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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Jeff Snell <Jeffery.snell1@...>
Perfect! Thanks Dave. Jeff PMC-Eight w/Explore Stars ES ED80mm APO Celestron 8" Edge HD Canon Ti-5 w/ Spencer Camera Astro-mod CdC, PHD2, APT, Polemaster
On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 5:08 PM Dave Cherry <andromedacity@...> wrote:
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Re: Explorestars app on Amazon firehd10
#ExploreStars
#Android
Just an update Jerry, so It seems that this issue is not something that I have happen when I'm connected. It only occurs on the app when not connected to the PMC8 system. I used the Fire HD 10 tablet all night Friday, and was able to get 1min exposures unguided.
Thank you and Dan both for addressing this.
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Re: Guiding
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
Edwin <esanc001@...>
Daniel,
I was looking into this as well and saw this photo in the explore scientific fb group. You need a series of plates etc. but it can be done -- Edwin Sanchez Iexos-100 ed-80 triplet canon T6i
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Guiding
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
Daniel Burdziak
I use my iexos-100 with just a Rebel T6 dslr. Does anyone else not use a telescope, and guide? If so, how are you able to mount the guide camera to the iexos-100?
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Daniel Burdziak
Thank you! That one is Bode’s, and Cigar.
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Wes Mcdonald
Dan Nice image. Two of Leo triplet?
-- Wes, Southport NC PMC-8, ES ED 127, 10" LX200GPS, Astro-Tech 8" Newt, ETX-90 Polemaster, Orion ST-80 and SAG Electrical Engineer, Retired
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Daniel Burdziak
Edwin,
I am using APT’s plate solving, and GoTo++ to center. For the focal length it has been auto-detecting for me, I haven’t changed any of those settings. I also use Backyard EOS, as they’re focus/framing has been working very well for me!
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Good deal Bob. Glad I could help. Steve
On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 6:19 PM Bob <drrtownsend@...> wrote:
--
Steven Romero Location: Houston, TX and surrounding environs (50%) Midland,TX and a large swath of West, TX (50%) Mount: EXOS2-GT PMC-8 Scope: ED102 APO Eyepieces: 24mm, 11mm, 6.5mm (82 deg) Software: Kstars, Stellarium (OS X)
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Steven hooked up like a charm. I am not sure about the alignment but at least it moves the scope. Waiting for weather to clear.
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Bob <drrtownsend@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 2:14:13 PM To: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] EXOS2 GT Very helpful. Thank you. I’ll look at it tonight. Perhaps explore scientific can produce a plug in to do this.
Bob
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Steven Romero <steven.romero@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 2:11:18 PM To: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] EXOS2 GT Bob,
I'm doing a write up but you probably don't want to wait. This is a quick and dirty version of what I did (and assumes you've installed and added your geo, time, telescope, eyepiece parameters, etc.): 1) Installed Kstars - I don't like this program, but it includes the INDI pmc-8 driver you need for your Mac to talk to Stellarium. I don't recommend installing INDI drivers any other way on the Mac, but you can try if you want to remain frustrated 2) Start up the INDI control panel in Kstars and select your mount (EXOS2-GT), then run a local service on port 7624 (this is automatic after you Run the service) 3) Connect to the pmc-8 wifi 4) Connect the INDI control panel in Kstars to the pmc-8 - you have to set up the connection controls from the Configuration menu first (select Ethernet, TCP - the port that is listed is the default - leave it alone) 5) Start up Stellarium 6) Activate the Telescope Plugin in Stellarium and select the Telescopes tab 7) Configure the Telescope Plugin - select Telescope controlled by - INDI/INDIGO radio button 8) Scroll down to INDI settings - you should see localhost 7624 in the Host settings, click Refresh Devices - you should see "ES EXOS2-GT PMC-8" appear in the devices window 9) Click OK and go back to the main Telescope Control window 10) Click Connect - you should now see "Connected" status under "Telescopes Controlled" window for your scope You're now connected to the PMC-8 with Stellarium on your Mac. One disclaimer - Stellarium won't solve your alignment issues, but it does help me find things in the sky. Stellarium has a virtual hand controller that you can use to slew your scope to look for things you want to see until you get polar alignment issues sorted. It also has the usual goto features. Hope this helps. Regards, -- Steven Romero Location: Houston, TX and surrounding environs (50%) Midland,TX and a large swath of West, TX (50%) Mount: EXOS2-GT PMC-8 Scope: ED102 APO Eyepieces: 24mm, 11mm, 6.5mm (82 deg) Software: Kstars (OS X)
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Dave Cherry
Hi Jeff Just imaging the cocoon neb right now
Here is a screen shot, you should be able to get all my settings from this Cheers Dave
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Jeff Snell
Sent: 22 June 2020 16:24 To: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] Astrophotography done with the iEXOS-100 post your picture and details lets show what this mount can do. #iexos-100 #astrophotography #ExploreScientific #astrophotography
Dave, Do you mind sharing your current PHD settings (assuming you are using PHD). I tried my 8" SCT about a month ago and had horrible star trails. I wanna try again but would like a baseline to start with. Sounds like you have one.
