StevieDvd

2 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The more I try the Seestar, it makes me ask "Why can't all GoTo scopes be like this?"  Sure, it would be expensive to kit an 8" SCT with all these features (maybe via a separate intelligent finderscope), but if amateurs with deeper pockets were offered a scope outfit that did all this automation and had a visual port, I suspect the response would be "F**k yes, sign me up now!" 

Give it a year or two and the scopes would also do the post processing as well, though if they get too smart they may sulk because of the weather.

Even if the more detailed information was on their web page or in their manual (more detailed than they have already in the specs & downloads for the product)  in my experience most don't bother to read them. It's more likley they will to ask on a Forum or Facebook when things don't seem to work or go wrong.

8 hours ago, LDW1 said:

I have probably read this some time but what is the minimum temperature that the SS can effectively be used !  Below freezing, if so how much ?

All the specifications are on https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-seestar

Accoroding to Jackery

"The Jackery Explorer 240 Portable Power Station can be charged within 5 hours with a SolarSoga 100W solar panel."

So figure that's based on a US sunny day, and a for UK day I guess it would be twice that at least.

31 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Hi Steve,

Indeed the 2 halves screw together which I was pleased to see, esp given the weight of an EQ5 and gear. The tapped holes around the sides have no provided screws but 2 of them at the base of the upper section could be used to lock the parts together if desired (after sourcing suitable screws of course). The ones in the middle of the upper part I guess could also lock against the inserted EQ head flanges tho I can't see why you would do that.

The one I purchased was this one, overall cost around £56 inc shipping and VAT which they bill for these days.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005532892902.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef1802sujog9

Yet to try it for fit on the EQ5 head as working from home but will give it a look later on.

Thanks,

I'll keep this in mind as a backup solution. It would be for putting my Altair Sabre mount on a carbon fibre tripod. The base of the Sabre is not a flush fit on the base plate of the tripod and my sense of a proper safe fit is prompting me for a good solution.  Whether that's getting an adapter made or using one like you have bought seems a good idea.

Steve

@DaveL59

I was looking at these but was not sure of the sellers as the prices varied so much. Do the two parts screw together (looks as if they are threaded) and locked with a single screw. And what are the other screw holes for, any user guide come with it?

Also, do you mind me asking which seller and how much it cost including delivery etc?

Thanks

Steve

The Celestron Zhumell Z100 looks almost the same as the SW Heritage 100 so at the prices you mentioned would be a good choice. I'd check to see if it can also be mounted on a tripod (the whole thing) as the Heritage can be.

The experience of setting up a cheap EQ scope (which can be difficult for first timers) and they are usually flimsier can be off-putting.  So a simpler Alt/Az like the small dobsonians can help.

As you have ASIStudio already I'd suggest doing a daytime focus on a distant object. If you have SharpCap it may set the exposure automatically for you which helps.

With the camera during the day use short exposures well under half a second may need to be as low as 1/1000.  That should help getting the focus almost right for night use, as you'll know roughly what position the focuser needs to be.

Once in focus you could swap to an eyepiece, but don't change the focus - instead pull the eyepiece out a little at a time until it's in focus and note how far out the eyepiece is. You can mark this with a felt tip or use a parfocal¹ ring or even a zip lock.

¹ A parfocal ring is used on eyepieces of different focus needs so they can be swapped without refocusing.

Based on your comment on leaving it out on the street, then my reponsse would be to try getting the bearing back in place (if it does not look completely ruined) and see if it works. If it's just for visual use and the goto/alignments are near enough then perhaps it will do for a while.  Other than that if a new bearing is only a few dollars you could try that or sell it for spares/repairs.

I'd need to see the NINA controls but you won't need to unmount the EAF.

Part of the setup of an EAF is to set the inner & outer limits and number of steps. And most control apps allow you to reverse the directions. If NINA/Ascom don't let you do that try ZWO ASIStudio.

I'd do a quick google for setup of the EAF for the procedure for setting/resetting the positions if I were you.

Not finding position won't be affected by alignment.

It works on platesolving so a poor image (dirty mirror or camera lens) or bad location data are the most likely culprits.  Both of which have been posted about a few times.

It would seem a simple test to try using a Nyloc nut and tighening until the dovetail/tube does not move freely. Then see if that stays put and aligns properly. If it does not align well try a loosen of the nut first, if that is the same or worse try a tightening adjustment.

If it works okay then monitor over time.

I ordered some allen headed bolts for a vixen/losmandy clamp to add to a mount.  I measured the screw depth at about 6mm.

What came in the post were some bolts 6mm in total length, an immediate gasp when I opened the pack.  I realised the mistake was my eye to brain interface, remedied by a smack to the forehead and the magic incantation of  "D'oh".

If the loctite repair does not hold try a proper glue such as this one.

I won't but another tube of loctite or gorilla superglue again.  With grand kids and the missus regularly giving me almost impossible breakages to repair the above glue (and a similar product) has been a godsend and actually worked where supermarket packaged glues fail.

