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By John Lawley
Hi - I've not posted here before as only just launched into this hobby, although I've always been massively interested in astronomy.
I had first light on my rig last night, which is:
Esprit 100, HEQ 5 Pro, ZWO EAF, ZWO mini filter wheel, skywatcher 50ED guidscope with ASI120, ZWO1600mm Pro, Lynx dew controller w 2 astro zap tapes
A big endeavour to get that lot working from zero experience, but I love a challenge and have really enjoyed the computer side (I'm a grade A nerd)...
So - what went well... I got the guide scope in focus (was stressing about this), and also the main scope. Even more awesomely, the autofocus routine in SGP is working perfectly Filter wheel also working perfectly and I'm getting lovely smooth pics from the main camera (I've already done the flats and darks while I was waiting for clouds to clear). Final good thing (well, good-ish), is that I got the platesolving working eventually, and was able to get the scope to align from Park to the Soul Nebula and centre fine. For some reason the "number of attempts" in my SGP profile hadn't applied, so it was giving up after 1 go, but I got it working in the end.
So the bad...
I couldn't take any data because every time it finished the platesolving and started PHD2, PHD2 would start the calibration process and then halfway through, the sidereel tracking on the EQMOD panel would turn off. Obviously, that would lead to a "lost the star" error. Is there some reason why sidereel tracking would turn off like that? I'm generally a bit confused as to whether I should be controlling the telescope from SGP (i.e. unpark) or using the park and unpark + tracking button on the EQMOD panel. Both PHD 2 and SGP are setup to use EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6?
So at the moment I can't do anything, because there's no way of guiding without it turning tracking off
Also I was cold. Very Very Cold.
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By Adaaam75
Hi guys,
Just a quickie, I've moved and am relocating my steel pier. So, would postcrete do a decent job for the footing of my steel pier in conjunction with rebar and 14mm threaded bolts? I'd make the hole big enough to cater for the size of the pier base and threads, I'm just purely asking if it will be strong enough as it is designed to hold concrete fence posts up with fence panels in the wind. The alternative is to mix concrete but if postcrete in the right quantity will do the job satisfactorily I'd choose that for convenience.
Thoughts please 🙂
Adaaam75
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By Nikolas74
From AST Optics selling my mini guiding system that i used for my Redcat51 , i have used it also with my Esprit 100 and had excellent guiding results.
There is a nice review here if someone wants to read :
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/575047-ast-mini-guide-kit-any-comments/
Lens: f=100mm F3.5 CCTV objective - made in Japan
Adjustment: by ballhead - with reliable clamping
Dovetail: compatible with most finder shoes
True field of view: 2.9° x 3.8°
Maximum guidable focal length: 1000 mm
Focusing: via lens cell
Connection to camera: C-Mount
Lens filter thread: M30.5mm P=0.5
Weight: 79 grams
Length of the objective: 44 mm
PRICE : £100 (selling the mount and the CCTV lens not the camera)
Paypal accepted buyer pays the fees
I will cover the postage expenses
Thank you,
Nikolas
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By Vroobel
Hi,
As my GoTo is successfully finished (some cosmetic issues remain) I shoud focus my attention on planets' positions. I have proper source of information: fantastic book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus, thus I will sort the planets soon. But planets are not a challenge for me at this moment, they are just something obvious to do in my list.
I have another idea and ambitious plan for next project within the year: locating and tracking the ISS to be able to make a video of its fly, not only transition.
Similarly to other objects, I need some equations. I'm pretty sure they are available somewhere, because plenty websites or apps offer showing current position of the ISS.
I will use this topic for sharing a progress ot the project.
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By BUDA
Hi All!
I have guiding problem with the following guider setup: 9x50 finder + ZWO ASI 120mm mini + PHD2.
The imaging scope is a 6' newtonian + canon dslr on a HEQ5, driven by a laptop via diy EQDIR cable.
When the mount is set up and running correctly, polar aligned and all... I connect the guider camera
and mount with phd2. All nice and easy, I run a calibration, then it starts to guide. All seems ok.
Then I am starting to take pictures. The first seems OK, then the second have the star trails...
I check phd2 and there is a message: the camera (ASI) did not take a picture for "xy" seconds so it is disconnected.
Grrr.... I reconnect try to set up a longer period for "xy" in the settings as mentioned in the message.
And all the same again and again. Whatever I add for connection timeout for the camera, it just reaches that
and disconnect the camera.
PHD + philips toucam has worked for me flowlessly. I changed to PHD2 because I gave myself a birthday present,
the little ZWO camera. (and PHD did not recognize it)
Do you have any idea what can be the problem? I will contact PHD2 help also, but maybe somebody had already
the same problem and figured out how to overcome. I am almost sure I make some dumb mistake in the PHD2
software settings, however I tried to change only what was needed.
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