Best Mount for Imaging (£5k-£6k Budget)

[chrisshillito]

Ahhh to be able to go 2 hours past the meridian, with my Heq5 / Eqacom setup, if i went 1 nano second past the meridian it would flip

Then you've clearly not got the hang using it right. Set the limit 2 hours past the meridian and that will be where EQMOD will do the automatic flip (assuming you've enabled the auto flip feature which was by popular demand disabled by default!).

Chris.

[ribuck]

Hey,Chris,

I wasn't having having a pop at eqascom, and yes i agree it's down to my lack of my knowledge.

[LDUNN1]

(& mine ;-) )

[jldo69]

Hi all,

I just discover this very intersting post. I am ready to pull the trigger for a GM1000HPS myself so I am very keen on per's feedback.

Clear skies

Jean-Louis

[perfrej]

Still waiting Should be here in a few days (fingers crossed)...

Given that I have run one-hour subs with my 2000 and the 1000 isn't supposed to be much worse...

/per

[ribuck]

Hi Per, reading the specs of the GM1000, on paper is supposed to exactly the same as the GM2000 as both show 0,6" RMS in 10Micron's product specification, but i'm sure somewhere else on the 10micron web site that i read that the GM1000 has 0,5" RMS tracking.

So it should be just as good if not a super tiny margin better :-)

So i guess it will just come down to load capacity. Shame the GM1000 only has 25kg capacity.

[perfrej]

Ah, that's news to me. I have spent so much time perfecting model building and getting my 2000 perfect that I sort of missed looking closer at the 1000. Soon I'll know more

/p

[ribuck]

Yes and i'm looking forward to seeing the results along with many other people i suspect. Has your supplier given you a delivery date ? I might go down to AstroFest for the day to get a sneak peek.

[perfrej]

The date has not been given exactly, but they tell me it is in the next batch to come in, late January. We'll see

You may be glad to know that I have decided to release my 10Micron model maker software for Windows. It creates a mount-full of sync points in about 15 minutes without any human intervention. All the people that have tested it have reported great results and ease of use, so out it goes. I'm tweaking a few final details and will post it on a new web site soon.

/per

[Jessun]

That looks very impressive indeed Per! Good luck with the launch!

/Jesper

[jjongmans]

Hi Per,

Good developments! Is it also possible to create a declination model for one specific object? Or is it always mandatory to create a all-sky model even for a mobile setup used for one night? That's where ASA gives you the possibility to create a dec model (mobile, 5 min) or all-sky model (permanent, 15 - 60 min, dependent of amount of points).

[ribuck]

Look great per, would be great if you could do a video of your app building a model when your gm1000 arrives. Thanks for taking the time to write the code, as I know how much time it takes as i designed some cheap dome rotation electronics and wrote the control software called Astrosky dome runner.

[perfrej]

Declination model is on the list of additions, allthough I must say that it has never been a requirement with my mount. It is my firm belief that 10Micron will eventually release a next generation firmware that supports more model points. Not that I have actually needed more but it seems a logical next step. My modela maker supports 4 billion points (imposed by .NET Framework) so that's not going to be an issue

/per

[ribuck]

only 4 billion, i mean really what sort of programmer do you call yourself, i expected at least 8 billion

I wouldn't like to wait for it to try and do 4 billion alignment points.......lol.

[perfrej]

Let's see... Slew 10s, exposure 4s, plate solve 2s makes 16 seconds per point. It comes out to a mere 2029 and a half year...

[ribuck]

better get a very big mug for my coffee whilst we wait.

[jjongmans]

That's exactly why a mobile user wants a declination model; faster to build, only needs 5 points. Disadvantage is that it can only be used for one object (declination), but that's not an issue for a mobile user who is shooting one object in a night.

[LDUNN1]

Per, when are you going to port that great looking software to AP mounts? ;-)

[LDUNN1]

.......the stars will still be there Per ;-)

[ribuck]

JJongmans, is 15 mins really an issue for full sky modelling when using it as a portable setup ?

[jjongmans]

Don't know, if you have to do it every night? Guess its not a big issue.

[LDUNN1]

I don't think the 15 mins was an issue, but the 60 mins for full sky was......at least that is the way I read it (& can understand it being a transportable user myself which means set up & tear down at start & end of each session).

[perfrej]

60 minutes for a full sky is based on around 100 points. The 10Micron firmware currently supports 25, essentially cutting this time to 15 minutes.

[ribuck]

i think 25 points, should be more than enough for an accurate pointing model. Even on my Heq5 Pro, using CCS commander, EqAscom & Plate-solving under Maxim DL, i could get the pointing accuracy spot in with approx 20 points (5 in each direction). That said when i moved and build the new obs, i'll probably will do a 100 point model.

[jjongmans]

In this case the model is also used for tracking, that's more demanding than pointing only.