Using cloudy weather to get equipment issues sorted!

[tooth_dr]

Has anyone else been making the most of time off work to get equipment issues sorted? Or maybe I'm the only one with cloud the past week and a bit !

I've had a few issues that have been ongoing for sometime now, laziness more than anything else I suppose. There was nothing serious just a few things that once done would improve my astro imaging sessions.

I think the main issue was the computer central to controlling everything. It was a very reliable PII 300Mhz laptop with Window 2000. It worked great as a timer, and with PHD, but couldn't do much else, and with a 3.5GB hardrive I couldn't do much Lunar/Planetary imaging or the HDD got filled up very quickly. It also took 20 minutes to transfer 2GB to a memory card so I could process the data on another computer!

So i got my half decent PC and removed Vista, formatted, and loaded XP. It was nice to start with a clean slate, so I loaded only the astronomy programs I will need (I've promised not to clutter this one up with Rubbish but who knows!)

The next issue was a SC1.5 modded B&W webcam I use as my guide cam. I've never been able to use the LX function despite numerous attempts and having it for well over a year. I was guiding with 0.2s exposures which is ok for brighter stars, and the B&W chip helped. My current setup doesn't have guiderings for the guide scope so getting a guide star is a bit fiddly at times and does involve slewing the scope about a bit which does upset the imaging position. I tried the same thing as I've been trying all along but on the 'new' PC yesterday, loaded PHD....and....it worked 100% and first time. I'm chuffed about that, looking forward to getting out and autoguiding with this now.

Next on the agenda was updating the Synscan handset. I thought it had version 3.21, so was surprised not to find PC direct mode on it. When updating the software I soon discovered it was version 3.12. So now with version 3.23 I have PC mode as well as the SAO catalogue which I didn't seem to have on the older version(?)

Finally I've always been intrigued by Stellarium and the likes. I downloaded version 0.9.0 and was immediately impressed by it. It's definitely going to help with planning my imaging sessions, and I might even learn a bit from it too. I suppose the main reason for installing this was so that I could get the PC to control the mount directly with out needing the handset all the time. I intially couldn't get the EQ6 to talk to software, and after a search I found out I need the StellariumScope add-on. After installing that I was in business straight away and after a bit of fiddling I got the scope to move by clicking things and pressing Control + 1.

Suppose one of the stranger things was the parallel port issue. I couldn't get the DSLR shutter to fire with the parallel cable at all, but it would work with the serial one when Vista was on the PC. After installing XP the parallel cable worked totally as expected with no issues at all.

Anyone else got any issues ironed out? Also any advice on getting the most out of Stellarium would also be appreciated.

Thanks

Adam

[MartinB]

Sounds like you've had a productive time Adam. Can't comment on Stellarium, only that I've heard good reports about it. Ascom compliant so that is brill.

I've been collimating my 10" LX200 ACF and my 8" F4 GSO newt using a Picostar artificial star. Both were quite a bit out. Confirmed that my Baader laser collimator is spot on.

I've also changed computers and have been loading up the astro stuff. Have stuck with Vista, bit of a struggle finding Vista drivers for the serial to usb converters but succeeded in the end. Got the latest Ascom drivers and a specific Temma driver for my EM200. Loaded up the GSC catalogues so that I can use Maxim's Pinpoint LE which is very handy at 2500mm f/l when you can't get the target on the chip.

Think I'm all ready to go but somethings bound not the be right! I have the old computer standing by just in case.

[tooth_dr]

Hi Martin

And I thought I was doing well. That stuff you're doing seems like a whole different league!

I also had trouble with the serial USB adapters and Vista - I had drivers on a CD but they did not work. Not such issues with XP fortunately.

But as you say, it's all ready to go, whether not it's 'all right on the night' is an entirely different matter. I too still have the old laptop unmolested ready to be called back into action!

Adam

[MartinB]

Not in a different league at all Adam. You will love being able to control the scope from the laptop, a real time saver. I just go to a bright star near my target. Sync then onto the target. Easy peasy - so long as you remember to press "sync"!!

[tooth_dr]

Excellent - I'm looking forward to it. If it saves faffling about with the hand controller then :hello1:

[tooth_dr]

I found DSLR focus I bought Jluy 2007 - it wouldn't work with my 400d so I just forgot about it. Having revisited it again, and now that I have a 300d, I gave it a shot, and it works too :wave:

I set it all up last night, clouds seemed to be thinning with a few tiny patches of black between the orange clouds. Never happened, packed it all away after three hours waiting. Still there is always tonight :hello1:

Adam

[Paxo]

Strangely, I've been doing exactly what Martin has been doing and downloaded the GSC catalogues and installed into Maxim. Started work on the obsy to house my 12" LX200R (hence the need for the plate solving in Maxim).

Steve..

[jarbi]

Hi Adam,

You sorted out a nulber of things there as I see, and you will have a lots of benefit having everything working nicely ! The LX mod is a real bonus: my Toucam 840 was also not working for a long time, than I took a half day to investigate on it and now I use it by every photo session. It is so much easier to guide in LX mode !

Just some words about Stellarium: my next try will be to see how is it working with telescope control. It needs a separate program to this, I am curious how does it work.

I had some days off this week, and sorted out some backlash and rattling issues on my EQ6, fixed a mirror flop on the 10" Skywatcher reflector, and got more deep knowlegde how to use my Cat's eye autocollimator.

cheers,

Janos