Ciao ti faccio i complimenti per il lavoro svolto, sto cercando di gestire l'apertura della cupola tramite Nina, penso che dovresti usare Arduino, ma non riesco a trovare il software da caricare su Arduino, mi potete aiutare? Grazie

Hi Julian! Will you do a video about the FSQ? There are not many videos about the scope out there wich are showing the scope or do a review. Im thinking of buying the scope too as an upgrade for my FRA300 by Askar but for the normal price here in Germany. I like to use it with my IMX571 by Touptek and the reducer. Later maybe also with an fullframe cam. Maybe you can tell me a bit about the scope. Greetings from Germany Brian

I can get 10 minute unguided subs with perfect stars on my hae43ec and a good PA

Looking at this design it seems possible to convert it into a camera rotator. It needs only 360 steps, does not have to be extremely precise. But must have to be quite strong to turn a filter wheel and camera. Any plans for an Ascom rotator? These are very expensive and do not seem very complicated.

I saw Cuiv's video on testing filters and got interested. I just watched your video and am now hooked!!! I am interested in the StarEx LR (to start). I want to evaluate my filters and dip my toe into nighttime spectroscopy. I see where I can order the StarEx LR 3D print kit ( from Azur3D) When I go to Shelyak, I can only order the StarEx HR kit. Does that kit have the parts necessary to make the StarEx LR?

Another excellent analysis and presentation! You are a gem, keep doing these! I’m starting to post links to your videos on the astro forums when people have questions answered by your analysis and presentations. What Patriot Astro did for NINA with his tutorials, you are doing for a range of topics. Keep up the good work! I love your ultimate filter concept. I have a reflector and I have wanted exactly the filter you described: Let in some UV, let in that tasty galaxy IR, my scope can focus it! I’ll rip off that UV/IR cut filter on my OSC and let in those clean un-light polluted photons. I can’t believe this isn’t being done, it would be a big seller. Even if they couldn’t cut those two narrow bands from artificial lighting, I expect it would be a good filter with a positive SNR benefit for broadband targets. There are some new light pollution filters like the Optolong quad band, I hope you can test that one like you’ve tested others, both with your SNR modeling and side by side testing. People are still hoping these filters will help. Also, can you send your spectrometer to other cities and test if they also are all LED dominated? It would be excellent to get a sample of a half dozen locations including a few “LED adoption laggards”. Finally, good job championing better lighting options for outdoor lighting!

Just AWESOME... as usual ;)

A new AWESOME Project !!! Will Try to make me one :)

Hi @Dark Sky Geek :) First Thank You very much for this awesome Video and Driver !!! I played a little with the Focuser temperature compensation and this is excellent for me too :) , the only problem i found is if the temperature is climbing a little, my focuser (gemini pro) uses a go out +150 steps and then go in to fine focus, but this take some times (about 30 seconds) and NINA is already taking the next picture.... Is there a way to say NINA to wait until the focusing is finished before taking the next picture ? ( I will use your driver next time, just did some tests witout the 120 samples median... maybe your driver already skip temperature climbing to avoid that ?)

Another awesome video. Thanks for creating consistently great content!

This video helped me decide to purchase Astronomik filters over Antlia, based on all of your samples passing, and because Astronomik stand behind their product with a 10 year warranty and halo guarantee. I have used Antlia filters without problem so far, but seeing their responses here, and other disclaimers by them that they won't be liable for halos is a big turn off. I am not playing the lottery with them.

Hi, would this work as a controlbox on a existing 12V led flats panel? The flats panel I have gives a very nice flat illimination, so I want to keep it.

I have the non-EC version of the HAE69C. I don't think the extra €1000 is worth it to be honest. My guiding is excellent at ~0.30" at all times. I love this mount. I bought it because i have had enough of the CEM70G and the annoying 3D balancing stuff. I will never use a CEM design again. I use AsiAir Plus, and since this is a harmonic drive mount, the guide settings are different than a standard EQ mount. My current settings are as follows: Calibration step: 1000ms Guide exposure length: 0.5 - 1.0s (Gain 200-300) Max Ra Duration: 600ms Max Dec Duration: 600ms Ra Aggression: 55% Dec Aggression: 35%

Thank you so very much for sharing this VALUABLE information!! <3

Amazing! I looked this kit is about $300. Is that right?

