AMcD

IC1848 taken with a TS152 achromatic refractor on a Losmandy G11 and a QHY8 with an Optolong L-Extreme filter. Approximately 7 hours worth of 300 second sub-frames taken over four nights with SGP and guided with PHD 2. Stacked in DSS and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

With thanks to Wim I have now set up the ability to remotely access the observatory over the web with Remote Desktop Pro from anywhere in the world on any device that has Internet access. It was not too hard to set up. I used the following stages: 1. I ran a Cat 7 ethernet cable from our BT internet router to the second LAN connector on the mini PC in the observatory (the first LAN connector is used for the peer to peer connection between the observatory computer and the computer in the house). 2. I then established the IPV4 address for the mini-PC in the observatory on that second LAN connection. 3. I then logged onto the BT router and set up port forwarding so that whenever the RDP port (3389) is accessed on the router over the web the router automatically forwards that port to the IPV4 address, and only that address, on the on the observatory computer via the second LAN connection. The effect is that any RDP connection made to the router over the web will be an RDP connection to the observatory computer. It is possible to set up further connections to other computers on the 'home' network. 4. Finally, because the IP address needed to access the BT router via the web is not static and can change from time to time, I then set up a free DNS domain name for the router which will always be the same whatever IP address BT assigns to our router in the future. Now all I have to do is enter the DNS domain name in the RDP dialogue box on any device connected to the Internet and I am connected via RDP to the mini PC in the observatory. I think I am going to retain the peer to peer LAN connection between the computer in the house and the first LAN connector on the observatory mini-PC as I can use it when I am at home without relying on the Internet. I hope however I am one step closer to being able to use the observatory when I am away (I still have to sort out an automated roof, Bahtinov masks, scope covers etc.) Although at home this evening, I am now going to try an imaging session using the web based connection to test it out.

The autofocus routines are great - when they work. However, given how rare it is to get a clear night with good seeing I want to able to fall back on a reliable remote focusing method if the autofocus software decides that it is not going to behave on that evening, rather than waste time fixing with the software. The project is really designed to mitigate what I find to be the inconsistent reliability of focusing software. You can see my plan for implementing both a remote Bahtinov mask and a scope cover/flat on a refractor at: I do not tend to have issues with the wind due to scope being in an observatory and the observatory being in a very protected location.

The components are gradually coming together. The mounting brackets for the stepper motors, the aluminium bars to join the end bearings to the motor plates and the box for the electronics should be coming in the next couple of days. The plan is to use the Stepper Bee product as the circuit board. I am currently adapting the open source programme that comes with it as the control software. At present, the plan is to mount them on the saddle plate on either side.

It was pretty straightforward to put together - and needed to be as my engineering skills extend largely to drilling holes in things 😂

I am running a mini PC mounted on the scope to control the mount, cameras, acquisition software, guiding etc. I also had some Wi-Fi reception issues so now control the mini PC from inside the house using a hardline LAN connection to my home PC and the MS Remote Desktop software that comes with Win 10 Pro. My mini-PC is a fanless HUNSN industrial mini-PC which I purchased new from Amazon for about £275-£300. It has an Intel Core I5 CPU, a 128G SSD and 8GB RAM and comes with Windows 10 Pro preloaded. I run it off a 12V supply provided by the Pegasus PBA mounted next to it. It also has four USB3 ports, 4 USB two ports and four serial ports so is well able to handle all the connections (although I also use the Pegasus PBA to control dew heaters). I have left the mini-PC running non-stop for nearly four months now and it has not yet missed a beat.

With a view to ultimately being able to use my garden observatory remotely when I am away I have been engaged in an ongoing project to automate it. So far I have got to the point where I can run the mount and camera from the house via a hardline LAN connection but I still have to go out to remove the scope cover, turn on the mount and roll off the roof. I also need to place the Bahtinov mask on the scope periodically to refocus (I don’t get on well with autofocus routines for some reason). It seemed therefore the next step was to automate these procedures and I am starting with the scope cover and Bahtinov mask. The idea for the mechanism to be employed comes from a recent post on CN (see https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/733505-automating-my-bahtinov-mask/). I am only at the design phase at the moment and gathering some components but will post again when it is more advanced. I am also going to try and write my first computer programme to control the stepper motors 😬

I mount my electronics on a home made plate mounted on top of the scope rings. It is getting a little crowded now and I am in the process of designing and building a remotely controlled Bahtinov mask and scope cover. The electronics box for that and the stepper motors will have to hang off the side like the current TEC box for my QHY8 😁

This is the first image I have attempted with my new single scope configuration. IC443, also known as the Jellyfish Nebula and Sharpless 248. Taken with a QHY8 and TS152 Achromat with 2.5"field flattener and a 2" Optolong L-Extreme filter on a Losmandy G11 under Bortle 5-6 skies. Approximately 5 hours of 5 min sub-frames. Stacked and calibrated with DSS and processed in PixInsight and PS. The image is still very noisy indeed and I intend to gather further data when the clouds permit to try to improve the SNR...

Just as a quick follow up, I took the dark frames the morning after I had finished imaging, i.e. when it was light. I suspect therefore that there is a light leak, which led to the artefacts on the dark frames. There is an old thread from CN from 2008 that speaks about this issue which reinforces my conclusions in this regard.

I have now traced the artefacts to the dark frames. I am not sure why the dark frames have these artefacts but it is reassuring to know the luminance data is sound! Many thanks to you both for your help.🙂

Good point. No, they are not on every sub, and, as far as I can see, not on any of the subs. Does this suggest, as Seelive points out, that they are perhaps a processing artefact from DSS?

