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And the Hercules preorder is complete. I CANNOT wait!!! (Well, I guess I can, since I'm gonna have to, but y'all get the idea.)
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For anyone interested, here is The Deep Sky Dad flat panel on my E-130. It may or may not work well as a flat panel with the Epsilon but has a nice positive closure compared to other options so will make a great dust cover if nothing else for my remote install. The panel is heated (an option) so as not to add moisture to the OTA. I have two other options for flats at the site (sky and a large wall panel) so am not overly concerned about flats with this device, but will do a comparison once installed (early summer) just to see how it compares.
DSD Flat Video |
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Hey all, I made a dew shield with dust/light tight cover using OPTEC motor/board. I just installed it on my scope and grabbed a few snaps. Sorry for the poor quality, it was after sunset.
There is a mounting ring that bolts to the end of the OTA using the existing epsilon end ring mounting. Then the shield/cover is attached by 4 thumbscrews, so its easy to take on and off. The cover compresses into some silicone foam. I havent flocked the inside yet, but the material just arrived so thats next, as well as some testing. :-)
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Hey all, I made a dew shield with dust/light tight cover using OPTEC motor/board. I just installed it on my scope and grabbed a few snaps. Sorry for the poor quality, it was after sunset.
There is a mounting ring that bolts to the end of the OTA using the existing epsilon end ring mounting. Then the shield/cover is attached by 4 thumbscrews, so its easy to take on and off. The cover compresses into some silicone foam. I havent flocked the inside yet, but the material just arrived so thats next, as well as some testing. :-)
Looks fantastic! Wish I had this before deploying mine to NM!
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Daniel Carter:
Looks fantastic! Wish I had this before deploying mine to NM!
Thats why I buiilt it... in anticipation of a deployment to NM... lol. Installs easily, there is no fit adjustment or anything. Just bolts right to the scope.
I'm going to get this epsi tricked out.
-Hercules
-ASG Electronic Tilt (EAT)
-Motorized dust cover
Going to run it on a Mach2 and will have an OAG in the image train in case I want to guide. Super fun project!
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Are there pics of Hercules, or at least dimensions? I’m seriously considering a Leo but would opt for the Hercules if it’s not too bulky.
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Dan:
Are there pics of Hercules, or at least dimensions? I’m seriously considering a Leo but would opt for the Hercules if it’s not too bulky.
I'd love to see a pic of one as well!
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Daniel Carter:
Hey all, I made a dew shield with dust/light tight cover using OPTEC motor/board. I just installed it on my scope and grabbed a few snaps. Sorry for the poor quality, it was after sunset.
That is a super idea! I may have to copy that!
Also, some have said that flat panels don't work for Epsilons. I just processed my first test image from my E-130 (2.2 hours of Luminance, 67 120 sec exposures of M81-82 and the IFN). I used my DSD flat panel and if there is a problem, I sure cannot see it even on the heavily stretched IFN images...
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Bill McLaughlin:
Daniel Carter:
Hey all, I made a dew shield with dust/light tight cover using OPTEC motor/board. I just installed it on my scope and grabbed a few snaps. Sorry for the poor quality, it was after sunset.
That is a super idea! I may have to copy that!
Also, some have said that flat panels don't work for Epsilons. I just processed my first test image from my E-130 (2.2 hours of Luminance, 67 120 sec exposures of M81-82 and the IFN). I used my DSD flat panel and if there is a problem, I sure cannot see it even on the heavily stretched IFN images...
Quick way to test to see if there is something uncorrected in the image would be to take the L master, apply gradient correction to it, then refresh the STF on it. If you see a pattern of rings appear in the image, the sky would fix that.
In these countless images that have been shared with me offline, the fix every time is to not use a panel and to use the sky instead. The DSD Flat Panel has been one of many in use by folks affected by this problem.
All of these were on E160ED scopes though. I have not tested nor used a 130D, and to clarify my comments about panels and sky flats has been solely about the E160ED.
-Bill
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Bill McLaughlin:
Also, some have said that flat panels don't work for Epsilons.
