One type of foam I like to use is Kaizen foam. It cuts easily and is layered so you can cut to a certain depth and then peel back just that layer. It's available from multiple places, even Home

Thanks for all the positive comments. Didier, about the colour and FOV. I certainly thought about pulling the colour back a little, but I decided that there was more immediate impact leaving it as it

Great work Geoff! I see the jets quite clearly. Amazing detail right down to the galaxy core. Don Anderson On Monday, November 30,

Hi Jim I found my foam on eBay. There are quite a few sellers that offer the Density 1.7 Polyethylene Foam Sheets in different colors and densities (higher density = "harder"). I bought my foam from

Hi Lee afaik pressure doesn't really make much of a difference for model accuracy. Temperature is the real variable there Brian -- Brian Brian Valente portfolio brianvalentephotography.com

Worsel, Thanks for the reply. I think what was particularly bothering me was the large temperature dependence in the correction equation that I was using to get from barometric pressure to absolute

Shailesh you can do a simple comparison 1. Take a 5 minute sub (or whatever longer exposure) with encoders on. 2. Next disable the encoders in APCC 3. Take another sub of the

All three of them can show periodic error, or as you say a "tracking graph". While encoders will eliminate the main problem of periodic error, they cannot eliminate the slow drift in both RA and Dec

Thank you, Rolando. Greatly look forward to some unguided imaging with my AP Stowaway, 130GTX and FSQ106. BTW how do I ascertain tracking is cleaner compared to say my Paramount MX without encoders.

The blue and green means that the encoders are happy and getting solid signals. There is nothing else that you need to do. The mount is set to run under encoder control. Rolando

Rolando, Thanks to George and Liam, I was able to program the personality #120 into the CP4, VIa APCC now I see encoders enabled. Does one blue and one gree light mean the signals are solid? Besides

M Hambrick, That is an excellent solution for storing the counterweights and CW bar. Your photos really help to visualize the possibilities. Now, I need to hunt down a supplier for the high density

Try this: 1. Turn on the mount and plug the USB-serial dongle for it. 2. Open Control Panel->Device Manager->Ports COM and LPT (see attached screen shot). 3. You should see COM5 listed. 4. Now plug

Thanks Mike for the reply, When I go the solar guider settings, it only has a single Port listed which is the same one the mount uses. I plugged the solar guider into another USB port on my laptop but

Hello, I like the structure of this Galaxy and the field of view. You know its too saturated in colors for my personal taste 😉. Maybe a little too noisy. Is it cropped ? Thanks for sharing Didier

That depends on the type of USB-serial adapter. My Edgeport USB-serial box lets me specify what port to use, but Control panel -> Device Manager on my Windows 8.1 machine doesn't. That sounds like an

Hello, Maybe this isn't an AP question but hoping someone here would know... My CP4 connects to my laptop via a usb-serial adapter and shows up as COM Port 5. Is there a way to change the COM Port

Very interesting spiral arm structure in this galaxy. Great job with processing this image, Geoff. Colors and faint structures like those jets are skillfully done! Luca

Lee Here is an excerpt from the APPC Pro manual on pressure. The highlight below is mine. MGPV2 Box will send local pressure to APPC via the astromi.ch ASCOM driver. Pressure: Here you can enter the

Nice job Geoff! the jet with the right-angled bend always threw me, i always think it is some sort of reflection Brian -- Brian Brian Valente portfolio brianvalentephotography.com