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Finally Finished!


AngryDonkey

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After an enjoyable and frustrating couple of years I think my dual scope setup is now pretty much complete and running as advertised (more often than not). It’s been a challenge and I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all who have contributed some knowledge to make it happen. Not only those who answered direct questions but also those who have posted in the past and who’s experience I’ve found by trawling the boards. I can honestly say this whole thing would have been completely beyond me without the advice and information from you. Thank you!

As with most Astro related projects there have been many changes along the way. I was aiming for a portable setup which I could take to a remote site and assembled in a reasonable amount of time without doing my back in. To be honest I think what I’ve come up with very much pushes the definition of ‘portable’ but for now it’s manageable and after a few tries I can actually have it up and imaging inside an hour. This is mainly possible because everything up top (except the guide scope) remains assembled and cabled up (and fits into one box). There are only two power cables running down to the batteries everything else is and remains connected via the Pegasus hub. Being portable, power supply has been a challenge and, in the end, I had to get two deep cycle AGM batteries to ensure that there is enough power for an entire night (two nights and I need a generator…). The other big challenge has been setting up Sequence Generator Pro and its profiles to run both cameras side by side. I started out with an OAG but once I included auto focus this became impractical (i.e. doing the focus run on the OAG scope upsets guiding and ruins the other camera’s sub etc. – thanks Sara, I took a lot of advice from your blog) and I included a guide scope. All in all, the combined weight of everything was creeping up beyond the 20kg limit and I had to create some custom adapters and use the Avalon XGuider (which is very light) for mounting and aligning the WO71 to stay below (now everything is 18kg). Having said that the Avalon Linear has been performing really well and guiding hasn’t really changed with the increased weight so maybe it wouldn’t have been a problem. The full setup is as follows:

Mount: Avalon Linear
Scope One: Takahashi FSQ 85 + Reducer + Moravian G2 8300 (5 pos filter wheel) + Lakeside Focuser
Scope Two: WO Star 71 II + Moravian G2 8300 (5 pos filter wheel) + Lakeside Focuser
Scope Alignment: Avalon X-Guider
Guide Scope: Takahashi FS60 + SX Lodestar II
USB and Power Distribution: Pegasus Astro Ultimate Hub
PC / Software: Intel Compute Stick / Sequence Generator Pro

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I think the setup works really well for LRGB (I have used is for narrowband and it’s also good but needs a bit of juggling with filters to make it work). The luminance is taken with the FSQ and colour with the WO71. FOV and pixels in both trains are very close and I haven’t had any problems combining everything in PixInsight. Here is M42 (granted an easy target) where I only had 2.5h before it setting and it produced a really good set of data in a short space of time.

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The rest of that night (and some of the previous night) I imaged Markarian’s chain as there aren’t really many big enough targets for this FOV out there just now. It’s a bit overprocessed as I was trying hard to bring out some details on the small galaxies and found it difficult to keep things looking natural (on the upside I have discovered the ‘Process Container’ which has been a revelation!!!)! Must come back to it and try to process it again some time.

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Thanks again!

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Yes,  very nice rig and images. I’m also envious of your imaging location, not too much light pollution there, judging by the visible horizon. 

And look at that altitude angle on your mount, plenty of Astro darkness.?

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Thanks for the nice comments. To be honest I'm just glad it's done and I can finally concentrate on getting some images.

22 hours ago, tomato said:

I’m also envious of your imaging location, not too much light pollution there, judging by the visible horizon. 

Unfortunately the light pollution in Oman is pretty severe and I need to drive a good two and a half hours to get to a half decent site. But yes, astro darkness is available all year round and the weather is very good. It's unusual to not have an opportunity to image around a new moon because of the weather so I'm not complaining :icon_biggrin:

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/22/2018 at 15:20, gingergeek said:

and a nice location even with the need to drive several hours.

You are right, the country is beautiful and the weather very reliable, although too hot in the summer! At least it's nice and cool in the mountains, an added benefit :-) 

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