Has anyone seen X shaped artefacts like this before? They seem to appear when I shoot to the West. I have covered up a chrome smoke stack that I thought might be causing reflections but this roughly processed data was gathered subsequently. If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. It has ruined hours of data.

Having sold my Celestron Celestar 8 I wanted to keep using my 8” Thousand Oaks 2+ solar filter on the TS152. For obvious reasons, I also wanted to make sure I can use it safely. This meant ensuring an 8” filter can fixed securely to the front of a 6” scope. So, I carried out the following modifications... The idea was to ensure that the filter could be held securely with a three point fixing system on the rim of the filter. As the rim is aluminium I began by drilling three guide holes before drilling out step by step to the required size for tapping (a 5mm hole for an M6 tapping bit). I then tapped each hole with an M6 x 075 tapping bit. I then inserted in each hole an M6 diameter knob. On the end of the knobs I put a silicone cap to ensure that the knobs did not damage the telescope dew shield. This gave me a solar filter with a three point fixing system. This allows me to mount the 8” filter very securely, and therefore safely, on my 6” telescope.

Many thanks. Apart from the modern additions (ZWO EAF, Filter Wheel, Mini PC and Pegasus PBA) it is a product of 20 years of second hand purchases. Clears skies to you both 🙂

New configuration ready to go. Aiming to get some more integrations of IC443...

I did contemplate doing that but decided to sell it to someone who would use it regularly. The buyer picked up the C8 and the Hyperstar yesterday morning and by 5pm it was sitting on an AP mount next to a very high quality refractor. I fear the C8 is going to think it has been rather slumming it with me for the past 30 years 😂

I think I am part of the problem. I need to think ahead more. I have an idea and I by a widget. I then have a better idea and buy another widget. I end up where I want to be, but with a lot of extra widgets that I don't need. So, yes, I am part of the problem...

I decided to do it. It is a beautiful day for working in the observatory with the roof off. I had to re-engineer the cradle as the TEC unit for the QHY8 and the guide scope were on the C8 (and the TS152 does not really have a place to mount a finder).

I have decided that I have been letting sentimentality get the better of me. For some years now I have had a side by side set up on my pier mounted Losmandy G11, which includes my venerable old second hand Celestron Celestar 8. It was my first big scope after I got back into the hobby as an adult. Over the years the set up has grown and I now use the TS152 for AP almost to the exclusion of the C8, not least because I have never really gotten on with Hyperstar and the C8 is otherwise very slow indeed at f10, and therefore very unforgiving. But still I let the C8 sit there, being carried along as a spectator to the main event. Because I love it. The G11 is now at capacity. In fact slightly over, at 61lbs of gear. Whilst I can sometimes achieve a guiding RMS of 0.80" with this full load, more often I am in the high 1.xx"s or low 2.xx"s and I know that one of the reasons for this is likely the weight the mount is carrying. In circumstances where I have a mini PC mounted on the TS152 to control the whole set up, it is not easy to switch regularly between scopes. I know the practical and sensible thing to do is to remove the C8 and the side by side dovetail and just run the TS152. But the thought of the C8 sitting in the corner of the observatory, or worse being sold, breaks my poor heart... 😟

Having sold two items of UKABS recently, I decided to send them by DHL Parcel. This was a mistake. The first item could not be sent, as the barcode DHL sent me failed was not recognised at the Service Point at which I tried to drop off the parcel. They did refund the cost. The second item was accepted at the Service Point and showed as due for delivery last Thursday but has still not arrived. DHL are now eschewing all responsibility for the second item, and referring me back to the Service Point (a small, local newsagents). If you have items to send, can I suggest that you avoid using DHL Parcel. They do not seem to be very good at deliveries. This is probably something of a drawback for a company in their line of work.

I take the same approach if I get to the point where I need sleep on a work night and can be relatively confident of the weather forecast. I use SGPro, which will run everything, park the scope at the end of the imaging run and will email me if there are any grave issues during the run so I can decide whether I need to get up (if I hear the email ping). Ultimately, I would like to install a Talon system and a Cloud Watcher module so the roll-off roof will also close when SGPro is done or the weather changes but need to save the pennies for a while yet 🙂

Many thanks to you all for this great feedback. I am really grateful. I will ponder on it 🤔

Having recently had some modest success is selling equipment I no longer use I am contemplating purchasing a Herschel Wedge for my 152mm TS refractor, having used a Thousand Oaks 2+ filter on my C8 for many years. I would like to use the Wedge with a ccd camera to obtain WL and calcium k images. Would someone be able to assist with: (a) Is there an appreciable difference between the 2” APM Lunt Wedge and the 2” Baader Cool Wedge when used for photography? (b) Can the Baader Cool Wedge be used with the Baader Calcium K line filter? Many Thanks...

The Hyperstar promises a great deal but to extract from it its full potential is difficult and regularly frustrating. I have certainly not yet achieved it with my C8 and regularly get to the point of listing it on UK Astronomy Buy & Sell, only to relent when I think I have found some new way of making it work. Particular difficulties include the very uneven field illumination, the fact that it is intolerant of anything but perfect alignment with the telescope's optics and the fact that the Hyperstar itself needs careful collimation. I found this article on Cloudy Nights (and the comments underneath it) helped me identify the particular areas that need a lot of attention to get it to work to its full potential (The Amazing HyperStar: A Guide to Optimize Performance - Articles - Articles - Articles - Cloudy Nights). I do feel your pain. I am currently in a period of being determined to get it to work but give it a few weeks and I may be back to composing that advert for UK Astronomy Buy & Sell 😄