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  2. Thanks for this book reference Mike - i'm going to look for it now. I have wondered myself in the past for Lunar sketching if going to the EP with a rough schematic of the area to be sketched would be a good idea - particularly to speed up the sketching process to counter the quickly evolving shadows you mention. The trouble is its difficult to pre visualise exactly which detail of the Lunar surface will become the focus of the sketch so therefore which area to pre-draft...(i suppose this is where experience wins) @SwiMatt i know you are looking at terrain rendering in your OP but in all seriousness i think sketching flocks of wading birds is better practise for lunar sketching than sketching static photo's of the moon. The "everything has changed each time you look" quality is the same. 🤣
  3. Does desiccant work best in cold or warm environment to remove moisture from the air…? Wonder if it will be better indoors for a week rather than the gargae to remove any moisture…
  4. Ok, so my solution is, and thanks for all the help on this thread… I have sealed the dome area completely from the box itself. Silicon sealant around the base of the lens holder as that where the gap was. So a much smaller volume of air to contend with. And also put a pot of desiccant in the dome and will now leave in the garage for a week or so for the desiccant to do its thing inside the dome, then I will fit back outside…I sealed it in the garage where it was colder. So fingers crossed this works…
  5. Aperture fever showing several symptoms here i think.......
  6. Today
  7. THOSE ARE SKETCHES? Thank you @mikeDnight. You are right that one should not attempt to put on paper all the detail. This picture of Tycho had so much more detail than I could ever hope to convey - but then again, it wasn't the goal of the exercise. But even without drawing out all the details, I feel that one can at least try to give an impression: the smooth surface ofnthe floor of the crater is very different from its rugged rim. I had a hard time with that. But maybe it's already too much detail. Even the view in the eyepiece is so overwhelmingly full of details! I will study Krieger's work as well as yours and other's in the forum! Thanks again!
  8. Is that Pex Hill in Widnes? I come from Widnes and regularly went to Pex Hill as a child but didn't know there was an observatory there.
  9. Any decent Plossls or orthos are ideal. Lots of people also use zooms with the LS50, with a useful range to move between low power (30x) up to 70x when seeing allows. A 7-21mm or 8-24mm would be ideal. Best zoom is Pentax XF 6.5-19.5, but otherwise I’m sure one of the cheaper SVBony zooms would be great. The big difference between dedicated solar scopes and the Daystar mentioned above is of course that Solar Scouts/Quarks come with a 4.2x barlow built in, so you need less powerful eyepieces with those.
  10. ty for this. i don't use Ekos but ill try and have a google around nina and mount models, because i just don't think nina works this way as it has plate solving to find targets.
  11. Three years ago, I'd decided it was going to be the C9.25. But some reviews concern me.
  12. I bought some Oklop bags for my 200pds and my nipper’s 130p and az-go2 mount/tripod. They seem solidly made; nice thick material, sturdy-feeling zips and strong straps/grips. There is some padding but perhaps not enough to prevent all the damage if bashed/dropped. Personally I think my purchases were worth it. The boxes and packing the scopes etc. came in offer great protection but take up tons of space. The bags are a great compromise. Incidentally I’m considering buying this same bag for my mount. The only niggle is that the descriptions said metal clips but mine came with plastic ones.
  13. It's a very nice sketch Matt. If you'd drawn that at the eyepiece I'd be very impressed. The trouble with photographs, replicating them exactly takes a long time and lots of practice. Even more difficult is drawing even a simple crater as viewed through the telescope, as there's always far more detail visible than can ever be drawn. The speed of change of the shadows across the lunar surface is another difficulty the visual observer has to deal with, and no observer is fast enough to catch all the detail. Arguably, the lunar observer Johann Krieger produced the best lunar drawings ever. He used low contrast photography as a way of getting accurate scale and positioning of features, then he would add the detail seen visually through the telescope to produce previously unheard of accuracy and level of detail. It might be worth studying some of his work to get ideas of how he captured intricate detail and subtle features. I've attached a pic of his Mond Atlas along with a few examples of his work. It seems even he drew the line so to speak, when it came to recording the intricate terracing around crater walls! The book is worth having for sketch in reference, and I think its still available on Amazon.
  14. I found that surpassing the Seestar images using my other kit was not as easy as the 'experts' seem to suggest. I never wanted to go down the route of buying expensive deep-sky kit, figuring out how to make it work, and spending hours processing the result. The Seestar was exactly the device I was waiting for. A couple of years ago I acquired a DSLR body with the aim of trying out imaging with it. But it just seemed too much of a bother. Even when I bought a lens for it, lugging this big thing around for general photography just made me feel conspicuous. A Smartphone proved a much more practical camera for daily use. I agree that if you want to produce amazing high-resolution images, the more traditional non-Seestar route is the way to go.
