Giles_B

Or wifi VR goggles 😁

Yes, so nice to have these clear nights - it will be the 3rd in a row I'm out. And more clear sky on Friday and Saturday, although I won't be able to do much galaxy imaging with the full moon...

I agree it is really interesting the connection I can form with "my" data. I'm just getting into imaging having come by way of a SeeStar, and ended up with a set up based around the ASiair. The fact that the ASiair will capture the data according to a programme means I don't have to sit at the telescope for long once everything is up and running, which really suits my family life and means the telescope is getting lots more notional time under the stars, despite the awful UK cloud. But I find the process of setting up and taking down the equipment makes me feel really connected to the data I'm capturing (most of it not premium data at all thanks to me being such a novice!), and i get much more out of it than using the Seestar (which really felt much too easy with no real set up needed). I have philosophical training and I've always though John Locke's theory of property rights - that things become "ours" because we "mix" our labour with them - was pretty silly, but now I am actually starting to wonder if this is what is happening with astronomy data!

Thanks, interesting to hear about the 5Ghz WiFi issue. For the record, the Lindy cables seem to have done the trick for my set up.

Thanks - I hadn't watched it but will do so tonight

Many thanks. As you say, the exposure time does seem very small. I'd previously been experimenting with 20s L exposure and 40s RGB, but thought I should try to be a bit more scientific. The experiments are a bit rubbish as tracking was off, but they should still be useful to check the histograms and see if I can find a good compromise between the science and the practice!

I'm delving into the dark arts of LRGB imaging with a 1600MM Pro and trying to work out optimal exposure times, guided by this post https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4377640 Having taken some test shots I've determined my SQM=18.5 [Bortle 7] Using the calculator linked to in the post, I've determined my sky electron rate in e/pixels/s for LRGB L filter = Sky Electron Rate 8.99 e/pixel/s RGB = 3 e/pixels/s However, when I look at the technical data for the 1600MM I get either a base read noise of 1.2e or a graph that plots read noise in e-rms against gain (below). I can't work out how to relate the e/pixels/s number to e-rms, and the more I read the more confused I'm getting - could someone walk me through an answer?

Thanks John, I'll give that a try

My ED FP51 doublet has some unidentified debris on the inside of the objective. While it is not affecting visual and any effects on imaging can be calibrated out, I'd like to get it removed at some stage over the summer - I'd rather not send the scope by post or courier, and would be glad of recommendation for professional servicing near Bristol, if anyone has one.

Not an exact answer, but my own experience in my first year of astronomy when I moved from a 5" (Mass produced, Synta) Celestron Newtonian to a 10" Orion Optics (Hand finished, 1/6 Wave) Newtonian, was that there is a difference, but on galaxies it is a pretty small difference - a bit more brightness overall, a slightly extended visible periphery, and a bit more differentiation between the core and the periphery. But only a bit - a small increment rather than a revolutionary change. The difference I noticed was on other objects - globular clusters (especially) and open clusters showed noticeably more detail. My guess would be that you wouldn't notice a change from 8" to 10" at all (on Andromeda).

My 12v LiFePo battery gives 12.8v according to the voltmeter. It runs my Asiair pro with no problems.

Success - of a sort : The Lindy cables seem to have sorted it out - however, I also swapped the focuser onto the hub, so I will swap things back tonight and see what the effect is. Interestingly, soemthing I did seems to have caused a couple of other issues: The short cables have made it very difficult to balance near the horizon. Clearly one effect of the long dangling bits of cable was to stablise the x-axis and I'm going to have to look at other ways I can do this I also got some random shutdowns and disconnects from the asiair as I tried to sort out the balance issues mid-session - but this was probably me destabilising the connection with my fiddling!

Thanks - glad to know it's not just me! I'll try swapping things around as you suggest. I think I started out doing this but then I wondered if the power to the hub was the problem, and I've not tried it with new cables, gorilla tape and all - so it's good to get a reminder to keep plugging away. It really is a pain. Last night the camera did a meridian flip with no disconnection problem, but as soon as the EAF moves in plan mode, everything falls apart!! Grrr.

Thanks for that - presumably the USB short would be cured by swapping out the cable if that was it? Hopefully the cable will fix it. If not I'm sure I'll be back...

I don't think my system is underpowered - it was an issue before I got a powered hub - but see what you think: The whole system is run off a battery box built off a 30Ah 12.8v LiFePO4 Battery with 3 12v sockets, and a double usb3 socket all fused at 5a 12v socket (1) powers the Asiar Pro - which in turn is connected to: ASI 585MC (USB3) [main camera] ASI 482MM (USB2) [Guide camera - connected to USB2 to reduce the power draw] EAF (USB3) [Focuser] USB hub (powered separately) 12v socket (2) powers 2x dew heaters and runs an auxiliary 12v cable to power a Vonets wireless bridge/extender 12v socket (3) powers the EQ6 mount USB 1 powers a USB hub - which in turn is connected to: EFW [filter wheel] EQMOD to the mount USB memory stick There is a volt meter that doesn't show any obvious drop. Cables - thanks for the tip to Kennable - The cables I'm using aren't the flats, but I admit I couldn't find short USB3 A->B cables anywhere. I ended up with an 2m Amazon essentials cable as this was the only thing I could find that fit the spec. So I will order some 0.5m cables and see if this helps. It will certainly help cable management! @Elp can you recall which cables you are using exactly as there are a couple of different specs there? [ EDIT: both types out of stock anyway, ordered these "reassuringly expensive" cables instead: https://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/usb-c449/0-5m-usb-3-2-type-a-to-micro-b-cable-5gbps-anthra-line-p11405]

