So, with the rise of the winter constellations it was time at last (the weather has been shocking!) to get out and get some photons.
I have been tinkering with my kit of late so I wanted to have a test run before winter was truly upon us.
Over the summer I had fallen back to a laptop running Windows with PHD2 and APT (my two goto programs for astro) and all is good of course with that setup.
However, the pull of a (used) MacBook dragged me kicking and screeming (hardly) to the Apple camp once more and so I was determined this time to iron out the gremlins and get a workable solution on the Mac.
Long story short - I have Windows 10 running within Virtual Box. This in turn has PHD2, APT and Deep Sky Stacker installed.
I have run this setup before with 2 main issues:
1. The intermittent dropping of the USB connection to the mount thus also dropping pulse guiding
-- solved by using "On mount" (ST4 cable) guiding and recalibrating PHD2
2. Power timeout issues / energy saving between Windows 10 and macOS
-- solved by tweaking the advanced power settings within Windows and macOS.
All is good with the world.
Here is a quick (Total 28min 30sec using 90sec subs) M45 - The Pleiades.
(The framing is a bit off and I need much more data, but it was a test run :) )
Clear skies.
MJ.
PS - I have been drinking Horsham Coffee Roaster's Christmas Blend.
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