Jeff
PMC-Eight w/Explore Stars ES ED80mm APO Celestron 8" Edge HD Canon Ti-5 w/ Spencer Camera Astro-mod Orion Starshoot 50mm Autoguider APT, CdC, Polemaster, PHD2
On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 9:08 AM Dave Cherry <andromedacity@...> wrote:
-- Scopes: Sky Watcher 200PDS, Skywatcher 72ED Mount: Explore Scientific PMC8 EXO2 Cameras: ASI 294MCPRO Coooled, Altair guide cam + 50mm scope Software: Sharpcap Pro ,PH2, Stelarium Startools
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Edwin <esanc001@...>
Daniel,
That is a really nice clean image!
Did you use APT “plate solving” and if you did, what was the info. You added for focal length ?
Thanks.
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Daniel Burdziak via groups.io <presidentsarcasm@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 4:20:49 PM To: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] Astrophotography done with the iEXOS-100 post your picture and details lets show what this mount can do. #iexos-100 #astrophotography #ExploreScientific #astrophotography This is my best so far, having only started doing Astro about 3 months ago, and only having the iexos-100 for two. Rebel t6 unguided -- Edwin Sanchez Iexos-100 ed-80 triplet canon T6i
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Daniel Burdziak
This is my best so far, having only started doing Astro about 3 months ago, and only having the iexos-100 for two. Rebel t6 unguided
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Wes Mcdonald
Bill Lots of sweat 😂. But sweeeeeet! Wes
-- Wes, Southport NC PMC-8, ES ED 127, 10" LX200GPS, Astro-Tech 8" Newt, ETX-90 Polemaster, Orion ST-80 and SAG Electrical Engineer, Retired
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Wes Mcdonald
Bob Explore Scientific takes the position that third party software is not something they support. In the case of ascom they made and support their driver to enable use of the broad spectrum of ascom compliant clients. Most users in the forum doing astrophotography use this capability and it works very well. Notably PHD2 for guiding. Astrophotography programs from many sources are used to manage imaging and indeed overall site and process automation. I am unclear where the indi driver came from. Multiple users employ it, Steven being one. There are sufficient now on the forum who are willing to assist Mac users. I am a Mac person but I threw in the towel for my mount computer and employ windows on a boot camped Mac mini. My experience with windows on macs is they run Windows better than windows boxes...:). In the windows world there are just so many applications, and the ascom group is well developed and the platform very stable. One thing I do to make my life better is run the Mac mini from my iMac over RDP. Works like a charm and the screen resolution is great, plus I can hang out inside while the mount does the freezing. Mini takes some power though. For star party use I still have my Dell laptop. Not sure it is less power tho. Anyhow that’s kind of the big picture. Maybe Jerry or others can clarify the ES position on indi. If you asked me what operating system to start with I would probably recommend you start using the PMC8 systems with ascom on a pc. This is partly because the huge preponderance of people seem to use the PC and can help. But I surely understand the desire to use macs. Wes -- Wes, Southport NC PMC-8, ES ED 127, 10" LX200GPS, Astro-Tech 8" Newt, ETX-90 Polemaster, Orion ST-80 and SAG Electrical Engineer, Retired
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Re: Astrophotography Done with the iEXOS-100, EXOS 2, and G11 Post your Pictures and Details! Lets Show What These Mounts Can Do.
