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LBN 168 setup testing


Ewan

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Wow seems like years since I posted something in deepsky, I got a little engrossed in solar imaging with the Quark so let the dark stuff slip.

Just trying to get into it all again, using the 'solar' laptop which now has USB3,SSD is overall a better capturing solution for me so I had to reinstall all the deepsky programs to get guiding with EQMod, StellariumScope etc, after a few hiccups with PHD2 (not in compatability mode & not as administrator) I finally got it sorted.

Just getting back into the routine took a few nights (easy how you forget little things) but all good now.

With the Altair 80mm APO being guided with the 60mm finder guider + DMK""616 I did my best to catch some data of LBN168, since I bought the 460EX I only ever test imaged five previous targets (April 2015 eek!!) & it never got used again since now, can't believe what I have been missing tbh.

I broke the golden rule as I was only testing the set up & didn't do any darks (not sure if I needed them anyway) or flats, kept the filters & ccd very clean so it's not come out too badly.

I aim to do a Bi Colour RGB if I can get the data as the Ha in this is a little overwhelming if I am honest but I did use the Ha subs for the Red channel data then applied a mono Ha as a Luminance layer to control the stars.

Anyway as a 'comeback' test image I hope it's ok & thanks for looking.

Mount AZEQ6 GT

AA 80mm F6 APO + flattener

Atik 460EX

Ha - 198 Red 30 Green 30 Blue 30

Tulip%20nearly%20there%202.jpg 

When I first used EQMod I used an online tutorial that said to have the top right guide speed option set to 10, thinking back to 2015 & the sometimes erratic guiding results I was getting I changed this to 50 which improved things but would it be better to go with 90 instead, thought I would ask. Maybe the elevation of the target being captured plays a part on this number as well, any advice would be great, sorry for the long post btw.

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Looking good Ewan, if your weather was anything like mine you haven't missed much, it's only improved recently.

I was going out to have a go tonight but it was Armageddon out there so decided against it.

Dave

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17 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Looking good Ewan, if your weather was anything like mine you haven't missed much, it's only improved recently.

I was going out to have a go tonight but it was Armageddon out there so decided against it.

Dave

Only testing the spacing Dave, spacing is meant to be + or - 1.5mm so should not be hard to achieve you may think :-), got very close & had one corner, bottom left on the screen, that I wasn't happy with, very slight oval stars but not good enough.

The scope has two rotatable sections, the first section nearest the focuser is handy as it makes re framing a target easy to within 1 degree if patient. Thing is when I turn the section it turns easy then gets tighter as it goes round further then eases off again, so I would imaging one of the three grub screws that adjust the amount of grip or friction if you like is tighter than the other two OR the angled flange inside the focuser is not 100% circular.

Frustrating it is & with the weather the way it is testing time is very limited.

Dave here is a noob question for you, I don't use a diagonal when imaging so when the bottom left of the image may show slight oval stars I assume it is the same on the scope focuser that may need an adjustment ie grub screw nearest bottom left or is that just 'too obvious' ?

The stars in the image don't look too bad but I am wondering if when stacking a lot of subs the 'oval' detail can sort of get evened out if you like & look more round, hope you understand what I mean :-), what do you think ?

I am 99% sure it's not the 460 sensor on a tilt & guiding is good. Collimation looks ok when I did a star test with a 10mm EP & a 3x barlow + 2x, focuser alignment with regards to the front cell is something I may look at as well.

Anything that you can think of that could help let me know could you.

Atb

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Depends if you're one of those obsessed OCD guys that can't sleep if they get a few eggy stars in the corner.

They do get absorbed a bit in the stacking process and you can fix them individually if you feel the need, I tend not to do any pixel peeping on my images. there's usually plenty to criticise on them without getting that deep.

If you just rotate the camera and the eggy stars go with it I think that means it's the camera if they stay in the same corner it's the scope, could be wrong as I try to avoid doing it as that way madness lies :grin:

If you're permanently setup I guess it's worth it but not sure given the lack of clear steady skies.

I can never figure out which way is up in an image, you can plate solve it or I find it easier to look on Stellarium with equatorial grid on and match it up to find north and south to see which way the ovals go.

Dave

 

 

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