Відео

Thank you.

Thanks Logan. Probation is over soon I hope. Just the moon being full at present isn't going to help me. I have been away in Newcastle for the last five days for my daughters Uni graduation. Hopefully may get some clear skies tonight to at least gauge my guiding. Take care and clear skies! Don

Thank you. I am hoping that I too don't have to update my mount. It currently all fits nicely into my flight case.😅 Clear skies Don

Thank you Doug. Yes still struggling with the weather at the moment. Fingers crossed the mount has the payload capacity for the rig. This will be my biggest challenge with first light. Take care and clear skies! Don

@ best of luck!! We’ve got rain, ice, and snow. Hopefully will just decide to get cold because the clear winter nights are very good seeing here! Cheers! Doug

Thanks' Stewart. Take care.

@@dumpydalekobservatory Hi Tich, Fingers crossed, I will get some better weather next new moon. I'm just hoping that my mount can deal with the new load. Hope your blood pressure is returning to normal. Good luck 🤞 Take care

Well went back to hospital Wednesday only to have the operation cancelled so now got to wait until the 6th

Thanks for your reply. I have made adjustments to the rig since I put the video up. The weight of the rig in the video was 5.5kg. I have since replaced the larger dovetail bar with the original. I have demounted my computer from the old mounting system and mounted it straight onto the telescope mounting bracket. The whole rig now weighs 4.7 kgs. This is with the QHY 294C colour camera which ways 650g. I will be putting a new video up with the changes when I get first light???? CS Don

That's encouraging. I'm looking forward to first light on this little rig. Thanks for commenting! CS Don

But I was going to make a video on Uranus Tich... Lol😂 drum roll. CS Don

🤣

Yes you do! And thanks for commenting. I have now set this up to get focus and I have added the 70mm? extension from the end of my filter draw to find focus on some trees in the distance, no first light as yet. The focus point now comes in around 30mm on the focus scale. The extension comes with the telescope. You will have to unscrew the 2 inch compression ring and add the extension in, CS Don

Thanks' Doug. Your trip looks great. I am about a third of the way into your video so far. I'm looking forward to traveling north with this rig one day. I have just come back from a holiday in Honolulu but I didn't travel with any gear this time. CS Take care Don

@ You bet and thanks so much for stopping by over on my channel! Honolulu sounds wonderful! I’d love to see more of your area, my wife and I are talking about a trip to Sydney for the eclipse in 2028 (I think that’s right). Small travel rigs are a necessity if you’re having to fly. Now you’re set!! Cheers! Doug

Yes you are correct. There is an extension which comes with the telescope. The 2 inch compression ring comes off and you can screw the extension in place. CS Don

Hi Stewart. Yes I agree with you in regards to compression rings. Luckily it comes with an adapter that screws in place of the 2 inch compression ring once removed. I found this out when trying to get focus for the first time on some trees. Still yet to do first light on this. CS Don

The hyperstar is king... Or maybe the RASA? I have a hyperstar for my edge in the obs. I love it! CS Don

Thanks Logan. Skies are not looking great here for the next few days. I'm looking forward to getting one good night for this new moon period. Nice to hear from you CS and take care

That's good to hear. I was tossing up between the two. Fingers crossed 🤞 from all my research, I won't be let down. Cs Don

I also have the 300, very happy with quality. Haven’t taken flats since I bought it

Hi Paul, Sorry for the late reply. I have been busy with life and I had to re-watch the video as it was two years since I made this one. You are correct. I'm not sure where I messed my figures up. Should have been 7680 x 4320. Interestingly enough I resized this image just prior to responding and it worked as well. Turns out that it doesn't really matter about the width as long as the compass points correspond to the image. Thank you for pointing this out. Hope you enjoyed the video anyhow. Cheers Don

www.bintel.com.au/product/bintel-dovetail-mount-vixen-style/ Found it Dave! CS Don

Luis, thankyou very much! Fingers crossed all will be good from here. CS Don

Hi Scott, That's interesting? I never new that. It makes sense. I am surprised it lasted this long with the amount of times I have cable snags in the past. LOL! CS Don

Thanks' Stewart. Lucked in with this one.

