SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

So, I've been in a continuous battle with my Asus laptop I bought for my mount and telescope control.
I finally got (I hope) all the gar bage that a bad Windows update did to it fixed.
Windows Insider Program screwed up many of the drivers for my Astro programs. Yesterday I restored it in a way as never before. I had it restore from the original, factory issued software.
I did all I could to steer away from anything remotely online from Windows. They say you can't go back. Well where there's a will, and a Sonny, you can.
Getting my applications back was a process, and getting the settings settled was hard. But little by little I got it working. Hard to believe the damage a Windows update did.
Too late for much more than a satisfying run at The Great Hercules Star Cluster (M13) in the middle of the night to test things out.
But hey, it is Galaxy Season anyway. And I don't have to try and fuss with color channels. Although this is L, R, G, B stacked with Bias, Flats, and Darks using ASI stacking software.

There are a few things left to fine tune. I don't know why it isn't perfectly centered yet. Bugs or settings in NINA I think.
I did have to run an alignment instead of being able to just let the slew and centering take it away. But it finally did center up this close without my intervention. And this is Autofocus.
I zoomed in on it while in process and was happy with the clarity and sharpness I was getting.
10 years ago this was a dream, to have the telescope and mount take me there. Now, finally, it's working.
Now to just keep it working.

Download, and zoom in.

(Download)

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

A great 'restart' on M13!

But what would you do with all the free time if everything ran like it should!?

bwa

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Oh, it would be sooo nice!

Every day is a new day.
Tonight i finally discovered what was fubar'd with my cameras.
Seems when you have two ASI cameras, you need to tell PHD2 which one to use. There is this funny little arrow button and it appears I'm going to have to tell phd every time which camera to glob onto.
I never had these maddening oddities before Microsoft drove a stake through my computers heart with that so-called update.
Grrr.
Well, got some clear skies tonight. Got to get back to the struggles. LOL!

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Glad you got your gear to work together for you. The photo is excellent. -Richard

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Thank You, Richard!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

The struggle continues, but, I think I am winning.
Apparently with two ASI cameras feeding into a single USB cable, my computer gets confused or NINA does.
Anyway, I tried it with the two cameras disconnected, and started my laptop. Then went into NINA's program and opened PHD2, then plugged in the guide camera. OK, only one camera, NINA didn't get confused.
So I unplugged the guide camera.
Then I did the same thing with NINA with my main imaging camera, cool, NINA did not get confused.
Then I tried several openings of NINA with the cameras connected, and everything seemed good.
So comes the night, I set up, and started NINA by herself with everything connected. But NINA couldn't find my main camera. WTH?
With enough fiddling I got it to find the camera, including updating the ASI driver (per my compooters suggestion).
This stuff is maddening!
Everything was working fine until the windows update came along.
Well, I've been at this game for 10 years now, and Windows will NOT win!

Once NINA managed to understand there was two cameras, doing two different projects, I opened NINA alone and it got it's poop grouped and actually performed the task like it used too.
Of course, by that time my skies were clouding over.
Next stop might be Linex if this crap keeps up.

Windows

Bodes Galaxy 30s X 51ea LRGB Clouded out.

(Download)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Humm, I think my telescope is going belly up.
I thought I was seeing fog. But I think I'm seeing a fogged lens.
Dog doo.

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

This sounds like a bad event, for sure. Is your scope a reflector or a refractor? --Richard

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Refractor. Orion ED80T CF
Its a triplet with a carbon fiber tube.
Its been really good to me over the years.
But some odd things are beginning to appear lately.

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

I was looking at the webpage for this telescope at Orion, and discovered under the photos that it had an icon representing "Lifetime Tech Supportrt." You might want to check them out before having someone else work on your scope. --Richard

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Thanks Richard, but I do my own work as a rule.

Back when it was still under warranty the focuser developed a problem. It was causing a long scratch to develop on the draw tube for the focuser.
Before contacting Orion, I dismantled the entire telescope to see what was wrong. In the focuser there are 4 guide rollers that support and align the draw tube. One of those hardened rollers was cracked and had stopped turning.
A true factory defect.
I carefully reassembled it, contacted Orion, got an RMA (or RMS), and shipped it off to them. They replaced the entire focuser and tuned it up, then returned it to me. It's been dandy every since, mechanically and functionally until of late.
It has what we typically call a dust moot (mite, mote) on the image. Usually caused by a speck of dust in the imaging train.
I did a tear down and examination, cleaned the lens, and found nothing to cause the anomaly. Nothing on the triplet lens, nothing on the filters, nothing on the camera. Nothing I could discern anyway.
But, using darks, flats, and bias frames in processing, it disappears.

