Getting back into imaging after a long break

[Gina]

Gotcha!!  Overexposed in fact so going for 60s.

[Gina]

Better.  Capturing 10 of these then I'll do 10 OIII and maybe 10 SII.

[DaveS]

Very nice, some good detail in there, I can see the Veil complex.

Looking forward to the final image.

[Gina]

OIII

[Gina]

Very little SII at 60s so going to 120s.

[Gina]

Still not enough so doubling again - 4m.

Here's the 2m in PI plus a stretch.

[Gina]

4m SII plus smaller stretch.  Some showing now.

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

When the 10 SII subs are finished I'll take some longer OIIIs.

[wimvb]

Nice to see you're imaging again, Gina.

The mount connection problem can have several causes.

It can occur if you try to connect several devices with the same type serial chip to indi, eg focuser and eqdir. It seems from your screen shots that you don't use port binding. Port binding may solve the problem.

Also, if I recall correctly, older eqdir cables (mine from hitec astro with blue usb connector) used a different chip than newer cables (from lynx astro). The older cables had more problems.

And finally, the solder joints connecting the RJ cable to the pcb can be sloppy. Connections can come loose. Fortunately, this is an easy fix. But as your cable works with windows, this shouldn't be the problem.

[Gina]

Well whatever reason it didn't work plugged in directly to the RPi, it's fine connected to the camera USB hub.  So it's all working now.

[Gina]

OIII 2m exposure displayed in PI.  More signal but not limiting.

[Gina]

Not entirely sure that the Ha isn't saturating so I'll take more subs with shorter exposure maybe 45s or even 30s.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina

[DaveS]

Good luck Gina.

I'm wimping out an turning in. Got another 40 mins [OIII]. Was thinking of looking at sulphur, but didn't feel like fighting IT issues at this time of night.

[Gina]

I'm finishing off with some unbinned Ha.  I'll do darks another night.  I feel pretty pleased with tonight's run!  Good job I can have a lie in, in the morning 😁

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

Feeling rather tired today after last night's "marathon" - went to bed after 3am - but been having a look at some of the images, particularly the ones after I went to bed.  Unfortunately, something went wrong and tracking stopped, resulting in star trails on all the non-binned Ha subs.  Curses!  In fact, the mount didn't seem to have gone as far as I expected when I closed the observatory roof this morning. 

Even so the night went better than I expected - as first try at astro imaging (apart from ASC, which hardly counts) for a couple of years I wasn't expecting anything special but results surprised me 😀  I captured 47 subs unbinned Ha before the light spoilt the images anyway which suggests that there's 5 hours of sufficient darkness for 3nm Ha imaging.  I didn't get that last night because the sky was too poor earlier in the period.

[DaveS]

I was a bit dopey (What's new 😆?) this morning too, and I managed to turn in just before 3 am. After I'd packed in I had another look at the sky (This was about 2.45) and I could see the milky way getting washed out, and the north-east horizon was looking bright, so probably a good time to stop, especially with [OIII], even 3nm isn't that light-proof.

[Gina]

I'm always dopey in the morning too - I'm a "night owl", I seem to come alive about 11pm.  Fine for astronomy, of course.  May take some flats this afternoon and also need to find what went wrong with the mount.

[Gina]

Been grabbing Flats.  Both binned 2x2 to match last night's run and unbinned as I plan to take some hi-res images.

Checked out the mount and couldn't find a problem - seems to be working fine.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

I think I'm going mad!!  Just looked at those 47 unbinned Ha subs from last night (or rather early this morning) and they're fine - no star trailing, just nice tight little points of stars!  So what the ****** was I looking at this morning???  Just triple checked that I really am looking at those unbinned 47 subs!

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

I need to get to grips with the new mount control with KStars.  I had it all worked out with CdC, ASCOM and Windows (though frequently had USB problems with it).  I know everything can be done with KStars including astrometry to find exactly where the rig is pointing.  KStars has it all in the one package.

[wimvb]

Gina, do you use the nightly builds of INDI, or the stable releases? Since Jasem separated the stable release from the nightly builds, INDI has become a lot more stable. I only use the stable releases nowadays.

Do try the port binding, or at least check how the mount behaves if your focuser isn't connected. It could still be a conflict between serial connections using the same serial chip.

2 hours ago, Gina said:

I think I'm going mad!!  Just looked at those 47 unbinned Ha subs from last night (or rather early this morning) and they're fine - no star trailing, just nice tight little points of stars!  So what the ****** was I looking at this morning???  Just triple checked that I really am looking at those unbinned 47 subs!

You may have answered your own question:

7 hours ago, Gina said:

I'm always dopey in the morning too - I'm a "night owl", I seem to come alive about 11pm.

😉

[Chriske]

Overexposed, maybe....
But very impressive result...!!

[Gina]

Quite a lot of cloud tonight but it could clear.  If it doesn't I can always grab some Darks.

[Gina]

I've been weighing up two different methods of getting an imaging rig pointing at the right part of the sky.  Previously I have used the scientific method of astrometry to find where the rig is pointing and automatically slew to where the star pattern matches the area wanted.  This is all very well but it's very complicated and processing heavy.  The other method is to image a larger area of the sky and use the human eye/brain system to slew the mount to put the wanted part in the centre of the display, where it will be covered by the narrower view of the main imaging rig.  This latter method is what we do with a finderscope, of course.  I'm simply adding a camera for remote viewing.  Whether this even wider field imaging system would need a separate RPi I'm not sure,

[Gina]

Been outside and the sky looks rather like it did last night at around this time - some stars out but not as many as on a good night.  I'm just wondering if I can manage two late nights in a row.  I might be able to manage some Darks I guess...

Now let's see...  Which filter makes no difference - needs same exposure, same gain, and same temperature as the corresponding lights.  OTOH I could take Darks any night.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Gina