I had rehearsed that scene about ten times before I actually caught it Doug. LOL! No just joking, it was legitimate. I'll tell my brother you said Hi. Take care and clear skies.

@@donstronomy7606 😂

Thanks' Tich. It's not the first time Shayne has made an appearance in my vid's. I think it's time to let him step up and start taking a cameo role. LOL. Unfortunately he's a big show show pony! He will just take over my channel LOL! Glad to hear that about Pegasus. It gives me faith for future purchases. They have some great products. To be honest that Pocket Powerbox has taken some abuse with snags etc, over the years. I am surprised it hadn't happened earlier. Take care, CS Don

Thanks' Stephen. The money saving is definitely a big incentive for me. It's one thing I've never really had a lot of. LOL! CS Don

Thank you for the kind words. The name of the track is Ang Kahora and the artist is Bjorn Lynne. I cant remember who I purchased it from as it was a few years back now. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. CS Don

Hi Logan, Fingers crossed all will be okay on a low setting. I still use my dew shield for blocking stray light. Just in-case my wife leaves the outside light on LOL. Hope all is well with you. CS Don

I really need to get out more, It turns out everyone knows about this except me LOL. I will run it on a very low setting via my Pocket Powerbox. Fingers crossed! CS Don

I hope it stays that way for you. I think I'll be okay once I work my heating control level out. Thanks for your reply. CS Don

I am just checking over some data I took during the last session and even using my Celestron two port dew heater controller I'm seeing the odd star with a small tail like you describe. I'm reading the manual and it states if you haven't used it in a long time or just started using it, like me, you need to calibrate the environment sensor. Since I have an Celestron AVX mount and use Celestron CPWI software with NINA I can access the settings easily There is all sorts of information it reports and with graphs;; ambient temperature, humidity, dew point,. I can set the ports to manual vs automatic and then set the power or in automatic set the aggressiveness. I'm going to calibrate the sensor in the next session since I have never done that procedure. I notice there is an Adcom driver for the dew heater controller if you don't have a Celestron mount. I'm sure other power controllers have similar features. Hopefully after I try this my corrector plate will remain clear and my stars sharp.

I decided to set up indoors today to run through the CPWI dew heater software feature. After reading the manual it showed where the sensor is located on the controller. I discovered the sensor was obscured by a velcro strap I was using to secure a loop of wires that go to the heater ring. So the last few nights not only my dew controller hadn't been calibrated the sensor opening in the controller was obscured. Doh!

Last night with my Celestron 2 port controller (only one port used) I ran a calibration before imaging. The ambient and dew points were close. I had the Celestron controller set for auto control. Using the sensor (the one I had obstructed) it should provide the power to the dew heater ring as needed. There is a setting, Aggression Level 0-10, that can be set and I set it to 3. I ran my image session and checked the dew control panels for how much power was being used and if the dew heater was running and how many watts the dew heater was pulling. It was pulling 21 watts. At the time I didn't know what level of power that was, whether it was 50% or even 100%. There was heavy dew forming last night even around 9pm. The humidity levels were about 95% according to the dew heater information panel in CPWI, Celestrons control software that NINA uses. This morning I looked at my lights and discovered tails on the upper right hand corner stars. I figure the humidity being so high the controller ran the power at 100%. This will not work. I have to zoom into the image to see the tails in the upper right hand corner of the image but now I know they are t here it's bugging me a little. I can bypass the automatic feature and set the power levels manually. I set the power level to 25%, 5.4w, then 50% 10.5w, 75% 15.4w and 100% 21.6w. So last night the controller was running full power to the dew heater ring. I will try manual settings next, starting with 25% first.

I set up the scope inside, ambient temperature is about 82F to 85F. I tested the manual temperature controls and used a small IR thermometer to read the heat coming off the dew heating ring. With the power off the ring and surrounding glass were ambient temperature about 84F. At 10% power, 2.2watt 85/86F, at 20% power, 4.3 was 91/92F, 25% power 5.4 watts 94/95 F, 40% 8.5% 97/98F. I didn't test any higher. I'm going to try 20% tonight.

Thanks' Tich. I will hopefully get some testing / imaging in tonight. I will play around with the output levels from my Pegasus Pocket and see where my limits are. Take care and clear skies mate!

