Fellside

Hi Do any of you have computer with time and capacity to spare. Did you know it could be used to fight the COVID-19 virus. There must be a few pixinsight users out there with power full machines that could help. Although every little helps and even the old pc that is in the loft could be dragged out to help the cause. There is a small SGL team which has been getting through a lot of work units but more help would be appreciated. The Folding at home site is at https://foldingathome.org/ Some of you may already doing this, so well done to you. But for those that are not. Have a read at Folding at Home site and please consider joining us. SGL team is on 257799 Many Many thanks Graham PS thank you to the SGL mod for allowing this post.

254mm looks about correct. Have a look at GSO RC8 images on Google. That should give you an idea at what it will look like. On my RC10 the Scope it is pushed forward on the mount and I have added an ADM Dovetail Side Mounting Counterweight to the front due to all the weight hanging out the back. The reducer is not critical to spacing. I have read some users have had distortion in the corners if you push it close to 0.67. Spacing is 85mm rear flange to sensor for 0.67. So less than that should be fine. Graham

Hi Vlaiv has an RC8 and should be able to help. Im not sure he uses a FR though. There a quite a few RC8 users on here. I found this http://www.astronomyforum.net/astro-imaging-forum/202749-problems-focusing-dslr-gso-rc8.html If nothing else just a guess Try two 25mm spacers native FL and one Spacer when the reducer is fitted. Get it working first and check collimation without the Reducer. Graham

James Be very careful. I purchased a used 383L. I paid the going rate and at the time did not think to ask how old it was. It turned out it was eight years and one of the early versions. Apparently the front glass on the early CCD chips was prone to cracking if the cooling was removed to quickly. This happened to me. Why it had not happened in the previous eight years I don't know. It was around £400 to replace the chip but Atik advised against it as a they held very few or no spares for that version of the camera. Newer versions have updated parts apparently. The camera went back to Atik three times. Service when I got it, fan stopped working, then I noticed it did not have the correct cameras firmware!!. I still have the camera, it works perfectly but has a crack on the corner of the ccd. I replaced it with a ASI1600MM which works very well. Next camera will be a ASI2600c or QHY268c. Whatever you go for be careful and good luck Graham

Hi I have just refitted my GSO RC10 back on the mount. As has been said the problem with the tube type GSO RC`s is that the image train is attached to the rear of the main mirror cell. This introduces tilt. My RC10 is fitted with a Moonlite Tilt/Flange adapter the disconnects the image train from the main mirror and allows tilt adjustment. This appears to no longer available. Shame, a great product. Telescop Services have tilt adapters available for 6", 8", and 10" tube RC`s. This tilt adapter does now disconnect the image train from the rear of the main mirror cell. I believe all GSO truss RC`s now come with a tilt adjustment plate fitted as standard. The Truss scopes do not have the image train is attached to the rear of the main mirror cell. TS-Optics M90 Tilting Adapter Flange https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4272_TS-Optics-M90-Tilting-Adapter-Flange-for-astrophotography.html I mange to collimate my scope with a Laser Collimator to adjust the tilt and a Cheshire Collimator modified by removing the wire cross hair`s for alignment. The one thing that has helped me get good collimation is a Howie Glatter Parallizer https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/howie-glatter-parallizer.html This is a briliant piece of kit. It can be screwed to the scope using a M48 thread. This ensures that the Laser and Cheshire are rigidly and repeatable held in the centre of the focuser. Normally lasers are clamped into the focuser and this introduces flexure and variability into your collimation. You can spend a lot of money on kit to collimate RC`s. With a bit of practise to "get your eye" the Cheshire gives good results. After collimation I have used the DSI method, but normally I use a star test. Defocused star magnified 50 time and checked with the help of AlsCollimationAid AlsCollimationAid The only place I could find it is https://www.astronote.fr/telechargements/ I think the GSO RC`s are great scopes for the money but they do need a little work and persiverance to get them to work. That being said I did buy a Esprit 100 Refractor this year🙂 Regards and stay safe Graham

Louise and Jom Thanks for the advise. Particularly the Astronomical Spectroscopy Group link Louise. I still have not pushed the button on a printer yet. There are a lot of options to thing about. Many thanks Graham

Adam Last night again I got a few images before mist rolled in. I added 0.21 spacer and there was a definite improvement. Three corners were good, slight elongation in one corner. Tilt was shown as under 2%. I think it is close. I will keep increasing the spacing until the corner stars start to deform. Fitting the TS reducer is an easy fit once you have the Lacerta Adapter to female M68x1. I will post more info when I have it, Graham

Louise and Jom Thanks for the advise. When you say a "whole real" is this a 1KG real? Many thanks Graham

Hi I`m right at the beginning of my Lowspec journey. Can anyone tell me approximately how much material is required to print the Lowspec parts and what is the preferred material to use. Many thanks Graham

HTH When fitted with the SW Flattener I had the spacing at 56.5mm. Stars have a good shape in the corners. Graham

Hi I have recently fitted a TS PHOTOLINE 3" 3-element 0.79x reducer to my SW Esprit 100. Only one adapter is required. A TS M68M86. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6085_TS-Optics-REFRACTOR-0-79x-3--ED-Reducer-Corrector-for-big-sensors.html https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p9017_Lacerta-Adapter-to-female-M68x1-thread-for-Skywatcher-ESPRIT-apos.html Focus is reached just over one thired out on the focuser. When fitted with the SW Esprit Flattener focus was reached just over half of the focucers travel. Plate Solved Focal Length with Astometry.NET SW Esprit 100 Flattener 553.3mm SW Esprit TS 0.79 Reducer 445.5mm Reduction 0.80 Calculated focal length 437.1mm for a 550mm scope. The Reducer spacing I have at the moment is 57.6mm. I have read Gorann` s thread and looking at the diagrams shown I think I need to increase the distance. Has anyone got any idea from there experience is it in or out? I had a half hour window a couple of nights ago to try things out. Image below is one frame with a auto stretch in Gimp. No Flats or Darks applied. Many thanks Graham

