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Alkaid

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Everything posted by Alkaid

  1. So...one of my work colleagues took note of my own basic DSLR + C8 lunar images and now wants to do the same, albeit with less budget and using a smartphone. It should be fairly straightforward for me to come up with a set-up for her, but I want to glean any further options from members if I may... My thoughts...I myself swear by an EQ set-up for anything that requires tracking. I initially went down the EQ5 + drives route as it’s quite versatile for loads of different OTA’s, so long as not too big. Paired with that she could have something like an F8–F10 refractor....or a smaller ED72 (ED80 will probably go over budget) or a small Mak. Fit a smartphone adapter and hey presto... There are other mount & scope packages like the AZGT + Mak, but I am not sure about the stability of this even with a humble phone hanging off the back. Lastly, the Starquest package with Mak 102 looks quite good for a beginner, as that little Mak tube probably wouldn’t tax that little mount too badly and you can get a simple drive for it too. She hasn’t given a budget yet(!) but one of the problems I find when discussing new set-ups with beginners is that cost very quickly puts them off, so I want to recommend a set-up that does the job on Lunar but doesn’t break her bank. What d’ya reckon?
  2. Yes, you're quite right - sorry guys. The 5" frac, whichever you chose, will solve all that.
  3. Nice image there! How do you get that image scale at F10, do you just zoom in on the image and re-save it? I can't get that close with my C8 so just wondering on best technique. Looking at barlows for F20 too. Thanks.
  4. I think you’re opening a can of worms here. You’re saying that you’ve not tried it under the sky but already partly dismantled the scope? I’m pretty sure that the silvering will be absolutely fine, it takes a lot of degradation to really upset the image.
  5. It's not what you want to hear, but the scope is most likely written off. As above, worth a check with home insurance, you may be able to cover it and buy a replacement. Might be a while in this climate though. Feel for you...nightmare... If a repair IS feasible, then it might be better to have FLO send the scope back to Skywatcher for repair. I'm not certain, but do SW try to match correctors with mirrors to give a 'good' optical fit??
  6. There’s a lot to be said about a first scope and in many ways whichever type or model you buy, using it will lead you to learn so many things that are not really to do with the scope! For example, here’s a few: Locations of well known, deep sky objects and star clusters. Rising, setting and patterns of the Planets and how they vary from year to year. The patterns of the Moon. Getting familiar with Star Charts and recognition of constellations. All of which will give you an excellent foundation to build upon if and when you might wish to go bigger. The 90mm Bresser will be a fine scope, have fun.
  7. Jupiter's moon's are too big...what a scam!
  8. Thanks Marvin, looks like I need to keep buying more weather lottery tickets (grin!). I had high hopes of the Ardeche, with blue skies in the day, clear skies at night and not a bit of cloud...lol
  9. For me, every August we have a week’s camping trip to remote spots and I really look forward to DSO hunting at dark sites. What I enjoy much less is the reality of 7 days of constant rain and low pressure systems more akin to February. In fact, we were so (word removed) off with this summer that, Covid permitting, next summer our annual Astro trip will be in the South of France.
  10. I’ll see if I can measure the screws on mine for you.
  11. 150mm is a nice aperture, at a dark site the Messier objects will be well presented.
  12. I think Skywatcher also do the 150PDS. This is the same scope but optimised for AP. I believe it has a larger secondary mirror to fully illuminate the field on the sensor. You can still use it for visual too.
  13. I'm primarily a visual guy, but last night I felt in the mood for some experimentation....what do you think? Was jumping up & down as the whole sky was clear EXCEPT for the Southern portion where the Moon was....very irritated I went inside for a cuppa and on coming back out, it was clear - all systems go!. Lunar 21/11/20 @ 6pm, Celestron C8 + Canon 1000D at prime focus. ISO 800 & 1/125 shutter speed. One thing I'm quite pleased about is that the field curvature in this C8 seems to be pretty well controlled. Thanks guys for letting me know how I did!
  14. Looks very nice. I often wondered about these a few years back, heard good things. Looking forward to your first light report (when the weather breaks!). Cheers, Steve
  15. There is a lot of focus travel on the Schmitt Cassegrain scope, keep winding the focuser gently and you will get there. As above, a distant target is needed. As the SCT uses a moving mirror to focus, there is a HUGE focal range, the advantage being that whatever accessories you have in the optical train, it can reach focus. Unfortunately you won’t really know which ‘way to turn’ so to speak until you get close to focus. Once there though you’ll find you won’t have to turn it that much to stay in focus. PS the minimum target range to reach focus would probably be around 50 metres (I’m sure I’ve managed to get a pigeon in view at this range whilst messing about in daylight hrs). You won’t be able to focus on anything indoors.
  16. The 8se has twice the resolving power (ability to separate detail) and the image will be 4 times brighter (at same mag). Resolving power is dependent on diameter of the mirror or lens. Double the diameter and you double the theoretical resolution. Brightness is dependent on surface area. Double the diameter gives you 4x the surface area for catching light. The 8se will bring significant improvements to your planetary viewing over the 4se. Only caveat is that the tube is a little heavier than the mount would like when used at typical magnifications for planets (say over x150). There’s a lot of wobble. For this reason some users pop the tube onto a more substantial mount for planetary and at other times use the normal 8se mount for casual goto fun.
  17. Interesting! I have the longer one. Short FL model would make good grab n go for casual.
  18. I don't think there will be much in it. The Mak might be a touch sharper and the SCT will have slightly wider FOV. The SCT will also cool down a little faster due to the thin corrector.
  19. Hi everyone. What’s the difference between Stellalyra and Stellamira? Any relations?
  20. Alkaid

    New here

    Hi there Moon Shine
  21. I have seen M92, but it was an aeon ago, I really must re-visit it. M2 is another one I need to see, not seen it yet.
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