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Caution... Both axes... no response.
cletrac1922 replied to Brushman's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
You have the latest firmware for the SynScan I recently purchased the WiFi adapter, and downloaded the SynScan App Takes the guess work out of setting location, date and time What sort of power source you using to power the dob I use a car battery jump start kit Have run my EQ5 mount for a week on it at Astrofests -
Caution... Both axes... no response.
Brushman replied to Brushman's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
Thanks for the message, but unfortunately that's not it. They are super stiff and a nightmare to get out once in, but when I retested I hear a definite click when inserting into the ports. -
Really great image. Love the detail in the HH and the little Nebula below
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Hi Mr Spock ( good name!) Thank you for your comments. So, if you had to choose 7"mak over the 9.25" sct for planetary and double stars, which would you go for? I'm aware of aperture is king rule. If both were in your garage or wherever you keep scopes, which one would you reach for, if the planets were out? Or you wanted to have a go at e f stars in trap or the pup? Thanks Mark
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Yeah Ask yourself what are the most important things you want to know about that scope. 1) How flat is the field, what do the corners look like. 2) Is it well corrected for CA? 3) How easy is it to focus with the helical focuser? 4) An example image in high resolution (you can add still frames to video that looks much clearer when you dont pan in causing compression artifacts). I suspect the reason he does not do that is that it was not a great image that told you little or nothing about the quality of the scope, pause it and take a look at the star trailing. What was his total integration? Optolong dont make a 6.5nm Filter? (The answer is no they dont its 7nm) and all that is just for a start. He answers none of those questions. Ask yourself what do you know about the scope from his review that you did not know by reading the basic information available on WO's web page? Adam
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Asher Captures changed their profile photo
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Silentme changed their profile photo
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Saved £185 with simple mod for LX weight system
LeeRich replied to LeeRich's topic in DIY Astronomer
I do believe you did somewhere Dave, i will most certainly be looking into it as i appreciate just weights on the bottom of the OTA unless matched with the piggypack gear probably wont suffice so i may still have some balance to fine tune but this is a start -
Yer i see your point Dave but im a big strong lad and this is a one time operation i hope lol so even if i need an extra hand off the missus to fire the bolt in its not too much of a problem, now if i was taking the 10" out instead of my 8" grab and go in to the field things may be different and your peg system would be definitely adapted to my bigger scope
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Brief Object List.
AstroCiaran123 replied to AstroCiaran123's topic in Getting Started With Observing
Have amended and updated Astro Targets V2.pdf -
Exactly that. He comes across as, and I'm sure is, a really nice guy, but I have never heard him say a single bad word about anything from WO, which is simply not possible. I've owned a couple of their OTA's so can definitely confirm that! He makes great videos and clearly has a talent for videography, and I do enjoy watching them, but if I am looking at a review I want to know the good and the bad.
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Obviously it works fine with just the centre bolt to the extent that Meade didn't actually supply the other three bolts with the wedge but trying to lift the 10" onto the sloping wedge and get the centre bolt started while hanging onto it with one hand was far too dodgy for me, a bit easier to slot it into the one bolt then align the other holes. Dave
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No one who has ever been sponsored to endorse anything ever gave a honest review mate.
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Being a lover of books (science & science fiction) i am always on the hunt for my next read. A typical 400 page book will usually take me about 6-10 days considering my life schedule, not so for this book "The Universe in your Hand" this book not only occupied more of my time than any other but, it also managed to distract me so much when not reading it that my wife thought i was daydreaming at the dinner table. This one took me a month to read, i was so fascinated by the depths to which the author dives into quantum physics, spacetime, and much more, it would often have me researching what i had read, to make sure i was understanding what the author was describing. Author Christophe Galfard, who was a student of none other than Stephen Hawking, takes us on a first person view journey from the very bits and pieces that make up a proton, to the edge of the universe and beyond.Christophe paints the picture much like Carl Sagan did in Cosmos with the ship of the imagination, he literally takes you on an imagined front row seat ride. Visualizing what it would be like to shrink down in size until you are watching electrons scurry about their orbits, looking down, far below you, you see the nucleus of the atom, exploring it and all its up and down quarks, gluons and such. This same imaginative journey, so well imagined, that you, like i, will find yourself feeling like a passenger, sometimes, letting your eyes rest from the pages to contemplate the surroundings and phenomenon the author is describing. This book is not a textbook, it will not get you a job at CERN but, as the author states, in terms of ideas and basic knowledge, you'll be where an average physics grad student is from any decorated college (without the math of course).The author makes a point to say there's only one equation in the entire book, E=mc2, diving into the minutia of this one equation. I have read several other books on the subject of physics but, none with such a visual approach and, creative thought experiments demonstrating how a particle is everywhere at once until you look at it (if you could) this book was a lot of fun, and a whole bunch of homework but, worth the "ride".
