Another EQ8

[tony210]

Update- tonight managed fairly good 10min subs with good stars before the cloud- but had to increase minimum motion RA  and Dec and then seemed OK - seems to me that new firmware gives a gentler initial slew acceleration which may reflect in guiding responses - still RMS was 0.9/0.8 which seemed fair -will keep trying - Tony

[tony210]

Sorry posts above  should read max RA and DEC duration not Min Motion -confusing my parameters have not touched min motion which for my set up is 0.1-Tony

[tony210]

Hi - got good guiding tonight with inc in RA and DEC min motion from 200 to 400 both- RA aggressiveness 70- Hysteresis 5-  2sec exposures with flatish curve and 0.7 RMS  and good 10min subs which I was happy with-different values from before firmware upgrade though- Tony

[Zakalwe]

Thats good to hear Tony.

I got my spacings sorted out and the guide cam parfocal. Predictably, it clouded over as soon as I started to do some test runs, but it seemed to be working fine. I also recorded an AutoPEC with EQMOD, though I have a feeling that I am getting better performance with just PHD guiding than AutoPEC & guiding.

[Zakalwe]

I was imaging Jupiter last night, so the C11 was on the mount. For a laugh I threw the Atik 428 on it, with the focal reducer spacing set at 108mm. The conditions are horrible...the stars in Cassiopeia can't be seen and the shape of the Plough is just visible.

I haven't played with the balance in DEC, so it's going to be all over the shop with all that weight hanging off the back of the OTA. And I'm sure that the polar alignment can be improved. I couldn't find a guide star in the OAG, so this is a 2 minute unguided sub, taken through the murk, of M82.

The focal length is somewhere about 1.7metres

I only got a single exposure before the clouds rolled in (again)

I wonder what this thing can do with decent guiding?

[nmoushon]

I was imaging Jupiter last night, so the C11 was on the mount. For a laugh I threw the Atik 428 on it, with the focal reducer spacing set at 108mm. The conditions are horrible...the stars in Cassiopeia can't be seen and the shape of the Plough is just visible.

I haven't played with the balance in DEC, so it's going to be all over the shop with all that weight hanging off the back of the OTA. And I'm sure that the polar alignment can be improved. I couldn't find a guide star in the OAG, so this is a 2 minute unguided sub, taken through the murk, of M82.

The focal length is somewhere about 1.7metres

I only got a single exposure before the clouds rolled in (again)

I wonder what this thing can do with decent guiding?

Thats an impressive 2min unguided sub give the conditions. I'm looking forward to see what you (and others with similar set up) can manage with good guiding.

[ollypenrice]

Absolutely excellent result on the galaxy unguided. Very encouraging.

Olly

[tony210]

Very impressive for unguided- Tony

[Zakalwe]

Im going to sort the balance out now, though its very, very back heavy with that big mirror, Moonlite, SX filter wheel and camera all hanging off the back. Plus the extension tunes makes everything stick out a loooong way.

Its lovely and clear at the moment, though it will no doubt start to cloud over once the Sun goes down. If it stays clear I'll try and get the guiding sorted and see how it performs. Im not too sure if the QHY5 is going to be sensitive enough...I might have to look towards a star cluster for a trial run.

[Zakalwe]

Scratch that plan. As predicted I now have wall-to-wall clouds. Again

The yellow dot is where I live

If you zoom in really, really closely, you will see a tiny figure, on his knees, shaking his fists in impotent rage at the clouds.......  :clouds1: :clouds1:

[Zakalwe]

I woke up at 4AM and peered out to see clear skies. Lie there for ten minutes contemplating getting up and peering to see if the clouds will appear.

Right...out of bed, clothes on, down to the obsy. Mars looked lovely, shining with its pale red colour.

Boot the obsy PC.

Fire up the power supply.

Connect EQASCOM and launch EQMOD.

Start Carte du Ciel and connect to EQMOD.

Launch the Hitec Astro focus software and connect to the focuser

Start Nebulosity and connect to the Atik. Set the TEC for -15C

Unlock the roof hold-downs and slide the roof back.

Be confronted by horizon-to-horizon clouds that have snuck across the sky.

