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Re: Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Roland Christen
 

No bias on either axis. Balance the mount properly and it will guide very well.

Rolando



-----Original Message-----
From: Dean Jacobsen <deanjacobsen@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Fri, May 22, 2020 12:53 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Sorry if this has come up before...

Is there any need to slightly bias the weight of the counterweights to any side of the mount with the Mach2?
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 

Re: Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Dean Jacobsen
 

Sorry if this has come up before...

Is there any need to slightly bias the weight of the counterweights to any side of the mount with the Mach2?
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 
Re: Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

Dean Jacobsen
 

I meant to say traveling imagers... at remote locations.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 
Re: Mach2 keypad tests

Terri Zittritsch
 

On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 07:29 PM, uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> wrote:
Hello Astronuts,
 
Finally had a night of clear skies where i could test the Mach2 with my 160EDF scope. I am finalizing some new features in the keypad which include tracking limits that were recently requested, pointing modeling, unguided imaging and other neat features. We are finishing up the new software an hope to have keypads ready for customers very shortly for all CP4 and CP5 controllers.
 
I would like to share some results from last night:
The setup was my 160 EDF scope with a QSI 683 camera. I started the session while the sun was still up and ran a simple pointing model using stars from first to about 4th magnitude with an H-a filter and .05 sec exposures. I was able to center the stars manually on the crosshairs via the keypad, using MaximDL imaging software. I started with the scope under the mount with stars in the east along a constant Dec line that the object is on. The object is a group of galaxies called the Eyes, part of Markarian's Chain. The Mach2 allows you to place the scope under the mount if it can clear the tripod, so you can image all night long without flipping. It also has dual high res encoders that eliminate all periodic error and can be driven in both axes, very smoothly, at custom rates.
 
I centered 8 stars along the Dec line and entered them in the mount model memory. I purposely misaligned the pole to see how well the model would work for quick eyeball PA such as you would get if you set up in the field and are a bit lazy (like I am usually). I'm guessing that my PA is off by about 1/4 deg or more based on the amount of drift I was getting.
 
Is it possible to get round stars, being not polar aligned and not guiding, but simply relying on doing a quicky model? And not a full all-sky model with umpteen terms, but just 8 points? That's what I aimed to find out.
 
So, here is the setup: 160EDF, Mach2 mount, QSI 683 CCD camera, light weight Losmandy tripod, laptop with SkyX and MaximDL. The keypad routine is simple - click on a star in SkyX and slew to it, center it in the image in MaximDL, then press Enter on the keypad. Go to next star and repeat. Takes a few minutes each and probably could be automated, but for 8 stars it's not a biggy for hands-on operation.
TBD in next post
Roland, ready and willing to do some testing.

Terri
Re: Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

Dean Jacobsen
 

The tests look great.  This will be great for us remote imagers.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 
Re: [ap-ug] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image - Crop

Roland Christen
 

Let's see what size this comes back with ;^))
Re: [ap-ug] [ap-gto] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

Roland Christen
 

Looks like the image got resized down to about 20% of what I posted. Will have to post it elsewhere at full res.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: thefamily90 Phillips <thefamily90@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>; main@ap-ug.groups.io <main@ap-ug.groups.io>
Sent: Thu, May 21, 2020 6:59 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-ug] [ap-gto] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

I think you definitely proved your point!!

JimP

Get Outlook for iOS
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via groups.io <chris1011@...>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 7:56:50 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>; main@ap-ug.groups.io <main@ap-ug.groups.io>
Subject: [ap-gto] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image
 
Hello some more ;^))

I took some 30 images over 3 hours almost continuously without touching the laptop, except to re-focus a couple of times. In the final stack i threw out 3 frames that had heavy satellite tracks (some right thru the central galaxy), and simply combined the rest in MaximDL. The end result is not great as far as getting deep sky results because of my horrendous light pollution, but that's not what my goal was anyhow. The goal was whether i could achieve a high res image without guiding using a simple keypad generated mount model. Below is a 50% size image which I am hoping doesn't exceed the max image size. Stars are round to approx .033 as measured by MaximDL, taken in 2 out of 5 seeing according to Clear Sky Clock. No field flattener, just straight out of the 160 lens and onto the 8300 chip.


