Frustrating astronomy ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

We've had some amazingly clear nights here in the last 2 weeks. I've not taken advantage of them because by the time SWMBO gets home from work, we cook dinner, eat, relax and chat.......

I'm ready for bed.

I'm turning 45 next Tuesday.........

Maybe old age is creeping up on me.

Lorna does like the night sky, so I'm thinking that we may do some Summer observing later in the year when we can sit outside on warmer nights and enjoy it more (I'm used to winter observing). I wouldn't drag her out this time of year.......hypothermia may finish her off.

Lol

Edited March 21, 2019 by LukeSkywatcher

[Fieldsy]

ive seriously had grrrrr

all connected and I cant see any stars though the qhy5 guide or the asi 178m the settings on these programs just to try and see anything is beyond a joke how I havnt smashed it all up  and thrown it over the fence I don't no .2 hours out side freezing cold and not even a star on screen first clear night in about 10 days . right im packing up need some warmth 

[Adam J]

That doesn't sound right what capture software are you trying to use? 

If you shine a torch down the tube can you see it on the camera? 

If you can see it but you are not seeing stars chances are that you are so far out of focus that the stars are simply blurred out. 

This hobby is not easy. Even with experience it can be a fight but it's worthwhile in the end. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, Fieldsy said:

ive seriously had grrrrr

all connected and I cant see any stars though the qhy5 guide or the asi 178m the settings on these programs just to try and see anything is beyond a joke how I havnt smashed it all up  and thrown it over the fence I don't no .2 hours out side freezing cold and not even a star on screen first clear night in about 10 days . right im packing up need some warmth 

Forgot to tag you see my comments above. 

Also can you post a picture of the camera as you have it mounted on the scope? 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

Ignore the garden in the process of new fences and turning all the soil over after trampolines and paddling pool destroyed it.and the washing on the line training night last night so just look at scope.so last night all hooked up on second restart all devices found and working but the display for qhy guide was like tuning in the TV screen all the settings just made it brighter or dimmer but still fuzzy TV look ( I know it's a colour cam) in settings it has white balance and rgb settings but still nothing.2second loop 1 second exposure gain 30 all the way to 97 just the brightness changed all the way up I was adjusting the focus from in to out ?. So today I shall be trying to focus on a house across the park ( not a bathroom window honest) let's see how I go.??

[Adam J]

 

1 hour ago, Fieldsy said:

Ignore the garden in the process of new fences and turning all the soil over after trampolines and paddling pool destroyed it.and the washing on the line training night last night so just look at scope.so last night all hooked up on second restart all devices found and working but the display for qhy guide was like tuning in the TV screen all the settings just made it brighter or dimmer but still fuzzy TV look ( I know it's a colour cam) in settings it has white balance and rgb settings but still nothing.2second loop 1 second exposure gain 30 all the way to 97 just the brightness changed all the way up I was adjusting the focus from in to out ?. So today I shall be trying to focus on a house across the park ( not a bathroom window honest) let's see how I go.??

The focal plane is about 11cm from the white collar or the focuser, I seem to remember that you need some extenders to reach it. Normally following the coma corrector you have 55mm of spacers to the sensor plane and that allows you to reach focus. You are spaced off slightly as you have the manual filter wheel but its possible that this alone is not sufficient to allow you to reach focus. 

Have you tested the camera inside to see that you are receiving images from it. Just running it with nothing attached and covering and uncovering the 1.25 inch nose with your hand should give you a white image then a dark image. 

What program are you using to control the camera / capture images. I really recommend using Astro Photography Tool. However you should be able to download PHD2 and attach the ASI camera and see stars in the guide window as a first test. 

Make sure its PHD2 and not PHD they are different programs and it is unlikely that PHD will have the drivers for modern cameras like your ASI. 

If once you have done all this you still cant see any stars then you are most likely not reaching focus. Move the focuser all the way out and take long exposures, 10 seconds or so with PHD, if out of focus you should see donut shapes that are out of focus stars. If by adjusting focus you cant bring them into focus then the problem is that you need a extender to move the focus outwards further. 

Adam 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

Hi Adam

I can now see the clock tower through the asi and 130pds , but nowt through the st80 and qhy if I cover scope I get black out so it is getting a image but the settings are somewhat problematic to me just spoke to bernard(modern astro) where qhy was purchased and he says st80 is a bit over kill and start with ezplanet software as it's for the qhy and then copy some settings over to other software once I got it working.he also said "I may struggle getting focus of the clocktowrr as it's a small chip " didn't really understand that but he said he could do it easy as that's hes job ( makes sense) he said I should start with long exposures and then shorten to find stars.filter wheel I put in as complete setup but not currently using as trying to keep it all simple to start with.

Ps no coma corrector in scope didn't think I would need one .

Si

Edited March 26, 2019 by Fieldsy

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, Fieldsy said:

Hi Adam

I can now see the clock tower through the asi and 130pds , but nowt through the st80 and qhy if I cover scope I get black out so it is getting a image but the settings are somewhat problematic to me just spoke to bernard(modern astro) where qhy was purchased and he says st80 is a bit over kill and start with ezplanet software as it's for the qhy and then copy some settings over to other software once I got it working.he also said "I may struggle getting focus of the clocktowrr as it's a small chip " didn't really understand that but he said he could do it easy as that's hes job ( makes sense) he said I should start with long exposures and then shorten to find stars.filter wheel I put in as complete setup but not currently using as trying to keep it all simple to start with.

