M42 to Flame. Wide-wide field. (My first mosaic)

[MikeWilson]

Hi Andy,

The key for me, especially after the Quattro (which I still recommend by the way - as long as you don't mind iterative tinkering [it suits a fixed location]), was to get some kit which gets me up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible.

My most recent acquisition - an early Christmas present from my wife - is this: a box intended for outdoor Christmas lighting but repurposed as an "all cables" box. So now I just have to plug in the mount, scope and the other end to power and USB for the laptop. Works a charm.

I've done 10 minutes on a Ha filter before now: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/160107-veil-nebula.html but haven't been brave enough to go longer. Typing a number more than 600 seconds is just scary. 1200 seconds would probably drive me to start drinking as a second hobby!

Good luck with your EQMOD experiments :-) Remember, you need to install the ASCOM platform & drivers and then the EQMOD software on top.

[peter shah]

I love this area of sky so much going on, a super shot. I do agree some work on m42's core would make it even better

[AndyUK]

Hi Mike - This early christmas present from your wife... Do you have any more details? It sounds extremely useful... I have a fused outdoor power socket, which I then run an extension lead from and into that I plug a device which has a 3 pin socket on one-side and a female cigar lighter socket on the other (I think I got it from a camping website). I then plug the mount, CCD camera and dew strips into a 4-port cigar lighter hub... It hasn't let me down (yet), but I do feel as though everything's a bit "open to the elements" and I'm just waiting for the day when a heavy dew gets into it all (or maybe a passing cat pees on it!). I've wondered about putting a towel over the whole lot, but that doesn't sound a very good idea either!

I can't deny that I feel uncomfortable typing 900 or 1200s, but I'm sure you'll be surprised having captured the first frame how much more relaxed it becomes (sort of), although it did indeed introduce me to a 2nd hobby - PHD graph watching, with a side experiment of seeing if it's possible to will the graph flat. Needless to say I haven't achieved it yet (I'm not Yuri Geller). It's soul destroying to see a totally flat grap go for a 1-2 minute wander for some reason about 2/3 into the exposure and you just know that that subs wasted. But if the guiding behaves, then obviously you get more nebulosity detail and then it becomes worth it! (a very nice Ha Veil image by the way - I'm sorry I missed that - Your setup gives a real good FOV...)

[MikeWilson]

Hey Andy,

I had a 3 pin to female cigarette lighter socket but I've stopped using it for fear that it was going to kill me (http://stargazerslounge.com/discussions-scopes-whole-setups/121798-my-astro-senses-tingling.html).

It's been replaced with a Maplin 7Ah regulated power supply that sits in our utility room, connected to a standard 3 pin plug socket and I have a female cigarette adapter attached to it. I open a window just ajar and run out a 12v cigarette extension cable outside to where I've set up. When I'm mobile, I replace the power supply with a lead acid battery.

You can see it all - including the "dribox" box (early Christmas present - picture attached of it when new) in my

. We bought it from Nottcutts Garden Center but I've seen them in B&Q too. I cut extra large holes in the side (under the lid) (for the extra large number of cables) and it works very well at keeping everything neat and tidy. There's a USB hub in the box and a cigarette lighter splitter. And two chinese takeaway boxes holding the hubs together with plenty of silica gel to keep things extra dry.

All the best,

Mike

[AndyUK]

Cheers Mike - It must be my age getting to me... When I started reading that thread I remembered reading it before and as it probably wasn't deja vu, it must be early senility...

That dribox looks like just the thing for home use - I'm going to have to get myself one of those... and if the local cats do pee on it, then at least I won't feel guilty for my dog nothing to chase (sorry!). That's an excellent video by the way - I had to watch it all the way through (even though I should have been working )

[MikeWilson]

Dribox :-)

Plus a bit of cable tidy and an hour with a penknife and voila!

The USB hub and power hub live in recycled Chinese takeaway boxes (one special fried rice and one sweet and sour hong kong style), with two packets of desiccant. Just in case.

Sent from my mobile using TapaTalk (so please excuse bad grammar & spelling!) :-)

[AndyUK]

My Dribox christmas present arrived last week... but I've had to give it to Santa Claus to give back to me in a couple of weeks time. (God this weather's cr*p!)

[sulaco]

This is looking very slick, this group is one of my favourites for mosaic images.

[Jessun]

Really inspiring work there, I am quite impressed.

One idea I have is to introduce a few dif spikes in the M42 region, like on what I believe is NGC 1980 and a few more - just to balance it artistically?