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Decathlon are excellent for a material source for DIY solutions including storage and packing materials.
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North American Total Solar Eclipse Weather outlook
Naughty Neal replied to lukebl's topic in Observing - Solar
Not looking good it is , if that is a predicted sceanrio. -
Recommendations for standalone/remote imaging?
Elp replied to Thalestris24's topic in Getting Started With Imaging
For reliability you'll definitely need autoguiding, I haven't been able to image without it past say 50mm. Also depends on your per sub duration, I usually do 30-60s.- 27 replies
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- standalone
- autoguiding
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One doesn't need to go full aperature with a filter so a reduced one will also work. If you have the end cap with the pop out smaller aperature disc, simply try that first.
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Recommendations for standalone/remote imaging?
Thalestris24 replied to Thalestris24's topic in Getting Started With Imaging
Hi Wim and thanks I haven't got all the solutions yet! But with the Synscan wifi and Canon dslr I can just use a remote shutter. I have one that does timed exposures. I'm moving away from the standalone autoguider ide - too expensive and may not work too well with the poor seeing here... The ASIair might be a solution but I'd need a ZWO guide cam so together is a little pricey. I'm too old and impatient to tinker around much with other stuff. The Stellarmate X looks a possibility - I'll have to look into it! Cheers Louise- 27 replies
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Five different gadgets can be used for activation after that one has to contact Celestron to get hopefully , a new activation code. I bought a used Starsense lt100az locally on Ebay and only one activation code was used up, luckily for me the original buyer although activated it with his phone and email didn't register his product with Celestron HQ . So I did and it looks now like I am the original owner and I get the odd email now from Celestron regarding tech news etc , etc.
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Recommendations for standalone/remote imaging?
Thalestris24 replied to Thalestris24's topic in Getting Started With Imaging
Hi Steve It's difficult to sell stuff from here in Glasgow - it's not exactly a hub for amateur astronomy... It's too much hassle to try and ship stuff. Other than that, I've got everything I need apart from some means of using kit remotely. I've looked at the ASIair but that would require buying yet another guide camera as they obviously only support their own make. The SynScan WiFi dongle is a partial solution but no guiding. However, the Takumar lens at 300mm is probably fairly undemanding so I could probably get away without, but I'd just have to try and see... I can't do anything much about the LP and weather here but that's always been the case! Cheers Louise- 27 replies
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It’s on the way back…
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Very true , money for old rope. The IAU have id'd all the known stars and each has a HD number assigned. With so many charlatans taking peoples money any one star could have more then one so called owner ( of course they never own the star and it is all just a bit of nonsense).
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happy-kat started following Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, issues
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Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, issues
happy-kat replied to Stuart1971's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
I just make sure when focusing to always end in a decent amount of upward focusing direction to make sure there's no slush then do up the focusing screw, all's then good. -
mapstar started following Scotland's Premier Star Camp Spring 2025
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Scotland's Premier Star Camp Spring 2025
mapstar replied to Physopto's topic in Star Parties & Astro Events
Cheers Derek. Hopefully the attendance will be good and I will be there as usual. 👍🏻 -
a6400 started following Beelink mini pc lost Window 11 pro again
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Just use this and remove all of the MS junk “Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility”
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+1
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Well said. 👍
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Having only just purchased the Tele-Vue Ranger, I tried it out on my Tele-vue Gibraltar mount. It looked as if I fitted a star finder to the mount, it was lost on it! I have now fitted it onto my Manfrotto 190x PROb with a pistol style grip and it’s a proper marriage. The peculiarity of the Ranger if you weren’t aware, is the focuser, unlike the usual rack and pinion or crayford type, the ranger has a push pull arrangement for coarse focusing and a helical focuser for fine tuning, I love it! I got use to this focuser very quickly and the fine focus is a gem to use. As you turn it, it is smoooth, as one would expect from Tele-vue, I have the 85 and 101np they both have buttery smooth focusers. The Ranger shares the same optics as the Pronto, I had a Pronto and can confirm this, however the Pronto was a lot heavier so was better suited to the Gibraltar mount. why buy an old (1990s) type semi-achromat ? Like those who buy fancy cars, the finish and craftsmanship. chaz
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Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, issues
Budgie1 replied to Stuart1971's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
Mine is the same, I put it down to a manufacturing feature which doesn't really have any effect on the operation of the scope. As I use mine as a guide scope then I rarely change focus on it anyway. -
Located 50 million light years in the Virgo cluster, M99 is relatively large and bright galaxy and was one of the first in which a spiral pattern was observed. One of the spiral arms is distorted and the other normal, giving an overall asymmetric appearance. The distortions of the spiral arms together with a very high (3x normal) star formation rate are evidence of a past encounter, probably with another galaxy. I was quite pleased to capture some detail and colours of the spiral arms and the HII regions. For the bright core, I decided to use high dynamic range compression to enhance visibility and colour. If you look closely at the background you can also see quite a few galaxies, I particularly like the one to the right of the bright orange star which shows some structure. The LRGB image represents 16 hours integration time and was taken with my Esprit 150. A Pixinsight annotated version of the image is shown below. Alan LIGHTS L:39, R:17, G:20, B:20 x 600s all at -20C.