I've been using a PLL Giotto for well over a year now on my 130ED without any issues (that I can see at least).
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My FlatMan panel works fine with my E-160, but I've mostly gone to sky flats because of automation (one less thing to do!).
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Daniel Carter:
Looks fantastic! Wish I had this before deploying mine to NM!
Thats why I buiilt it... in anticipation of a deployment to NM... lol. Installs easily, there is no fit adjustment or anything. Just bolts right to the scope.
I'm going to get this epsi tricked out.
-Hercules
-ASG Electronic Tilt (EAT)
-Motorized dust cover
Going to run it on a Mach2 and will have an OAG in the image train in case I want to guide. Super fun project!
Is the ASG Electronic Tilt going to become commercially available?
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Bill Long - Dark Matters Astrophotography:
Bill McLaughlin:
Daniel Carter:
Hey all, I made a dew shield with dust/light tight cover using OPTEC motor/board. I just installed it on my scope and grabbed a few snaps. Sorry for the poor quality, it was after sunset.
That is a super idea! I may have to copy that!
Also, some have said that flat panels don't work for Epsilons. I just processed my first test image from my E-130 (2.2 hours of Luminance, 67 120 sec exposures of M81-82 and the IFN). I used my DSD flat panel and if there is a problem, I sure cannot see it even on the heavily stretched IFN images...
Quick way to test to see if there is something uncorrected in the image would be to take the L master, apply gradient correction to it, then refresh the STF on it. If you see a pattern of rings appear in the image, the sky would fix that.
In these countless images that have been shared with me offline, the fix every time is to not use a panel and to use the sky instead. The DSD Flat Panel has been one of many in use by folks affected by this problem.
All of these were on E160ED scopes though. I have not tested nor used a 130D, and to clarify my comments about panels and sky flats has been solely about the E160ED.
-Bill
Is there a theory for why there might be a difference? The more controlled nature and flexibility of a flat panel is appealing, especially if you can also use it as a dust cover and take bias/darks as well. But if there is a reason that the results are less accurate than sky flats, I would not want to compromise. Hard to see why it would depend on the type of OTA.
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Bill Long - Dark Matters Astrophotography:
In these countless images that have been shared with me offline, the fix every time is to not use a panel and to use the sky instead. The DSD Flat Panel has been one of many in use by folks affected by this problem.
All of these were on E160ED scopes though.
I did not think DSD made a panel for the 160 or 180 (unless you include the wall mounted one they make (but that is a different animal altogether) . Maybe they used to or maybe they do custom orders but I cannot find any DSD flippers for Epsilons other than the 130 on their website. I know that because I am thinking about a 160 or 180 for here at home once the 130 goes to the remote site so I had looked on the DSD site and did not find any for the larger scopes.
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Bill McLaughlin:
Bill Long - Dark Matters Astrophotography:
In these countless images that have been shared with me offline, the fix every time is to not use a panel and to use the sky instead. The DSD Flat Panel has been one of many in use by folks affected by this problem.
All of these were on E160ED scopes though.
I did not think DSD made a panel for the 160 (unless you include the wall mounted one they make (but that is a different animal altogether) . Maybe they used to or maybe they do custom orders but I cannot find any DSD flippers for Epsilons other than the 130 on their website.....
I don't dig into panels with folks too deep, so perhaps it was a wall mounted one? I don't really know.
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Bill McLaughlin:
Bill Long - Dark Matters Astrophotography:
In these countless images that have been shared with me offline, the fix every time is to not use a panel and to use the sky instead. The DSD Flat Panel has been one of many in use by folks affected by this problem.
All of these were on E160ED scopes though.
I did not think DSD made a panel for the 160 or 180 (unless you include the wall mounted one they make (but that is a different animal altogether) . Maybe they used to or maybe they do custom orders but I cannot find any DSD flippers for Epsilons other than the 130 on their website. I know that because I am thinking about a 160 or 180 for here at home once the 130 goes to the remote site so I had looked on the DSD site and did not find any for the larger scopes.