But my concern now is the appearance of this "fog", for lack of a better term, that is on two different images from two different sessions on two different nights with different subjects.
It isn't apparent in processing, only after the file is saved.
That is part of the fun of this sport, all the maddening variables to combat to get a picture. Or in my case, when I started out I made a lot of Picturds. Terrible images as I was learning.
I still am, every session, every night seems to have some anomaly to deal with. It's the challenge that makes it attractive to me. I like the images, but the mechanics of being able to find and track something I can't even see, then take long exposures of to get a picture out of it is my nirvana.
I think I'm a purest. I don't do hardly any post processing. I don't "manufacture" my pictures. The images you see from the Hubble are mono (B&W images) they colorize. They even made a Hubble Pallet to do it.
I learned with color cameras, and a great friend offered to loan me, then sold me his Atik Infinity camera, which these were taken with. Mostly manually set up, focused, and controlled using PHD2 for guiding.
Then I got a wild hair and bought a Mono camera, with a filter wheel, and later a real electronic focuser. But I'm a dummy and can't quite figure out how to do color processing. One day I hope to.
You could say my equipment has risen above my level of incompetence.
But that forces me to learn. Forces me to think. And forces me to progress.

But once in a while... everything clicks together and Wa-La. I can do it, but sometimes I struggle.

Thank You!

Monkey Head Nebula 52 images x 300 seconds each (5 minute) subs = 15,600 seconds total time, in a single no meridian flip session.

(Download)

Lagoon Nebula 13,000 seconds x 300s (?)

(Download)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hey Brian,
I think I figured it out (Yeah, right, #457,000).
PHD2 has this odd arrow symbol that allows the user to change cameras. Apparently it didn't know which ASI camera to pick, so it was arbitrary, and would try to steal the main camera to do guiding. That was the nonsense that was FUBARing the cameras (and guiding, and everything.
I slept on it and woke up with the fix. I unplugged both cameras on my telescope, then on my laptop I made sure neither was present in NINA. Then in PHD2 I plugged in the ASI290mm and checked that the ASI1600mm was nowhere. After several different starts and stops, program closures and openings, I was happy that PHD2 was "Trained" on the guide camera.
Then I unplugged the guide camera (ASI290mm) and went to work on the computer and NINA only seeing the ASI1600mm as the main camera.
The end result has been when I set up, I ONLY click NINA to start and everything works. It can open with all the ducks in a row. And the single start button in NINA can open everything automatically. Which is great for me.
Or I can always open each thing separately myself.
But so far making progress with this.

I wish my Atik Infinity would work with NINA. It sez they do. But NINA doesn't in the real world. Not for me.

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

Hiya mate,
Looks like things are coming together for you again.
Software issues are always a challenge hence why I try to lock out any potential updates until I have a good look at what the updates are actually doing (it's worth doing a back up / restore point before updates).
Nice images too.
I still see a slight problem with the back spacing between the imaging sensor & field flattener. According to your star shapes I would say the flattener is to close & needs shimming out a tad.

Still pretty cloudy here

take care mate. Marc

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Sonny, what I was thinking was that you could contact the Orion support staff and they might be able to tell you what the problem might be and how you might fix it. Then you can decide if you want to do it yourself or not.

My concern, from a far, is that is you have a refractor the lens should not be getting fogged unless it is simploy dirt. Depending upon what coatings are on the lens, you may want to use one solvent and not another. You sure do not want to dissolve the coatings.

But as I looked at the pictures on Orion's website, I noticed you can look at the light coming through the primary lens through a hole in the side, making the light do a 90-ddegree bend. That is done with a mirror. Mirrors can get fogged, particularly if it is a front-surfaced mirror. The tech staff at Orion can tell you that and give suggestions about where to get it resilvered.

Just some thoughts. --Richard

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Alright Sonny!, awesome images . Trial and error is the name of the game , I've got everything running good, now I've got to clean the camera again from all the pollen and crud in the air and what better time than when the rain is coming. Keep it up Sonny