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By ZS1RA
After what felt like a decade my Mesu e200 was finally delivered. It is such a beautiful piece of machinery, no frills just pure functionality.
I had the counter weights manufactured locally and completed the mechanical assembly, pretty straight forward. Thanks to @Jonk, https://stargazerslounge.com/profile/37161-jonk/ for providing me with the dimensions for a 16,5kg counterweight in stainless steel. I downloaded and installed SciTech.exe plus the other bits of software to make it work. The only thing I’m still uncertain about is Carte du Ciel. I’m used to Stallerium for my Skywatcher and Celestron PWI, which I love. I guess I’ll just have to get used to CDC.
I need some assistance and would appreciate help. My mount is not going to have the luxury of a permanent pier, I have to move it off the balcony every time I’ve finished my session. I have a very limited view of the South (I’m in South Africa) and no view of the SCP. Despite this I can polar align to a high degree of accuracy with the Synscan routine embedded in the SkyWatcher EQ6R Pro hand controller. Having had a cursory glance at the help menu in the SciTech Polar Alignment tab and it appears that I will need to have a view of the Celestial Pole. Does anyone have advice please?
Thanks Shaun
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By pete_81
Hi guys,
With new mount and upgraded scope features, now looking to venture into imaging.
Before I start, I'm not looking to get feedback on polar alignment, mono guidecam, better imaging cameras, etc; this is more a 'dummies guide' setup discussion! I'm not expecting to get great images at this stage, just more the options available, getting over some issues, so that I can jump outside on a clear night with an ideal, foolproof(!), setup for either imaging or visual as time would permit and what may work best for me. As you may guess from the topic name, I'm a mac user (Macbook Pro) and would rather keep to this if possible (whilst I do have Windows (and Ubuntu) via parallels, I'd rather not use these).
I've got a setup which has worked well for visual, and obviously want to have a couple of 'staple' setups that I can use depending on expectations of night observing or imaging. So far, the best one for me has been the Skywatcher Wifi Synscan controller, which has worked a treat with my Android phone - I use the Synscan app to complete alignment and GOTO stars/planets/DSO etc, or Stellarium_plus after completing alignment. This removes the need for the Synscan Handset and any USB cables to the mount altogether. But I don't know if this will work for guiding.
That then brings me to my issue on mac - connecting USB(A) between Macbook and Handset, I've attempted to control the mount through Stellarium. Trying each of the available connections (/dev/tty.usbsetial-1420, /dev/cu.usbsetial-1420, and just for sake of it, the /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port and /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port) in the dropdown menu under DeviceSettings/SerialPort, I cannot get the mount to connect (well, more like selecting the telescope and clicking the "Start" on the TelescopeControl just results in the spinning icon and I have to Force-Quit Stellarium and start again with the same result each time. Annoyingly (for fellow mac users!), Parallels/Windows/Stellarium connects and controls the mount fine! As the mount is the newer "pro" type, I also have a USB connection directly under the hand-controller RJ45 and AutoGuider ST4 sockets, but using this still results in the same issue. Another issue I have seen is that when I unplug the USB from the computer when connected to the handset, the date on the controller jumps significantly - for example, last night at ~23:30, I was transported through the local wormhole galaxy to Jan 2048 according to Synscan! Obviously unplugging isn't going to happen during a genuine session, but just wondering if this is a possible issue somewhere?!
Any other mac users connecting USB directly to the SW 'Pro' mounts?
Software wise, would folks generally suggest steering away from Stellarium towards KStars or SkySafari(Plus) for controlling the mount?
Can the Wifi dongle be used for controlling mount from computer (any OS) or do I need to go USB either to handset or directly to mount?
Is there an issue in using Mac USB to the telescope compared to 'straight' Windows (i.e. PC/laptop with Windows instead of virtual)?