#G11
#astrophotography
#iEXOS-100
#EXOS2
Hi all,
I got some decent footage of Jupiter and Saturn last Friday (early in the morning, like 4 AM). I wanted to share some of the technique and processing steps. The set-up was: Scope: Celestron C8 with a 3x Celestron X-Cel barlow (so an effective focal length of 6096 mm; these X-Cel barlows are nice; I get no chromatic aberration through mine... I do get some, but its all from the SCT itself). Camera: ASI385 (standard, not-pro version) Mount: EXOS II with PMC 8 (Although you could certainly do this with iEXOS100) The seeing was pretty good, so I shot 100ms frames (10 fps) in SharpCap for about 50 seconds (gain 200, RAW8 color space). Of the 500 frames shot in the sequence, this one is the single best frame according to AutoStakkert: I used AutoStakkert to stack the best 77 frames of video (that's where the quality rating dropped to 80% of the best above) to get this result: Opened the stack of 77 in Registax 6 to use the Wavelet editor to bring out finer detail to get this result: And finally, used Polarr to touch up the color, rotate, and crop the image: -- Bill Mounts: EXOS II PMC-Eight, LXD75 Cameras: ZWO ASI294MCPro, ASI385
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Indeed and thank you. And yes I know the stars need to be separated. My first effort was cass and Scorpio I’ll keep working on it.
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Wes Mcdonald <wesmcd6@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 10:51:13 AM To: MAIN@espmc-eight.groups.io <MAIN@espmc-eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] EXOS2 GT Bob
Good advice from folks. As for using the Big Dipper stars...one will be good but please don’t use two. Alignment calcs need more separation, especially in Ra. The app generally does a good job of getting things spread out but if you skip
through the list and use two or three stars near one another the calcs get ill conditioned. This can lead to poor performance.
Take a look at those alignment coefficients...you can turn on their display in the iPad in the settings area for Explorestars. I think the button says show alignment coefficients or some such. They appear at the bottom of the data displayed
on the main screen.
Wes
-- Wes, Southport NC PMC-8, ES ED 127, 10" LX200GPS, Astro-Tech 8" Newt, ETX-90 Polemaster, Orion ST-80 and SAG Electrical Engineer, Retired
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Very helpful. Thank you. I’ll look at it tonight. Perhaps explore scientific can produce a plug in to do this.
Bob
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Steven Romero <steven.romero@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 2:11:18 PM To: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] EXOS2 GT Bob,
I'm doing a write up but you probably don't want to wait. This is a quick and dirty version of what I did (and assumes you've installed and added your geo, time, telescope, eyepiece parameters, etc.): 1) Installed Kstars - I don't like this program, but it includes the INDI pmc-8 driver you need for your Mac to talk to Stellarium. I don't recommend installing INDI drivers any other way on the Mac, but you can try if you want to remain frustrated 2) Start up the INDI control panel in Kstars and select your mount (EXOS2-GT), then run a local service on port 7624 (this is automatic after you Run the service) 3) Connect to the pmc-8 wifi 4) Connect the INDI control panel in Kstars to the pmc-8 - you have to set up the connection controls from the Configuration menu first (select Ethernet, TCP - the port that is listed is the default - leave it alone) 5) Start up Stellarium 6) Activate the Telescope Plugin in Stellarium and select the Telescopes tab 7) Configure the Telescope Plugin - select Telescope controlled by - INDI/INDIGO radio button 8) Scroll down to INDI settings - you should see localhost 7624 in the Host settings, click Refresh Devices - you should see "ES EXOS2-GT PMC-8" appear in the devices window 9) Click OK and go back to the main Telescope Control window 10) Click Connect - you should now see "Connected" status under "Telescopes Controlled" window for your scope You're now connected to the PMC-8 with Stellarium on your Mac. One disclaimer - Stellarium won't solve your alignment issues, but it does help me find things in the sky. Stellarium has a virtual hand controller that you can use to slew your scope to look for things you want to see until you get polar alignment issues sorted. It also has the usual goto features. Hope this helps. Regards, -- Steven Romero Location: Houston, TX and surrounding environs (50%) Midland,TX and a large swath of West, TX (50%) Mount: EXOS2-GT PMC-8 Scope: ED102 APO Eyepieces: 24mm, 11mm, 6.5mm (82 deg) Software: Kstars (OS X)
