M42 & M35.

[Mac]

Ta Da.

After a long absence...
I have returned.



I managed to get out last night, and after a quick shake down of the equipment, it appears that only the filter wheel has stopped working 
So i only managed to do some black and white.

And here are the results.

M35.
20 Photos 90's Unguided
Stacked in Maxim
Pre processed in Fits Liberator
Processed in Photoshop.



https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5590/31380952556_3ba8d784fd_o.jpg  Large


M42.
20 Photos 90's Unguided
Stacked in Maxim
Pre processed in Fits Liberator
Processed in Photoshop.



Large.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5652/30609818653_253f967c24_o.jpg


No flats, Darks or Biases. Forgot 

But im pleased as punch.
Mac.

[Carole]

Must be a great feeling. Welcome back Mac

[The Thing]

Great to see you're back out in the cold! Nice pics, hope the filter wheel can be jumpstarted.

[Mac]

Great to see you're back out in the cold! Nice pics, hope the filter wheel can be jumpstarted.

I think its just the IR diodes as it powers up, but just spins and cant find home, i'll have to take alook during the day.

Mac.

[MarkS]

Well done Mac.  Good to see you imaging again!

Mark

[JohnP]

Nice Mac. Well done. Like you say probably crud aka spider webs over the sensors... ;=) Nice to see you making use of those nice dark skies you have...

[Kenny]

Well done Mac. Lovely images.

[Fay]

Hooray, glad you are back Mac!!!! Great re-start

Fay

[Carole]

Looks much better on an actual computer, rather than a Smartphone.  What's the reason for not guiding Mac? 
No calibration because you forgot, ha ha, well it is a long time since you did any imaging and we've all forgotten things when getting back in the saddle.

Carole

[Mac]

I didng guide because I could get PHD or PHD 2 to actually move the mount, its all connected via ascom,
as for the flats darks and biases, because the filter wheel wasnt working, and the observatory has become a dumping ground for bikes at the moment,
it was just a bit of a palava to try and get a white light source set up and stick the cover on for the darks and biases,

I just wanted to get the rig up and running again.

As for the guiding, I never did have too much luck guiding via ascom I could not get the scope to move enough to detect the movement of the star,
anyone out there got any settings I can use as a starting figure.

I always managed to get it guiding when using guide relays and a cable.

Mac.

[The Thing]

Hi Mac - much of this may be a preaching to a believer...

Go to OpenPHDGuiding.org and make sure you have v2.6.2 installed. I live dangerously and use beta versions. Then make sure you have Ascom 6.2ish and EQMOD 2.00h from the Yahoo Group - the Sourceforge site is always a few versions behind
Make sure the guide rate is set to 0.5 in EQMOD.

Are you using the handset PC Direct or an EQDIR module? I use a "Cable USB TTL 5V connecteur (chipset FTDI - compatible Arduino)" from Ebay or Amazon for my EQ6. Just had to get a new one due to lightning strike so French Amazon this time ;{

Set up a new equipment profile in PHD2 (camera, mount and a few other bits). The profile will load with defaults, you should be able to get calibrated if the mount moves. Then run the Guiding Assistant and it will set everything up for you after testing your rig. Simples! There is loads of documentation on OpenPHD org and associated Google group.

If your mount doesn't move try the manual buttons in PHD2 and listen for the motors - you won't see movement at guide rates. There is a section in the documentation on this.

Hope that helps.

Duncan

[Carole]

You are far more technical than me Mac, so if you follow Duncan's advice I am sure you will be able to sort the guiding.  I guide separately from EQMOd - I like to keep things simple (for me anyway), so can't help with your situation.

I find the more complex things get, if they go wrong then I am completely stumped on how to fix them, so handset, separate guiding and separate capture is the way I do things.  I know there are wonderful softwares out there like SGPro which will control everything, but I could not even get that to connect to my guide camera even with remote help from an IT expert who does astro-imaging, so I gave up.

Of course it does limit my options, like I can't plate solve, and I can't dither, I can't choose my sync stars when doing an alignment, but I get by.

Carole

[Mac]

Cheers Duncan,

I'll have a play with that later,
I normally use the Ascom Handset on screen to move it as the buttons on the Controller are all Rubbish, and Starry night to directly goto stuff.

Normally when I used different software you can hear the change in motor feeds at the guiding rate, so you know its working,
but I've never managed to get that to work in PHD,

Just need a clear day to try it, I'll probaby guide the scope on venus as that visible for much of the day anyway, saves wasting a night 

Mac.

[The Thing]

You can guide on a fixed 'star' with the tracking turned off as tracking at sidereal rate makes a star stationary in the FoV. If you have an artificial star you could use that for testing. Venus or another planet can do the trick as well.