Anyway, back to topic... I've a Nikon DSLR to use for primary camera at this stage, which would be triggered independently from guiding software. PHD2 is my hopeful choice of guiding software (is EKOS with KStars similar?), with T7C guide-camera on 240mm f/4 guidescope, and at this stage, I can confirm PHD2 at least connects to the camera on OS-X. There is an ST4 port on the camera, but having read several topics, I think I want to pulse-guide directly - is this correct or is ST4 best for this setup? This sorta comes back to software and connections - my understanding is one of the following cable setups for guiding (as a minimum) :
Guiding-camera => USB(A) => Macbook => PHD2 => USB(A) => SynscanHandset => AZEQ6
Guiding-camera => USB(A) => Macbook => PHD2 => USB(A) => AZEQ6
Guiding-camera => USB(A) => Macbook => PHD2 => Wifi => SynscaWifi Adapter on AZEQ6
[using ST4: ST4_on_AZEQ6 => Guiding-camera => USB(A) => Macbook => PHD2] (no additional connections needed if ST4 is used)
Additionally, I'd like to use an observatory package, say Stellarium/KStars/SkySafari, to select objects and drive the mount, then use guiding software to keep good 'tracking'.
Where in this train does EQMac fit in, or when is it used?
What about the 2019 addition to EQMod (ASCOM Alpaca)? Can this be used or is it already in other packages?!
For Windows users, how does EQMod fit in (if I go down route of getting Windows laptop for controlling things, is the setup similar to above?
There may be bits in the above that repeat, and for that, I'm sorry, just want to get across the message that I'm new to the guiding but haven't quite settled down into the software/hardware I'm expecting to use for 'goto' and 'guiding'
TLDR:
For a mac user, what setup and software are folks using for guiding and observatory softwares for the newer USB-on-mount 'AZEQ6/EQ6-R Pro' mounts from SW?
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By MarsG76
The Trifid nebula, aka M20 or NGC 6514, a popular and bright nebula about 4300 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
This image was taken through my Celestron 8" SCT on the CGEM at f6.3 using a cooled and astro-modded DSLR.
Exposures:
RGB subs: 6x60s, 5x120s, 5x180s, 5x240s, 4x300s
HII subs: 10x600s
OIII subs: 9x600s
Total Time: 04hr 21min.
Most of this image is natural color because I only used 10% of the HII and OIII stack to emphesize the detail in the red and blue hues.
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By NeilDMunro
Hi,
I have been attempting to update my SynScan V3 Hand Controller from V3.08 to latest version. Handset bootloader is V1.7.
Unfortunately I just get the message “Can not connect to SynScan hand control”. I have looked at numerous forums and tried everything that has been suggested (including older versions of firmware installer), but getting nowhere.
I am using a Skywatcher SynScan USB Adapter (purchased from Bristol Cameras) and installed the driver from the Skywatcher website. The adapter shows in the COM ports and says it is working properly.
I have tried different computers (Win10 and XP) with no joy.
Can anyone help, or is there anyone in North Aberdeenshire that has successfully updated their handset willing to give mine a go (once travel restrictions, etc ease)?
Thanks
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By TakMan
Picked up a Basler acA1920-155um a week or so ago second hand. Currently using Basler's own 'industry' software which doesn't offer any movie save out function, so I'm working with individual .tif files... thousands of 'em! (Hopefully James will be able to support the camera with OACapture on the Mac in the future)...
TSA102s > Internal Baader UV/IR > Chromo Quark > Camera (so no reducer than previous goes with the DMK41). Running around 80fps which makes a nice change from just 15! All on my less than perfect tracking alt/az Nova Hitch mount.
First image was from the 'first light' images off the camera at 8.41 this morning, 100 frames from 1400+, second 150 frames from 1660. Unlike OACapture, the software isn't overly straightforward, so I'm not quite sure what gain and gamma settings were best to use, I just tried to keep the gain low (12 from 36), gamma set to 1 (I think it goes from 0 - 4) and 10-12ms exposure. The histogram roughly in the middle... no helpful .txt file saved out with the capture, unlike OAc...
Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (via Wine - Mac) and the PS 2017CC
Pleased so far but plenty to learn!
Damian
8.41am
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8.51am
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