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thanks for watching Sharon! I hope to have some images soon from the new setup!

I understand your initial reaction. I’m happy to report it is very solid and stable. I hope to share some imaging session results soon. Clear skies!

@@marksastrojourney Yes you are doing a very professional well planned out job on that observatory my friend! I look forward to seeing your imaging nights! Clear Skies!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

I watched the movement of the mount very closely while slewing. I could not see any vibrations or shuddering. Grabbing a hold on the pier and mount, they are very solid and don’t budge any. I have a 1/2” gap between the floor and the concrete pier. The first session or two of imaging should reveal any issues with stability or confirm none exist - the proof will be in the guiding and image quality. Regarding SkyShed, I got the impression they are short staffed and it adds some delays. Also, they seem to process orders in batches. So the timing of your order placement in relation to their next batch seems to determine if you wait for several weeks or 2-3 months. I ended up missing a batch, thus had to wait longer to receive the pier.

glad you enjoyed it Delores!

thanks for sharing them Virginia! I’m getting closer to getting it all together.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Imaging the eclipse was an awesome experience! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

More to come!

I saw them put plastic for splatter on the front and side for the walk and apron, but not on the inside for the main floor. But it doesn’t seem to have any splatter. They did insulate both roofs.

Thanks for watching! Yes, I think the observatory will definitely improve my experience.

Thanks for watching SkyShed POD Team! Feel free to include a link to my unboxing video within your site/channel/content if you feel it would be helpful to others who may be interested in getting a pier. Clear skies!

@@marksastrojourney I'm about to do that Mark! For Jon, who's pier shipped yesterday. I'm here as needed. ;)

There are j-bolts in concrete in the top of the concrete footing. The metal pier will be secured to those.

looking forward to trying it out!

It’s fortunate N.I.N.A. is working well for you. I played around some with PHD2’s drift alignment tool. I think it would take a little more time to master as it doesn’t seem as intuitive as some of the other tools and their user interface. I’ve read that using bookmarks as you go along with the PHD2 drift align makes it easier to use. Clear skies!

I opened Stellarium on my laptop and under the Help About section it displays my version as follows: Stellarium 1.1 Version 1.22.4 Based on Qt 6.4.0 I suppose it is possible that they've modified the Landscape feature and adding a custom landscape requires one of the steps I did to be performed slightly differently or the requirements for the custom image are different. I hate to hear it's not working out for you. It's really nice to have your own landscape displayed within Stellarium.

@@marksastrojourney I found Stellarium 23.4 version 23.4.0 based on Qt: 6.5.3. Thanks anyway, I solved it: the name of the landscape in the .ini file was not the same (capital letter) with that of the folder containing the files. Thank you.

I'm glad to hear you figured it out. Sometimes it's those pesky little details like casing or spelling that trip us up. Clear skies!

Thanks 👍

Thanks for sharing your findings!

Thanks!

I’ve read several threads on there, it seems like a good forum for getting suggestions. IOptron had me send them the phd2 logs before they had me send it in for servicing. But they didn’t recommend any course of action or different settings aside from the service they did on it.

this builder is Amish and doesn’t handle the building permit process. So I did the building permit online. In our area, they prefer online submission. I had to attach my plans, which clearly indicate the observatory and the roll off roof. The building inspector gave the final inspection approval. He came for several inspections. Regarding the electric, my electrician did that permit separately. The final electrical inspection is still pending as the electric meter is getting hooked up today. I feel all roll of roofs involve some risks from storms due to the nature of their design and not being permanently attached. But I believe building standards and tolerances vary by state, city and county to a certain degree.

