1st light imminent.

[Mac]

Well its been over a year since i stripped down the EQ6,
I managed to get it up and running, and then after replacing the laptop, everything else.

I was out two weeks ago, getting the mount polar aligned using pol align max.
I found somewhere burred in the net, that to get the software to work correctly,
you need to only correct in one axis at a time,
i.e. only change the RA and then once you have done all the RA adjustments start over on the Dec.

Well i did that and im pretty happy with the results,
I was out tonight having a play and i was getting 60s subs unguided,

So i set up PHD2 and ive let that running,
Having a play at M31 first as its an easy target. Took a few of the moon and a couple of saturn ( just a tad on the small side)
Will post tomorrow after i wake up.

Mac.

[MarkS]

That's good news.

Will be great to see you imaging again!

[Mac]

Good news  and Bad news. 

First the good news.
Imaging last night, sucess, finished about 3am, and just spent the night hopping from pillar to post, grabbing a few things.

I'll let you guess what it is.



10 frames of Ha  each 0.3s, stacked in regi stax.
SVX H9
William optics.



Double cluster in perseus
12 images of L @ 60s stacked in Registax
Guided with lode star on chris's old scope.
No due heaters as they melted the plugs.

Now the bad news.

Look at the Image of the moon,
at the bottom, I have some artefacts, these are present in everything.
Lights, Darks, Flats, Bias,

You can just see them in the double cluster,
3/4 along the bottom, 1/3 up

Havent worked out what they are, if its a reading problem, a noisy data transfer (suspect not as they are the same in every image, and if it was a noisy transfer it would be random in each image).
or chip on its way out.

I though it was at first due to the very short image time.
But even the 60 second image shows the pattern.

Tried the usual, reinstalled drivers, reseated plugs, tried short and long exposures.
optics are clean, and the pattern appears on all filters.

Mac.

[mickw]

They look like circles/doughnuts - dust on chip ?

[Mac]

Nope, as i said optics are clean, they even appear on the darks.

Mac.

[mickw]

Bugger - does look like chip issues.

Do you have another ccd/camera that could use the same capture software ?

[Fay]

Oh dear Mac, hope you suss it out!

[RobertM]

Great to see you imaging again Mac.  You've been through a lot so it's good to see things finally working out.

That pattern on the chip looks really weird but I would hazard a guess that it's something in the electronics of the camera rather than the CCD itself.  If you ping Terry then I'm sure he'll pinpoint the problem really quickly.  The SXV cameras are getting a bit old so electronics looks to be the best bet (and hope) to me.

Nice images, at least the rest of the setup looks like it's performing

Robert

[JohnP]

Yep well done Mac - Nice images & stars looks nice & round.. John

[MarkS]

Good couple of shots!

Shame about the weird arifacts.  As Robert says, it looks like an issue with the camera itself.

Mark

[Mike]

Did you get to the bottom of this Mac?

[Mac]

at the moment, nope, in fact since that last outing, i haven't been back to the observatory, having sorted out my head and feet,
I wonder if i can part ex my body for a fitter version, i think this one is beyond repair.

At some point over the next few weeks, im going to try and strip the H9 down, just in case its under the front glass or on the chip,
although looking with a loupe, i cant see anything, if i still cant sort it out, i might just use it as a guide camera,
and start to use the D3 untill i can save up some money for a new camera.

Thinking about it, I have not used the D3 for any astro work. Might look at that for the time being.
I might try first of all though, sticking it in a sealed bag with some desiccants as its been stuck in the obs all year, might have a moisture prob.

Mac.