I recently knocked a raspberry pi off a shelf and managed to snap the sdcard (it hit a concrete floor) - used this glue to stick it as I thought the main memory part may have been okay.  The glue did the job but the card was not recognised. As it was heading for the bin I decided to test the glued joint and was able to snap the card, but suprisingly in another place - the  glued join was still intact.

13 hours ago, Leo S said:

I think these are both more likely to be satellite flares than meteors. The Sun is certainly in the right place. There are no obvious meteor candidates caught by UKMON at the times of the images, although that does not necessarily mean they were not meteors.

Have you carefully checked the images either side for signs of a continuing trail?

The exposures are 20s and have a pause between them, but there are no trails in the images either side that are visible.  The flares are only on a single image. I spotted them on the startrail imge and had to find the images taken by narrowing the time they appeared on the startrail and found just one.

I'm glad the title of the thread was appropriate.

14 minutes ago, M40 said:

Yep, you screw the az gti onto the mount so that it is tight. Adjustment then comes down to physically picking the mount up and rotating to suit with fine adjustment by loosening/tightening the azimuth clutch. Using it in purely alt/az maybe look at getting mount as level as possible then plate solving. All the best.

I don't think physically picking the mount up and rotating is right that could upset levelling. The mount is rotated in AZ with the clutch released, whether fine or not. IN AZ mode the adjustments are stored in the mount and set using the app keys to centre a star. In EQ mode the Alt/Az bolts on the wedge would be used for fine adjustments.

On 16/09/2023 at 20:04, LDW1 said:

I would have thought that SW would have been very specific, very clear where no one could miss it because it is a very important instruction in this whole excercise of alignment with their product. SW is usually pretty good, I have owned / used a lot of their gear over many years. We shall see !

They do in the manual state True North for setting up home position (AZ mode).  Your home position, levelling and location/date & time are used to help align the mount by centering the alignment stars and the mount compensating for inaccuracies.  The uptake of plate-solving has made these inaccuracies less of a problem, as the software would be able to centre the target after a plate-solve.

Using a manual polar alignment system such as a polar scope, the correct axis is found by knowing the position of Polaris in relation to the NCP and placing that in the right hourly position. So when the PA is correct, and the mount rotated, Polaris would spin around in a circle with the NCP in the middle. So if your time/date or location is wrong that position you centred Polaris in would be wrong and hence the assumed position of the NCP would be out as well. Note we have not used a True or Magnetic North for this manual process, but the NCP would be True North (no magnets or compass used).

So True North is best to use, but if Magnetic is close then the alignment error correcting should compensate for either of them. If the degree offset is large then True North should be used, if Magnetic gives a better result then there is a compensating error.

https://gisgeography.com/magnetic-north-vs-geographic-true-pole/

Refitted my all sky camera into a new housing to remedy some dew ingress and the results of last nights timelapse shows a possible 2 meteors.  The images below are individual exposures:

I need to redo the darks as my first set somehow made the images completly black. That may have eradicated the hot pixels but at the expense of a blank image.

Ahh the link had me confused too. Not much use for the NexStarSE series unless they are on a wedge.  Aimed presumably at the EQ mounts based on their own 'Best suited for' list.

But I agree a bit pricey.

As @bosun21 says the Nexstar mounts have been around for ages.  The latest adverts are just reminding you that the new products launched since then are compatible, the Starsense AutoAlign camera for example uses the same aux connections.

34 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

Cheers Steve but it's no different to what I've already produced in terms of detail. I'm looking for that far  finer detail as in the very first video and trying to figure out how to achieve  it or the fine detail which Kon manages to achieve with his 8 inch Dob.

Sorry I mistook the tif files for your processed results and looked for a Mac solution in software I have used. The tweak's can be done in Siril and have some planetary processing videos on you tube that you could follow.

Here's a quick edit of one of the first set. I opened it in Siril which is available for Mac and used the wavelet function. It is subject to personal colouring and could do with a sharpen but shows that data is there.

If you can attach the image after the stacking as a .fits or .tif perhaps someone can tweak it with PC (and hopefully Mac) software where the start & end result change can be explained for you to try.  I believe that ASIStudio is available for Mac it has stacking and some basic post stack options.

Your data is seemingly quite good. Having seen the difference between initial video and final image processed & tweaked from others, I'd say it's the learning of the tweaking that is all that you need to improve.

Have a look at this video - it shows the tweaking in action. 

I'd literally just finsihed watching that video. Was trying to see if there was a levelling routinethat would prevent the end user setting it up in eq mode.  Not sure if the Dwarf had a firmware change to allow users to do their own 'EQ' thing. I was not seriously suggesting that ZWO would do an eq wedge as we all know that PA is a drawback for the first time user wanting a turn on & get result product.

Well done for getting the thread back on track guys 🙂