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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
Mike Forbes <mikeforbes059@...>
Oh awesome Pete, thank you so very much. Wonderful forum. Mike
On Thu, Aug 6, 2020, 10:21 AM Pete Armstrong <PeterArmstrong@...> wrote:
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Re: Simple fix to stop PMC-Eight metal bracket from sliding on tripod leg
This is my solution, no 3D printing required.
It's a Jubilee clip and it works really well. Notice it is a genuine Jubilee Clip not a cheap copy so probably costs a bit more.  It would be nice if ES included one of these in the box with the unit. Nick in Wales.
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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
Bill Black
Thanks Jerry!
That explains it; it is an artifact... Live and learn. So nobody else go hunting for it; it only exists in my image train :) -- Bill Mounts: EXOS II PMC-Eight, LXD75 Cameras: ZWO ASI294MCPro, ASI385
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Re: Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount illuminated polar alignment + 90 degree polar alignment
This was my solution to this same issue. I found that this Nikon 90° viewfinder for a SLR camera works very well. I simply attached a half of a .965 bolt case over the threads from the viewfinder, then just slide it over my polar scope eyepiece. Definitely a improvement over kneeling on the ground.
   -- William Optics Zenithstar 80edll Skywatcher quattro 8 Meade 8" sct Meade DS-10, outreach when I eat my wheaties Explore Scientific first light 80- outreach Explore Scientific Exos2 PMC8 Explore Scientific iexos100 PMC8 Canon 60d Nikon d90 Zwo asi120mm Zwo asi178mc Samsung Galaxy 7 tablet Amazon Fire10 HD tablet Multiple windows laptops
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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
On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 02:41 PM, Bill Black wrote:
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows what this nebula is... does it have a name or number?Yes, it is called the "Reflection Nebula"..... It is an artifact in your image caused by the bright star Vega reflecting either off the clear camera chip cover or another optic you may have in the image train. I have seen this much more pronounced when filters are in the image train. This reflection occurs typically when the bright light from the star is reflected off the chip surface back up to the protective glass over the chip, and then back to the chip again. Rest assured, it is not a real nebula. -- Jerry Hubbell Vice President of Engineering Explore Scientific, LLC. jrh at explorescientific.com www.explorescientificusa.com 1010 S. 48th Street Springdale, AR 72762 1-866-252-3811 Author: Scientific Astrophotography: How Amateurs Can Generate and Use Professional Imaging Data Remote Observatories for Amateur Astronomers: Using High-Powered Telescopes From Home Mark Slade Remote Observatory (MSRO) IAU MPC W54 Equipment Wilderness, VA Mounts: ES PMC-Eight G11 + Telescope Drive Master (TDM) Scopes: ES 165 FPL-53 ED APO CF, ES 102 FCD100 ED APO CF Cameras: QHY174M-GPS + FW, QHY163C Misc: 3-inch 0.7x Focal Reducer Field Flattener, Filters: Luminance, Red, V-band Photometric, Diffuser, 200 lpmm Spectral Grating Software: MaxIm DL 6, Cartes du Ciel, Astrometrica, AstroImageJ, AutoStakkert!
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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
Bill Black
Hi All, so it's been cloudy here for months, it seems. Finally gave up on completely clear skies because I wanted to get out and test out a few things. Vega was just about the only thing not covered by clouds, so I was doing some test shots and noticed a small green oval nebula. At first I thought, is the ring nebula that close to Vega; nope and this thing is much smaller. Maybe it is just an artifact of some sort, but it does not look like an artifact to me. The only thing is that I can't seem to find any information on this object. I don't think I've photographed Vega before, or at least not in many years.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows what this nebula is... does it have a name or number? Also curious if anyone else has photographed this thing. I'm not sure how easy it is to see in the attached photo, but it is just off Vega in the center toward the upper right... tiny green oval. This is 10 60s subs using the ASI294MCPro, AT80 APO, 0.8 reducer, and, of course, the EXOS II with PMC8.  -- Bill Mounts: EXOS II PMC-Eight, LXD75 Cameras: ZWO ASI294MCPro, ASI385
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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
Pete Armstrong <PeterArmstrong@...>
Mike,
Hopefully you saved your .ser file made by mistake. I made exactly the same mistake with SharpCap, and was horrified to think my data was gone. Fortunately there is a very nice program called SER Player that can not only play .ser files, but also extract each frame to the file type of your choice – including .tiff.
