It works. Thank you very much! :)

In setting up a 632 camera using ASCOM drivers there is a choice between QSI camera 1 and 2. ?I thought these were different drivers, but it now dawns on me that the number refers to the main and guide camera. ?If different drivers, which one do I use for the 632?

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This is an image of Arp 273, a pair of interacting galaxies 300M light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. The target became "famous" after being imaged by the Hubble Team, who referred to it as a "rose" made of galaxies. It was first described in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, compiled by Halton Arp in 1966.? The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, is about five times more massive than the smaller galaxy. It has a disc that is tidally distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. The smaller galaxy shows distinct signs of active star formation at its nucleus, and it is thought that the smaller galaxy has actually passed through the larger one [Ref: Wikipedia].? The image was captured during 5 nights in November-December 2023 from SkyPi Remote Observatory using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8.? LRGB integration covered 16.5 hours



Thanks for looking and Happy New Year,
Bruce W

Two nights in a row now my QSI620 has inexplicatively disconnected from its NINA profile - after about 4 hours of operation. While the camera is then still recognized by the ASCOM driver, I cannot get it to reattach - even after powering down the camera and restarting it. Initially, the only way to get it to reload was to turn off my Eagle and then restart everything in sequence. Last night I believe that I was able to get NINA to recognize it (without shutting down the computer) by unplugging the USB wire first, turning off and then restarting the camera, and then plugging back in the USB cable.

Two problems - 1) getting the camera to reattach - and perhaps of greater concern would be 2) why the camera disconnects in the first place.

I have been dealing with a problematic Eagle5S - which posts that it is running on anything from 10.5 to 12.4 volts - this fluctuates constantly. I am using the supplied PrimaLuce power source. I am wondering if the low voltage might negatively impact the USB connections between the camera and the computer.? The Eagle seems to successfully continue to run NINA, PHD2, SKYX - etc.

Before I start troubleshooting down the wrong rabbit hole, is there any history behind these cameras shutting down for some identifiable reason - or a specific issue?

Thanks in advance - bob

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Bruce

Impressive details in your NGC 891, Bruce!

best,
Bernhard

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This is an image of NGC 891, a popular and often photographed edge-on spiral galaxy in Andromeda. It is thought to be quite similar to the Milky Way galaxy in terms of overall luminosity, structure, and size. The galaxy lies about 27M l-y away toward the constellation Andromeda.? Its most unusual characteristic is the filamentary patterns of material that extend into the halo, perpendicular to the plane of the disk.? These are not understood but early theories have proposed that supernova explosions may have played a role in displacing material out of the disk. I chose this target to replace an earlier version that had been taken under mediocre atmospheric conditions and also to compare the use of the BlurX and NoiseX tools which, of course, produced better results.? The image was captured during 3 nights in December 2023 from SkyPi Remote Observatory using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8.? LRGB integration covered 15.7 hours.

https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/NGC891_LRGB_Web.jpg

Thanks for looking and happy holidays,
Bruce W.

"island_classics"

Something must have changed in the ASCOM platform that is causing this issue, it has always been possible in the past to set a zero time bias exposure and it makes no sense that ASCOM is blocking this because the camera does allow for zero time exposures when taking bias frames.

You are using an old an unsupported version of MaxIm, v5, which as not changed in years, and the QSI ASCOM driver has also not changed recently however I am able to to reproduce the same problem in both MaxIm DL6 and DL5 with an error message stating an impermissible exposure time has been requested when attempting a bias exposure, irrespective of the exposure time set in MaxIm's Camera Control window, whether "greyed out" or otherwise.

The only software recently changed on my test system is the upgrade to ASCOM platform 6.6 SP2 however I haven't used my QSI cameras for over a year and I don't know when this problem appeared, also, I have always used the native QSI CCD Plugin for MaxIm in preference to the ASCOM driver anyway, so maybe this problem has been around for a long time?

I think the quickest and easiest solution for you is to abandon the QSI ASCOM driver in MaxIm DL V5 and swap to the native QSI CCD plugin instead, which I know works in all exposure modes in both MaxIm DL V5 and DL V6.

The only thing to be aware of when using the native CCDPlugin in MaxIm DL5/6 is that it allows you to set exposure times that are shorter than the shutter can operate.
If you set an exposure shorter than 0.03 seconds for a "light" or "flat" then the camera will just return an empty frame because the shutter does not open.

If you download the plugin file linked here from my Google drive and copy it to your MaxIm DL V5 program folder (while MaxIm is not open), then after plugging-in the camera and starting MaxIm, from the Camera and Filter wheel setup dialogues in MaxIm's Camera Control window select "QSI Universal" as the camera model instead of ASCOM and follow the setup dialogues to configure both the camera and filter wheel settings that are presented when using the QSI plugin for MaxIm.
Note that you must select the "QSI Universal" native driver for both camera and filter wheel when you setup MaxIm, you can't mix-and-match.

The location of MaxIm's program folder is normally C:\Program Files (x86)\Diffraction limited\MaxIm DL V5.

You should not see any errors with exposure modes or exposure times when using the QSI Universal native camera plugin for MaxIm in preference to the ASCOM driver.

HTH

Will.

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No matter how much increase the time in initial settings Bias time is grayout. same message.

Hi astrophotographers!

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Hello Bruce,

Wonderful image of this interesting PN!

best,
Bernhard

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Happy holidays,
Bruce

Another fabulous image, Bruce, and thank you for sharing it.? I've really enjoyed all of your images and am looking forward to more.

Hope you are having a great holiday season.

Cheerio
JLF

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This is an image of Abell 79, an unusually shaped planetary nebula in Lacerta.? The peculiar shape is thought to have been produced by the interaction of two central star members when the progenitor star was starting to shed its outer layers.? The star seen in the center is one member of the binary system but it is too cool to provide the ionization that illuminates the nebula - that radiation is thought to be coming from the unseen companion.? The image was captured during 4 nights in November-December 2023 from SkyPi Remote Observatory using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8.? LRGB integration covered 8.5 hours and was combined with Ha and O-3 integration of 7 hours for a total of 15.5 hours.



Thanks for looking,
Bruce W.