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As space is short in the page limited Handbook, could thought be given to removing pages 117 and 118? Surely its pretty much unchanging from year to year and readily Googled? I think I used the pendulum equation once as a teenager.
Similarly, as a space saving/creating measure, could the line spacing on page 116 be changed? That might free up ~1/3rd page that could be used for some small item like expected dates of observable Earth flyby/gravity assists.
I also wonder who looks at the Bright Stars info page. Genuine question: who uses it?
BTW none of this should be taken as criticism. A huge amount of work must go into creating the Handbook and I for one am very grateful to those who put in the hours. As a result of their work I’ve already started to plan my 2025 observing year. Its good to see the Handbook evolving. Thanks to all involved!
Every time I image an 18th magnitude star for variability or capture a 17th magnitude nebula, I wonder at how things have changed over the last 30 years.
I enjoyed visual observing before neck arthritis stopped play, but these days I get a kick out of what we can do via imaging.
I remember looking at long duration photography in the 80s and thinking I would be really smug if I reached 13th mag with my 8″ Fullerscopes Newtonian and some Tri-X. Its a 1sec exposure with a modern CCD.
You should be able to sync into the existing T-Point model, but given that when using the automated platesolving mode it takes less than an hour for a full T-Point run, I would be inclined to redo the T-Point from scratch. Just wait for a night with thin cloud or full Moon thats no good for anything else. I find 1-2second images are easily deep enough. I just listen to music on headphones while manually rotating the slit to ensure the scope sees skies – the joys of a non-automated early Pulsar.
IF with an accurate time and an accurate position you still have issues it will help focus your attention a bit.
Just bought a second hand MX, but have not yet installed. Hopefully a lot better pointing than the NEQ6.
Nor can I. Not sure where it went.
Bottom line: Google Earth is your best bet as TheSky doesn’t (I don’t think) talk to a GPS dongle, so any location it has for you will be from an IP address or the nearest town long/lat. I could be wrong here.
Note though, that time and location are both important. You need a good position and good times. So, to get accurate pointing:
1, Set the computer system clock using its “Change date and time” setting.
2, Start TheSkyX
3, Set your location to the Google Earth value
4, Do your 100+ pointings T-Point run.And whenever you use the telescope set the time again just before running TheSkyX – its an essential. Many laptops/PC lose multiple seconds over a week or two between observing sessions – some do better than others.
Not sure what mount you are using, but a Paramount MEII does far better at absolute pointing (after T-Point) than my regular NEQ6 which was good to 1 arc mins on the west sky last night but a lot further out on the east part of the sky. The mount quality is a big factor. If your mount is not entirely consistent even T-Point cannot make it perfect.
Ah, the code is 19 years old. Am impressed it ran. Do you know what version of Windows the previous owner was using?
It might be worth:
1, Try a newer serial port cable
2, If running on a modern version of Windows run TheSky6 in an appropriate compatibility mode ie if was running on W98 run the TheSky6 application in W98 compatibility mode on W8, W10 or W11
3, Get TheSky6 licence transferred to you, set up SB account and raise problem on their help groups.
4, Consider buying the previous owner’s laptop with working code on from them. 🙂
5, Consider updating to TheSkyX plus necessary add ons – expensive possibly.When you set up the mount, the weights should be adjusted so that if you disengage the gears/worms (only do this if someone has a very firm hold on the counterweight arm) the telescope can be pushed to any position by finger.
Is that the case with this mount? If the telescope is strongly out of balance then the Home request may fail.
Also, am not quite clear from what you wrote. Does it complete the Home operation (with two tone noises) and come to a complete halt without producing the error message or does it only produce the error message when you try a subsequent slew?
I am with Martin on this one, the help support from the SB website is a good place to look to cure this problem – but its not rapid.
Paul is more experienced, but the way I would start out is.
Install TheSkyX
Install the driver
Connect USB cable to mount
Set mount into balance position and reengage the gear.