Excellente vidéo merci ;-)

my build is nearly complete, waiting for my led strips to be deliverd and i can start testing. The only confusing thing for me: In the instructions on Github theres a picture with the comment 'Here is a photograph of the control box, which hosts the PCB, after soldering all the components. Note how the switch has been wired'. That is quite confusing; the red wire seems to connect to the - part on the JST?

I bought that pro version 3D-printed kit from Azur3DPrint and the optical kit from Shelyak for Sol'Ex specifically, probably I'll try to eventually reconfigure it as Star'Ex. Azur3DPrint quality is really nice.

I have an 80phq and a Skywatcher Quattro 200p + ASI2600mm, which scope will be better for spectroscopy ?

Can I used this to read the spectrograph from a exoplanet transiting from it’s host star? If so what equipment needed to achieve this project including software. This is amazing. Thank you

Je viens de découvrir votre chaîne car je cherchais depuis longtemps ce type de matériel qui n'existe pas sur le marché. Y a-t-il une chance que vous fassiez un autre lot un jour ? Avec un envoi possible en France ? Cordialement Christophe

Great overview! Small addition: StarEx or Solex are designed for short-focus telescopes which give tiny stellar image. Of course it can be used with larger telescopes, just the overall efficiency and possibly spectral resolution (when using wider slit) are lower. They are truely remarkable devices!

Thanks, I’ve been wanting to dig into more science with my AP it’s difficult to sort out what equipment to choose. I have a 3D printer but in the category of not wanting to try and print it myself.

Thank you so much Julien for your support. I'm really pleased that you're happy with this Pro version. I'd like to take this opportunity to announce to all your followers, and in particular those who will be visiting Paris at that time, that I'll be present at the Rencontres du Ciel et de l'Espace, which will be held from November 09 to 11, 2024, at stand 26 (lower level). The Sol'ex will be prominently featured on the stand, and will also be honored with various conferences. So if you'd like to come and say hello, or if you've got a bit of space in your luggage, don't hesitate to drop by the stand - I'd be delighted to chat with you ;)

Just got my Star'ex pro as well and working on assembly... I have the same plan to build a low res version as well

If you want to blacken stainless steel , boil it in vinegar. Not jet black result but a very dark, matte grey.

There's a fellow in Vietnam selling the Solex/Starex he is having made in China out of aluminum. It is anodized black. Sorry but I don't trust plastics.

And the videos are in English?

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Many thanks for this detailed review. At the price point, there seems to be too my issues with this mount for it to make my short list. As you say, hopefully there will be V2.

My father has this mount, on a solid pier. We consistently get <0.25" guiding. For our last two imaging sessions, we were tracking at 0.15" with an 11-inch RASA

Thanks!

Fantastic design thanks to share it

Thanks Julian ! I just happened to be in Japan and followed your advice to the letter. Great shop. Great price. Great scope.

This looked so promising i decided to try it myself. So i ordered the PCB on PCBway. i dont have any expercience in electronics but i hope following the instructions will work out fine. One question though; if i ordered the PCB from PCBway using your design, do i need to take the breadboard step or can i start building directly? The breadboard looks quite intimidating to me...

