MarkS

Thanks for the comment, Michael. Much appreciated. Mark

Hi Michael, I think what you are referring to is the "confirm each exposure" check box, which you will find in the Autopoint screen in the "Basic Pointingfile Settings" area. Cheers, Mark

The southern galaxy NGC6744 lies about 30Mly away in Pavo. It is thought to be quite similar to our Milky Way, but is around twice the diameter at 200kly. It also has an associated dwarf not unlike the Magellanic Clouds. This LRGB image was shot over 3 nights using a custom Officina RiDK 300, Moravian G4-9000, and DDM85A. Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.

Hi Andrzej I like this one! Great detail and colour intensity. Mark

Why do you want to run AF with these filters? I have never tried to do this, but your problem is perhaps that there is not enough signal in SII and OIII bands of many stars. The usual procedure if your filters are not parfocal is to set focus very accurately (AF or manual) on L or R as a reference and then determine the focus offsets for the other filters. This can be done with careful AF or manual focusing on a suitable star field. There is provision in Sequence to record the offsets, which are then applied automatically to to the focus setting for each subframe. Hope this helps. Mark

'3560 image stars and 2860 plate stars' look way too many. Try limiting the magnitude ranges for plate solving to reduce these numbers. Refer to Sequence 200 Manual: 2.Settings Plate Solve. Mark

I hesitate to ask the obvious question, but here goes anyway: Was the the sky clear? Deneb is pretty bright, but if there is high cloud you may not get enough stars for synch. What does the Sequence panel say about the Synch failure? How many stars were found and how many catalog stars were there? Mark

Robert, Impossible to tell. But the easiest thing to do is try another cable or two before anything else! Mark

USB 3 cables are not better than USB 2 cables in a USB 2 system - which the DDM 85 is. You are better off with the highest quality USB 2 cables you can find. USB 3 cables have separate wires for USB 3 and USB 2 connections. Mark

Colin, Your experience with the OSC camera is potentially very useful to others. I hope you are going to report back when you've completed a real life run! Mark

Dave, Your Exposure file and .trg are line for line identical to any of mine, with one exception which I think is immaterial, viz: I do not bother to name my trg files except when saving them, so the name fields are null. I cannot see that making any difference whatever. I guess the conclusion I would draw from this is that there may be something buried deep in the Sequence.ini file (to be found in Program Data). If you can post it, I'm happy to do a line for line check..... Mark

Dave, Have you ticked the ' Dont use Readout Modes ' box? If not, do it and see what happens..... Mark

Dave, Why do you have MaximDL doing the image saving? It may be irrelevant, but that IS a difference from what works for me. I have Sequence doing the saving - how to is in the Sequence 200 documentation. That way MaximDL is out of proceedings,except for its exposure and filter wheel drivers. Just a thought! Mark

Dave, Before you trash everything bear in mind that there are quite a number of people running this software without trouble. You might try the following: 1. complete removal of Autoslew, Sequence, and ALL associated program data (you may have to 'unhide' hidden files) 2. Prevent automatic driver updates in Windows: consult the internet on this 3. re-install AS and Seq, ensuring that the FTDI driver is as supplied by ASA; set them up using the latest recommendations 4. Ensure all necessary Windows permissions allow cross-access of software 5. set up MaximDL and the camera for filter control and image acquistion only When starting up the system, this is the procedure I use: 1. Turn on the mount 2. Start the computer, allow it to settle and open Autoslew 3. Open focuser software if it is not being controlled by AS 3. Start TheSkyX and connect it with Autoslew 4. Turn on camera - wait for it to settle 5.Turn on MaximDL and connect camera 6.Turn on Sequence; press Connect - You should see all the system icons show that connection has occurred. If all is well, the system should behave properly; Synch, Autopoint,PA, AF, MLPT, SequenceRun..... Others using Windows10 (I don't - I use Windows7) may have more/better suggestions; in any event don't give up yet! Mark

