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JohnH
23-07-2006, 11:17 AM
Just testing - 10*10s combined....mono
asimov
23-07-2006, 11:29 AM
It came up nice John. Looking forward to seeing more.
EzyStyles
23-07-2006, 12:41 PM
beautiful john. thats a great first image with orion starshoot.
JohnH
23-07-2006, 07:43 PM
Me too but the clouds are back (well in Sydney they are) and the forecast is no good for the rest of the week either.:mad2: :mad2: :mad2:
JohnH
23-07-2006, 10:11 PM
Nothing like good but I grabbed this last night also - just playing with the supplied Maxim sware tonight due to clouds. This was 3*40s unguided through the WO66...

Can anyone explain my odd colour artifacts - is this dust and the result of tracking errors while stacking?
Doug
23-07-2006, 11:34 PM
John, I still think it is a hot pixel/dark frame subtract issue. Did you debayer before combining? Dust should leave a black shadow. A hot pixel, well by the time a debayer routine has run on the area, not certain of the results, but nonetheless it looks like a hot pixel issue.
Cheers,
Doug
EzyStyles
24-07-2006, 01:00 AM
thats a great M8 there John. Are darks subtracted in that pic? doesnt look like tracking errors nor dust. stack abit more pics and see how it turns out with darks subtracted.
JohnH
24-07-2006, 06:44 AM
Thanks guys - of course it is hot pixels, they are not in the same spot each frame because I was not guiding so they are now hot streaks! Nope didn't do darks, l was only testing (my excuse) the gear out for a few mins before dinner...what I really wanted this for was as a guidecam. Also the UV/IR filter was in - probably not right for shooting the neb either.....

Happy with this so far, if the clouds ever go I'll put it in the 8" and see what it can do for real....
Dennis
24-07-2006, 07:36 AM
Hi John

Do you use the TEC on the Star Shoot? I found it makes a significant difference when the chip is cooled.

Cheers

Dennis
ving
24-07-2006, 09:16 AM
hey nice start! :)
JohnH
24-07-2006, 10:06 AM
No I did not use TEC for those shots, I connected it later on in the night though just to see if it works and had a run at the eagle nebula - but my objective was fogged up with dew by then and I was more interested in seeing if I could guide with this cam.

BTW do you run TEC for guiding also, IR/UV cut in or out? And which s'ware do you use - the Maxim package or something else (eg PHD?). I want to drive the Sphinx mount via ASCOM (Ethernet) and image with a Canon 20D connected to USB and parallel ports....is that anything like your setup?

Thanks for the input guys!
Dennis
24-07-2006, 10:58 AM
Hi John

Using the TEC is recommended for auto guiding, as it gives cleaner stars and removes potential auto guiding problems caused by noise and hot pixels.

Like you, I purchased the Orion SS for auto guiding but I have only had one brief attempt at this (a couple of weeks ago) using MaximDL Essentials and it failed to move the guide star.

I had the Orion SS connected to a USB2 port, with my mount connected via the 9 pin RS232 Serial connector on my Notebook computer. The ASCOM platform launched but the mount did not respond to the calibration commands from Maxim DL Essentials. As it was late, I didn't bother chasing the problem down so I will try again when I have recovered from Astrofest.

Cheers

Dennis