--
Jim Phillips

Re: [ap-ug] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

Bill Long
 

Nicely done! 🙂 

From: main@ap-ug.groups.io <main@ap-ug.groups.io> on behalf of Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 4:56 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>; main@ap-ug.groups.io <main@ap-ug.groups.io>
Subject: [ap-ug] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image
 
Hello some more ;^))

I took some 30 images over 3 hours almost continuously without touching the laptop, except to re-focus a couple of times. In the final stack i threw out 3 frames that had heavy satellite tracks (some right thru the central galaxy), and simply combined the rest in MaximDL. The end result is not great as far as getting deep sky results because of my horrendous light pollution, but that's not what my goal was anyhow. The goal was whether i could achieve a high res image without guiding using a simple keypad generated mount model. Below is a 50% size image which I am hoping doesn't exceed the max image size. Stars are round to approx .033 as measured by MaximDL, taken in 2 out of 5 seeing according to Clear Sky Clock. No field flattener, just straight out of the 160 lens and onto the 8300 chip.
Re: Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

thefamily90 Phillips
 

I think you definitely proved your point!!

JimP

Get Outlook for iOS

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via groups.io <chris1011@...>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 7:56:50 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>; main@ap-ug.groups.io <main@ap-ug.groups.io>
Subject: [ap-gto] Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image
 
Hello some more ;^))

I took some 30 images over 3 hours almost continuously without touching the laptop, except to re-focus a couple of times. In the final stack i threw out 3 frames that had heavy satellite tracks (some right thru the central galaxy), and simply combined the rest in MaximDL. The end result is not great as far as getting deep sky results because of my horrendous light pollution, but that's not what my goal was anyhow. The goal was whether i could achieve a high res image without guiding using a simple keypad generated mount model. Below is a 50% size image which I am hoping doesn't exceed the max image size. Stars are round to approx .033 as measured by MaximDL, taken in 2 out of 5 seeing according to Clear Sky Clock. No field flattener, just straight out of the 160 lens and onto the 8300 chip.
Mach2 Keypad tests .. final image

Roland Christen
 

Hello some more ;^))

I took some 30 images over 3 hours almost continuously without touching the laptop, except to re-focus a couple of times. In the final stack i threw out 3 frames that had heavy satellite tracks (some right thru the central galaxy), and simply combined the rest in MaximDL. The end result is not great as far as getting deep sky results because of my horrendous light pollution, but that's not what my goal was anyhow. The goal was whether i could achieve a high res image without guiding using a simple keypad generated mount model. Below is a 50% size image which I am hoping doesn't exceed the max image size. Stars are round to approx .033 as measured by MaximDL, taken in 2 out of 5 seeing according to Clear Sky Clock. No field flattener, just straight out of the 160 lens and onto the 8300 chip.
Mach2 Keypad tests .. continued

Roland Christen
 

Hello again,

During the imaging session after it got dark, I turned the custom rate on to track the object for the next 3 hours. Seeing was poor as shown by Clear Sky Clock, so I wasn't expecting the best resolution out of my 160EDF. It can usually produce 1.4 arc sec FWHM, but tonight was running around 2 arc sec in a 5 minute exposure.

The graph below shows how the mount was tracking the object via the custom modeled rate over the first hour. Below that is one of the individual 5 minute frames showing the roundness and FWHM resolution. The mount pretty well maintained this level of tracking over a 3 hour period, allowing about 30 frames to be captured.



Mach2 keypad tests

Roland Christen
 

Hello Astronuts,

Finally had a night of clear skies where i could test the Mach2 with my 160EDF scope. I am finalizing some new features in the keypad which include tracking limits that were recently requested, pointing modeling, unguided imaging and other neat features. We are finishing up the new software an hope to have keypads ready for customers very shortly for all CP4 and CP5 controllers.

