Hi,

The weather has not been great so it has provided some learnings, and challenges: ice melts so thing do not remain level, lol. The clouds actual made one session complete without a specific filters save one frame.

What do you all do to capture the needed filters?

Using the CCD tab I created a sequence of Lum, SII, OIII, Ha. This was 300s and 13 images each. Due to clouds that moved in the OII was lost save one frame.

I cannot understand a way to create a looping sequence of Lum, SII, OIII, Ha each at 300s, and then repeat the sequence 13 times.

Repeating a sequence like this would have meant at least 4 sets that could have been integrated.

I consider create a sequence of Lum, SII, OIII, Ha 300s each and only 1 count each. Then putting the sequencing 13 times in the scheduler. Since I am not good at getting the guide star and plate-solving yet (although I hope plate-solving will be fixed soon) I hesitate to put in 13 scheduler entries for the same object - slew, align, guide, or perhaps after the first one it is just guide....

I have not tried the loop until yet, and was wondering if there is a loop X times? Perhaps the loop, if it is already on the target will not re-slew, guide and track?

Basically, I am looking for a schedule of a sequence to do X times, and once the first image is setup to go, the additional X-1 times will not lose the guide star due to slewing or such.

I have consider first getting a framed shot and then using that image as the basis for the aligning.

Any who.... Any ideas for how you create and setup your sessions would be welcomed.

Thank you,
Stephen

Why would you do it this way? Just run Lum x 13, SII x 13, OIII x 13, Ha x 13

By looping a sequence of filters, there is a greater chance of getting complete sets.

The other day of the 13 OIII, only one was usable due to passing clouds. Yet, the other filters were able to get 10 of the 14 as usable.

If the sequence of one per filter was done, there would have been at least 7-8 complete usable sets verses only one OIII.

Clouds are clouds. Filters will not help with them. Running session as you describe makes things really complicated. Just think of filters that are not parfocal i.e. you need to change focus everytime you change filter. At the end of the day or night you need to collect necessary number of each wavelength to reduce noise so I would advise to use standard approach, which is a kind of standard among astrophotographers - collect reasonable number of luminance frames first (Lum or Ha or both) and collect color next.

I agree with Radek, I wouldn't do it this way. I always capture each filter in complete set (usually a day for each filter). At any rate, I can see how "Repeat X times" can be useful for this or any other applications, so I added it to the scheduler.

Thank you Jasem.

If I could count on more than on clear night in a row I would do as you both suggest. It is what was previously done. Now I wait for another clear night to get last filter.

On the cloudy days this can allow me to learn pix with a few images and understand how to add more data from different days.

I will prioritize the Lum/Ha first though as you suggest. Then pickup sets of colour.

Cheers!

Jasem,

The repeat for sequence runs has been working great.

Is it possible to have this added on the CCD tab?

I am not always able to get the Scheduler to work. Align, tracking are working great now. Finding a guide star with the OAG often make the sequence fail.

When this happens the Mount tab works great to push the view slightly to find a star. Once found, with everything set, the scheduler needs to be edited so it does not track, align or guide. This past weekend, this would not work due to my faults during setup (accidentally had the RPI3 update Kstars location which just added to the issues).

If the CCD sequence could be triggered to run sequence, it would help greatly given the limited clear skies.

Thank you,
Stephen

I'm not sure I follow.. you want to run the sequence and repeat it?

Yes.

An example would be setting up a sequence of LRGB filters for one exposure each and then repeat the sequence X times, or until something stopped it.

The goal is to get enough images with each filter in one night to do some stacking. Then to add to the stack as additional clear skies come along. The scheduler has worked well, until I encountered the scenario above. If there is another way to do though, please let me know.

If there were 3-4 clear nights in a row it would not be a concern, as I would just load up each night for one filter only. For months now is has been partial night every 1-2 weeks.

Yes.

An example would be setting up a sequence of LRGB filters for one exposure each and then repeat the sequence X times, or until something stopped it.

The goal is to get enough images with each filter in one night to do some stacking. Then to add to the stack as additional clear skies come along. The scheduler has worked well, until I encountered the scenario above. If there is another way to do though, please let me know.

If there were 3-4 clear nights in a row it would not be a concern, as I would just load up each night for one filter only. For months now is has been partial night every 1-2 weeks.

This can be done with the scheduler. Just turn all steps "off" and select repeat X times.

I did try this. The scheduler would not work as reported a warning about the altitude of the object being too low, went to sleep and scheduled it for the next night.

The Altitude check was off though, and the schedule was set to go ASAP.

I know I had an issue with the location, plate-solving was working and centring. It was just the schedule would not go.

Any ideas?