AMcD

Yes, I applied some noise reduction in Photoshop. My two key rules for astrophotography are "don't sharpen, just focus properly in the first place" and "don't apply noise reduction, just get more integrations". Sometimes I break my own rules 😂

I have had no problem with the QHY drivers using SGPro, although I did find them a bit unreliable when I was using Nebulosity. The biggest problem with the QHY8 is icing. It is fine in the summer, but because it is very difficult to control the level of the set point cooling it ices very quickly in the winter. In the winter I use a dew strap around the nose of the camera to clear the icing. I understand that the QHY268M does not have this problem and I am looking forward to not having to start the camera / dew strap 3 hours before I commence an imaging session to ensure I have got rid of the ice 😂

Many thanks for the compliment. This is a bit of a swan song for this camera as I plan to move to a QHY268M this season and try my hand at mono. I plan to redeploy the QHY8 to try some OSC wide field imaging using a camera lens 😀

I took this image of the Crescent Nebula last night during testing and adjusting of the new motors and worm blocks I have installed on my Losmandy G11 along with a much needed cleaning and re-greasing of the mount bearings. The image comprises 5 hours of 300 second integrations taken with a QHY8 OSC and an Optolong L-Extreme filter through a TS152 achromat on a Losmandy G11 guided with PHD2. The image was acquired using SGPro, stacked in DSS and processed in PS. The image remains somewhat noisy and I hope to add more data to it shortly. As always, any comments and constructive criticism greatly received.

Managed to complete adjustment and testing last night using the Calibration and Guiding Assistant functions on PHD2. I adjusted the meshing on the DEC axis, which appears to have helped considerably with the backlash (or at least with PHD2's view that there was a difficulty with DEC backlash). I also loosened, pinched and re-tightened the worm blocks on the RA axis as I noted a small amount of side-to-side play in the RA worm. Having completed the PHD2 process and the adjustments, I achieved pretty good guiding over the course of the test image I took, with the RMS ranging between 0.45 and 0.60 for most of the night, with peaks from 0.80 to 0.95 on occasion. That is better than I have achieved previously. My test image of 5 hours of 300sec integrations on NGC6888 appears to show nice round stars, which I suspect is all that matters at the end of the day 😃 Overall, I am pretty happy with the new parts...

Yes, the thumb knob assists in adjusting the distance from worm to the mesh when the bolts holding the OPW to the mount are loosened. I too have read mixed reviews about the spring loaded worm and Losmandy certainly appear to have vacillated when it comes to making it available as an after market upgrade. I will see how I get on with these new bits before going any further 😀

No, they are the standard ‘new’ OPWs. I must confess to being a bit confused about the current position on the spring-loaded worms. I know they come as standard on the new mounts but I cannot see a way to order them as an upgrade. The Losmandy website says ‘pictures coming soon’ but has done so now for some time. I think the OPWs can be retrofitted with them but, as I say, at the moment they do not seem to be sold as an after market accessory.

I am using the ZWO120MM mini mono at present. I use a 50mm guidescope at present but I guess the added sensitivity of the 290MM might also make the use of an OAG easier. I will look at the DEC again tonight as it is due to be clear. Now I have it polar aligned and functioning I can look to the finer adjustments.

I put the new parts on yesterday. The cleaning and re-greasing and installation of the new parts was relatively straightforward, assisted in large measure by the YouTube videos from Losmandy. Serendipitously, the skies were clear and I was able to put the mount back in the observatory, polar align it and begin testing the guiding. Even without any fine adjustment, the guiding was variable but sub-arc second for significant periods (the seeing was poor), so I am hopeful that I will see an appreciable improvement over the previous configuration as I make final fine adjustments. The adjustment of the worms is a lot easier with the one piece blocks! I can no longer see the 76 second PE on the PHD2 analysis graph as matters stand. I am however, getting very high levels of declination backlash at the moment (although had failed to set TVC to 0 in the Gemini). I have sent my guide logs to the PHD Open forum for any guidance the experts might have on how to better ‘dial in’ the new parts. The new high torque motors are quite loud (there is a Losmandy video that suggests how that might be addressed) but they move my 35lbs of equipment around like it is not there. Overall, my initial impression is a positive one.😀

To my shame, I only re-greased the worms once, when I adjusted the worm blocks three or so years ago. I regret to say I have never re-greased the needle bearings or the thrust bearings. I will let you know how I get on with the one piece worm blocks. In circumstances where I was pretty happy with my guiding overall, I debated for a long time whether to make the change. There is danger in listening to the Siren song of a lower RMS...😂

I have owned my much loved Losmandy G11 for nearly twenty years and, beyond adjusting the original (and very annoying) two piece worm blocks, have not serviced it during that time. In that state it regularly achieved a sub-arc second RMS in good seeing, albeit usually in the 0.60 to 0.80 range. I have now purchased one piece work blocks for each axis, new Losmandy high torque motors, new clutch pads and a 4" pier extender to push the OTA slightly higher above the ROR observatory walls. I have begun by stripping down the mount and am about to commence cleaning and re-greasing...

I am finally in a position to move to mono-imaging. Whilst I appreciate that the difference between OSC and mono is increasingly narrow these days, I am keen to try the latter to see if I can master the increased complexity with respect to capture and processing. Having considered the equipment currently available, I have resolved to purchase the QHY268M. I appreciate that a new purchase will inevitably become obsolete eventually, especially where CMOS development is proceeding at pace. However, I am keen to establish whether there are any radically new products in the pipeline such that it would be wise to wait for a further period before laying down the money. Any intelligence greatly received...😀

Many thanks again. Tried it out today on some older data I have. Still some way out on the modelled ingress/egress but have found it much easier to use than AIJ and EXOTIC.