It is open source GNU code and so is entirely free to download and use. Really saved my buns! Get it here: https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/ser-player
Pete . . .
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Re: Slewing behavior: POTH Hub vs Device Hub
#ASCOM
#iEXOS-100
On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 06:17 AM, Steve Lang wrote:
More importantly, I'm keen to test the new ascom driver with built in server (no POTH required.) Would prefer to do that with 6.4sp1 (my current setup) if that's useful to you, and I can test/run ascom conformance tool as well.Hi Steve, Yes, I would appreciate any testing you would like to do once we have completed our internal Alpha testing. We have yet to create a standard installation package for the new server/driver, but once we have done that, it will be easier to distribute and get feedback on it. I am hoping we can do this within the next couple of weeks (crossing my fingers!) -- Jerry Hubbell Vice President of Engineering Explore Scientific, LLC. jrh at explorescientific.com www.explorescientificusa.com 1010 S. 48th Street Springdale, AR 72762 1-866-252-3811 Author: Scientific Astrophotography: How Amateurs Can Generate and Use Professional Imaging Data Remote Observatories for Amateur Astronomers: Using High-Powered Telescopes From Home Mark Slade Remote Observatory (MSRO) IAU MPC W54 Equipment Wilderness, VA Mounts: ES PMC-Eight G11 + Telescope Drive Master (TDM) Scopes: ES 165 FPL-53 ED APO CF, ES 102 FCD100 ED APO CF Cameras: QHY174M-GPS + FW, QHY163C Misc: 3-inch 0.7x Focal Reducer Field Flattener, Filters: Luminance, Red, V-band Photometric, Diffuser, 200 lpmm Spectral Grating Software: MaxIm DL 6, Cartes du Ciel, Astrometrica, AstroImageJ, AutoStakkert!
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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
Mike Forbes <mikeforbes059@...>
Thank you. Yes I have learned a little about stacking. Thanks for the other suggestions, awesome. This evening 2am was going to try andromeda galaxy again, 3rd star alignment, ready to goto, and bang....clouds. Lol The moon was in the south so I had a little fun with it. 100 frames stacked in registax 6, a little edit in gimp. fun stuff. This time I captured the frames in .fit. Yay
On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 7:54 PM Timothy Myers <tim_s_myers@...> wrote: You are just starting out, lots to learn, as a matter of fact the learning never stops, sometimes it is like drinking from a fire hose. I will address a couple things, You need to find your camera's Unity Gain and Offset, which should be available from ZWO. These will give you a good starting point for Gain. If you are not guiding, you will have to see how long your exposures can be without having start trails. Sometimes 30s is about all you can do, but some mounts will image longer and keep the stars round. If you are doing 30s then you will need lots of frames, like maybe 60 to 100. then find software to stack them. If you are just starting out you could try Deep Sky Stacker (DSS), it's free. Learn about Flats, Dark flats, Darks and Bias Frames to eliminate noise and imperfections from your images. Enough for now, like I said, Fire Hose, LOL.
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Re: Slewing behavior: POTH Hub vs Device Hub
#ASCOM
#iEXOS-100
Steve Lang
Hey Jerry. 1) I downloaded and installed devicehub (on Ascom Platofrm 6.4 sp1/latest/whatever) and noticed similar behavior with NINA. It worked for a while, then failed to slew and was generally not responsive. Had to restart ascom and use POTH instead, but I'm not convinced that devicehub is compatible with 6.4sp1 anyway. Will try to log a fault with dev's, but... 2) More importantly, I'm keen to test the new ascom driver with built in server (no POTH required.) Would prefer to do that with 6.4sp1 (my current setup) if that's useful to you, and I can test/run ascom conformance tool as well.
Cheers -
Cheers - On 31/07/20 2:43 am, Jerry Hubbell -
Explore Scientific VP Engineering wrote:
I would suggest that if you are having problems with specific applications on the new ASCOM 6.5 platform, that you report it to the Application developer and also to the ASCOM-Standards developers. There is an ASCOM Platform Groups.io forum where you can report these issues and discuss them at: This email has been
filtered by SMX. For more information visit
smxemail.com
-- Mounts: ES PMC-8 G11, Orion Atlas
Scopes: ES FCD100-80, GSO RC8, Orion XT10i
Cameras: QHY 8L, QHY163m, QHY5L-II, Polemaster
Misc: QHY FW, OAG
Software: NINA, PixInsight
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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
Timothy Myers
You are just starting out, lots to learn, as a matter of fact the learning never stops, sometimes it is like drinking from a fire hose. I will address a couple things, You need to find your camera's Unity Gain and Offset, which should be available from ZWO. These will give you a good starting point for Gain. If you are not guiding, you will have to see how long your exposures can be without having start trails. Sometimes 30s is about all you can do, but some mounts will image longer and keep the stars round. If you are doing 30s then you will need lots of frames, like maybe 60 to 100. then find software to stack them. If you are just starting out you could try Deep Sky Stacker (DSS), it's free. Learn about Flats, Dark flats, Darks and Bias Frames to eliminate noise and imperfections from your images. Enough for now, like I said, Fire Hose, LOL.