I would like to share some results from last night:
The setup was my 160 EDF scope with a QSI 683 camera. I started the session while the sun was still up and ran a simple pointing model using stars from first to about 4th magnitude with an H-a filter and .05 sec exposures. I was able to center the stars manually on the crosshairs via the keypad, using MaximDL imaging software. I started with the scope under the mount with stars in the east along a constant Dec line that the object is on. The object is a group of galaxies called the Eyes, part of Markarian's Chain. The Mach2 allows you to place the scope under the mount if it can clear the tripod, so you can image all night long without flipping. It also has dual high res encoders that eliminate all periodic error and can be driven in both axes, very smoothly, at custom rates.

I centered 8 stars along the Dec line and entered them in the mount model memory. I purposely misaligned the pole to see how well the model would work for quick eyeball PA such as you would get if you set up in the field and are a bit lazy (like I am usually). I'm guessing that my PA is off by about 1/4 deg or more based on the amount of drift I was getting.

Is it possible to get round stars, being not polar aligned and not guiding, but simply relying on doing a quicky model? And not a full all-sky model with umpteen terms, but just 8 points? That's what I aimed to find out.

So, here is the setup: 160EDF, Mach2 mount, QSI 683 CCD camera, light weight Losmandy tripod, laptop with SkyX and MaximDL. The keypad routine is simple - click on a star in SkyX and slew to it, center it in the image in MaximDL, then press Enter on the keypad. Go to next star and repeat. Takes a few minutes each and probably could be automated, but for 8 stars it's not a biggy for hands-on operation.
TBD in next post
Re: APCC Pro 1.8.1.1 update #APCC

Jerome Allison
 
Edited

Thank you, Tan.  Got it installed.  Found the "This form is always on top" checkbox too. :)
I have had PemPRO for several years, and it has always alerted me to an update, too. 
Re: Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Dean Jacobsen
 

It will be until I get to the point where I decide to automate focusing. Then I need to provide another USB port at the optical tube.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 
Re: Create a PEM curve with a camera?

Brian Valente
 

Generally people build PEC using their main scope, provided it's 0.5"/pix or less resolution. 



On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 6:29 PM David Enck <davidenck@...> wrote:
Ok, great!  Thanks all for the information.  

David 

On May 20, 2020, at 5:18 PM, uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via groups.io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:


The PE curve will apply to the mount, and has no bearing on what happens to the main scope flexure. By definition the PE curve cannot store flexure and making a PE curve automatically throws out any flexure component because it is not periodic.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart <stuart.j.heggie@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Wed, May 20, 2020 7:08 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Create a PEM curve with a camera?

Hey David, I'm sure you're right to be wondering about the guide scope approach. Have you used this guide scope / main scope together before and confirmed there is no flexure? If you haven't I'd be worried that you'll build a PEC curve for the guide scope only. 


On Wed, 20 May 2020 at 20:06, <davidenck@...> wrote:
Hello All, This may be a silly question, but can I use an ASI 290 mini guide camera (2.9 pixel size) through my guide scope (162 mm focal length) to create a PEM curve for my AP1100  when the day comes? Or should  it be through the   main scope.  It is a  Meade lx850 14 inch SCT..  Thinking the guide scope would avoid any mirror shift and such.. My main imaging  camera is a Canon T2i.. 

Thank you,  David

--

Stuart
http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/



--
Brian 



Brian Valente
Re: Create a PEM curve with a camera?

David Enck
 

Ok, great!  Thanks all for the information.  

David 

On May 20, 2020, at 5:18 PM, uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via groups.io <chris1011@...> wrote:


The PE curve will apply to the mount, and has no bearing on what happens to the main scope flexure. By definition the PE curve cannot store flexure and making a PE curve automatically throws out any flexure component because it is not periodic.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart <stuart.j.heggie@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Wed, May 20, 2020 7:08 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Create a PEM curve with a camera?