  15. Indeed. I'm in a quantum state where I have both decided and not decided on the scope(s) I'm getting.
  16. I've just picked up a second hand HEQ5 Pro, primarily for use at star parties as a my AZ EQ6 GT is soon to be installed in my new observatory (when it's finished) and it would be great if I can just leave it in there. I want to get a compact case for storage and transport of the HEQ5 Pro. I'm looking at the case that FLO sell. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-bags-cases-storage/oklop-padded-bag-for-sky-watcher-eq5-heq5-az-eq5-mounts.html It looks okay. Has anyone got any experience of these bags? Can anyone suggest and alternative? PS - I don't have the original packaging foam, so the Geoptik's offering is not suitable 😞 Thanks
  17. TerraC

    Star names

    I've got 1691077 - Lepus My daughter got it for my birthday a few years ago RA 6h 6m 4.83s - DEC -17 7 25.64 Mag 10.227 Tried getting a shot of the area but it's quite low behind houses where I live.
  18. Never in the field of astro photography has one item been loved by so many and disliked by so few.
  19. Or if you are ever considering visiting the South African Astronomical Observatory near Sutherland then you might be able to pick up some wine made on a local estate. I got some of these from a cafe in Sutherland. Nigel
  20. Where are the diffraction spikes coming from in these images? I get how this would appeal to somebody looking for a do-it-all box that will point and shoot. No argument there. It's a low cost gateway into imaging. Seems to be quite popular with the visual crowd, who don't want the time, headache or expense of a full astro-imaging set up and processing learning curve. Also may appeal to some imagers who want a quick grab-n-go, or a n00b looking to get into imaging. But those low-res images confirm what is my opinion. It isn't for me, I went past that level a couple of years ago with a APSC DSLR and tracker, and I agree with Ed Tings opinion. But hey, horses for courses. You want to use this, not my concern. I just know I'd be looking to move on within a few months, and this thing is not upscaleable.
  21. You can normally sync the mount once you've done a plate solve though I've never felt the need to do this as you have plate solving at your fingertips.
  22. On some levels last night was disappointing and frustrating but at the same time I did quite a bit of work on my process so I'm claiming it as a win. Scope out at 1330 to cool as it looked like the sky was going to be clear. 1900 I got out with the finderscope on a tripod and had a look at Jupiter - when the clouds cleared I could discern some banding and 4 moons. It always surprises me when I can see something through the scope and look up and see the target is covered in cloud - but there is enough light that the telescope can pick it up.. About 2015 the clouds had cleared enough so I move the C925 and mount onto the terrace - first outside session with the Asiair - and the issues started. It wouldn't plate solve with the camera in the OAG suggesting the issue was the focal length, then I remembered the Focal reducer was in place - so I calculated the new focal length and tried again - still no go.. I was tempted to go back in the house at that point but persevered, replaced my finder scope with one I could put the camera on - and it plate solved. Went through the all sky polar alignment - which took ages with the clouds. While I was waiting I took the OAG off and on went a diagonal and an eye piece. With the mount polar aligned I started slewing to targets and realised that the guidescope was out of line.. Thought about calling it quits there but persevered and aligned everything - swung to split Lyrae and as the mount slewed total cloud cover rolled in.. So not much seen but a good evenings work in poor conditions which should save me time when when do get a clear night !
  23. My understanding based on how it works in Ekos is that the software maintains a mount model which takes into account the accuracy of PA etc. This is updated every time you platesolve and allows it to calculate the slew needed to accurately reach an object. The software has options to save the model on your computer so its reused the next time (this would work only if you havent moved the scope & mount, eg.in an observatory). I dont know if the model is saved onto the mount itself as different mounts may or may not have that capability to retain this info. Here is the explanation from Stellarmate page: Each time an image is plate-solved successfully, a Sync point is appended to the Mount Model. With more points added, the mount GOTO accuracy would improve especially if there are sync points close to the GOTO target.
  24. Quite astounding without any proper processing either and to think only £500
  25. Perhaps leave the assembly open in the fridge for a couple hours and then quickly seal it up while still in there but with the door open for access? That'd be dry and cold air filling it I'd think.
  26. Silica gel absorption is a very slow process. Give it time. Sealing the housing on a cold dry day minimses moisture trapped, reducing the burden on the silica gel. Something else to consider. Do you know anyone who has a MIG welder? With a cylinder of argon based welding gas. Standard argon shielding gas for MIG welders is an argon & carbon dioxide mix. Importantly no water vapour. In some equipment I get involved with, the electronics (and more) enclosure is purged using either nitrogen or argon. High pressure cylinders contain dry gasses. Feed the gas in slowly at one side of the box, allowing it vent at the opposite side. OK not a 100% air purge but a big improvement. HTH, David.
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