Replacing the motherboard in an EQ6 Pro mount

In a previous post, I mentioned that the GoTo handset of my mount had packed in and I was using a EQDirect adapter along with EQMac to point the telescope. This worked on and off for a couple of nights but eventually, that stopped working as well. As I had previously thought, it wasn't the GoTo handset at fault in the first instance but the mounts motherboard which obviously had an effect on EQDirect also. The mount has been outside under all weathers for almost 5 years now, so its not done bad at all to last this long.

Today, I received a replacement motherboard at a cost of £99 plus £10 p&p ordered from Opticstar. It only takes a few minutes to replace and consists of removing the four cross head screws that hold the access panel in place, in fact that panel and the motherboard are replaced as a single unit. Three wire connectors have to be disconnected from the board which can then be lifted out, the reverse is done to fit the new.

The access panel 

Access panel and motherboard come as one replaceable unit.

The three wire connectors

The two square objects are the stepper motors, the interior of the mount is clean, dry and rust free after almost 5 years outside.

 

The new board and panel in situ and ready for use.

EQMac and Stellarium

 T'other night after obtaining additional Ha subs of M42, at 00:22 UT, I moved onto NGC 2244 to capture further SII of the Rosette nebula to augment the Sulphur signal in this image.

At 01:12 I decided to do a meridian flip, the telescope inverted OK but for some reason the GoTo handset went dead, nothing on the display. I shut down on one of the best clear and steady nights I'd had for some months. Sods law.

The following morning I needed to confirm whether it was the electronics in the handset or inside the EQ6 Pro mount. A couple of years ago I purchased a EQDIR adapter my intention was to control the mount directly from the laptop using EQMOD which runs on the Windows platform. I'm a Mac user and even though I can run Windows on my Mac, I really prefer not to, so I really didn't try it.

Since purchasing the adapter EQMac has come on the scene and as it's name suggests it runs on the Mac platform and is David Hulse's software for directly controlling the Skywatcher and certain Atlas mounts from the laptop.  EQMac is still under development and is used in conjunction with the planetarium software Stellarium.

When connected up to my EQ6 Pro, EQMac instantly found the mount and instantly binned the handset.

As darkness fell, I started it all up and used Stellarium to point the scope,  after 20 minutes of playing around, I'd managed to sync on a few stars and pointed at M1 the Crab nebula in Taurus. This heavily cropped image complete with cosmic rays is a quick process  of 2 x 1200 sub exposures with a Ha filter, that's all the time I had before the clouds rolled in. If you're a Mac user EQMac is well worth a try and David is prompt at answering email questions.

M42 Orion nebula in Ha, new project started.

 I spent a couple of hours getting some OIII data for NGC1499 last night. It took me about 40 minutes to line up on the nebula, I was doing a frame and focus through the camera but couldn't see any of nebula, so I thought I was well off and had to hunt round. Then I had a brain wave - pretty painful that - I removed the OIII filter and put the Ha one in place. Suddenly I was swamped with nebulosity. Apparently there's not much OIII in this area and what there is, is very, very faint. It looked just like a star field even with a 20 minute exposure. Anyway 2 hours of subs obtained. I then noticed Orion was up and temptation took a grip. I pointed at M42 until the clouds rolled in.

I got 15 x 60 subs and threw 3 of those away and obtained 6 x 300 subs also. This is my latest work in progress, I still need more subs so this is just a review of last nights work. My intention is to add further exposures, so sometime in the 22nd century it'll be done.

Here's a quick look. 12 x 60 and 6 x 300. This object as you may be aware can cause processing problems due to the HDR, High Dynamic Range. The trapezium stars burn out so easily while the rest of the nebula is in comparative darkness. That's why I took short exposures to control that burn, the longer exposures will exposure the faint stuff.

In PixInsight, feed in two or more HDR exposures and it'll work things out. Then it's just a case of processing it as normal.

Takahashi FSQ-106ED at prime focus f5 and a QSI 583 wsg CCD camera mounted on a EQ6 Pro mount guiding with a Starlight Express Lodestar camera and PHD. Capture and calibration with Nebulosity and processed with PixInsight.

NGC 7000 North America nebula and IC5070 Pelican nebula in Ha

At long last I've finished this mosaic, it consists of 6 frames each made up of 11 x 1200 sub exposures giving a total of 22 hours. Interestingly, the last frame at top right was taken late September in what has been described as an Indian Summer, in the early to late evening the ambient air temperature was 20° Celsius. I was unable to cool the QSI camera down to -20°C and had to make do at -15°C.

This final image is about 27.5 million pixels and 52.3 Mb in size.

