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Grant, Gary, and I are promoting our Remote Observatory project at NEAIC & NEAF this year. Lots of new toys are on show at exhibitor stalls, so I've taken some photos. They are only mobile phone pix, so apologies for the low quality. We are here for the week, attending both events, so I'll post more if I have an opportunity. Steve

Height might depend on comfort, some like to stand ideal for straight thru viewing . Others will like to be seated esp if using mirrors/prisms and at the eyepiece for some time, there is no one answer.

That's definitely more than "one drop". Very nice image.

@AstralFields Good to know that it all works. For a hand controller as long as you have some bits of wire you don’t even need to spend any money. Some people have separated the motor from the box (with circuit board & switches), joining the two with long wires. You can see the two separated in the Teleskop version - the motor at one end and the box with the electronics and switches at the other. I thought of having a hand controller, but personally I haven’t found it to be a problem. I have a little volt meter across the motor terminals on my version. All I do is make sure it’s set to the correct number (for me 2.35 - 2.37 volts) at the beginning when I have to bend down anyway and keep it there. I rarely need to fiddle with it and often don’t touch the potentiometer for several sessions in a row. Although the good thing about making your own is that you can personalise things to your taste/requirements!

Hi all, Over the years, I have become more and more engrossed in astronomy. I am an amateur, enjoy studying the sky at night, have a special interest in astrophotography, like studying and analysing astronomical gear clocks and buildings, enjoy reading books and find it interesting to simulate certain subjects with especially spreadsheets (the "morsels"). I have collected all morsels and have published them on a dedicated website: astronomy-morsels.ch. Hopefully there is something useful for you, any tips are most welcome. One example is attached here. Best, Hans Object Data (Stars, Planets, Nebulae, ...) V1.0.xlsx

this is a quick process of the first file, got colour in the spiral nice

But not much good a mowing the grass, judging by that scythe.

Thank you guys, I'm blown away by your kind comments. I'm just so pleased you both enjoyed it. I do enjoy Widefield astrophotography with the simplicity of a camera, lens and tripod. Clear skies Lee

Loved the timelapse Lee. Nice twinkly stars and good exposure timing. Just the right speed for those clouds, Dave.

Depending on the scope isn't it also more likely to be an issue the larger the aperture of the refractor?

The more cost effective Askar telescopes may well fall into the areas Daniel is discussing. Spherical aberration immediately comes to mind which can be an issue for visual observers at high powers for doubles and the planets but not for imagers.

Bamburgh Castle under the Milky Way - Canon R8, Sigma 24mm. Sky 6 x 10s, f2.5, iso3200, untracked. Foreground 1 x 8s, f5.6, iso400, deep blue hour. LR, Sequator and PS. Cheers, Paul. Much sharper when clicked.

I don't think the perpetrator is typical of the majority of Somerset folk, thankfully 🙄 We are generally quite normal and well behaved down here in the SW 🙂

You asked this question in January. It was answered. Are we missing something?

Looking at the BBC video - I assume it was the same incident - It seems he targetted the police helicopter!

The issue is you've generalised the quality of a whole company's product in one post. You can't compare a doublet/triplet/petzval etc and lump them all into the same quality category, some are purely imaging instruments where some can do both imaging and visual, a lot of them aren't even in the same price brackets. I take the point about production, they're not Astro Physics scopes by any measure, but they're also not AP prices. I think you'll find imagers are just as, if not more critical of optical quality where a lot of it can be measured and is quantifiable, not subjective to an observers opinion and also based on the quality of their vision and also utilised eyepieces which can make a massive difference. Though as you say the quality criteria for either discipline may be different. I think either scope will be good but until one actually uses one for their intended purpose, this is the unknown to the individual.

Managed to squeeze a bit more out of the Ha: Olly

There are some photographs and diagrams on page 2 of this thread showing how JeromeW and I independently wired them up. They should help, but feel free to come back if not. You could start by simply replacing the existing motor (I’m pretty sure it’s just a NEMA 14) and checking that it works as it should, before going for the belt mod. if I remember correctly, the arrowed section on the attached diagram shows the original wiring to the RA motor (you may find your NEMA 14 comes with the colours shown in the top right-hand corner of the diagram, but not necessarily!)

Wow 😱👍

I don't think it's an issue when doing visual

How did you manage to get focus please? I tried with my ASI224mc with no joy.

Thanks Elp, Interesting point about stars. I wondered if perhaps the diffraction spikes in the 8" newt might cause issues with say uneven doubles like Sirius, compared to the refractor?

😂😂 no we won’t…it wouldn’t be around Yeovil anyway, looking more like Wells, or Shepton Mallet…👍🏻