Looks nice and neat. David at Sharpsky 3D prints custom bracket now when you purchase a system. What printer are you using. I have been looking at getting a printer for a while. Just the thing for all these brackets, boxes and things that are handy to have. Graham

Graph here gives a good idea of what spacing work. I will be refitting my RC back on the mount soon (Galaxy Season). I think I will deduce the distance and reduce the reduction. I have a feeling that 0.67 may be to much on my setup. I have seen a US RC10 owner who runs at 0.5 or there abouts. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0869/6486/files/ccdt67-27tvph.pdf?438 Long read but has some interesting info: http://www.davidcortner.com/slowblog/20110629.php Graham

Brian, I have used 85mm on a GSO RC10. as Vlaiv says. CCD to the theard on the Camera side of the Reducer. What scope is this to be uesd on? Graham

Danny If you are thinking of controlling the tracing pad or LED strip from your PC. I and others on here have had success using Arduino SGP and the software I use Voyager can control the brightness of the light box automagically. Couple of links that may help. https://github.com/jwellman80/ArduinoLightbox/blob/master/LEDLightBoxAlnitak.ino Graham

As the Mesu is a friction drive there is negligible PEC so not worth bothering with. I have built a sky model using Sitech and it helps with accuracy over the whole sky. The model should be renewed when the installation is changed (anything that needs rebalancing the mount). As I think you have seen the mount can do great GoTo`s after one Offset Init. A few Mesu users have mentioned on here that they just do a blind plate solve, Offset Init, then GoTo to there target for the evening. I admit that is the way I run the mount now and I have no complaints about the accuracy. If you are happy with the GoTo`s and the Guiding, just get out there every time you can and enjoy the great mount you own Graham

Strange I have found it to be very stable. Better than Prism v10 with which I only I only had one problem (aborting guiding) A lot of users get comfortable with a piece of software. Then when they try something else, if its not similar or does things differently then it is back to what they know. I have not looked at ATP So I have no idea how stable it is. Voyager uses Ascom Drivers and runs an observatory with no problems. Lots of SGP users out there. (Nearly said happy😉) Graham

Hi As far as I know there are not a lot of Voyager users on here. So I thought I would mention the new feature that has just been added to Voyagers Web Dashboard. (You don't need Remote desktops with Voyager) Its Virtual Field of View. It allows you to choose a target, frame it with a rotator if you have one. You can move the image around and when you are happy send the scope straight to the coordinates with precise GoTo. Or you can save the position to Voyagers RoboClip which will make it available for future use in one of your sequences. The coordinates can be saved to the clipboard as well. The whole Dashboard is very slick and only requires focuser control to be added to make it complete. Dashboard can be used on the base machine, over the local network or over the web. http://www.starkeeper.it/wdash/?107 I am just a happy Voyager user. Graham

You can of course guide with PHD2, but it will not interact with Prism. Prism is designed to not require external software. I haven't got access to my Observatory PC right now. Is there a native DSI driver in Prism? Is there a Ascom driver available? I had problems with a Lodestar CCD guide camera and changing the driver in the control panel sort the problem. I found this in the Prism French forum. (view in Chrome) So the DSI does (or did) seem to work with Prism. The guy had access to the camera and its controls. http://www.prism-astro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2163&p=11797&hilit=DSI+2#p11797 I found the Prism guider worked very well once setup. Overall Prism works well. Saying that I have moved on to using Voyager now. Hope you get sorted. Graham

Hi Rodd, Voyager from Starkeeper has a built in Native ZWO driver which works well with the 1600 pro. (gain and offset are adjustable) Voyager integrates with Software such as your Maxim DL, The Sky, PHD2, It can automate your whole nights imaging. Automate as much as you want up to a full observatory. https://software.starkeeper.it/ Graham

Hi Dave Dan at Sitech has done work on the INDI driver. It only needs the INDI installer setup to be sorted out. Probably 6 monthes ago I tried to contact the INDI developer a few times as he needed a Raspbery pi/Mesu setup that he could Remote into to set things up and check everything worked. I got no replies to my contacts. So it is ready to go if someone can get togeather with the INDI developer. Or so I was told. Because to Mesu driver was so long in comming I have got more and more intangled with windows😕 Graham

QHY268c Features and specification are here. Manual is in the download section. Modes are explained and it looks like it can be bin 2 x 2. https://www.qhyccd.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=94&id=56

Hi Jonk. Have you seen this document https://usermanual.wiki/Document/mesuquickguide.2087302805/html I assume you have the latest Mesu. This doc is for the 200 Mk1 but you may find it useful at the beginning. Graham

Ole Mesu has the option to have USB or serial input. I use serial. With the limited amount of USB ports on these mini PC's I could use a serial/RS232 port if fitted. Otherwise as you say I would have to use a USB serial adapter. Regards Graham

Hi Sorry for my late reply. Thanks to you all for you suggestions and ideas. I now see that I don't need anything with to much power to run the setup at the pier but as Xplode (Ole) says a bit of future proofing would not go amiss. I am now looking at a Mini PC from HP or Dell. There are lots of options new, second hand and refurbished. I found this, but it`s a Celeron, Rams to small, HD to small, but it has TWO serial ports😀 https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/grade-a1-asus-pb40-bc056zd-celeron-n4100-4gb-32gb-windows-10-pro-desktop-a1-pb40-bc056zd-oss/version.asp Many thanks again Graham