Re: Going Auto with N.I.N.A
Hi Chip ,?
Thank you so much for answer , I know I am going back in time and did not fallow you and Tom long time ago but I was thinking about it :)
I've got proof because I found home made Serial Cable and Serial/USB adapter?
?
I have installed Gemini Telescope , do I need it to setup ?? and please if you know where I can found setting example ? please let me know.
Thank you for your time .
Roman
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Re: Going Auto with N.I.N.A
Hi Roman,
Just use a high quality USB to RS232 converter and the standard Gemini 1 cable and install the ASCOM driver for Gemini. Then just select the Gemini.net driver in NINA, cake.?
-- Chip Louie - Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware
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Re: Going Auto with N.I.N.A
Sonny , Justin is right and after few session you gonna love it and say "its the best" .?
I am 64 years old and now I am connecting to NINA all my equipment with one? Connect > Reconnect All Devices but not my mount G-11 Gemini I.
Using automatic focuser ZWO EAF I am able to sleep :)
I used G 11 from 1995 and from 2005 Gemini I and was never connected to the computer .
Please if you guys know the way how to connect my old Gemini 1 to NINA? , please help with some basics steps right now .
Thank you for your time .
Cheers
Roman
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Hi Sonny,
I have an Orion SSAG camera too.? ? Now I'm using some newer design ASI cameras, and I realize how inferior the Orion SSAG is (today... in its heyday it was fine!).?? The SSAG has some hot pixels and a lot of noise, making it hard to find weaker guide stars.
I don't want to spend your money, but consider upgrading your SSAG to maybe a ZWO USB3.0 ASI camera.? There are many to?choose from. ? ? The ASI120MM is mono, very high sensitivity and low noise.? I? have them in USB2.0, but recently I tried a large chip ASI178MM that I planned for planetary work. ? ? That 178MM is USB3, and really low noise and sensitive. ? ? I find the USB3.0 cameras to be far more reliable than?the USB2.0 versions.... stronger cable connector at the camera, and faster speed leads to less "dropouts".
Anyway, I'm glad you are enjoying the Drift tool in PHD2.?? Another amateur, in Missouri, Bob Runyan, showed me that Drift tool a few years ago, and it was really a good discovery. However, if I don't do the rough polar alignment with a polar scope (or your better new alternative) then I find Drift alignment is impossible... you have to be pretty close else you cannot find the Drift improvement.
Have fun and continued progress and success.
Michael
On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 10:24 AM Brian Valente < bvalente@...> wrote: Sonny
I do agree that PA improvements will help
you basically have field rotation.?
There is an easy way to visualize this if you still have your original images. Stack them using maximum instead of average and it will show you the rotation
what's happening is it's tracking correctly, but due to PA misalignment, your image frame is rotating around the center,?
Also FYI the pattern within the image that also shows this (called 'walking noise') can be eliminated by using dithering.?
On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 02:37 AM, Michael Herman wrote:
More later...going to sleep now at 2:30 am...
Thanks Michael! I finally called it a night at 4 AM. LOL!
After the disappointing smeartation, I did venture into PHD 2 and tried out the Drift Alignment Tool.
That was easy to use, although I wondered if it was accurate.
So last night I used the Drift Alignment Tool first, then built my model.
Things worked a lot better! (I think) No Smeartation, anyway. Two victims.
No to an RA mounted scope. I tried one of those with my defunct and gone away AVX (POC!)
I do have Sharpcap. If I could remember to use it.
I basically just run as many 3 West, 3 East, 3 West, 3 East scenario's as needed until the stars are landing as near center as they will.
Last night (this morning) I did a PHD 2 Drift Align before running my Model. Centered up my victims, started PHD 2, and shot way. (No Meridian crossings, because I was aimed NNE)
So far, the PHD 2 drift align is easiest for me to work with.
I'm using an Orion SSAG camera, do run a dark library with it, and it has been the one piece of equipment that has always worked good from day 1. (It's a mono camera BTW)
My Jury is still out, but I think my bumbling onto the Drift Alignment Tool has helped. Can't hurt.
Thank You!
?
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
--
Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Sonny
I do agree that PA improvements will help
you basically have field rotation.?
There is an easy way to visualize this if you still have your original images. Stack them using maximum instead of average and it will show you the rotation
what's happening is it's tracking correctly, but due to PA misalignment, your image frame is rotating around the center,?
Also FYI the pattern within the image that also shows this (called 'walking noise') can be eliminated by using dithering.?