I just checked the log folders for PHD2 and noticed no log is getting created because I don’t have that checkbox enabled. So I can’t check history from a recent session to give a precise statistic. However, my recollection is that for the most part the line on the graph in PHD2 stays between -2¨ and +2”. However, there are spikes out to -+4 and even -+6. I have the mounts PEC disabled and have the Predictive PEC enabled in PHD2. I found PHD2’s PEC works better than that of the mount. Also, I’ve been getting my polar alignment down to under 1 arc minute. Usually, I’m able to get that down to around 20 arc seconds on both alt/az. Guide camera is a ZWO 120mm mini guide camera. Main camera is a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro. Telescope is a WO Redcat61 with focal length of 300 and f4.9. No focal reducer involved with this scope. I have seen many positive reviews of the CEM40 and GEM45. But I’ve found several people’s threads facing similar guiding issues as mine with the GEM28. Unfortunately, I didn’t find those threads until after I had it a while. In no way am I trying to cast a negative light on iOptron. As long as I stick with 3 minute or less exposures, the mount does well. It is also quite portable and I’ve taken it on multiple trips to other sites//states. I did multiple attempts at 5 minute exposures and just got tired of discarding so many bad subframes. I can still get decent results at 3 minutes even with narrowband. That being said, I’d still like to do 5 minute exposures. As a side note, I did send my GEM28 back to iOptron early on to have them service it. This resulted from a series of support communications. They replaced a drive belt, replaced the grease in the gearbox and adjusted it and said it was fine. Regarding strain wave or harmonic, I guess I might try that in the future for a grab n go mount. But in this case, I’m going to put this EQ6-R Pro on a pier. I don’t plan to be swapping out mounts on the pier or using this at other sites. Thus as a personal preference I like this mount for this use case. For now if I travel, I’ll take the GEM28. Thanks for the interest and watching - clear skies!

yes, heavier than my Gem28 mount for sure! But once I get it on the pier, i don’t plan on moving it from there.

thanks, clear skies!

I’m really looking forward to being able to use the observatory! Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

thanks for the encouragement!

Unsure which power you mean? If you mean power in the new observatory: I'm still waiting for the electric company to hook up the meter on the building as I had to have a new service installed for the building separately. If you mean power management for my telescope mount, I've been using a Pegasus Advanced Powerbox. I made that barn quilt some time back. It is made from wood and then hand painted. I made a 2nd one and only painted the solid background color. I'm still trying to think of a cool pattern to use that would be appropriate for the observatory building.

@@marksastrojourney Electricity to the building us what I meant. Of course, the Pegasus Powerbox is a strong choice for the management. I'll dig through some of my quilt block pattern books to see if anything screams observatory at me and let you know. Hundreds of star variants of course, yours looks like a simplified mariner's compass. It's a good one

The electricity to the building situation has me a little stumped. It's been almost 2 weeks since the inspector gave the go ahead for REMC to connect the meter/line. I called them to ask when it might be done. They said, it's not on the schedule yet and sent me to the voicemail of one of their engineers. But no call was returned to my message. I thought they'd be eager to hookup anything that would start making them money. I guess they don't have enough workers or they sent them all out of state to work on storm damage repair and have nobody to do local work. I doubt they'd be here more than 30-60 minutes. The line is already installed and just needs to be connected on both ends.

Thanks for the feedback and for watching! Clear skies!

it sounds like you’ve worked out a great solution for your grab and go setup. I was looking at phd2 guiding’s drift align, but could tell right away it will take some experimentation to get the hang of it. Clear skies! It’s great to hear from the Southern hemisphere!

thanks for sharing your observations! I also think if the mount is on a tripod instead of a pier, one of the tripod legs can shift ever so slightly and throw it off after it’s polar aligned. The equipment cools and warms over time and it seems like that’s a factor as well. Clear skies!

I will take a photo and send to you. Thanks for watching!

I totally understand! I too was in the same spot at one time. But after starting to use it, a person realizes it is a great tool! Clear skies!

Is that a published test/finding you're referring to or your own? Feel free to post the URL if it was a published article. Clear skies!

I've had great results with it. Can believe I wasted money on that QHY polar camera system.

Thanks for sharing that - it might save some others wasting their money. Clear skies!

That’s a pretty good outcome considering the limitations of your site! Clear skies!

You’re welcome! I hope you found something useful to save a little time. Clear skies!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks for sharing your experience and some helpful suggestions for getting the best results! Clear skies!

It's great to hear from someone in Australia! I can see why you like Sharpcap's Polar Align feature - overall Sharpcap gives a lot of options to allow us to control the different tools. Thanks for watching and wishing you clear skies!

