Stargazers Lounge Uses Cookies
Like most websites, SGL uses cookies in order to deliver a secure, personalised service, to provide social media functions and to analyse our traffic. Continued use of SGL indicates your acceptance of our cookie policy.
All Activity
This stream auto-updates
- Past hour
-
Which 8 inch dobsonian should I get?
ArmandoF replied to ArmandoF's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
That sounds like something I would do . I'm leaning towards the SW, but I'll feel I didn't make the right decision when the ES goes back to its original price - I also like the ability to easily remount the ES, as the other members helpfully pointed out. Thank you -
Wish I knew where I am going wrong with this
brrttpaul replied to brrttpaul's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
Hi guys, as I said it worked the first night but after that it wouldnt, now I am not sure if I changed anything but honestly dont think I did. when it fails it does the blind solve and comes back successfully solved ( but from there I dont know how to use that then to say centre an image) . So with the blind solve working I,m presumming its picking up enough stars. I havnt downloaded no narrower field files so perhaps this is the problem -
Great report Nick, nice objects and even some messiers on a short summer night.
-
If you use BackyardEOS, they say to put the camera into liveview, then zoom that to 5x, as that's pixel for pixel!
-
These arrived today from Germany... Very please with this
-
I still have my first scope - a Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ MD. I replaced the motor drive with my own more accurate version and used a webcam to image Saturn, complete with rings. The image was a bit small but the rings could be clearly seen. It was a revelation I shall never forget! Though in spite of a better motor drive I still had problems with tracking. I think that was about 8 or 9 years ago, before I found SGL.
-
Which 8 inch dobsonian should I get?
Paz replied to ArmandoF's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
I cant comment on comparing those two scopes in detail but both are fundamentally good scopes for visual astronomy, once you pick one go for it and dont look back, you can end up constantly comparing and wondering if something else was better when you could be out observing instead. -
Looks very nice Paul, I had a go at sketching but made a complete pigs ear of it Dave
-
Plane / Sunspots / Whitelight = Very Happy Grant!
tooth_dr replied to Grant's topic in Imaging - Solar
Winner! Right through the middle! -
Polar alignment with camera (not polemaster)
cjdawson replied to cjdawson's topic in Getting Started With Imaging
Hiya. I've got the licenced version, however, as you just said that it needs to point to the pole, I'm not going to be able to have any luck with it. My camera is too long for the it to fit into the fork mount when pointing towards the pole. -
I regret getting rid of my first scope. It was a cheap 60mm frac but as a kid I thought it was great. Every now and then I look on eBay for one. Has to be exactly the same though.
-
I am studying in high school, so... you know... sleeping in the car haha
-
Nice of the Sun to give us some ARs to image. Dave
-
I hinted my wife and kids for a PS4 Pro as the fathers day gift, then slowly shifted the idea towards a more reasonable gift ... the motorized focuser which i really needed which i thought i got through to them ... one night i was looking at some cologne for myself, left the page open on the desktop and went to sleep ... 2 days later, my wife and kids surprised me to that cologne ... clearly 4 times a day hint wasn't enough ... i should've been more direct lol
-
Plane / Sunspots / Whitelight = Very Happy Grant!
Lockie replied to Grant's topic in Imaging - Solar
Woah! what a fantastic capture, you've won the internet today Grant -
Nice report, you picked out some good targets there. As for driving 130km? That's what I call dedication!
-
Well.....no.......I still don't really know what I'm doing. But I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. And since I'm only going to invest $150-200 into my first telescope I'm not very worried about choosing just the right scope. There are four or five from Celestron, Meade, and so on that I'm considering. Portability is a major concern. My home and immediate neighborhood are just full of trees. Some are pretty magnificent. Mostly it's a blessing. But it stinks for an amateur stargazer. I've got no sky. But there's clear public land within an easy bicycle reach and I'd only have to drive ten minutes or so to get away from the worst light pollution. So my telescope doesn't need to be miniaturized. But it needs to be small. I haven't quite decided yet whether to get a reflector or a refractor. I guess I'm leaning mostly toward a 100 mm reflector. Probably of the table-top dobsonian type. That'll be portable enough. Having another reflector will help get me familiar with collimation. And, mostly, I want aperture. You see, I'm definitely interested in deep sky objects. The Solar System certainly is interesting. But it's kinda limited. (Though maybe there's something to be said for asteroid hunting. I've never tried that. Still.....I want more than just our solar system.)
-
Very nice
-
Hi, no problem magnus, a problem shared etc, when I use Goto manually at under 9 say 8 or 7, the mount seems much more stable and much less noisy even with belt mod, unless my EQ6 pro is very noisy compared to others, there seems to be more of a difference between 8 and 9 than 7 and 8 speeds? know it's all about balancing and load etc, and when I use goto with max 9 setting the motors make much more noise even with a light setup like edt80 and mini guider so isn't a load issue to me. unless I have problem with my belt drive mod, might have to use BT dongle with CDS and eqmod if SW won't, EQ5 had a power saving mode but don't know if this would be any use on EQ6 pro. My desired speed would be not the max setting but maybe "user defined" Tony
-
Polar alignment with camera (not polemaster)
Atreta replied to cjdawson's topic in Getting Started With Imaging
Sharpcap is pretty fast to polar align, it takes less than 5 minutes. I use it with my heq5 and a 50mm orion guidescope and an asi120mc as guidecsm. All you have to do is have the mount pointed around the pole, it says that an error as high as 5 degrees is ok, than run the polar alignment routine. With the free version you can only check the error in polar alignment, with a license you get the instructions to where and how much to move the mount. I think it's worth every penny. -
I am miles away from knowing anything about imaging but I think thats amazing. I would be very proud indeed!
-
The best decision I made when starting out
Paz replied to 2Karl's topic in Getting Started General Help and Advice
Thats the way to do it, you are fortunate to have an active observing club nearby. -
How do amateur astronomers make money?
DAVE AMENDALL replied to AkshatSoni's topic in The Astro Lounge
The Hobby should be called Astro-no-money. I used to have money until I spent it on Astro gear. The kids still have socks and shoes tho..........Dave -
Be gentle this is first time I have sketched.
- 1 reply
-
- 2
-
-
Hi Tony, greatly appreciate your explanation. I was always starting (best i could anyway) north and level, and the mount would slew as hard as it could, just...not even close to where it should be going. I hadn't considered manually pointing toward the first alignment star, I look forward to giving it a go asap. Part of me expects it to just wildly slew off somewhere else in the sky haha, but hopefully not! Thanks again
