different cable to attach my controller to my laptop as i use ASCOM to controll all my software. 

Thanks I'll need to go look up this EQMOD!

I followed the aforementioned tutorial here, word for word, and haven't had any issues yet

2 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

With the exposure length you are using I don't see a gain in using a light pollution filter as you can post process the images you have. But if you get to be able to take longer exposure lengths then there may be a gain as the filters help reduce over brightness so you can expose for longer.

Generally cameras have an optimum ISO, do you know what that is for your camera, it is likely ISO800 I think.

Thanks @happy-kat, much appreciated!

5 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You may be ok still with iso 800, check the light histogram to see where the histogram peak is, you will want it to the left of centre so as to not be clipping the light end.

Looks like it will be light pollution your lightness in your bortle level. 

What version of DSS are you using?

Okay, I'll keep my eyes on the Histogram in APT and make sure the peak stays to the left.

This seems like a lot of light pollution, no? Would a light pollution filter help or can most of this be dealt with in processing?

6 minutes ago, Paul779 said:

Hmmmm thats odd what version of DSS are you you using as CR2 s work fine for me

I think I've just figured this out; I was trying to open images via Processing>Open Picture File, which doesn't recognise CR2, rather than the Register and stacking>Open Picture files.  

8 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

CR2 is Canon raw file format

What bortle number is your location where you captured these?

Thanks @happy-kat. Do you know how I can amend these file types so that DSS recognises them? When trying to open in DSS it doesn't recognise them at all.  

My Bortle area is 7/8 (Harrow, North London).

3 minutes ago, Sidecontrol said:

Do you need anything specific to use EQMOD, or can anyone with a goto mount and hand controller use it? I have the EQM 35 pro. 

As the EQM 35 has Synscan this works with EQMod.

With my EQ3 (also SynScan) I plugged the cable here into the hand controller port on the SynScan module then plugged the USB straight into my laptop (running EQMod).

Following the guides mentioned above, the mount works flawlessly with Stellarium and APT!

Welcome @Gazereths. 

It's certainly true stock is limited! Lot's of members here have their eyes on kit that pops up on the Wanted section.

Who knows when stocks will replenish...

Hi All,

I had the first clear skies (for a couple of hours) since Christmas Eve yesterday so I seized the opportunity and took some snaps of what I could. Inevitably, I come back with more questions!

I'm using APT and for some reason, the images captured are being saved as "CR2" files rather than RAW files (imaging with a Canon 450D). I can't see where to change the saved image file type in APT, what am I missing?

The images I've posted below of Betelgeuse are the best I could get from yesterday, which are terrible! For me, just getting a reduction in star trails at 20-30 secs is quite the achievement. I'm also imaging through a scope with 660mm focal length (Achromat) on an EQ3, less than ideal until I get the right scope. 

I notice here that just on ISO 200-800 the images seem to be extremely bright.  Is this the result of light pollution or is there something else I'm missing?

I should also note that I'm using "Bulb mode" on APT, not sure if this has any bearing.

ISO 200 @ 30secs:

ISO 400 @ 29 secs

ISO 800 @ 29 secs

Hi All,

I had the first chance with clear skies yesterday since Christmas Eve! I thought I'd take the opportunity to get myself properly polar aligned (on Christmas Eve I set up Ascom/EQMod/Stellarium/PC controlled mount, which took up the whole evening).

As mentioned in previous threads, I don't have a view of Polaris from my covered Balcony and only views from the East to the South. My plan was two fold:

• Use the Synscan Handset to do a three star alignment, check the Polar alignment error and adjust alt/az accordingly until error reduced as close to zero as possible.
• Use the DARV alignment process via APT here

I quickly found out that of the available stars on the three star alignment method via the SynScan handset, I could only see two in the night sky. I'm hoping on a clearer night I can return to this method.

The DARV alignment method asks that you use stars at zero dec (celestial equator) in both the South and East regions.  I couldn't see any stars that were near 0 dec in the south and unfortunately it seems 0 dec in the east (which is very near the horizon) is obscured by buildings! 

My question is; how close to 0 dec do you need to be in the South and East for DARV to be effective? Is it more important that you're as close to South/East as possible or 0 dec?

S.

1 hour ago, SteveWolves said:

Still clear here but am going to be running Wolvas zoom chat meet in a while.

Clear here too! My first opportunity since Christmas eve... 

Hi @Paul779, welcome!

Great snaps, always good to get results on a budget

On 29/12/2020 at 17:11, 8324689 said:

I am in North London so north is better to save time. 

I'm based in North London too. 

There's a highly recommended dark site at the ruislip lido, link below. Hoping to go there when it warms up a bit!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/gostargazing.co.uk/events/locations/ruislip-lido/%3famp

Welcome @Esexx, fantastic image. 

There's many of us here biding our time whilst stocks replenish! 

Welcome @rgus48! 

Hi Mark, welcome! 

AP on a budget is a tricky business but there is plenty of guidance on here for value equipment. Also worth while checking the classifieds section here for bargains. 

I had issues with SynScan initially due to date format (mm/dd instead of dd/mm). Even with rough polar alignment the scope will point in the direction it should. 

Good thing with SynScan is that it has a polar alignment error tool that helps setting the correct altitude and azimuth. A quick Google search will give various links to this process. 

Welcome toaster. 

No such thing as a dumb question here! I've posted many questions on the board and the members here have been very helpful. 

Hi Gary, welcome. 

I would be very interested to see some of your 3d printed projects, keep us posted! 

No mention of "star walk 2" here. 

My favourite app for my android phone, pleasant interface and nice to play on anytime. 

Welcome back @Wirral man, happy new year to you. 

@teoria_del_big_bang; thanks for your thorough reply, seems you had some major issues with this before the CAT6 setup! You mentioned before that with 5m or less your powered hubs worked fine, was this the case with both passive and active cables? I've done another measurement from my observation point to the table I'll be working from and it's clear that a 5m extension cable and the 60cm on the output cable on the USB3 hub gives me plenty of distance to work with. This being the case, I think it would be worthwhile trying the hub out with the 5m active USB extension here, no?

@Budgie1; excellent, I'll add this dummy battery to the list!

@fifeskies; Thanks for pointing this out, I'll be sure to limit the inputs on the hub only to the mount, DSLR and guide cam, as outlined by @Budgie1. The dew heaters and DSLR dummy Battery will all be powered by a 3 port USB mains charger.

Thanks @Budgie1,

I was looking at dummy batteries and it seems to be quite tricky finding one for the 450D! What are your thought on the one here? Which I would plug into the 3 port USB connected to mains as suggested.