TheSkySearchers

I captured this last night, 43x60 subs with the clouds moving in at the end. ASI2600MC/G11S+OnStep/GSO 12" Newt/DSS/Gimp. Finally had a mostly sub-1" RMS autoguiding error.
Of my new equipment the EAF focuser and QGY OAG-M work fine. Just not plate solving. I can plate solve fine with my SSAG but for some reason it's hit and miss with the 2600. More miss than hit. As a result I did not polar align since it is based on plate solving.

So I will have to run ASTAP and astrometry.net stand-alone to find out what the problem is. That would be the last main problem then it should be smooth sailing.

nice capture , thx .

Great image! Well done, Henk!

Congratulations Henk on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!!

app.php/article/5-12-2021-tss-astrophot ... of-the-day

Great capture Henk.

When you plate solve the 2600, try binning 2x2 or 3x3. Congrats on the APOD

A wonderful image, Henk. It is beautiful down to the core.

Gefeliciteerd met de APOD!

Gordon wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:48 pm Congratulations Henk on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!!

app.php/article/5-12-2021-tss-astrophot ... of-the-day

Wow thanks Gordon, I feel honored.

Mac wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:55 pm Great capture Henk.

When you plate solve the 2600, try binning 2x2 or 3x3. Congrats on the APOD

Thanks Steve. I am binning 4x4 during plate solving. I will try 2x2 and 3x3. I have played around with the focal length but it auto-detects it correctly as 1380 (1200 x 1.15 for the CC) so that's not it. I also played around with the exposure and gain, nothing worked yet. I hope I will find it when I run ASTAP and astromettry.net stand-alone. In the worst case I can polar align with my DSLR or hook up the good ole SSAG just for plate solving.

Ruud wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 5:00 pm A wonderful image, Henk. It is beautiful down to the core.

Gefeliciteerd met de APOD!

Dankjewel Ruud!

Stars look pretty tight Henk, so, congratulations on the focus. Now if you can just tame the plate solving you'll be on your way. Well done on solving so many problems along the way.

Your progress has been fun to watch.

Cheers,

Steve

Congrats on winning the apod hENK!

Hi Henk. A superb M13 globular cluster image from you here. It looks like diamonds set out on on a black velvet cloth. Nicely done Henk, and congratutulations on winning the TSS APOD Award today.

I never get tired of looking at M13 and your's is no exception!
Congratulations on your APOD!

Larry

Congrats, purple tones and orange star, love it!

Very nice Henk, love the colour, and congratulations

Congrats Henk, looks as if all the work is coming together well great APOD.

Thanks all for the encouragements. I will revisit M13 with polar alignment and more time on target.

There just seems to be one last hurdle left, which is getting the 2600 to plate solve. I wish I had saved some of the FITS files that it could not solve for testing during the cloudy nights such as the rest this week. I can always hook up the SSAG which plate solves just fine, worst case. I will figure it out on the next clear night.

The mechanical issues seem to be manageable. After changing the focus of the OAG I am getting round stars from my ASI120 mini as well and the guiding works fine. The gear looks pretty good.

Mac wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:55 pm Great capture Henk.

When you plate solve the 2600, try binning 2x2 or 3x3. Congrats on the APOD

Hi Mac

It finally works with binning 1x1 or 2x2, using ASTAP, and I was able to polar align. So that's great. Maybe higher binning introduces cross hatch patterns?

I'm still not quite happy because the images look fine to me at any binning and if it works fine with a substandard SSAG image then why not with a super duper camera. Hopefully I will find out some time.

Cool image Henk. Congrats on the APOD

I'm with Mac - binning the 2600 should give a better chance at a plate solve (at least that's the case for my mono cameras). A sufficient exposure helps too.

So ASTAP usually needs a rough location hint. I am wondering where it gets it in your setup.

jthommes wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 7:10 pm
So ASTAP usually needs a rough location hint. I am wondering where it gets it in your setup.

I didn't realize that... I use ASTAP to blind solve images in APT that are sometimes 6,000 pixels off...

Larry