EQMOD - no questions at all!

[darrellx]

Hi All

I have had a good success tonight and I just wanted to shout to the world. So no, I don't have any questions about EQMOD.

About 2 months ago, my trusty QHY5 developed problems, and I decided it should be retired. I replaced it with an ASI120 as my guide camera. But then I had no end of issues.

I had a problem with PHD so upgraded to PHD2; But I still couldn't get the guiding right; One of the direction keys on my Hand Controller got sticky and only worked one in five presses; A USB cable seemed to cause problems and was replaced.

I then decided that I should bite the bullet and go down the EQMOD path. I have delayed this for years.

My equipment list -
EQ6 Pro
WO Megrez 90
ASI 120
ASI 1600
Atik 314L+

My software now consists of -
PHD2
Cartes du Ciel
Sequence Generator
EQMOD (and Pulse Guiding through EQMOD)

Tonight was my first chance to actually try all this, and it has work UNBELIEVABLY WELL. (I would swear, but I don't want to upset the Mods!)

For anyone out there who has thought about this but has been put off by thoughts of the complexity, jump in. I followed the instructions to load and setup all the software and it has worked a dream. I cannot believe how easy it now makes EVERYTHING. No more damn three star alignments. One of my biggest concerns was how to actually slew the scope to get accurate alignment. Well, not much slewing was needed, and I started by "sync'ing" on Antares. From there, I was bang on target everywhere I wanted to look.

The other thing that I REALLY love is having the sky chart there and just clicking on an object then slewing straight to it. WOW!

Ya-bloody-hoo!

So a BIG Thank You to everyone who has every written an article on this topic; to everyone who has ever posted a question; and to everyone who has ever reply to the questions. I think I have read them all in preparation for this night.

BTW, I posted here, in Software and Computers because I have considered this an EQMOD topic. Soooo easy.

Darrell

[RobF]

Well done Darrell. Definitely a fantastic piece of software we're very lucky to have for free.

You'll have to get plate solving sorted next ;) :)

[Boozlefoot]

Darrell, I have been pondering how to drive my early 1960's GEM with 12" Newt for some time now. Ended up settling on belt drive via steppers and using a CNC lathe controller, which will be interfaced with EQMOD. The more I looked into it the easier it seemed. I am relieved to find someone has also taken "the leap" recently and am jumping in! :)

Thanks, Rod

[Camelopardalis]

+many :thumbsup: yeah EQMOD is great once you cross that technological membrane. Makes DSO imaging so much easier IMO.

[peter_4059]

Darrell, as Rob mentioned, the next breakthrough step is to get plate solving working. As you are already using Sequence Generator, this is not difficult. Platesolve2 is already included - you just need to download the APM and/or UCAC3PS database files.

With plate solving you don't need any alignment stars and you can automatically position your FOV within pixels to the same place night after night. In addition to Platesolve2, SGP also works with Astrometry.net blind solving. You can set up an offline version of this to use where you don't have internet connectivity (eg Astrofest). Here's the link to the installer:

http://adgsoftware.com/ansvr/


Peter

[darrellx]

Peter/Rob

Okay, I am underway for the Platesolving. I have downloaded and installed both Platesolver2 and Astronomy.net platesolver (ANSVR).

It will probably be the weekend before I get a chance to try this, but I am already.


Thanks
darrell

[peter_4059]

Darrell,

I should have mentioned you can test the plate solving is working in SGP by opening an old image from file\open\image.

Then when the image is visible on the screen, right mouse click and you should see an option to plate solve image. Click on this and choose blind solve.

If it works you'll get a dialogue box pop up and tell you the RA and DEc as well as the image angle and image scale.

For the non-blind solving you need to tell Platesolve2 the image scale. This is done in the SGP control panel under plate solving.

Once this is dialed in you should be able to right click on the image and choose plate solving using Platesolve2. If it works you'll get a similar dialogue box pop up when it's done.

Good luck.

Peter

[darrellx]

Peter

Great. I tried it, and works fine. I did the Blind Solve and it was quite quick. It returned the RA and Dec values as well as the Scale and Angle.

It is only the Angle that has me stumped. A bit of searching suggests the Angle might reference a value for the Camera Rotation. Is that right?

Thanks
Darrell

[peter_4059]

Yes the angle is camera rotation.