Search found 15 matches

by julietdiane
Tue Jul 21, 2020 3:37 pm
Forum: Other Astro Imaging
Topic: Comet NEOWISE
Replies: 29
Views: 19667

Re: Comet NEOWISE

My Skywatcher mother board blew up several months ago, so I tracked the comet manually.
The DeepskyStacker you mentioned for comet stacking is that the same as Sharpcap Live view?
and presumably that would also failed to stack due to lack of target stars.
by julietdiane
Tue Jul 21, 2020 6:40 am
Forum: Other Astro Imaging
Topic: Comet NEOWISE
Replies: 29
Views: 19667

Re: Comet NEOWISE

How does your telescope track the comet? My skywatcher only has two tracking options: planets or deep sky objects, I cannot see how you can track the comet.
by julietdiane
Thu May 07, 2020 4:46 pm
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

Thanks Dave, yes I spotted my darks/lights mismatch and I was hoping to fix this similar to what you have suggested but then the slewing problem popped up. I agree a dodgy power source could result in problems with both slewing motors, however I have a trusted mains based power supply - Maplin XM21X...
by julietdiane
Thu May 07, 2020 1:42 pm
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

I tried again with dark frame subtraction and reduced gain, no guiding, see: https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMQPhVhhyK_3uO90WJ3ISsiXWOXo43rh2bvBWJB [ZWO ASI120MC] Debayer Preview=On Pan=0 Tilt=0 Output Format=PNG files (*.png) Binning=1 Capture Area=1280x960 Colour Space=RAW8 Temperature=2.7 D...
by julietdiane
Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:02 am
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

Robin, diy cooling fan is not for me. However, I am puzzled: I only made one attempt at imaging before and that was about 3 years ago with the same camera, I tried to image M31. Even though I had problems with my Live stack imaging I did not see any swamping of coloured pixels (as mentioned above)? ...
by julietdiane
Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:33 pm
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

Yes exactly what I got, yes I would love a cooled camera but I will have to carry on dreaming and do the best I can with the 120. As you say the

problems get worse over the warm summer nights but I do not like staying up late and restrict my viewing accordingly.
by julietdiane
Sun Apr 26, 2020 12:04 pm
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

All good tips Dave - Thanks. I certainly will take dark frames before I begin stacking again - not for a few weeks though. What I like about Sharpcap Live stacking is even though I run unguided it gives me good results especially as I do not wish to do any post processing.... Take care and happy sta...
by julietdiane
Sun Apr 26, 2020 11:09 am
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Re: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

Thanks Dave, I knew dark frame subtraction would improve the image but thought it was not essential, however if you look at my image then you would have to say it is totally essential, is this because the uncooled asi120 camera? Also when you start stacking would you expect the dark correction to be...
by julietdiane
Sun Apr 26, 2020 10:24 am
Forum: Live Stacking
Topic: Dark universe swamped by colured pixels
Replies: 13
Views: 4424

Dark universe swamped by colured pixels

Skywatcher Startravel 150 refractor and asi120 coloured camera. Mount Skywatcher EQ-6. Live stacked M51 with 32secs exp, gain 82%, 37 frames stacked but no dark frame subtraction. No filters fitted and used Bahtinov mask for focusing. I expected loads of hot pixels from my camera but was taken aback...
by julietdiane
Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:54 pm
Forum: Bug Reports
Topic: Frame exposure time to short
Replies: 1
Views: 1127

Frame exposure time to short

In both Sharpcap 3.14 and 3.04. Camera ZWO 120 MC - USB 2.0 Think Pad Laptop running windows 7. After closing Sharpcap and re-starting several times the frame time gets corrupted. No matter what exposure time I set the frame gets wrongly terminated after about 1 sec. It stays like this permanently. ...