Test: CGM DX mount on a tripod dolly

 08/21/24 -- testing out a new Proaim Lineo Portable Video Camera Floor Dolly as a mechanism to easily move the mount in and out. Removed the rubber feet from the Meade Vintage Field Tripod and removed the adapter for spiked tripod feet from the Proaim...which allowed the Meade tripod feet to fit securely braced inside the dolly...which provided opportunity to really lock the tripod legs so that the whole mount is secure and free from vibration.

Set up the LX10 with the dual-narrowband filter with the SVBony 405c and the 0.63 Meade focal reducer.  Ensured the mount on the dolly was level... then performed an initial rough alignment using the cell phone compass... this produced an initial polar alignment error (shown in PHD2 running on the Odroid XU4) as ~53' (not bad for a rough guess).

Initial testing was stymied for hours at first from problems with the Gl.iNet gl-mt300a (Azure) wireless mini router which connects the Odroid XU4 telescope control computer to the local wireless network. Burned new firmware, reset the configuration for "Repeater" and successfully tested the setup with the Odroid (3 hours gone...and some clouds rolling in with a bright full moon).  Given horrible seeing conditions, this is really a test event ... getting the equipment back out for the first time in months...testing out the new dolly and getting the router working again.

Meteoblue seeing prediction for Kensington MD on 08/21/2024

Cleardarksky seeing prediction for Montgomery County for 08/21/2024 confirming really poor conditions for anything other than a basic equipment test.

The Indi Allsky camera pseudo sky quality index for 08/21/2024 hovering around 24,000 during the polar alignment phase for this test. Good values are about 4,500 here.

The Indi Allsky camera star count during the evening of 08/20 and early morning of 08/21/2024.

Proaim Lineo Portable Video Camera Floor Dolly

08/24/2024 -- Several additional days of testing -- with repeated challenges getting the mount to calibrate during guiding. Had initially forgotten the guide cable between the Zwo ASI-120mc-s and the mount. Also needed to use the inclinometer to precisely set the mount elevation.  After adjusting elevation, guiding calibration was nominal and guide performance restored to normal. Testing collection against NGC 6960 (Western Veil).  Svbony 405cc camera set to 5c with gain set to 285 (no offset). Using the 0.63 focal reducer with the venerable LX10 and the dual narrow band filter.  

Cleardarksky seeing prediction for Montgomery County for evening of 08/24/2024 showing improved, but still poor overall conditions with the moon at 71% rising at 11pm.

Meteoblue seeing prediction for Kensington MD on 08/21/2024.

Ultimately polar alignment in azimuth showed an error of less than 2'.

PHD2 drift alignment result showing error below 3'.

Although the Indi/Ekos scheduler was not functioning, was successful collecting 60s light frames for NGC 6960 with guiding using the camera panel.  Examined 120 and 180s and determined saturation appeared clear for the central star.

Indi Allsky backyard camera results for pseudo sky quality and number of stars in the field of view for the evening of 08/24 to morning of 08/25/2024 with jSQM levels around 20,000 (with 4,500 nominal for a moon-free sky).

Starting around 06:30, started collecting 40x flat frames with the camera at 5 degrees and gain left at 285 with the OTA pointed at zenith (still cloud free), 40x flat dark frames, 40x bias and 30x dark frames with the OTA cover and the rain cover installed.

Processed 133x60 light frames using AstroPixelProcessor (corresponding to ~2.22 hours of integration).  Results showed significant amp glow suggesting a discrepancy between light, dark, bias, flat and flat dark frames. May make sense to try recollecting the flats with long exposure as a recommended method to reduce amp glow problems.

NGC 6960 (Western Veil Nebula) collected under bright moon using a dual narrowband Ha + OIII) filter from 133x60s light frames on 08/24-25/2024 after calibrating, registering, integrating, cropping and post-processing in Astro Pixel Processor.

09/02/24 (Labor Day!) Clear skies, no moon... additional testing with NGC 6960 with the mount on top of the dolly.  Used the aluminum level + cell phone compass to do a rough alignment...trusting in the previous work to get elevation (re)set correctly. Also testing the mount, Odroid XU4 and Svbony 405cc camera all running on an external battery (Powkey 120Wh/33,000mAh Power Bank with AC Outlet).  Running the camera and Odroid from the normal AC adapter but the mount is running from DC using a 12v car lighter adapter.

Powkey 120Wh/33,0000mAh power bank with AC outlet.

Seeing forecast for 09/02 - 09/03/2024 from meteoblue showing clear skies, no moon and poor seeing overall.