Dave, I'm not a good enough programmer to be able to comment or shed a shining light on your problems with Sequence! However, I have used it in its various upgrades for 6 years with little or no trouble. I use AF, Autopoint, MLPT, in Sequence Run every time I do any imaging - in conjunction with Autoslew, TheSkyX, MaximDL, FLIfocus. Not much help I suppose, but could it be a problem with the system/settings rather than Sequence alone? As an example, when I first started using the FLI Atlas focuser, the inordinate time it takes to move across its range caused an 'unhandled exception error' which was fixed by allowing greater time in Sequence for the focuser to settle. (Not obvious from any documentation, so It took me a while to figure it out) Hope you get to the bottom of this. Mark

Maybe this will wake it up???? Mark

In view of the new directions being taken by ASA, perhaps we could run this experience base within the ASA forum. I can't see any reason why not - but maybe others can. We can always ask ASA if they have any objection. Reactions? Mark

Theoretically, you don't want any air turbulence in the OTA, so there's a trade-off. I don't really know where the trade-off is on any particular night, so I just try to keep the fan speed down. Mark

Thanks for the comment. Mark

Hi Michael, Predicting dew formation is a complex subject, but here is some relevant experience: I use a hood on my ASA10, more for stray light exclusion than dew protection, but it does help a little. The fan is a help, and I control the speed, depending on the conditions. It is best not to use it if possible. I regularly encounter very high humidity - often 80% and above. I have successfully imaged when humidity is >90%. My record, at the end of a run I really wanted to complete, was 99%. The alarm on the humidity sensor was flashing and all the outer surfaces of the gear were very wet, but not the mirrors! I don't make a habit of this, but I would expect that you'd be OK up to 90% RH. Just keep everything cold and run the fan for some time after you finish. Mark

This rarely imaged galaxy in Hydra about 22Mly distant has several unusual features. According to ESO, it is bulgeless yet contains a massive black hole. It is an active star former. It is thought that there are also two smaller black holes in its central region. The core is quite bright but the outer arms are fairly faint, and really need more exposure than they have received here. The image was shot with an Officina Stellare 300mm f/8 telescope, Moravian G4-9000 camera, Astrodon LRGB filters, DDM85 mount unguided. 3hrs L bx1; 50min each RGB bx2. FOV approx 35' x 30'. Mark

I found this on the web: https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-automatically-update.html As I don't (yet!) use Win10, I haven't tested any of the four methods listed to stop updates, but the second looked promising. Worth a try if you haven't already done so. Best of luck - and any feedback may help everyone! Mark

That is weird! Does the error increase in the same direction as the initial error, or is it an 'over-correction'? Does the mount go in the right direction when you slew to a star? (It should, regardless of PA errors) It may be worthwhile to remove your ini files for Sequence and Autoslew to a stick, then do a complete initialisation of both programs from scratch..... Perhaps someone else has a better idea Mark

Hi Lukas, I'm not sure I understand what is happening here, so I'll just outline my approach when first setting up my mounts: I used the GPS to tell Autoslew the mount location, and set Sequence to get coordinates from Autoslew. As the mount comes set for the Northern Hemisphere, I got a message from Autoslew saying that it has detected it is in the Southern Hemisphere and asks if you wish to change the RA motor direction. After confirming, the system does what it should: PA and Autopoint work correctly. I assume your DDM60 has relative encoders. The initial set-up must be done with the counterweight pointing west - but I'm sure you know that! Hope this helps. Mark

Hi Nigel, Have a look at the article on RBI in the articles section of the Moravian Camera website. It may help understanding of the phenomenon. There is a reference there to an article by Richard Crisp, who seems to have studied the issue in some depth. I would expect the post flash effect to increase with increasing dark exposure time because the RBI has longer to shed electrons into the system - it behaves like an excess dark current. Otherwise, I can't comment, but I am having to learn how to deal with RBI on my G4-9000, which exhibits strong RBI effects - quite a bit worse than the 16803 because of the 12micron pixels.... Mark