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Bob,
I'm doing a write up but you probably don't want to wait. This is a quick and dirty version of what I did (and assumes you've installed and added your geo, time, telescope, eyepiece parameters, etc.): 1) Installed Kstars - I don't like this program, but it includes the INDI pmc-8 driver you need for your Mac to talk to Stellarium. I don't recommend installing INDI drivers any other way on the Mac, but you can try if you want to remain frustrated 2) Start up the INDI control panel in Kstars and select your mount (EXOS2-GT), then run a local service on port 7624 (this is automatic after you Run the service) 3) Connect to the pmc-8 wifi 4) Connect the INDI control panel in Kstars to the pmc-8 - you have to set up the connection controls from the Configuration menu first (select Ethernet, TCP - the port that is listed is the default - leave it alone) 5) Start up Stellarium 6) Activate the Telescope Plugin in Stellarium and select the Telescopes tab 7) Configure the Telescope Plugin - select Telescope controlled by - INDI/INDIGO radio button 8) Scroll down to INDI settings - you should see localhost 7624 in the Host settings, click Refresh Devices - you should see "ES EXOS2-GT PMC-8" appear in the devices window 9) Click OK and go back to the main Telescope Control window 10) Click Connect - you should now see "Connected" status under "Telescopes Controlled" window for your scope You're now connected to the PMC-8 with Stellarium on your Mac. One disclaimer - Stellarium won't solve your alignment issues, but it does help me find things in the sky. Stellarium has a virtual hand controller that you can use to slew your scope to look for things you want to see until you get polar alignment issues sorted. It also has the usual goto features. Hope this helps. Regards, -- Steven Romero Location: Houston, TX and surrounding environs (50%) Midland,TX and a large swath of West, TX (50%) Mount: EXOS2-GT PMC-8 Scope: ED102 APO Eyepieces: 24mm, 11mm, 6.5mm (82 deg) Software: Kstars (OS X)
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Re: EXOS2 GT
I use a MacBook pro and no problem with stellarium. Let me know how you managed it. .
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From: MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io <MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io> on behalf of Steven Romero <steven.romero@...>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 11:25:32 AM To: MAIN@espmc-eight.groups.io <MAIN@espmc-eight.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ESPMC-Eight] EXOS2 GT Hi Bob.
I've been having these types of issues as well, and yes it is frustrating. I've since accepted that amateur astronomy is a process.
A few observations:
1) I thought I was polar aligning well, but after reviewing some notes from others here and also looking online, I found out I wasn't. I'm using the Polar Scope Align app available for iPhone which helps, but read the detailed instructions or you'll still
be off. Others here don't even use the polar scope but instead opt for other tools (Polemaster, Sharcap).
2) I had some cone error, but corrected this. I posted a document in the files section of the MOUNTS subgroup that explains this. There is a helpful video referenced as well
3) I found out my mount could not be leveled. One of the legs pulls out longer than the other. ExploreScientific made good on this. Check for this, and use a real level, not the bubble
4) You should be able to get Stellarium to work with this mount. Not sure what platform you have, but it works for Windows users and I just figured out over the weekend how to get it working on my MacBook Pro (if you can get Stellarium working on a Mac
you can get it working on anything).
Hope it helps.
Steve
On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 1:58 AM Bob <drrtownsend@...> wrote:
-- Steven Romero Location: Houston, TX and surrounding environs (50%) Midland,TX and a large swath of West, TX (50%) Mount: EXOS2-GT PMC-8 Scope: ED102 APO Eyepieces: 24mm, 11mm, 6.5mm (82 deg) Software: Kstars (OS X)
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Re: EXOS2 GT
Bill Black
On Sun, Jun 21, 2020 at 11:58 PM, Bob wrote:
Hi Bob, That last part "I park the scope again..." is an unnecessary step and I suspect may be where your problem arises. If you loosened the clutches at that point (or any point) after the alignment routine, then the alignment will be lost. Try just slewing directly to Jupiter after you finish the alignment and hopefully it will hit it :) -- Bill
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