That’s a good outcome, only 1 arc sec! I’m finding once I get down to around 30 arc seconds or less for polar alignment, it’s challenging to adjust without over correction. It might have something to do with how the mount bolts and adjustment mechanism is designed. Thanks for sharing your experience!

I’ll have to look up the duration in the specs. I seem to recall it being something like 10 minutes. But that sounds like another interesting twist I could do for this exercise. Clear skies!

​@@marksastrojourneyThe GEM28 is indeed 600 secs. Should be more than long enough to show any Dec/RA miss alignment. I use a CEM70 and iPolar. I try my best to get the cross concentric to the circle and the Dec tracking is pretty good. No consistent adjustments in 1 particular direction. I tried the 3 star alignment on APT and got terrible results so I stick to iPolar.

It's good to hear that some people are having good success just using iPolar! I've never owned a CEM70, but guessing that name means it can support a 70 lb payload. If that's right, I'm thinking your mount is heavier duty than mine. Do you see issues on the CEM70 with tightening the mount screws down affecting your polar alignment and having to do another final minor adjustment to correct that? Clear skies!

@@marksastrojourney The CEM70 does carry 70lb of load. There's no bolts to tighten down on the mount really. The azimuth is adjusted by 2 push bolts and I move the altitude with threaded feet on my home made tripod. There are 2 clamps on the mount to secure the altitude adjustment (which could shift the alignment) but they're always clamped down on my rig.

@alanjs1 That sounds like a good setup!

it’s good to hear your experience and I’m glad you enjoyed the video! Clear skies!

I do 5 calibrations back to back, then average x,y positions of the center of rotation and enter those averages in settings. This way, the polar alignment is as good as it could be with respect to the hardware limitations.

Thanks for watching and sharing what you've learned to work well with Polar Alignment! Clear skies!

Thanks for sharing some ideas! The polar scope came installed from the factory and I never have assessed whether or not it might not be installed properly. But it does appear to be fully flush to the mount as you mentioned. Interesting suggestion regarding slewing. Clear skies!

thanks for watching! I may give that a try to see what it shows. Clear skies!

thanks for all the great details shared in your comments! I do still enjoy this telescope. I’ve since added a wo redcat61 for wide field imaging. So now I end up using one for a month or two and then switching to the other one. I have to admit, since I’ve learned more of the basics of astrophotography I’ve barely done any visual astronomy. Clear skies!

@@marksastrojourney that's where a dob comes in handy, something to look through while your rig is integrating.

that’s a good catch on the filter, I didn’t even notice it - thanks for pointing it out! Thanks for mentioning the discrepancy you usually see between these PA utilities and PHD2 guiding assistant as well. Clear skies!

Not in my case. To avoid people having to wait through while the software is imaging/working, I didn’t show the entire wait time. It usually takes a few minutes in my case as I have to break down my equipment each time and set it all back up the next time.

Your screen shows 30s exposure in Nina , for platesolving ... 15s on sharpcap

that sounds frustrating about the polar scope not being able to be adjusted to be aligned with the mount itself. Do you find the nyx 101 mount to be superior to the eq6 pro?

I agree with you about the screws used to tighten down the mount. Mine requires an Allen wrench. Also, just as you said and as was obvious in my video, tightening them down slightly undoes some of the your polar alignment adjustments. this probably could be better engineered so that the locking mechanism doesn’t shift the mount any. Clear skies!

same with my cem40, so I tighten the screws a little, realign then tighten fully.

Thanks KJ for sharing your experience! With my Gem28 ioptron mount, I feel that 3 min exposures are about the most I can push it. If I try to go for 5 mins, I usually have too many issues with distorted stars. If you want to step up to 5 min exposures, I wouldn’t recommend the Gem28. Clear skies!

I’d probably look at a GEM45 or CEM40. The EQ6 mount has a great reputation but the mount head is too heavy. I’m not sure strainwave mounts are good for higher focal length guiding. Thanks.

It'll be interesting to hear how one of those works out for you once you have it. Hopefully, the tracking will be better to help you get the longer exposure time you're after!