Have now managed to get it working @Xilman. Moving from Anaconda to a simple Python 3.x installation with pip installs of the required packages worked. Many thanks for your help with this. 😃

I have now managed to get the installation package to run but it is running into exceptions with respect to 'pillow' and 'numpy'.

That good news just reinforces my earlier description of my own lack of technical prowess 😂😂😂

Many thanks. I have removed Anaconda and have now simply installed Python 3.x in its own folder on C:\ with the path set in User environment variables. When I try to install HOPS I get the following result: C:\WINDOWS\system32>SET my dir=C:\WINDOWS\system 32 C:\WINDOWS\system32>python "C:\WINDOWS\system32\pre_setup.py" python can't open file 'C:\WINDOWS\\System32\\pre_setup.py: [Errno 2] No such file or directory C:\WINDOWS\system32>SET /p pydir= 0<pydir.txt The system cannot find the file specified. C:\WINDOWS\system32>call "" '""' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. I appreciate I am seeking to run a 32bit cmd.exe on a 64bit machine, but I thought that the former was encompassed by the latter such that 32bit programmes can be run on Windows 10.

That is a very good point. The short answer is I do not know. I find AstroImageJ a very complex programme to use. I am quite new to this aspect of the hobby and at the moment am at the 'follow what it says on YouTube' stage 😀 My lack of software prowess is probably demonstrated by the fact I have spent most of the day trying to install HOPS, as kindly suggested by @Xilman, via repeated reinstallations of Anaconda without success.

Many thanks. I will give it a go.

This is the second of the exoplanet light curves I obtained this past week using my remote controlled ROR observatory and a QHY8 OSC with a Baader UBVRI photometric filter on a TS152 achromatic refractor. The scope and imaging train is mounted on a Losmandy G11 and guided with PHD2. The data was obtained on the night of 23 to 24 June 2022 and was captured using SGPro. Unlike the previous curve I posted for Kepler-1566b, and whilst the data is still very messy, the data for this observation produced a light curve in both AstroImage J and NASA EXOTIC (albeit a very shallow one in the latter). Kepler-191d is part of a three planet system orbiting a 0.85M/sun star. The planet has an orbital period of 5.9 days and has a radius of 2.28R/earth. The system is 2219 light years from earth. I still cannot quite get over the fact that this is possible with amateur equipment from the bottom of the garden... AstroImageJ: NASA EXOTIC:

I remain unsure where to put these posts but 'Imaging-Planetary' seems the best fit. Perhaps the moderators can move it if it is the wrong place 😀 This is the light curve for the K-type star Kepler 1566, showing the transit of the rocky planet Kepler-1566b in front of the star on the night of 22 to 23 June. 2022. Kepler-1566b is a terrestrial exoplanet 1522 light years from earth. Its mass is 0.418 Earths, it takes 0.5 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0121 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2016. Processing the data in AstroImage J produces a light curve, although the fit does not accord well with the predicted ingress and egress times and shows that the data is very messy. This is may be due to a combination of the integrations being obtained only in nautical darkness, and with variable high cloud during the imaging run. I am also at present guesstimating the exposure times (with a long term ambition to write an app in Python to assist with that). As usual, NASA's EXOplanet Transit Interpretation Code (EXOTIC) is much more unforgiving of the poor nature of my data and produces no best fit (although I like to think I can see the dip amongst the data points). I need to concentrate on getting better data and more of it. AstroImage J: NASA EXOTIC:

Thanks @Laurieast. Do you find you get a lot of use our of DenoiseAI? The demonstration version I am trying seems easy to use and seems to give considerable benefits.

Many thanks @tomato. It does have a pinkish hue to my eye also, looking at it on my monitor. M101 has a high number of bright Ha regions, so it may be that the hue reflects that. Equally, it could be my processing 😂 The NASA image of M101 that combines visible, infrared and x-ray wavelengths looks very pink indeed...

This image comprises 7 hours and 15 minutes of 300 second integrations taken with a QHY8 OSC and an Optolong L-Pro 2" filter through a TS152 achromatic refractor mounted on a Losmandy G11. Acquired using SGPro and PHD2 and processed using Adobe PS and StarNet. I have also downloaded a trial version of DenoiseAI and attach the results of running the image through the standard filter in that software, although the trial version watermark makes comparison rather difficult 😂 With very little astronomical darkness now each night, this was quite a challenge. The data is not the best and I have discarded a large number of subs due to high cloud, bright satellite trails and running over into nautical darkness. As always, constructive criticism is most welcome 😀 M101_LFD_Stack_7hrs15minsFinal.tif

It transpires that something of a hangover does not prevent the use of Photoshop 😀 I have stretched this more in an attempt to bring out the dust, whilst also trying not to blow out the centre and to keep the noise under reasonable control. To that end, I have added nine hours of narrow band data to the central part of the nebula that I took when experimenting some months ago. As such, this image now comprises 23 hours and 15 minutes of 300 second integrations through an Optolong L-Pro, with the addition of 9 hours of 300 second integrations through an Optolong L-Extreme, for a total of 32 hours and 25 mins of imaging time. NGC7023_NBB_Stack_32hrs_25minsFinal.tif