-- Tim Myers Telescopes: Celestron 4SE, Celestron 8SE, SkyWatcher 100ED Pro Mounts: 4-5 SE, 6-8SE, EXOS-2GT with PMC-Eight Cameras: ASI1600MC Imaging Camera, Cooled, ASI120 Guide Camera Focuser: ZWO EAF Scope Mounted Computer: Topton Pentium Laptop: Lenovo Software: CDC, SharpCap, NINA, PHD2
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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
Mike Forbes <mikeforbes059@...>
Nice image. I just bought a zenithstar 73 apo doublet and the exos 2 pmc eight mount, and a zwo asi294mc pro camera. My very first photo of the sky ever at age 61 lol. So what went wrong? Andromeda Galaxy 1. too short of the exposures (30 seconds) 2. I meant to capture images in the .Fitt format and chose .Ser by mistake 3. It was going to be sun up soon so I rushed 4. I did not have gain dialed in with the short exposure time 5. Probably 10 other things I have not learned yet, lol I did manage to polar align in sharpcap pro accurately, 3 star align with Explorestars, and slew to Andromeda with it in the corner of my FOV, so I guess I did something right for the first time ever trying this. I am now addicted, learning today and installing/configuring astrotortilla plate solving tool to use in sharpcap pro. fun fun fun Mike
On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 12:13 PM Timothy Myers <tim_s_myers@...> wrote:
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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
Timothy Myers
So after seeing the images of M13 lastnight at the Virtual Star Party, I wanted to add my M13 to the frey. I was imaging 7/10 and my target was the Pelican Nebula, but after getting everything up and running I slewed to look at the roof of my house, so realizing I would have to wait a couple hours to start on the Pelican, I decided to image M13. There were lots of clouds moving through so many of my frames had to be discarded, but I still got a decent image.
 -- Tim Myers Telescopes: Celestron 4SE, Celestron 8SE, SkyWatcher 100ED Pro Mounts: 4-5 SE, 6-8SE, EXOS-2GT with PMC-Eight Cameras: ASI1600MC, Cooled Tablets: Asus Nexus 7, Amazon Fire 7 Laptop: Lenovo
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Re: Interesting Post on CloudyNights
#ExploreScientific
#CloudyNights
Done
-- Sincerely, Jennifer Shelly AstroPorch, VA Mounts: ES PMC-8 G-11, ES PMC-8 EXOS-2 Scopes: ES ED127 FCD-100, ES Levy Comet Hunter, ES N208CF, QHY Mini Guide Scope, Solomark F60 Guide Scope Cameras: QHY600M, QHY128C, QHY168C Misc: MoonLite CFL 2.5 / High Res Stepper / V2 Mini Controller, Baader SteelTrack NT / SteelDrive II, Baader UFC, Optolong 2" L-Pro / L-eNhance, QHY CFW3-L, Baader 2” LRGBSHO CCD Imaging Software: NINA, APT, SharpCap Pro Processing Software: PixInsight, Lightroom, Premiere Elements
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Photo Notifications
#photo-notice
MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io Notification <MAIN@...>
The following photos have been uploaded to the Polar alignment with a laser pointer album of the MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io group.
By: Alberto Rivas Sendra The following photos have been uploaded to the Polar alignment with a laser pointer album of the MAIN@ESPMC-Eight.groups.io group.
By: Alberto Rivas Sendra
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Re: Listen Live Today at 4 pm CDT, 5 pm EDT
#OpenGOTOLive
Timothy Myers
Thanks Jerry
-- Tim Myers Telescopes: Celestron 4SE, Celestron 8SE, SkyWatcher 100ED Pro Mounts: 4-5 SE, 6-8SE, EXOS-2GT with PMC-Eight Cameras: ASI1600MC, Cooled Tablets: Asus Nexus 7, Amazon Fire 7 Laptop: Lenovo
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Re: Added album Polar alignment with a laser pointer
#photo-notice
Harry
I would also be interested in such a device if it was compatible with the iExos 100.