Power up mount
Sync the laptop time in Windows
Run TheSkyX
Make sure your location is set (Google earth can give long/lat)
Tell TheSkyX to Connect to mount (I assume its an older mount and you select the COM port first – newer mounts don’t need that)
Tell TheSkyX to Home (listen for 2 tones as it slews in RA/Dec)
Choose a target not far from Home position using the cursor and slew to that… Watch the OTA to check it moves in both Dec and RA….If it does all that okay you’re 9/10ths there.
Personally I would ignore the hand controller until everything works fine from the computer as thats the best way to schedule a public viewing.
It may not end up pointing at the target you selected until the thing is polar aligned. Doing a brief manual TPoint was the way I worked out the adjustment initially using an OTA with a 1 degree FOV. TPoint provides instruction on whether the Azimuth or altitude needs adjustment – and how much.
Theres a list of error messages here: https://www.bisque.com/wp-content/cs-content/help/scripting/thesky6/software_bisque_error_codes.htm
I couldn’t find error 2003. Did you mean 22003?
I’m no expert but would start with the flat field issue – that seems a decent easy-win as the background brightness variation from vignetting is hiding the extent of the comet.
How many counts were in your RAW flat field frames?
As a very late addition, I have had 2 years of messing about with Mini PCs and trying to use two different Wifi extenders so the MiniPCs ran off a Wifi network in the dome…. The Minipcs are convenient as they sit quite happily on the plastic cover that goes over the polarscope on the NEQ6 meaning fewer cable tangles.
However, I found that, due to Microsoft’s updates, its not tenable. Every time they applied a Windows update the connection died and I had to connect a monitor/keyboard/mouse and tell it (yet) again my manual addresses, my DNS preferences, gateways, masks etc. Last weeks failure occurred 30 mins into the observing run meaning I lost my sky model. Enough is enough. I’m going over to using the ethernet output of a TP-Link adaptor and yet another cable.
I suspect you can work consistently over Wifi if you use Linux machines in the dome but my chosen camera software does not work under Linux – may have to change that…
So, TL:DR given a choice between Wifi in dome and ethernet in dome while using Windows, just say no to Wifi.
The pier is bespoke – the farmer/astronomer who made it and welded it all only made 2. Not a commercial effort, but I managed to buy one from him when he gave up the hobby for a while.
I think the only bit easily modified will be the metal plate supported 3-4″ above the top on 3 thick bolts. I looked at upgrading the bolts once and found they were a weird Imperial threading, so will reluctantly stick with them and – if need be – create a new plate from scratch.
Anyway, the rest will wait until winter now then. Will post more then…
Thanks for that.
Thats similar to the FLO adaptor for an EQ8 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pulsar-observatories/astro-essentials-pulsar-pier-adaptor-for-eq8cq350cem120myt-mounts.html#faq but half the price – the FLO plate also works for Ioptrons and the SB MyT. Thanks for spotting it. Not sure how I missed it.
For either of those I have to take the existing EQ6 adaptor plate off. I was hoping for something that might go over the top. I was probably being unrealistic. But I had figured its an obvious upgrade path for people who are not going as up market as the MyT or 10 microns and hence someone might have done it.
I will have to check the diameter of the central hole.
I shall wait until a rainy day in winter, dismantle the scope, clean the mirror and see how difficult it will be to remove the existing EQ6 pier adaptor – it was attached by the previous owner via araldite and bolt or just rusted bolt… I really don’t want to replace the pier as its rock solid. Its times like this I wish I still had access to a machine shop. 🙂
Could you supply a link to the SGL discussion?
Also, why not use an OAG and the existing top rail for the refractor?
Just had a thought. Could you collect a bunch of Nikon RAW format images, allow the DeepSkyStacker software to align them and output a median filtered image in FITS format?
DeepSkyStacker certainly used to be free – AstroArt is not (though the demo version used to be).
Just a thought.
I believe AstroArt can handle Nikon RAW files – though I have never done so myself.
It is probably a bad idea to estimate the linearity of a sensor from jpgs as the scaling will be different for each picture.
