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Having just set up my 12” I noticed I could no longer see Arcturus, cloud had seeped in from the east. As consolation I picked up my 15x56s to look West at the top half of Orion in the twilight and a meteor entered the field and burnt up just next to Betelgeuse! Somewhat made up for the abandonment of session. M

but that wouldn't be a smart broomstick Jim

The Panel was commercially made by a company called Earlsmann. My contribution to it was to mount the supplied panel on a sheet of Correx to protect it and keep it flat (oops, pun!) and to arrange the fine connecting wire to have a detent to ensure that it couldn't easily be pulled from the EL panel if it slid off the telescope!

Think you may have missed out the added setup time negotiating with "others" your plans for the evening?

But none of that makes a difference to what the OP asked for, he wants to be able to switch a monitor on and off via Alexa whether by voice command or an app when he is at the eyepiece, why..? Who knows… So using a smart plug gives this option, the monitor is turned on at its switch, and left on, and then it can be turned on and off via the smart plug, it’s then up to him to sort out the PC and power saving functions and so on and so fourth…as that was not mentioned….but easy enough to configure…

The mount, especially when motor driven, is fairly tolerant of a little out of balance. Perhaps this gets more of an issue with really big scopes. Using a Planet I doubt you would need a counterweight for stability with your scopes. So strictly neccessary IMHO is just the two clamps. (And the Vixen AZ75 ones are fine too) Now each individual will value certain of the accessories as 'nice'.. You say occasionally dual mounting so how much would you value alignment plates (making 2 scopes exactly parrallel) ? You may also need a spacer plate on the left side to clear the AZ motor if you have a long dovetail on that side which clashes? Going from an eyepiece to a binoviewer or nightvision might make the ep counterweight nice. However you could just switch off the motors, lock the alt axis and rebalance....because you wont lose your encoder alignment by doing that 🙂. Personally i always like a panning handle....but perhaps less so when we get the hand controller? If you are prepared to be patient I would buy no accessories at first and that is not just about cost, a fully loaded up AZ100 can get quite heavy! Using it for a while will tell you what extras you personnaly need or want.

Yes I tried it too, and would work just as the OP asked for….🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

I like the broomstick idea, doesn't need batteries or any electronics.

or a remote control!

To make this a bit clearer, a monitor will switch on when supplied power from an off state and will show the connected pc feed as long as power save modes have been switched off on the pc (screensavers also need to be turned off so you can see the operating system UI). This means the pc is constantly on. If power save mode is enabled on the pc, a newly powered monitor will switch on briefly, then also revert to a standby mode or no signal mode due to the pc being in standby or sleep mode and not transmitting a signal over the video connection.

It was an incredible summer day here today, and I hoped until now to be able to catch a couple of hours of night observation... high clouds appeared at around 21 and will not leave for hours or days. This might be it for the season, except lunar and solar. Won't have many days available to get out past 11pm for the next two weeks, and the season of no astronomical twilight is starting soon 😭 I vote to have longer nights in summer and viceversa

Yes, provided it is used with the same optics and nothing special is done to the data. If you have the choice of telescopes you can use with your cameras, and you can bin your data - then it depends. If you want to get really faint stuff in "reasonable" amount of time, then this would be my advice: - figure out your working resolution in arc seconds per pixel (one that will capture all the detail you are after and will not over sample) - get the biggest aperture that will give you focal length in combination with pixel size you have and any binning factor that will provide you with wanted working resolution - and will have enough FOV to capture the target. (of course, consider all other variables like ability to mount the said largest aperture scope, costs involved, quality of optics and so on ...)

Well, if I were you I would either wait or get a temporary solution from the second hand market until you have moved to your new house. Doing so, you will be sure that you invest money in the right instrument for the place where you will live for a while.

Many thanks Vlaiv. I suspected that it would be your name providing a highly informed explanation! So, the basic message is that the ASI 533MC-Pro, although it has a lower QE than the ASI 585MC-Pro, is more sensitive due to the larger pixels relative to the QE, and will capture objects of lower magnitude?

also how old is you screen/monitor

Hi Lee, Up until quite recently I cursed the clouds whenever they moved in on me I always thought they ruined a good timelapse until a few friends pointed out that a few clouds add even more interest and movement to the scene. I like the first video as you've three main points of movement ie, stars, distant low and bright cloud and the wispy stuff rolling through. I rate the video and would have liked to see a bit more if you still have it. However, cloud can be a real nuisance if you intend to stack as it often ( Well it does for me ) ruins the photo. Loved the debris, Dave.

as long as the host PC is on

when i plug my screen on it is in standbye mode so awaiting a signal as scans all modes so no need to press a power button i have a Samsung and HP monitor ? So a Smart plug works as i tried it

One thing I really love about using the Synscan app is that if I know what I want to look at, I can simply select it from the menu, find it in the eyepiece, press 'Point and Track' and it'll keep it in the eyepiece for up to 30 minutes. First experienced with the Az GTI and liked it so much that I bought a Synscan Wifi module to replace the handset on my old Synscan mounts.

well i am perplexied as to what OP wants. Apart from On/Off or pull the plug

thanks all for your help. my post processing is a tad random. i like the golden colour on my previous image at the top of this thread, but also like the result created with all of your help More silvery dunno if that's more 'correct' or not

taken the same night as the elephant's trunk - this one with no NB filters - redcat, asi2600. Again, about 4 hours of 5 min subs. stu

I carry my RC6 and mount out in one go, that’s one minute. Then it cools as night falls. Carrying it from its sheltered spot to the Scope Operating Zone is a minute, including rough polar alignment. Nailing polar alignment is two to three minutes. Then there’s five minutes calibrating the guide scope and fussing over focus. Maybe 10 minutes all in all.

What about the Show 15, its 15.6 inches HD. Fire TV incorporated. Echo Show 15 Jim

Thanks Olly, for the feedback. I do recall the galaxy colour discussion, and I was a supporter of the silvery tone school of thought! I feel another version coming on…🤔