They are one or two interesting features in this area of sky, the close crops below detail a few of them. Click on each image for an enlarged view. The first shows on the left an area I call the Ferret, then the dark oval shape of the Pelican's eye and finally on the right, at the end of that elephant's trunk like extension, is the Herbig Haro object 555.

The image below shows one of Barnard's Dark nebula, B355, that chevron shaped object left of centre. In his book, A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way, E. E. Barnard passes comment on this "...is a dark, V-shaped spot (B355), pointing west, about 5' in length. This is perhaps an opening in the nebulosity".

Finally this last one I find interesting, it's at the bottom edge and shows the gorgeous tendrils of dark nebulae.

Those of you who have paid frequent visits in the past may know that I have problems with trains running on the East coast mainline at the bottom of my garden. The house vibrates and the mount vibrates. About 12 months ago I read in the news that a government minister stated that a further 20 extra trains a day would be using the line. Well it appears that is now the case. I'm losing sub after sub due to the increased frequency of rail traffic, consequently, I'm unable to post images as often as I would like. In fact it did cross my mind on more than one occasion to sell my camera kit and try to do some visual work. However, I've decided to carry on regardless and may try reduced sub exposures times. I'm also wondering if an active optic unit will help.

Tek care
Dave

P.S. I now have the OIII and SII data to get, starting next year.

NGC7000 and IC5070 in Ha, two pane mosaic

A two pane mosaic of this well known area in Cygnus. IC 5070, the Pelican nebula on the right was imaged in August, 2010 and in fact has been posted on this blog in a previous posting. NGC 7000, North America nebula on the left, I took on the 8th, June 2011. There's about a 1/3 of a frame overlap the left pane was exposed for 7 x 1200" and the right, 5 x 1200"

This image will grow as I get more subs, it's a long term project.

As usual the focus, framing, acquiring and calibration was done in Nebulosity. The processing and mosaic building was done in PixInsight.

Edit 07.07.2011. Since posting the original image above, I've now added more sub exposures to the left hand pane. The North America part is now made up of 11 x 1200 subs, when clouds permit I'll add to the Pelican also. Then, I'll expand the frames outwards to cover a larger area and give the nebulae room to breath.

The image below includes the extra subs as you can see, I haven't cropped it. As a result of the second set of subs for the NAN, the frame is smaller. I'm unable to place the image on the sensor in the exact same place as previously. Obviously this will be rectified as overlapping frames are obtained.

Edit 31.07.2011. On the evening of the 30th, July, I captured further sub exposures for a third frame. It's made up of 11 x 1200 exposures.

Edit 08.08.2011. I've now got the subs for the fourth frame, just two more across the top then I'll post the image in a new posting.

Edit 15.08.2011. The fifth frame has now been obtained.

Edit the six frame mosaic is now complete and can be seen here.

Designation: NGC 7000 and IC 5070
Constellation: Cygnus.
Distance 1, 800 lights years.
Imaging scope - Takahashi FSQ-106ED  f5 at prime focus
Camera - QSI 583 wsg CCD camera, sensor temperature -20° C
Filter - Astrodon 3 nm Ha
Autoguiding - OAG, Starlight Express Lodestar guide camera, EQ6 Pro mount and PHD guiding software.
Darks, Dark flats and Flats used.
Software - Nebulosity for focus, acquisition, aligning and stacking. Then processed in PixInsight

BBC1, Sky at Night June, 2011 edition

My image of the North America and Pelican nebulae was used on this edition of the program, transmitted on BBC1 at 00:05.

I missed it, as I was elsewhere. It'll be repeated on the 9th and 11th June, 2011.

I hope to catch it then.

Edit 09. 06. 2011: I saw the extended version of the program transmitted at 7.30 pm, Thursday 9th June, 2011. A second photograph of mine the Crescent nebula in Ha was shown .

Supernova SN 2011dh in M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy

Yesterday, I spent a day at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire a sea birds reserve. There, I used my time trying to capture photos of one of my favourite birds the Fulmar.

On returning home, I'd received emails from the Webb Deep Sky Society and British Astronomical Association informing me of a type II core collapse supernova in M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy.

After spending a day walking up and down the cliff tops with a heavy camera and lens, I was knackered. But after learning of this event, I decided to set my imaging kit up and go for the supernova.

The object has been given the designation SN 2011dh and is located at Ra 13h 30m 5.0s and Dec +47° 10' 11.2". This galaxy is around 28 million light years away, so this event happened a long time ago but the light has just reached Earth these past few days. Ancient light!


The image and comparison image has been annotated with the capture details, just click on the image to enlarge it.