Forecast from cleardarkskies for Monday night 09/02-03 showing dark, clear skies (also suggesting poor seeing). 

The Indi Allsky camera showed pseudo sky quality metric of ~4700 at 09:20 (and decreasing). Initial rough polar alignment with the compass resulted in an error in azimuth of ~+800" measured with the drift alignment tool in PHD2 running on the odroid (set to 1 second integration). Physically shifted the entire mount several times to make coarse initial adjustments. This brought the alignment error down to ~+90".  Then switched to using the fine adjustment knobs... ultimately brought the error down to -7".

Began collection against NGC 6960 with 120s light frames with the camera cooled to 5C.  This time, the scheduler in Indi/Ekos worked successfully to launch the collection.  The internal Indi/Ekos guider calibrated successfully and guided with an RMS of ~3.2" (RMS).  Initial inspection of light frames in ASTAP showed what appeared to be good focus.

Indi Allsky camera charts from 10:45pm showing pseudo sky quality metric of 4300 (an exceptionally low value for this backyard).

Captured 40 light frames before a meridian flip... noted that guiding was exceptionally poor after the flip... double checked polar alignment and it looks like the mount shifted during the flip because the alignment was -190".  Ugh. Re-aligned.  Many steps... painful.  After getting the polar alignment back to a reasonable level (~20"), the external battery died.  :<  Plugged back into the wall outlet and restarted the Odroid and mount.  Restarted the scheduled job... this calibrated, guided and collected another ~20 light frames until running out of sky ~3am.

Rough cut stack from just 54x120s light frames (no calibration) sigma clip average within ASTAP.

09/03/24 -- Another moonless night...clouds not expected until ~2-3am.  Maintained the same configuration (LX10, 0.63 focal reducer, dual narrow-band filter, Svbony 405cc). Debated about moving to a CLS filter vs dual-narrow band...but decided to keep the configuration consistent for NGC 6960 collection.  Performed a new drift alignment using PHD2 running on the Odroid...showed an error of ~-190".  After just one correction (pre-meridian, tightened on the left) was able to bring this down to ~3".  Started NGC 6960 scheduled job at ~9:50pm.  Guiding with RMS errors of ~3 arc sec RMS.

Seeing forecast from meteoblue for Silver Spring for 09/02-09/03/2024 showing high level clouds appearing at 3am.

Forecast seeing for 09/03-04/2024 with clouds expected around 2-3am.

Indi Allsky results for 10:13pm showing a pseudo sky quality metric of ~4500 (quite low).

At 11:58, restarted the scheduler after crafting a new sequence file that applies an offset value of 32 in the Indi/Ekos CCD tab.  This was based on results describing calibration challenges and solutions for the SV405cc in a Cloud Nights posting.  Unfortunately, calibration failed repeated in the Indi/Ekos internal guider. Attempted to perform a new polar drift alignment...found the polar error had increased to -100" after the meridian flip (mount shifted?). Using PHD2 running on the Odroid brought this down under 20"... but continued to have problems calibrating in Indi/Ekos... and so the collection was aborted  for today at 12:47am without collecting light frames with an offset to test this potential key fix for better calibration.

09/04/2024 -- cloudy skies -- collecting calibration frames.  With the OTA pointed to zenith and not tracking, used the USB-powered light panel (on the lowest setting) to capture flats using several sheets of 8x10 paper as neutral density filter (laid in a cross shape). Collected 40x4s at 57 gain and 40x4s with 0 gain with offset set to 32. Also collected a series of 40x flat dark, dark and bias frames spanning gain of 287 with zero offset as well as calibration frames with offset of 32.

The venerable "HSK B4/A3s Artist tracing Light Box Copy Table,USB Power Dimmerable 6000 Lux Lock Button Artcraft Light Pad for Tatto Drawing, Sketching, Animation,Diamond Painting"

Light panel sitting on top of the OTA while illuminating through sheets of 8x10 paper.

09/05/24 (Thursday) -- No moon...but skies are not perfect tonight with some clouds in the sky at dust and a mixed forecast. Goal: test the collection of light frames using an offset of 32 to see if amp glow is better controlled in the resulting calibrated light frames.  Using the same set up as earlier.

Seeing forecast for the evening of 09/05/2024 showing spotty clouds expected all evening with heavier clouds after midnight

 

Cleardarksky forecast does not indicate cloudy conditions for 09/05 over Montgomery County.

Indi Allsky camera metrics for 09:20pm on 09/05/2024 show a pseudo sky quality metric of ~6300 (which is not great...good skies being ~4000 on this scale). This dropped to ~5500 by 10:45pm.