On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 02:37 AM, Michael Herman wrote:
More later...going to sleep now at 2:30 am...
Thanks Michael! I finally called it a night at 4 AM. LOL!
After the disappointing smeartation, I did venture into PHD 2 and tried out the Drift Alignment Tool.
That was easy to use, although I wondered if it was accurate.
So last night I used the Drift Alignment Tool first, then built my model.
Things worked a lot better! (I think) No Smeartation, anyway. Two victims.
No to an RA mounted scope. I tried one of those with my defunct and gone away AVX (POC!)
I do have Sharpcap. If I could remember to use it.
I basically just run as many 3 West, 3 East, 3 West, 3 East scenario's as needed until the stars are landing as near center as they will.
Last night (this morning) I did a PHD 2 Drift Align before running my Model. Centered up my victims, started PHD 2, and shot way. (No Meridian crossings, because I was aimed NNE)
So far, the PHD 2 drift align is easiest for me to work with.
I'm using an Orion SSAG camera, do run a dark library with it, and it has been the one piece of equipment that has always worked good from day 1. (It's a mono camera BTW)
My Jury is still out, but I think my bumbling onto the Drift Alignment Tool has helped. Can't hurt.
Thank You!
?
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 02:37 AM, Michael Herman wrote:
More later...going to sleep now at 2:30 am...
Thanks Michael! I finally called it a night at 4 AM. LOL! After the disappointing smeartation, I did venture into PHD 2 and tried out the Drift Alignment Tool. That was easy to use, although I wondered if it was accurate. So last night I used the Drift Alignment Tool first, then built my model. Things worked a lot better! (I think) No Smeartation, anyway. Two victims. No to an RA mounted scope. I tried one of those with my defunct and gone away AVX (POC!) I do have Sharpcap. If I could remember to use it. I basically just run as many 3 West, 3 East, 3 West, 3 East scenario's as needed until the stars are landing as near center as they will. Last night (this morning) I did a PHD 2 Drift Align before running my Model. Centered up my victims, started PHD 2, and shot way. (No Meridian crossings, because I was aimed NNE) So far, the PHD 2 drift align is easiest for me to work with. I'm using an Orion SSAG camera, do run a dark library with it, and it has been the one piece of equipment that has always worked good from day 1. (It's a mono camera BTW) My Jury is still out, but I think my bumbling onto the Drift Alignment Tool has helped. Can't hurt. Thank You! ? -- SonnyE (I suggest viewed in full screen)
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
sadly no
the closest option is to do something like run parallels
Are there any MacOS tools like PECprep / PEMPro ?
Thanks,
Callium
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Are there any MacOS tools like PECprep / PEMPro ?
Thanks,
Callium
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Hi Sonny,
If using PHD2, go under the Brain icon, and select either 2x2 or 3x3 median noise reduction. That will eliminate bad single pixels.??
However I don't think it's that....
I think the rotated image is due the mount being very badly off polar alignment.? For long duration deep sky imaging, the polar alignment has to first be close by polar scope, then drift aligned. PHD2 has a good tool for that.? Otherwise you get these rotated images like you show.
Are you using a polar scope up the RA tube?? If so beware: polar scopes have a moveable glass "reticule" that must be carefully centered as you rotate the RA axis. You can easily get the center + symbol off the optical center, or crack the glass reticule by overtightening the tiny setscrews.? I think the Orion Atlas manual you can download explains how to center the reticule...
More later...going to sleep now at 2:30 am...
Best, Michael
Michael,
I think you just inadvertently answered a strange imaging issue I see occasionally.
Maybe I'm seeing my guiding locked onto a bad pixel when I get a really smeared image.
Could this image have been caused by a bad pixel lock?
I was doing a long run on the Iris Nebula last night. Kinda disappointing...
All I know about PEC you could stick in your eye and not know it was there.
I just run the rudimentary PEC offered in the Gemini 2. But couldn't say if it really makes a difference.
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Michael,
I think you just inadvertently answered a strange imaging issue I see occasionally.
Maybe I'm seeing my guiding locked onto a bad pixel when I get a really smeared image.
Could this image have been caused by a bad pixel lock?
I was doing a long run on the Iris Nebula last night. Kinda disappointing...
All I know about PEC you could stick in your eye and not know it was there.
I just run the rudimentary PEC offered in the Gemini 2. But couldn't say if it really makes a difference.
