Thoughts on which imaging rigs to concentrate on

[Gina]

The 135mm lens looks favourite for tonight.  Here's the FOV in Orion covering from M42/43 in the south through Horsey and Flame to M78 and NCG2071 in the north though I think the last two are rather faint.

[Filroden]

I think that M78 is largely reflection rather than emission so I doubt you will get much. I've searched image sites and seen only one example of a narrowband image and it was pretty poor in comparison to how M78 looks in LRGB. Though with that frame I don't think there is anything else worth included so it's worth a try!

[Gina]

There is no sign of M78 or NGC2071 so I've reframed to be sure of getting all of M42 in the image.  I have reduced gain to 440 and exposure to 10s which gives better results on M42 though the Flame and nebulosity around the Horse's Head are barely showing in the subs.  I shall download a sub or two and stretch it to see what's there.

[Gina]

I've applied STF to a sub and get this.  Seems to show Flame and hydrogen nebulosity as well as M42.

[Gina]

Coming up to 300 Ha 3nm subs captured.  Think I'll change over to OIII when I've got 300.

[Gina]

Remote focussing has stopped working   So I guess I've got to go out into the perishingly cold night and sort it out

[Gina]

File download has become slow too so I think the problem is a cold laptop.  I've now taken the pet warmer electric blanket out and put it under the laptop with towel to keep the heat in.  Plugged in switched on and set the temperature to 40C - see what that does :D.  The focuser is showing power and seems fine.

[Filroden]

Hope it works. It's definitely colder tonight. I thought it was going to clear here but the mist then clouds rolled back in.

[Gina]

Thanks   Still downloading slowly - 12s per 32MB file over CAT6 1Gb/s system - normally 2-3s per file.  I'll give it a bit longer then try the focus again.  Meanwhile, I'm grabbing 20s subs.

[Gina]

Ans still downloading slowly   Captured 100 odd 2s subs and now capturing 30s subs.  Be time for meridian flip soon.

[Gina]

Nope!!  Still won't work   Tried a remote reboot - no joy.  So do I go out to the observatory and get frozen to death or give up on capturing anything other than Ha 3nm subs?

[Gina]

I doubt if I can fix it tonight.  The slow download speed shows a problem with the laptop.  Previously this was solved by bringing the laptop indoors and warming it up before taking it back out again.  I would have thought that a pet warmer set at 40C would keep the laptop warm but it's not working

Apart from the laptop there is also no reason for the focussing not working - everything is connected as it was working fine earlier and I haven't actually touched the rig. 

There is a very cold breeze tonight straight out of the north-east and little protection from it.  I really need to dump the laptop!

Edited January 20, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

I know it's very cold out there - the camera was showing -6C without the cooling on

[Gina]

Cloud has come in now anyway, so that's that. 

[Gina]

I've brought the laptop indoors and shut down the observatory.  The laptop felt just warm to the touch so should have been alright.  I guess I'm just going have to bite the bullet and sort out the Raspberry Pi and INDI etc.  Should be able to get image capture working alright - it's working fine for my all sky camera - the more difficult area is all the rest. 

Don't really know what I'm frightened of - must be getting old I guess - nope, gotta fight it!!   Mini/micro/computers/processors and interfacing was my job when I was earning, though that was several decades ago but I've been keeping my eye in

Edited January 21, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

Time to get back to data processing I guess.  Hundreds of files most of Orion but some of Monoceros/Serpens from Rosette to Eagle.  There's 120 odd Ha 3nm subs from night before last and around 800 from last night   Should keep me busy for a while

Edited January 21, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

Seems I processed those Ha 3nm subs from Thursday night so now have integration of both Ha 3nm and Ha 5nm ready for sorting out subtraction.

[Gina]

All capture files from last night checked with Blink and duff ones dumped into the Junk folder.  All 3nm Ha since the focussing wasn't working.  Good subs :- 430 at 10s, 94 at 30s, 100 at 2s, 29 more at 30s and 45 at 60s.  So... totals are :-

1. 2s 100
2. 10s 430
3. 30s 123
4. 60s 45

Edited January 21, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

Now calibrating... This will take some time   Discovered I haven't got 2s darks at gain of 440 though so maybe get some darks tomorrow.  Plenty to do with all the rest though

Edited January 21, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

StarAlignment of the 10s subs now.  I'm completing each set before going on to the next as this way yields some results more quickly.

[Gina]

StarAlignment complete now integrating...

[Filroden]

I adopted the file structure set out in Light Vortex Astronomy then do each stage. So I calibrate all images into the Light_cal folder, then I register them into the Light_reg folder, then I integrate them. I'm afraid if I did them by set, I'd get to my first image and I'd want to start processing

[Gina]

Integration of 430 10s Ha 3nm subs.

Screenshot of PI auto-stretch and full resolution image saved in PI as PNG.

[Gina]

I'm doing the 60s subs next.  Made a mistake above the 94 I thought were 30s were actually 20s so I need darks for that.

[Gina]

Hmm... rather a lot of failures in the StarAlignment process - lost nearly half of them   32 left.