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3.5 hours, but there's a 'but...'

ollypenrice

By ollypenrice
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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cone%20twintak%20web-XL.jpg

First light for the Twin Tak rig. 7 hours of data in 3.5 hours. Worked like a charm! We were cut off in our prime by a big black cloud at quarter past midnight but we got enough for this, HaLRGB. I wish, really, that we'd dropped the Ha and gone for RGB only because the Ha is a bit of a flattener on this target. Still, not bad for 3.5 hours.

Here's the rig before the cables, which are still a mess since I need more active USBs to arrive. One scope/camera is mine, one is Tom's and the Mesu, ex Yves, is joint. This is also the default rig for use by our guests. The scopes are adjusted to be parallel on a Cassady T-Gad device, now out of production, which really works superbly. There are two PCs collecting the data. No point in trying to be too clever! It takes just a few extra minutes to get going and then you are really pulling in the data. The wind was quite nasty at times but the Mesu just sat there as steady as a rock.

Twin%20Tak%20Mesu-S.jpg

Olly

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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very nice image. so many different objects to look at, love the star colours!  how much more data will you be adding? 

That's up to the guests, whose choice this was. Maybe they'll go for something new. A high speed M78 might be nice...

Olly

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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I'm tempted to say that that is nearly cheating....!

What a superb set-up, alongside all the rest of the kit and the dark skies, a double barrelled Tak. Not jealous at all...

Oh, the result is pretty darn spectacular too. Great colour, great depth, great work!

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swag72

swag72

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This setup looks the business and the image proves it. I'd expect nothing less from you Olly. I'm glad that finally your difficulties are over - Who would have thought that a Mesu and a Cassady tilt pan adjuster would have worked better than an EQ8 and an ADM? :grin:

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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I was going to mention the potential data issues until I read that you have two PCs on the case. The main problem I had was getting a good transfer rate between the netbook and the house wi-fi, you will have a lot of data coming in quite quickly and its easy to have a "senior moment" and forget what is saving where... :) I did. 

I see you've got the T-Gad, hmmmm perhaps someone in the UK should put something similar into production - it cant be that difficult to produce for a less eye-watering price, or a slightly less heavyweight version (the T-Gad is quite a lump of metal).

Three up? ;)

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Sp@ce_d

Sp@ce_d

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Very nice!

The trick with multiple CCD downloads, using one PC (laptop/netbook), is to try and spread the load. Across controllers if you can ( IF you have more than one controller serving the USB ports.. easier on a desktop/side than a lappy/netbook ). Also set the exposures so the downloads never run simultaneously & saturate the bus.. works for me with 3 on a single netbook running the obsy.. but those Atik 11000's are somewhat larger size download than mine!

You'll want to add a third Tak in the middle to help balance it out of course.. :grin:

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Lovely image too. How do you find the tgad apart from heavy? I found no flexure once tightened up.

I find it perfect. I've now been out on three nights and not seen any shift. It was dead easy to set up and is beautifully made. It works. I thought it would because Yves and I used one to to carry a 7 inch Russian Maksutov and it did so with ease. Quite honestly it took less time to align the two OTAs than it does to reframe after the flip.  I'm afraid the ADM was just unsatisfactory.

As mulitiple rigs become more popular a good tilt-pan like this needs to be set in motion. I know someone who is in this business and will drop him an email.

As for the PC business, it is dead simple for me; you can do it on one PC and come unstuck at some point. (Yes, there will be a Windows update that kills the lot, or a conflict introduced by something random like running a second screen. I've had all this and I don't want it again. (If it happened during your holiday here you wouldn't want it either!) So two PCs.* This means two screens and a clear head as to what is doing what. There is the T PC (running Tom's camera) and the O PC (running Olly's camera) and all data carries an O or a T prefix at all stages without exception. This way darks, flats and bias can be kept under control and not mixed. (Remember, guests are coming to this setup for the first time and have a lot to remember, especially if they want to take all the raw data home.)

A third 106? It has to be tempting...

:eek: lly

* Edit. I know I'm considered an IT numbskull (which is being unduly kind) but when I discussed this issue with an IT professional friend his reaction to two PCs was, 'Yes, certainly.'

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ianaiken

ianaiken

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Good idea. I contemplated it there after reading your post however the software I am using may release some new functionality which makes dual camera control a possibility, this means dithering on a dual should be possible. It's on their development plan not sure if and when it will become available.

I've also got cassidys tandem bar which adds more weight but did eliminate my flexure (I use it with losmandy bars).

Your two pc setup sounds good just remember to manual check for windows updates during the day hehe

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Good idea. I contemplated it there after reading your post however the software I am using may release some new functionality which makes dual camera control a possibility, this means dithering on a dual should be possible. It's on their development plan not sure if and when it will become available.

I've also got cassidys tandem bar which adds more weight but did eliminate my flexure (I use it with losmandy bars).

Your two pc setup sounds good just remember to manual check for windows updates during the day hehe

Updates?? Oh yes, they are banned from the observatories!!! Everything in here is brass, and steam is the only accepted energy source.

Olly

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swag72

swag72

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Windoze updates? My obs PC hasn't had a single update since September 2012!!! Shocking I know, but it happened too often where the PC decided that IT wanted to do something when I didn't want it!

You know that you can switch automatic updates off Olly? That way they never happen every again and your steam driven PC will continue to work as it did before Mr Gates et al decide that YOU need something changed.

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GuillermoBarrancos

GuillermoBarrancos

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* Edit. I know I'm considered an IT numbskull (which is being unduly kind) but when I discussed this issue with an IT professional friend his reaction to two PCs was, 'Yes, certainly.'

I am an IT nub :p and I can tell you that you can build a PC that can handle two Scopes like a breeze, With a 2 screen setup.

A HighEnd gaming PC these days will have HighEnd motherboard with fast busses and multi-core i7 CPU, 8 to 16GB of RAM, SSD discs (tho only run the OS and software on it and use a conventional 7200RPM HDD for Data Collection).

Such a PC can easily handle a 2 screen setup and run two instances of the software. As normal HDD´s are dead cheap these days, you can buy two identical HDD´s and put them in Mirror RAID mode for redundancy. So in an event that one of the two discs dies during an imaging run... Your data is still save on the other.

But yes.... two PC´s will do the trick too. :p

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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The updates don't get me in the night any more. That's a simple 'Preferences' choice for timing. However, an update did knock out my connection to the Atik cameras once. One PC was Vista (Booo!!!) and the other XP (Hooray!!!) but it got them both.

The two PC solution is fine, anyway. But thanks for the information on how to be cleverer!

I think that having a non-internet PC in the observatory is a good idea.

Olly

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