Your welcome Doug. I will play around with my levels on my pocket astro power box, cant see it being an issue. I have been having problems with it dropping power lately, but I have solved the problem. Broken solder connection on the DC input. CS Don

@@donstronomy7606 it’s always something. I’m starting to see problems with my 533mc pro cooler not being able to reach temperature (-10c) until after dusk. I think a problem is looming. Might take it apart and make sure no dust buildup on the cooler heat sync. Cheers! Doug

Hi Jeff, thanks for your reply. I am using a Pegasus Pocket Astro Power Box with a temperature and humidity sensor. The power box can control my power output to the heater fortunately. I have been having problems with it dropping power but it has been repaired now. I will consider your findings when I put this to the test. Tonight hopefully? fingers crossed! Take care Don

I did miss it but that is not what you tested and in big bold letters scaring people. It's like forgetting the fine print and not explaining the fine print. From my research, only the Celestron 2x or 4x controller (way expensive) or jump into the PrimaLuci pond with their gear and the Eco has an adapter to convert the sensor to a value that suits it. I wish something like a wanderer controller (way better than a misinforming Pegasus controller that is deceptive in their advertising) had an adapter to convert its sensor input to that of the Celestron.

@@PlanetaryDefenseFoundation t Thankyou

Thankyou very much.

Thanks' smasky. I'm a convert to them now.

LOL! Oh come on... really? You new it was click bait. Couldn't help yourself.

Lol no you weren't. This thumbnail was amazing for obvious reasons

@@donstronomy7606 lol

Thanks David, I'll check it out.

Fourth time good but I really had to be quite firm on the sensor, which did concern me a bit. May try the swabs next time. CS

I will concur here. Threads on Cloudy Nights discuss this, and I've witnessed it first-hand. As the dew ring applies heat, the stars get very "spikey".

@@johnmacdougall4545 indeed! Exactly!

Thanks for the heads up Doug. I will start of with the lowest heat control output and work my way up. We are in Spring over here now and the nights are warmer, so I may not even need it for a while. \ CS Don

@@johnmacdougall4545 Maybe because the ring needs to dissipate heat through the inside of the dew cap? I used to use a normal dew heater strap, just below the dew cap, which makes heat dissipation go "around" the outside of the dew cap. You need more heat though, but the results are fine.

Thanks for the heads up Titch, Struggling with other scope issues at the moment but I will keep a close eye on my stars once I'm up and running again. CS Don

Thanks Darren, you may be right. I have not tried these before. May have to visit my local camera store and give them a go. CS Don

@@donstronomy7606 Lens pens are mainly for optics, swabs are mainly for sensors and sensor protection glasses. I used them for ages in photography already ;)

Hi Kano, thanks for your reply and sorry for my late reply. It seems like you may have purchased a lemon maybe? I can only think of a few things that you may have already tried, or done. Back focus distance is absolutely critical for F2. This would be the first thing to triple check and measure etc. Collimation is the next most important thing to get correct. Focus is also critical, don't rely on electronic focusers for this. They just can't get as sharp as you doing it yourself with about 150X screen magnification. Most important lock the primary mirror after focus. If none of the above work, I would be getting your sensor checked for tilt, or try another camera with the same back-focus distance as the one you are using. I have two cameras I use for this, one is my QHY 294 colour camera, and the other is my QHY 268 mono camera. They claim to have the same back-focus distance from the company but I have to add .3mm spacer for my 268M If none of the above work you may have a lemon my friend. Hope you solve your problems and clear skies to you!

The 183C is a better match for that scope then my 268 and 294. Good to see you have less blue fringing then I do. I guess there are never two alike for this grade of scope. CS Don

Thanks' Logan. Yes so many targets in this area. Looking forward to more captures in this region. CS Don

@@gabrielwiklund6444 Thanks Gabriel

@@AstroAF Thanks Doug. Yes it is a treat, especially when you are imaging two different targets. No need to rock the boat. Happy days

Thanks Tich. Good to see cranky Don not getting out too much these days 😂 Take care

Thank you very much Pawan. I'm glad you liked it Take care mate.