I bought the HAE69B EC about a year ago and I can agree with most of your findings (except backlash): Polar alignment: There's a lot of backlash in the altitude adjustment screw. Together with the lubricated hinge it moves when tightening. I couldn't even clamp it strong enough by hand to not move when the mount is moving (center of gravity shifting). I experienced some drifting on the first subs. I ended up removing the lever/bolt and using a wrench for tightening. I also purchased an iPolar (this should really come with the mount for the price) and I anticipate the movement caused by tightening with the wrench. Works fine now, getting good polar alignment but it's a major design flaw. A week ago I also discovered a loose bolt at the top of the tripier which caused the top plate to move in altitude. Fix was easy of course but yet another drifting issue. DEC/RA movement: Interesting find, I also noticed this when doing lunar, solar and planetary imaging. Never noticed something like this doing deep sky (not actively using the Commander in this case). Unguided: Totally agree, I expected much better results by the encoder. I'm running at 3 seconds for my guide exposures which are totally fine, but when I let PHD do some analysis (no guide outputs) the drift starts soon after. Guiding accuracy: Also mostly around 0.5, when seeing is good sometimes also 0.3 Backlash: Luckily mostly not existent, sometimes maybe 200 ms. Very happy with that since my previous much cheaper mount had huge issues with backlash which I couldn't fix due to production errors. Overall I'm quite happy with this mount but I expected more for the price. I can live with not being able to do unguided exposures since I always image at longer focal lengths but I bought the version with the encoder "just in case". Very happy with guiding and backlash. Biggest issue for me is the polar alignment with the design flaw and the iPolar. The iPolar works great but it should really be included for the price. In the end I now need longer for polar alignment than with my previous mount.

Excelente video!!, saludos desde Chile

I'm late to the party but thanks for this!

🚫ASCOM 🚫WINDOWS 🚫NINA❤LINUX ❤INDI

Absolutely the best on this topic I’ve seen so far! Thanks.

First at all, thank you for your design. I have the Player One OAG Max and it's compatible with the "standar version" but the OAG Max has 51mm diameter and the gear stl file has 46mm of inner diameter. Am I missing something? Regards.

This is really a great solution for such common problem! I will definitely have a look! I'd suggest to put the temperature probe into contact with telescope metal body (or possibly focuser metal parts) - there is definitely a lag between ambient temperature and metal hardware. But focus position depends on the thermal expansion of telescope structure - which has typically strict relation with the temperature of that structure.

There is one important aspect - maybe more for science (photometry) than pretty pictures. Many dielectric bandpass filters have so-called red leak which magnitude and starting wavelength depends on the exact receipt of a filter. Modern sensors have still sensitivity at 1000 nm and very red objects (which may emit little light in blue and would require long exposures therefore) which may be bright there will have either wrong colors, out of focus images (because focus at 1000 nm can be way off from visual) or just not correct amount of light in the intended passband ((much) more "blue" light of red object than they actually would emit), because filter behaves more like dual-passband one. One passband in e.g. blue and second one in near-infrared. My experience with just few manufacturers tells that if standard passband plots are going just up to 900 or 1000 nm (and not to 1200 nm where silicon detector quantum efficiency would be 0 by definition), there is something suspicious going on with those filters in near-infrared.

I placed an order for the new Takahashi FCT-65D thinking it was a good price. Ever since I watched this video, though, I felt I definitely wasn't getting the best price available, especially if it's selling for almost 1/2 price compared to the United States. Trying to put that feeling aside I priced out cost of the necessary spacers, rings, and reducer (just took a guess at the prices) to use with an astro camera and realized that the $1600 was now going to be closer to $2500 - $3000 after tax. That's quite a bit to pay. Maybe that's the Takahashi norm but it's definitely not something I'm going to jump into at the moment, so I canceled my order.

You did an excellent job explaining the fundamentals, running these tests, and comparing the results. Some people either don’t actually do side by side testing or test on different nights which isn’t valid due to conditions changing from night to night. Good job doing a valid controlled test!! Your results are consistent with the results from others that have also done testing with the exact same equipment during the same evening. The other mistake people make is using a narrowband target for the test case which is not a proper test as these are meant for broadband targets. Clearly for narrow band targets you would want a true narrowband filter and for narrowband targets, the narrower the better. So they will benefit from Amy filter that lets in Ha and Oiii. It’s too bad more people don’t realize that with the spread of LED lighting that these “light pollution” filters don’t have any benefit anymore for truly broadband targets. I’m certainly bookmarking this video as a reference to give to people when they are considering a light pollution filter. If I had to add one suggestion, it would be to actually do the SNR analysis of the samples you captured and present of those results too.

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