DSD doesnt make any scope mounted panels larger than 200mm. So the 160 is out since the OD of the opening is larger than 200mm.
Im not sure about their wall panels however. I've never looked into them.
Primaluce makes one that will for the 160s and so does Wander Astro. The nice thing about the Wanderer Astro is they have a Pro panel that has a heater to keep dew from forming on the panel. I have no idea how well it would work on the 160 though.
I've looked into the Primaluce version with the motorized opener. It is HEAVY and the motor has to be mounted on a losmandy dovetail.
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Daniel Carter:
Primaluce version with the motorized opener. It is HEAVY and the motor has to be mounted on a losmandy dovetail.
Interesting! What I REALLY like is Chris' modified panel with the dew shield. That makes me want to fire up Fusion 360 and get to designing something like it. I will have to look at my DSD and see if I could convert that to use with a printed dew shield.
I would also be interested to see what, if any, effect there would be on the flats from moving the panel to the end of a dew shield. I eagerly await results from Chris!
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Daniel Carter:
DSD doesnt make any scope mounted panels larger than 200mm. So the 160 is out since the OD of the opening is larger than 200mm.
Then the errant images likely came from a wall mounted one. Either way, Sky Flats fixed the problem and I continue to recommend them to E160ED users.
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FYI, Lyra V2 will be launching May 1, 2024. The only changes are the base has direct ZWO support added (so really two sets of mounting holes) and the caps will be carbon fiber instead of PETG (price goes up though). The new launch is intended to move Lyra from an Epsilon community thing, into the mainstream of Astro users. We hope to get Agena on board to sell base units, but that is a discussion for another time.
This launch will go out to the main Dark Matters Astro newsletter and customer base. If you have already purchased from us, you would be on the list (unless of course you unsubscribed) if you have not you can join the list here:
https://darkmattersastro.com
Scroll down to the Sign up for our Newsletter section and plug in your email address and you are set.
Keep in mind that we send all of our service oriented stuff to this group. So new data, deals on data, subscriptions, new products (like Lyra V2) etc.
-Bill
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Jeff Ridder:
Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Daniel Carter:
Looks fantastic! Wish I had this before deploying mine to NM!
Thats why I buiilt it... in anticipation of a deployment to NM... lol. Installs easily, there is no fit adjustment or anything. Just bolts right to the scope.
I'm going to get this epsi tricked out.
-Hercules
-ASG Electronic Tilt (EAT)
-Motorized dust cover
Going to run it on a Mach2 and will have an OAG in the image train in case I want to guide. Super fun project!
Is the ASG Electronic Tilt going to become commercially available?
Reach out to me if interested in the ASG EAT... I can share some of the news with you and know a guy who knows a guy ;)
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Josh Jones:
Reach out to me if interested in the ASG EAT... I can share some of the news with you and know a guy who knows a guy ;)
This Josh guy is a phony! He knows nothing about ASG! Don't listen to him!
Obviously, I am kidding. Best of luck to you bro on the launch of the product. Chris and I talked about it, and I saw his results and they were really good. It looks a bit bulky to me with the cabling, big control box, and whatnot, but functionally I think the product has merit and seems to work well.
-Bill
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@Chris White- Overcast Observatory -- what does the backspacing of your imaging train look like with the EAT?
Is it something like this?
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Jeff Ridder:
@Chris White- Overcast Observatory -- what does the backspacing of your imaging train look like with the EAT?
Is it something like this?
That looks ok, I would just account for that 5mm or so... the EAT takes up 4mm of physical spacing, but just back it out 1mm for extra room to move around. It can move in that way a little and out about 2mm. The range is about 2-3mm in there. It's more for fine tuning backfocus, not for making up spacer kind of depths.
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Jeff Ridder:
@Chris White- Overcast Observatory -- what does the backspacing of your imaging train look like with the EAT?
Is it something like this?
Yep... that is my image train lol...
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2.41
5.21
20.43
3.58
2.71
2.41
11.02
1.81
2.41
2.11