Ps no coma corrector in scope didn't think I would need one .

Si

The focal position on the clock tower will be quite different from the focus position for a star field at as close to infinity as makes no difference. 

Sensor size has nothing to do with focus? Its possible he was talking about it being harder to locate targets with the narrower feild of view from the sensor, but to be honest that has nothing to do with just wanting to focus and see some stars as you should be able to point the scope in any direction and see stars so long as it not pointing at the floor  

I do agree that the ST80 is overkill a 50mm finder guider would have been a better choice as you could have used it more effectively to find targets with its shorter focal length. 

As he says, try some very long exposures with both cameras 10's of seconds and even if not in focus you should see the out of focus stars that will look like donuts. Once you see those adjust the focus until in the direction that makes them smaller, you may find that you dont have sufficient outward travel to allow them to be adjusted to pin point focus. If thats the case you will need an extender to help you move the sensor outwards from the scope.

With the ST80 you can gain some by moving the retention ring on the QHY forward on the camera. 

What are you using to collimate the 130PDS? 

Don't worry about the coma corrector for now, we just need to get the basics right. Like I say this hobby is a pain at the beginning but you will get it so don't give up. 

Adam  

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

So I have got focus on the tower using ezplanatory software ?.as soon as I go to phd2 the screen looks like a unturned TV so the issue must be settings or software and qhy compatibility.

Collimation by laser

Edited March 26, 2019 by Fieldsy

[Adam J]

10 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

So I have got focus on the tower using explanatory software ?.as soon as I go to phd2 the screen looks like a unturned TV so the issue must be settings or software and qhy compatibility.

Collimation by laser

PHD adjusts image stretch etc automatically according to exposure that it judges via star detection, so it might not be very suited to terrestrial imaging. I think that all in all you are best off downloading APT and using that. Make sure that you have the ASI and QHY ascom drivers installed and the ascom platform, as lots of software does not run cameras naively but via ascom. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

I hi Adam I have apt and that looks a little complex .I may have to watch a few tutorials before I run that .or I may just run it tonight and hope for the best it might work , well put it this way it couldn't get any worse atm lol

[Adam J]

10 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

I hi Adam I have apt and that looks a little complex .I may have to watch a few tutorials before I run that .or I may just run it tonight and hope for the best it might work , well put it this way it couldn't get any worse atm lol

Just get the stars in focus first. APT will require ascom drivers / platform for the ASI as far as I can tell. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

Ok well scope all set up rdy for tonight battery all charged thermals out and rdy let's see if apt can sort me out ??.

[Adam J]

7 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Ok well scope all set up rdy for tonight battery all charged thermals out and rdy let's see if apt can sort me out ??.

Get it working during the day first, so camera connected images coming in etc. You dont want to be working bugs out in the middle of the night. Most importantly get ASCOM platform too and ASI178 ASCOM drivers. 

https://ascom-standards.org/

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Adam J]

17 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Ok well scope all set up rdy for tonight battery all charged thermals out and rdy let's see if apt can sort me out ??.

ASI have downloads for ASCOM platform and their ASI camera driver for ASCOM

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers

[Fieldsy]

21 minutes ago, Adam J said:

ASI have downloads for ASCOM platform and their ASI camera driver for ASCOM

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers

Apt starts up and finds asi cam ??

 

[Adam J]

2 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Apt starts up and finds asi cam ??

 

Good so long as you have full control over gain and exposure via settings on the bottom right of the camera tab and not just the ability to use the preview. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

34 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Good so long as you have full control over gain and exposure via settings on the bottom right of the camera tab and not just the ability to use the preview. 

Alan I’m using the cam with red tick but not the Ascom one I think this may be the issue

[Adam J]

6 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Alan I’m using the cam with red tick but not the Ascom one I think this may be the issue

 

think you got the wrong thread. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J

[Fieldsy]

Just found new drivers for cam and update for phd2 .nothing like doing it all at once lol

[Fieldsy]

omg so phd2 can find a ascom   cam driver hooray but will not allow me to make darks ?

[Fieldsy]

Well I've swapped the qhy for the asi and it's looking good just keep loosing stars for polar align clouds but programs seem to be working atm grr just checked flo weather where did the clouds come from been clr all day

Edited March 26, 2019 by Fieldsy

[Adam J]

2 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Well I've swapped the qhy for the asi and it's looking good just keep loosing stars for polar align clouds but programs seem to be working atm

So your using the ASI in the ST80? Not sure thats a solution lol

[Fieldsy]

11 minutes ago, Adam J said:

So your using the ASI in the ST80? Not sure thats a solution lol

Def not but it does mean that a throw the qhy as far as I can over the back fence and get a another asi to use .??? I cant take it with me.

[Adam J]

4 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Def not but it does mean that a throw the qhy as far as I can over the back fence and get a another asi to use .??? I cant take it with me.

lol well. Don't do that quite yet, am sure that you will get it working yet. Its worth asking a question of QHY forums. Also I have heard of conflicts when people use multiple ASI cameras too (one program effecting the settings of the other camera) so the grass is not always greener on the other side. I use a QHY5L-II mono as my guide camera and a ASI1600mm pro as the imaging camera, I have not issues with PHD.

Try removing and re-installing PHD2.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Adam J