Hey David, I'm sure you're right to be wondering about the guide scope approach. Have you used this guide scope / main scope together before and confirmed there is no flexure? If you haven't I'd be worried that you'll build a PEC curve for the guide scope only. 


On Wed, 20 May 2020 at 20:06, <davidenck@...> wrote:
Hello All, This may be a silly question, but can I use an ASI 290 mini guide camera (2.9 pixel size) through my guide scope (162 mm focal length) to create a PEM curve for my AP1100  when the day comes? Or should  it be through the   main scope.  It is a  Meade lx850 14 inch SCT..  Thinking the guide scope would avoid any mirror shift and such.. My main imaging  camera is a Canon T2i.. 

Thank you,  David

--

Stuart
http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/

Re: Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Roland Christen
 


my ZWO camera has a two port on-board hub
Maybe that's all you need.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Dean Jacobsen <deanjacobsen@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Wed, May 20, 2020 7:41 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Thanks Roland for the advice.  All excellent points.  Much appreciated.  The through the mount cabling of the Mach2 will be a nice upgrade for me and will open the door to more automation in my imaging.  I won't have to worry about personally monitoring meridian flips and re-arranging cables to prevent snags, etc.  I hadn't planned on a hub - my ZWO camera has a two port on-board hub - but I am now thinking about that option.  Thanks again.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 

Re: APCC Pro 1.8.1.1 update #APCC

Cheng-Yang Tan
 

You can download it from here:


For whatever reason, some APCC installs are unable to find the latest updates when "check for updates" is pressed. Mine is one of them. Ray and I both tried the debug the problem and Ray thinks it's something to do with .net.

That's why I've asked Ray to post here when there's an update so that people like us can just download it by hand.

cytan






On Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 07:39:04 PM CDT, Jerome Allison <jallison@...> wrote:


[Edited Message Follows]

Where do you find these versions - 1.8.0.9 and 1.8.0.11?  Are they developer versions?

All I can find is "APCC Pro - Public Release Version      March 7, 2020    APCC Pro v1.8.0.5".

EDIT: Never mind, I see under Help there is a "Check for updates...".  I'm a brand-new user of APCC.

SECOND EDIT: What I found in the manual earlier, and now at home trying firsthand, doesn't work.  From v1.8.0.5, the "Check for updates" says "No updates to APCC are available". Why is that?

Also, the APCC window is always on top of all other windows.  Can that be changed?
Re: Any Tips From Experienced Mach2 Users

Dean Jacobsen
 

Thanks Roland for the advice.  All excellent points.  Much appreciated.  The through the mount cabling of the Mach2 will be a nice upgrade for me and will open the door to more automation in my imaging.  I won't have to worry about personally monitoring meridian flips and re-arranging cables to prevent snags, etc.  I hadn't planned on a hub - my ZWO camera has a two port on-board hub - but I am now thinking about that option.  Thanks again.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/ 
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/ 
Re: Create a PEM curve with a camera?

Roland Christen
 

The PE curve will apply to the mount, and has no bearing on what happens to the main scope flexure. By definition the PE curve cannot store flexure and making a PE curve automatically throws out any flexure component because it is not periodic.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart <stuart.j.heggie@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Wed, May 20, 2020 7:08 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Create a PEM curve with a camera?

Hey David, I'm sure you're right to be wondering about the guide scope approach. Have you used this guide scope / main scope together before and confirmed there is no flexure? If you haven't I'd be worried that you'll build a PEC curve for the guide scope only. 


On Wed, 20 May 2020 at 20:06, <davidenck@...> wrote:
Hello All, This may be a silly question, but can I use an ASI 290 mini guide camera (2.9 pixel size) through my guide scope (162 mm focal length) to create a PEM curve for my AP1100  when the day comes? Or should  it be through the   main scope.  It is a  Meade lx850 14 inch SCT..  Thinking the guide scope would avoid any mirror shift and such.. My main imaging  camera is a Canon T2i.. 

Thank you,  David

--

Stuart
http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/

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