--
SonnyE
(I suggest viewed in full screen)
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
Perhaps what he is looking for can be found in the video titled, "Do I Align or Synchronize"?
On Fri, Jul 3, 2020, 12:57 AM Brian Valente < bvalente@...> wrote: That is a demanding focal length for sure. Plate solving is pretty much the only way you are going to be able to pull that off?
How are you plate solving and what is your image scale? Do you know why it fails sometimes? That's where I'd start.? Imaging - 11" Celestron SCT 2800mm FL.? I want to be dead-on when I slew to an object.? Plate Solving doesn't always work.
Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
Glen.
When there is a single bad (hot) pixel in the autoguider camera, there will be no guiding signals sent to the mount.? The program will think it is always locked on to the target (bad pixel).
This is the same as turning off autoguiding.? ?So all mount errors: polar alignment off will cause star trails in the DEC axis direction, and RA PE errors will cause stars to wiggle in the RA direction.
You will also get no autoguiding if your Gemini.net applet is set to C +center) or S (slew) rate.? Only G (guide) rate will allow autoguiding to function with Gemini.
In the PHD2 autoguiding program, you can eliminate hot pixels under the Brain icon by selecting 2x2 or 3x3 noise reduction.? ?You can turn off autoguiding in PHD2 under the Brain icon settings too, which you do when taking PE data.??
All the best, Michael
On Thu, Jul 2, 2020, 8:40 PM glnth < IDEAL18@...> wrote: Would locking on to a bad pixel in guiding show the limits of the mount and leaving bad seeing out of it? Would that work? Would it show tracking errors in the mount?
Glen
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Re: Best Way To Determine Periodic Error?
A bad pixel would remain absolutely stationary on the sensor. Hence no guide commands would be issued at all. As far as PHD2 is concerned, the mount would be tracking perfectly.
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
That is a demanding focal length for sure. Plate solving is pretty much the only way you are going to be able to pull that off?
How are you plate solving and what is your image scale? Do you know why it fails sometimes? That's where I'd start.?
Imaging - 11" Celestron SCT 2800mm FL.? I want to be dead-on when I slew to an object.? Plate Solving doesn't always work.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
Imaging - 11" Celestron SCT 2800mm FL.? I want to be dead-on when I slew to an object.? Plate Solving doesn't always work.
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
>>>
Does the Gemini-2 have Sync capabilities??
yes, but i don't think that is what you need based on what you're saying
are you doing?visual or imaging?
If you are imaging, are you plate solving?
Sorry - Maybe I am using the wrong terms.? Assuming Vega wasn't included in my initial modeling and I wanted to slew (GOTO) NGC6663 which is close to Vega and be 'dead-on' NGC6663.? I can first GOTO Vega and 'Sync' to update the modeling.? I could then GOTO NGC6663 and be 'dead-on'...
I think the Meade LX200's had something called High Precision GOTO or Pointing.
Does the Gemini-2 have Sync capabilities??
BTW - I PA using the PoleMaster then do a quick Alignment Drift.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
Sorry - Maybe I am using the wrong terms.? Assuming Vega wasn't included in my initial modeling and I wanted to slew (GOTO) NGC6663 which is close to Vega and be 'dead-on' NGC6663.? I can first GOTO Vega and 'Sync' to update the modeling.? I could then GOTO NGC6663 and be 'dead-on'...
I think the Meade LX200's had something called High Precision GOTO or Pointing.
Does the Gemini-2 have Sync capabilities??
BTW - I PA using the PoleMaster then do a quick Alignment Drift.
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Re: Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
Jim i'm a little confused by your question, what are you trying to do?
If you are plate solving you do not need to build a model. When you plate solve, that that performs a sync
Remember there are two models, east and west. Syncing or model building on one side doesn't impact the model on the other side.?
If you plate solve on each side of the meridian, that should be enough for plate solve to nail your goto within 50 pix or so in under 5 refinements.
If you are trying to get more accurate gotos out of the gate, better polar alignment will help
Even if I pick 2+ stars each in the East and West and I am real careful about centering the stars during modeling, the Gemini-2 Plate Model may be a little off.? ?How can I Sync on a star or object and update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Can I Sync On A Star And Update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
Even if I pick 2+ stars each in the East and West and I am real careful about centering the stars during modeling, the Gemini-2 Plate Model may be a little off.? ?How can I Sync on a star or object and update the Gemini-2 Plate Model?
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Roman Kulesza
Chip Louie
Michael Herman