-- Harry Vero Beach, FL Scopes: ES ED80CF, ES AR102, Meade ETX 90 EC (Deforked) Mounts: ES iExos 100-PMC Eight, ExploreStars IPAD & Fire HD8 Nikon D600, D5500, MacOS, Starry Sky Stacker, Lightroom, Affinity Photo
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Re: Using iEXOS-100 beyond 60˚N/S
#iEXOS-100
On Tue, Aug 4, 2020 at 03:49 PM, Pavel wrote:
I have also thought about setting one leg of the tripod to the south and shortening it. It might be enough for visual observation. But would it be stable? And would it be usable for astrophotography? Any better ideas?HI Pavel, Yes, I responded to that discussion on CloudyNights. A 10 degree shift in angle with the north facing tripod leg is an effective strategy and will still result in a stable mount, but if you do that we always suggest that you provide some kind of anchor on the north leg in the ground to mitigate any chance of the mount toppling over. As long as the base of the tripod is level in the east/west direction it will work fine when tracking and aligning the mount. With an anchored north leg, you would probably be able to increase the altitude to an effective 80 degrees which should cover just about anyone wanting to use this mount. -- Jerry Hubbell Vice President of Engineering Explore Scientific, LLC. jrh at explorescientific.com www.explorescientificusa.com 1010 S. 48th Street Springdale, AR 72762 1-866-252-3811 Author: Scientific Astrophotography: How Amateurs Can Generate and Use Professional Imaging Data Remote Observatories for Amateur Astronomers: Using High-Powered Telescopes From Home Mark Slade Remote Observatory (MSRO) IAU MPC W54 Equipment Wilderness, VA Mounts: ES PMC-Eight G11 + Telescope Drive Master (TDM) Scopes: ES 165 FPL-53 ED APO CF, ES 102 FCD100 ED APO CF Cameras: QHY174M-GPS + FW, QHY163C Misc: 3-inch 0.7x Focal Reducer Field Flattener, Filters: Luminance, Red, V-band Photometric, Diffuser, 200 lpmm Spectral Grating Software: MaxIm DL 6, Cartes du Ciel, Astrometrica, AstroImageJ, AutoStakkert!
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Using iEXOS-100 beyond 60˚N/S
#iEXOS-100
Pavel
Hi,
I would like to ask if there is someone using the iEXOS-100 mount beyond 60˚ north/south. It is obvious to anyone who tried that the R.A. lock knob and the latitude adjustment knob crash together somewhere after 59 degrees. The question has just been raised on CloudyNights as well and some modifications have been suggested to avoid the crash, but apparently the mount still cannot be effectively set to more than 65 degrees. As an occasional visitor to Northern Europe (one of the last areas without light pollution around, but with latitudes between 60 and 70 degrees), I have also thought about setting one leg of the tripod to the south and shortening it. It might be enough for visual observation. But would it be stable? And would it be usable for astrophotography? Any better ideas? Best regards, Pavel
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Re: Added album Polar alignment with a laser pointer
#photo-notice
Hi Alberto,
Thanks for sharing your solution with the forum members. I am looking forward to your alignment results. -- Jerry Hubbell Vice President of Engineering Explore Scientific, LLC. jrh at explorescientific.com www.explorescientificusa.com 1010 S. 48th Street Springdale, AR 72762 1-866-252-3811 Author: Scientific Astrophotography: How Amateurs Can Generate and Use Professional Imaging Data Remote Observatories for Amateur Astronomers: Using High-Powered Telescopes From Home Mark Slade Remote Observatory (MSRO) IAU MPC W54 Equipment Wilderness, VA Mounts: ES PMC-Eight G11 + Telescope Drive Master (TDM) Scopes: ES 165 FPL-53 ED APO CF, ES 102 FCD100 ED APO CF Cameras: QHY174M-GPS + FW, QHY163C Misc: 3-inch 0.7x Focal Reducer Field Flattener, Filters: Luminance, Red, V-band Photometric, Diffuser, 200 lpmm Spectral Grating Software: MaxIm DL 6, Cartes du Ciel, Astrometrica, AstroImageJ, AutoStakkert!
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