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LX90 REMOTE CONTROL
Cosmic Geoff replied to BRUCE J's topic in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice
Welcome to the Stargazers Lounge. My first thought on shopping for a GoTo scope several years ago was maybe I could control it and view from indoors. Several years of owning GoTo scopes later I still have not managed this. It can be done, but... there are various technical obstacles that make it not as easy as you might think. If you reply, I could explain in more detail. -
This one: https://www.cameracentreuk.com/think-tank-airport-accelerator-camera-backpack Have a look at Matthew’s review: http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2015/05/17/think-tank-photo-airport-essentials-backpack-review/ it’s been all over the world with me
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Lodestar Pro binning question/problem
Oddsocks replied to Skipper Billy's topic in Discussions - Cameras
Hi David. I dug out my old observatory computer and looked at the SX Lodestar settings and post the screenshots below, I no longer use the Lodestar for guiding since upgrading the mount. The first screen grab is the one that *might* help assuming you're running the latest SX ASCOM driver, and should be applicable for your setup with PHD. It is reachable from the "Advanced" button of the ASCOM driver setup. The second screen grab is not going to help with PHD but I'll post that here anyway for users of MaxIm DL and the specific SX Universal camera plug-in for MaxIm. HTH William. SX Lodestar interlace settings using ASCOM driver. SX Lodestar settings for MaxIm DL specific plug-in. -
alan hamilton joined the community
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I named all the stars, but I gave them all the same name and now there's terrible confusion...
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Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, issues
OK Apricot replied to Stuart1971's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
Mine was the same when I had one. Never an issue for me as much as a little build quality/design niggle. -
Great advice. I know the general area as I've pointed stellarium a few times to find out but unfortunately I've not had clear skies yet. Supposed to be crystal clear tonight though according to the weather apps so fingers crossed.
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Stuart1971 started following Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, issues
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Hello, I recently bought a second hand SW Evoguide 50ED, and it’s in mint condition and was happy with it, but I noticed that with the helical focuser when I change direction from in to out or vice versa, there is backlash, in fact the green focusing ring will focus one way, and as soon as I swap direction the same ring will move approx 1/4 of a turn before it starts moving focus the opposite way. Yo can actually feel the backlash as it goes really loose for a 1/4 turn before it picks up and starts to move.. So my question to any owners of this little scope, is this normal or do I have an issue and can it be taken apart and looked at..?
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Geoff Lister started following Observing Pons Brooks.
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Another thing to consider is that this comet is now getting close to the setting Sun. The comet will be close to the horizon when the Sun has set and it is starting to get dark-enough to see the comet. The Stellarium view, above, neatly illustrates the problem with houses/fences/trees etc. blocking the view. I have found that I need to mount my telescopes as high as possible to see over my garage and/or adjacent fences. The Heritage 130P's Dobsonian base needs to be on as high a stand as possible to get a clear view towards the horizon. A couple of nights ago, to get a clear view of the comet, I had to resort to extreme measures to clear an adjacent fence, this time with a different telescope, but using a stepladder with a painting platform. With a suitable clamp the Heritage's base could work on something like this. But it was worth the effort to get this view Geoff