GT81 + QHY163M First Light

[Wyvernp]

Morning! I know there's no way I should be up this early after such a late night but I was excited to process my data.

So I've been prepping for the arrival of the QHY camera for a while so I had installed most of the requires ascom drivers on my pc and tested things like the mount and PHD2 guiding.

After an hour or so assembling, mounting filters etc I was so happy to have this!

First things first, I did my polar align using the EQ6-R Pro built in scope which works ok for the moment. Connected everything up to my pc, lots of pings and bleeps as all the hardware is detected.

Mount ✅

ASI120 Guide cam ✅

QHY163M imaging camera ✅

Filter wheel ✅

Focuser ❌

ok, so I couldn't get the focuser working this run. I'll troubleshoot that today. So I did a focus with the bahtinov mask.

Next I installed SGP and started setting everything up.

After an hour or so and with some invaluable help from pages on SGL combined with a few YouTube videos I has plate solving configured, the right pixel scale in the camera settings.. (I put in the pixel size at first which really messed with the plate solving)  and I was ready to image!

Turns out it was too hot yesterday to do my dark frames at -10 so I'll give those a run today as well as some flats and dark flats.

2 Hours on the heart nebula in Ha only, currently no calibration.

There's definitely some blur from the focus not being quite right, but hopefully I can have that working for tonight.

Very happy with progress so far though!

Wyvern

Edited May 20, 2020 by Wyvernp

[Wyvernp]

Interestingly it looks like USB incompatibility issues, usb 2 arduino plugged into a usb3 hub which then goes via active cable to the PC. Looks like I'll have to run a separate cable to a different port on the pc... shame as all the rest of the devices work through the hub.

[red dwalf]

looks great, i also had focuser problems last night, seems to be a usb cable loose or the usb socket on the focuser loose, always happens when you least expect it

[Wyvernp]

1 hour ago, red dwalf said:

looks great, i also had focuser problems last night, seems to be a usb cable loose or the usb socket on the focuser loose, always happens when you least expect it

Yeah, that's a pain! I have to wait for another cable to arrive now before I can do much more imaging. 

[Wyvernp]

I've just noticed there are some pretty nasty stars in the corners of that image. ok, another thing to troubleshoot today!

[Wyvernp]

Yep, ok. With the standard fittings the backfocus distance is incorrect.

74mm as apposed to 55mm

so at the moment I have:

flat6aiii -> m48-m54(31mm) -> qhycfw3-m-us (26mm) -> qhy163m (17mm)

and here is what I think I need

flat6aiii -> m48 spacer (10mm) -> m48-m54(2mm) -> qhycfw3-m-us (26mm) -> qhy163m (17mm)

Can anyone give some feedback as I may be a little confused.

[Wyvernp]

Quick update:

Focuser now working, had an additional 10m usb cable delivered today and when plugged into a usb2 port all works well.

Trying to get hold of an M54-M48 adaptor now...apparently not in stock in many places in the UK 

[Greg Shaw]

How are you getting on with this camera and filter wheel setup?

I am considering getting this set up. Have you managed to sort everything out?

[Wyvernp]

6 minutes ago, Greg Shaw said:

How are you getting on with this camera and filter wheel setup?

I am considering getting this set up. Have you managed to sort everything out?

Yes indeed.  It is now fully operational and works really well.

The the main issue with the stars was simply backfocus, the 31mm adapter tht comes with it is just too long for my scope so I had to buy some adapters and m48 spacers.

The second issue I found was that this camera does not like being connected to USB hubs or extension cables, or at least mine didn't.

[red dwalf]

what back focus distance did you settle on ?

[Wyvernp]

On 11/10/2020 at 11:46, red dwalf said:

what back focus distance did you settle on ?

63.5mm produces a nice flat field for me.