Fall to knees and howl (quietly, so as not to wake the neighbours) in rage at living in this rotten country with it's rubbish weather.

Switch everything off, lock the roof, go back to bed.

Lie awake 'cos now you can't sleep and eventually get up at 6AM, bleary-eyed and grumpy.

Stomp off in search of strong coffee....

:cussing:   :BangHead:

[libraryman]

  Yup...summed up just nice!!..Howler!! :grin:

I just stay in listening to my EQ8 sing to me after the Ver 2.10 update!!

Ray

[Astroscot2]

I feel your pain, same up here, I can only recall I clear night since 2nd December.....

[Tinker1947]

I woke up at 4AM and peered out to see clear skies. Lie there for ten minutes contemplating getting up and peering to see if the clouds will appear.

Right...out of bed, clothes on, down to the obsy. Mars looked lovely, shining with its pale red colour.

Boot the obsy PC.

Fire up the power supply.

Connect EQASCOM and launch EQMOD.

Start Carte du Ciel and connect to EQMOD.

Launch the Hitec Astro focus software and connect to the focuser

Start Nebulosity and connect to the Atik. Set the TEC for -15C

Unlock the roof hold-downs and slide the roof back.

Be confronted by horizon-to-horizon clouds that have snuck across the sky.

Fall to knees and howl (quietly, so as not to wake the neighbours) in rage at living in this rotten country with it's rubbish weather.

Switch everything off, lock the roof, go back to bed.

Lie awake 'cos now you can't sleep and eventually get up at 6AM, bleary-eyed and grumpy.

Stomp off in search of strong coffee....

:cussing:   :BangHead:

Save you a button press run CdC before EQMod, when you connect CdC to the scope it starts EQMod as well, I never got up till 09:30, never bothered to check for clouds as there are no stars that time of the morning....

[Zakalwe]

  Yup...summed up just nice!!..Howler!! :grin:

I just stay in listening to my EQ8 sing to me after the Ver 2.10 update!!

Ray

LOL...it's a musical thing, now isn't it?

[Sp@ce_d]

He he.. done this far too many times my neighbours think there's a Werewolf living next door!

I've convinced myself ACP will be the way to go if there's any chance of sleep!

Those unguided stars look great, very promising indeed at this FL. There's still so few real world examples coming out with the EQ8 though, I'm going to be sitting on the fence for a while longer I think. Quite interested to see how it goes with your C11 as I've just sat my new C925 on the EQ6 & guiding's a new ball game!

[tony210]

Hi - agree terrible weather -still think the unguided images are very impressive and imagine your PA is very good - managed some 10 minute subs of NGC 3953 last night though through a gap in the South!- colour I stole from some images last year and isn't right and some of the subs were through cloud cover of sorts !! !

Overall just glad the mount guides OK with PHD and can do better I think so keep plugging away with the EQ8-Tony

[jaspalchadha]

How comes it makes that noise? My ALZ EQ6 GT makes that sometimes too ...

[Stephen]

Got a reply from SkyWatcher (finally!)

 

 

Dear Stephen,

 

Sorry to reply you so late, we appreciate your patience. To answer your question, yes, EQ8 MC Firmware 2.10 works in low-power tracking mode by default, the same as 2.09_LP.

Hope this answers your question. Please have a great day.

Guess I will be applying the update then

[Zakalwe]

How comes it makes that noise? My ALZ EQ6 GT makes that sometimes too ...

They've changed the EQ8 firmware so that fast slews ramp up and down. probably to stop high current draws on the PSU and to reduce strain and wear on the gears? The mount is rated to carry 50Kgs so thats a lot of starting torque to overcome.

[Zakalwe]

Well, after what seems like a blooming age, I managed to get my new guide camera (QHY5L-II) setup and actually have a little bash at imaging. Crummy conditions, but good enough to test the guiding out. I also managed to get EQMOD to record PEC data without being interrupted by clouds. I dumped the results into PECPrep to see the results. 5.1 arc seconds peak to peak.

I managed to snatch 5 x 10 minute guided subs through the murk. These were through the Baader Red filter

There's not many stars in there, but what stars are there seem tight.