After a few months grappling with imaging - that's months not weeks owing to almost unbroken cloud through January and February - I'm finally getting to grips with imaging on a "proper" rig (having got the bug using a SeeStar). I'm using an Asiair Pro, and one major problem I've had is with equipment disconnects. So few sessions means that it's taken a while to get to the heart of the problem and develop a workaround. Last night was the first night I took advantage of the who night of clear sky. I've isolated the problem down to the main camera - a ZWO ASI 585MC - disconnecting 2/3 of the time the EAF autofocuser runs a sequence. Having just run the EAF with stock settings - refocus every two hours, on filter change and on a new target - the main camera reliably disconnected within a couple of hours of leaving the rig to image unattended overnight - often reassigning the guide camera (a ZWO ASI 462MM) to main camera. Having lost the camera, and lost the guiding, the Asiair stops the sequence and shuts down. very frustrating. The only thing that seems to fix this is to not use the EAF in my imaging plan, and only use the autofocuser attended. Then I can jump in and reconnect the camera (in the software - a physical unplug and reconnect of the usb lead is rarely needed). Things that didn't fix this are: - Making sure the Usb connectors are not oriented toward the ground - Using copious amounts of gorilla tape to stabilise the usb connector sockets - Investing in some cable management clips - Buying a new usb lead Having now isolated the problem, tonight I will tape a loop to keep the usb lead fixed at the camera and Asiair ends, to the allow extension when the focuser moves. However, I doubt this will stabilise more than I have done with the current arrangements. Has anyone else on SGL suffered these disconnection problems? Is there something I am not thinking of that will fix them? Is this normal for ZWO cameras or should I return it? Is it because I am using a planetary camera and the usb connection is less robust? Can I expect less problems when I upgrade the camera? Or is there something else in my setup I should look at?

I've had only good experiences from ABS, and also from the classifieds here. My experience is that prices are very fair, and if things go wrong (and I've been on both sides of the fence on this) both buyers and sellers are understanding and honest. Ebay is more of a mixed bag. I've been cautious and avoided any really bad buys, but I've had a really nit picky buyer who tried to get money off after the event for a small scratch on the barrel of an eyepiece. It was my mistake as I confess I hadn't noticed the mark (it was tiny!) but the buyer was really unpleasant about it - they wanted a 50% discount - and in the end I got fed up told them to return it for a refund - to their credit they did send it back. Overall it felt a very different experience to the much more congenial exchanges on ABS and SGL, so I tend to avoid ebay if I can.

I've sent some subs of M42 by PM - sorry for the wait!

You can use some of mine. I'm out at the moment, but I'll dig some out when I get home. Would you prefer nebulae or galaxies?

Thanks for that - it sounds like it needs some experimentation before reporting a bug. I'm all for having as few devices as possible (despite having telescopes falling out of every cupboard in the house!), so switching rather than separate devices appeals to me, but I would need to get everything set up without interference - I mean, it took me forty minutes to polar align using the asiair given all the mucking about with losing the mount, and that was no fun at all. I will try the force close method. My recollection could be faulty, but I don't think I'd opened the SeeStar app at this stage. However, I know apps can have a nasty habit of hanging around in the memory even so - and it could be that it was doing so from the last time I opened the app, which would have been a day or two before - I'll try the setup again when we ever get clear sky.

Yes., same tablet, but the Seestar app was closed and not running. The Asiair app got hijacked by the Seestar!

Thanks for the prompt. A bug report is a good idea - not being able to access the Asiair while the Seestar is running could get to be a pain. I'll get onto it tonight,

Has anyone else tried using the Seestar on the same network as an Asiair? I did so last night and got some unwelcome results. I've recently tooled up for Astrophotography, so I'm just learning the setup and grappling with polar alignment, gain, exposure times and all sorts of other new things. Last night I thought I'd try @powerlord's EQ setup for myself in addition to all these new things, so I had the Seestar sitting and turned on while I set up the Asiair (Pro) on the AP rig. Both were in base mode connected to my wifi repeater. Half way through the Asiair PA process the Asiair app told me I had the mount in Alt-az mode and refused top go any further - which was odd because I have an EQ6 - which given I'm new to this I *thought* didn't have an alt-az mode but I wasn't 100% confident. Lots of faffing around with the EQ6 later, I had got nowhere. I just couldn't get the Asiair app to recognise the mount. At that stage the app flashed up that there was new firmware and asked me if I wanted to update. I was about to do so when I noticed that it was recognising the mount as a Seestar! I shut everything down and rebooted the Asiair with the Seestar turned off. Everything was back to normal. Once I'd got the AP rig set up and following a plan, I rebooted the Seestar and ran the Seestar app, which also worked fine. - although I was getting a bit late for experimenting with EQ Seestar by that time, so banked that for another day. Not quite sure what happend, but my guess is that the wifi on the seestar is so much better than the Asiair pro that the Asiair app preferentially connected to the Seestar - but I would have to experiment to confirm, and I'm not sure I'm keen to do so! Anyway all's well that ends well, but I diud almost either write Asiair firmware to the Seestar (or maybe the other way around??) - which could have been catastrophic, so I thought it might be worth sharing my experience as a warning to others planning on sharing a wifi connection, at least with an Asiair plus!

Wonderful FLO - it arrived today so I'm all set up to enjoy another clear night - images will follow!

Oh-ho - gotta try this