AstronomyUkraine Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Padraic M said: Interesting! Thanks for that. Next clear night.... No problem. My current setup. I have a Pegasus Astro PPB powering my camera, mount, focuser, and my USB hub, which coincidentally is a 7 port Startech. The Startech connects my EQmod, my focuser, guide camera and PBB. The only cables running to my laptop are the USB for the 1600, and the Startech USB hub. Edited March 6, 2021 by AstronomyUkraine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallingskies Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Set up and running, hoping to grab some green and blue frames to finish off my Sh2-273 image. Got the Ha last full moon and cloud-dodging got me the red subs last night before it got too persistent for 600s exposures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallingskies Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Cloud-dodging again. A bit frustrating... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallingskies Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 I seem to be getting away with it, just two smeared subs despite the odd bits of cloud scooting over. Got 6 x 600s green subs in the bag, now switching to blue before my luck runs out. Last two nights have been a real bonus, considering CO said pretty much nothing doing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallingskies Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 -0.5 degrees on the rig. Hooray for wireless connections. Clouds have stayed away from my target, got the subs I wanted, will leave cycling r to g to b for another hour or so for some bonus subs until the houses (or clouds) get in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hallingskies Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Target has finally gone under the adjacent rooftops just as the clouds were making a nuisance of themselves, so time to drag the kit in. Subs look a mess, a blizzard of stars and gradients, will be fun trying to clean them up and see if there is much hiding in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Been out a couple of hours capturing OIII data on IC 405. I had to wait until the moon was no longer high enough to cause problems for my OIII filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilesco Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 (edited) Completed some M33, was losing guiding, so changed to different part of sky, found NGC1977, absolutely fabulous couple of exposures, then moved on to a couple of IC1848, still not photo happy, moving onto NGC7822, think these might look good, and will last the night on the camera. Edited March 8, 2021 by gilesco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkulin Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 I went shopping like I normally do in the evening to avoid the idiots and was surprised when I got back at 21:30 that the stars were twinkling. 5 mins later and the dome is operational and I am grabbing more for NGC2175, I have got all the Ha and OIII, looks like I may not get all the SII, but never one to look a gift-horse in the mouth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilesco Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I'm thinking it might be worth just window shopping exposures through the months rather than just concentrating on one target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilesco Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) NGC7822 is showing a combination of both Nebulosity and a nice star cluster (whether or not it is astronomicaly linked or not), with some prominent stars as well, this could turn out to be a nice circumpolar target for the meanwhile... Edited March 9, 2021 by gilesco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilesco Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Going to have to call it a night. Defo coming back to NGC7822, the Ha subs look great (3 of), but really need at least 20 of each filter to make this a nice photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Got a late start tonight, just after midnight the skies cleared. Capturing RGB data on M106. Will leave the Ha for when the moon is out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPK_Astro Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Astrophotography - is that a hobby that some people get to do sometimes? Yet another lunation where the the only clear nights are around full Moon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Just started to capture Ha on M106. Will switch to Lum around midnight when the scope gets higher, weather permitting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Glad somebody is out imaging tonight. We have some heavy wind and rain coming here which I believe is affecting most of the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 24 minutes ago, TerryMcK said: Glad somebody is out imaging tonight. We have some heavy wind and rain coming here which I believe is affecting most of the UK. According to my weather apps it is supposed to be cloudy tonight, the sky is pitch black, and not a cloud in sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Managed my first Welsh session 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyvern Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Looks like I should get a few hours of clear skies, will set up tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 I set up as the sun was setting, the sky was clear and blue. Then I looked at the satellite on Wundermap, the wind changed direction from South, to due West, bringing with it a huge cloud. The cloud is about an hour away, so no sooner had I set up, than I had to tear it down again. Maybe next time I will check the satellite images first. 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrobdlbug Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 So far looking good - had a huge downpour/hail storm about 5pm, but by 8pm crystal clear and nearly completed first hour of Ha - back on IC410 Tadpoles - so hopefully get at least another couple of hours to get data on Oiii and Sii channels. Guiding is ok - around 0.8-1.0 RMS - which gives me decently round stars , should really try and get this more consistantly down in the 0.7 range, but that always seems elusive with my set up for some reason, bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 57 minutes ago, Astrobdlbug said: Guiding is ok - around 0.8-1.0 RMS - which gives me decently round stars , should really try and get this more consistantly down in the 0.7 range I don’t stress too much about graphs. As long as the stars are round then guiding is working ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrobdlbug Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) thanks Terry , the history of my mount , AZ EQ6GT, is such that guiding was originally like the Himalaya until I took it down to Dave at DarkFrameOptics about 6 years ago - it made a huge difference but I have never really got it to guide at the 'flat line' he claimed his 'hypertune' would acheive - but thats perhaps more a critique of my ability to fine tune PHD2 attributes than the workmanship he delivers from his workshop. He did take a absolutely awful mount and allowed me to progress with my imaging to a reasonable standard without spending huge sums. Just as I type this I'm seeing 0.75RMS being reported out of PHD2 - so th emount is probably evesdropping on this conversation and trying to behave 🙂 Edited March 11, 2021 by Astrobdlbug 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 8 hours ago, Astrobdlbug said: probably evesdropping I think they do listen too. Have you tried multistar in PHD2? I’ve been using that recently and although it does nothing to improve the graph results it seems to work well when seeing isn’t too good. I was almost hitting a tree top with the main scope, the guide scope was in the tree twigs but guiding still was good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 5 hours ago, TerryMcK said: I think they do listen too. Have you tried multistar in PHD2? I’ve been using that recently and although it does nothing to improve the graph results it seems to work well when seeing isn’t too good. I was almost hitting a tree top with the main scope, the guide scope was in the tree twigs but guiding still was good. I have noticed since switching to multi-star guiding, the RMS is not updating as frequently as it does with single star guiding. If I hit a bit of bad seeing with the multi-star guiding, the RMS corresponds to the peaks on the graph, and increases, but when the graph flattens out again, the RMS stays the same. When single star guiding, the RMS responds near instantaneously to the movement on the graph. Not sure if it is a bug in PHD, or just how multi-star guiding is supposed to behave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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