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Yes Astrobackyard is entertaining but I would never buy a piece of equipment because he recommended it.....every single thing he has ever tested is the best thing since sliced bread...he is basically outsourced marketing and very low on true technical information and its getting worse.
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Chalk-/charcoal sketch from Grimaldi to Cavalerius, Feb 17th
lnlarxg replied to acr_astro's topic in Imaging Challenge #23 - The Terminator Challenge
Wow -
Best Time to View Super Moon Feb 19 - Los Angeles
John replied to mikeryan85's topic in Observing - Lunar
Although it's actual apparent size in the sky is the same at the horizon as it is when it's higher in the sky. -
Saved £185 with simple mod for LX weight system
Davey-T replied to LeeRich's topic in DIY Astronomer
I found imaging needed a 3D balance system that could be rotated east to balance, there was a file on the LX200GPS Yahoo group by Doc Clay Shepherd on how to balance a wedge mounted SCT using a 3D balancing system, don't know if it's still on there. Did I post a picture of mine in one of your threads ? Dave -
Nice scope. My astro society have recently installed one in our dome. I was having a play with it a few nights back.
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I've had another play with the 120mc. I think that I am beginning to understand a bit about CMOS imaging. I really do like some of the things that you can do. I also really dislike all the vague options that you get with these cameras. The "Brightness" control appears to add a pedestal to the image. I don't like ADU values of zero, so I have set it at 1. This seems to add 128 to the image which doesn't give away much dynamic range. I'm still at a loss about what gain to use. As I don't have an autoguider when I am using the 120 for imaging, I am limited to 60s exposures. I did notice that the Trapezium stars were better resolved with this camera than with my STL6303 (9um pixels), so I did a little experiment. I set the gain very high and the exposure to 2s. Bear in mind that I can barely tell that there are three stars with the 6303. I am very pleased with the result. I've attached it below. I appear to have hints of the "e" and "f" stars!!! I also took some shots of M82. I had to apply the darks in The Gimp because Sharpcap saved all the subs ing png format - so I couldn't use any of my stacking software. (I will never, never buy software that even offers png as an option). The image below is either 18 or 27 minutes integration. The subs were 45 seconds, and the gain was 50. The result is below. I still have many questions, but I feel that I am getting somewhere. I wish that ZWO provided some decent acquisition software. I'm toying with the idea of blending 120 data with data from my main camera. This should give brilliant results on smaller objects. If I had known this when I bought my autoguider, then I would have spent a few more pounds and got something with a bigger chip.
- Yesterday
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In spite of the above, if you had met Ahmed, which I have several times, you would know this was a somewhat tongue in cheek comment.
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Does he need to own this telescope to have his own opinion on the reviewer and the likelihood of what is usually a heavy biased review of WO kit then? I assume you own one to confirm this manufacturer sponsored review is accurate then?
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Well, i sort of did as i already owned the Meade weight system for my 8" LX90 but i was dammed if was gunna pay it again for my 10" lol So, while fabricating my bespoke wedge project i cut a strip of 3mm steel bar, painted it up and fitted tonight. Even with the heaviest of my ep's (ES 40mm 2" 68deg) i only needed the middle weight on which is encouraging as i plan to EQ this scope and piggy back a little frac and as i have since found out from Meade that the max payload including everything other then the OTA is 12lbs i now feel confident i will be well inside this limit. And to be honest i would rather be WELL inside it rather then near it just for my own piece of mind regarding the longevity of my scopes drives. I tapped the holes where the original bar locates so i can remove it and put it back on the 8" if needed leaving the extension bar on the 10" Thanks for looking in. Lee.
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Strange star elongation issue
michael8554 replied to angryowl's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
Worrying that you have had to correct the tracking rate. Maybe worth looking at the actual, rather than the quoted PE ? Run the PHD2 Guiding Assistant for 10 minutes and look at the RA curve in the Log Viewer. There are also earlier Mesu posts on SGL that show an uncorrectable by PHD2 fast PE component that gives elongated stars. -
I think there is some type of Imaging that requires the camera to see the full light spectrum, not sure what...also some people like to use there own filters, like a LP filter that has built in IR then one less piece of glass in front of the sensor...
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Another cracking one mate.
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EAA testing session in the vicinity of Monoceros
Martin Meredith replied to Martin Meredith's topic in Video Astronomy
[youtube]
