Shimrod

There is a recent discussion on zoom eyepieces at different price points here: zoom eyepieces

Velcro! One Velcro style to attach things like dew controllers and USB hubs to the mount/tripod etc, and another, thinner strip that can be used to tidy up and route cables (by using it as a removable cable tie). I started using the latter after a cable snagged on a tripod locking lever and pulled my camera out the back of the camera.

Very impressive - but I bet not cheap and certainly not for solar observing!

My observation from those benchmarks is that disk transfer speeds play a much bigger part in the performance of that application than overall cores. Looking at the benchmarks of the 3900x processor they range from 16 to 86 seconds, with the Transfer rate (assuming that is the disk performance) being the key factor.

It depends on what software you are running, as as Stash_old says, what other components you have in your system. The latest AMD processors (3 series upwards) have a faster interface to GPUs, so if you are running an application (like Darktable or Photoshop) that exploits GPU processors, then that might be better. Of course, you need a decent graphics card, and that will mean getting something of a decent gaming standard - like an RTX 2060 or better. More cores will benefit in other applications besides photoshop, so you need to look at the other applications that you run. Adobe themselves don't say there is an upper limit, just that you hit a law of diminishing returns against cost as you increase the cores. Of course, a software update could change all that so given the relatively small cost differential, you may well choose to get 8 cores/16 threads rather than 6. I can't give you benchmarks (I went from 4 cores/8 threads and GTX1060 to 12 cores/24 threads and RTX2060), but I can tell you everything was noticeably quicker, and I expect this PC to last several years. For photoshop, here's a set of benchmarks for 8 core through 32 core systems - there are timings for the various actions carried out and you can see that there is not a huge difference between them.

In my case I use a low power laptop - an HP spectre x2. The biggest power draw is the screen, the processor has a TDP of 15w. The laptop will go about 4 hours in the cold, and I use a cheap 20ah powertank (£30) which plugs into the usb-c port and keeps it topped up. The other thing in favour of the LiFe-Po battery is the consistent power delivery as the battery discharges - no drops in voltage as you might find on other batteries.

I have one of these as well (it can be picked up for £214 from picstop) and it is both lightweight and has all the power connectors I need. You don't have to worry about keeping it charged (like lead acid or Li-on) batteries, and the battery technology (LiFe-Po) is much safer than Li-on when it comes to possibly knocks or damage to the battery. It beats lugging the equivalent 20kg lead acid battery around and it will last for years. It is the battery technology rather than the brand that makes this expensive - have a look at tracer batteries which use the same technology and cost similar amounts.

The performance gains you get from increased cores depends on how the software is written - some software cannot exploit all the cores available - this is especially true if using older versions of the software. You might also want to consider whether the software can exploit GPU processing which can dramatically increase performance if you have a relatively new (DX12 support) mid-range card. Photoshop and darktable are two examples of software that will exploit graphics cards. I have a Ryzen 9 3900x and DSS will use all the cores/threads available, much quicker than my previous i7 4 core/8 thread processor. If upgrading, you might also want to consider a motherboard with PCI 4.0 support. Getting one of these m.2 drives will give you around 10x the performance of a standard SATA interface.

There is the SkyFi module from Simulation Curriculum, but it costs over £269 ( SkyFi ) so considerably higher than the Skyportal module. Celestron have reported some wifi stability connection issues with the Skyportal module recently that only affect users in Europe. They have a firmware fix but it is only in beta at the moment and you will have to join the TeamCelestron website to get access to it. If you are using the direct connect mode of the Skyportal module then it makes the GPS module redundant, as the mount will pick up date, time and location from your mobile device. I have been using a Skyportal module for over a year to control my AVX mount without issue - I have used a tablet, but now use CPWI on a laptop

It looks like you have bought a Pentax K mount version of the lens. If you have bought it from somewhere you can't return it, the best thing to do would be stick it on ebay and you should get your money back. Have a look on camera-jungle (owned by Jessops) or mbp for second hand lenses.

The extra electronics are: Celestron focus motor - should be controllable from the handset. Allows you to change focus without having to touch the telescope. Celestron starsense - This helps you with initial set up and alignment of the telescope by comparing images of the sky to those held in device to work out where the telescope is pointing. You should have a hand controller that says 'Starsense' on it. Celestron Skysync (on the tripod leg) - this is a GPS device which will automatically input location, date, time into the mount to help with alignment. It also looks like the mount has (or has had) a QHY polemaster fitted - an electronic polarscope to help alignment with the north pole. Manual and further details of starsense here: Starsense Manual and other details for focus motor here: focus motor Manual and further details for Skysync here: Skysync

I saw these from Opticstar when I was looking, but I only want 4 or 5 - they only seem to sell in bulk!

I have starsense on an AVX, and that (along with my ipolar) make setting up much easier and quicker. I control my mount by computer or tablet, so the time and location are taken from those. Unless you move your mount around a lot (by hundreds of miles), then once you have your location set, you only need to enter date and time to get started - Skysync seems to be an expensive way of doing that. A cheaper alternative (if you want to control your telescope by phone or tablet) would be to buy the skyportal wifi adaptor, which will then take location, date and time from your device instead.

Your control screen looks different to mine, although I am using the full version on windows rather than the Celestron SE version on mac. My options include Celestron driver and ascom drivers. You could try downloading the Celestron ascom driver (from the ascom website) and see if Starry Night will then pick recognise the telescope. I use CPWI for control, but that is windows only.

I have bought a couple of Baader 1.25" filters recently, and they have both turned up in 65mm x 65mm cases. These take up too much space in my equipment case and I am trying to find smaller cases without success. Anyone have any suggestions? I would prefer individual cases for the filters rather than a case that holds several at once. thanks

Alas, it was a bit of a damp squib after an earlier KP index forecast of 7. Reasons why it fizzled out can be found here: spaceweather

There is a known bug with connectivity on the Skyportal which is currently only affecting Europe - you may be experiencing that - the symptoms you describe in your first post fit the description of the bug. There is a firmware patch to correct this (for the Skyportal dongle), but it is only in beta at the moment so you have to be a member of Team Celestron to access it. You can join for free but it may take a couple of days to get approved. You will have to pick up the latest version of CFM from the same website in order to apply the firmware patch. I have applied it to my Skyportal without issue. I would suggest trying CPWI to control the mount as an alternative, but that is windows 10 only - however you should have received a Celestron Starry Night SE licence with your telescope. That has a mac version and is the basic version of Starry Night plus Celestron telescope control. You could try connecting that via your handset to the mount to test out movement and alignment of the mount. You have to connect in direct mode first so you can set the SSID and password of your home network in the device.

I get frustrated by daytime weather vs nighttime. I have not had a viewing session since end of September. I got excited at the start of this week - blue sky horizon to horizon, then at 5.30 - clouds roll in and that's it for the evening.

I'm also just starting out on the imaging journey - although only two nights since I bought my camera early September due to weather. At the same time I bought a pair of 20x80 binoculars to keep me entertained while the camera was doing its thing. They've seen a lot more use as they've enabled me to nip out for the odd 10-15mins of clear skies we've had.

What is it you are trying to power? the top connector (the one with the cable plugged in) is the 12v output port for a mount as well as the charging port. The USB port will only put out 5v so may not be sufficient for what you want to achieve.

This sounds like you are not able to get the telescope into focus with the camera - these are the same symptoms I experienced when I bought my first astro camera. The camera came with the appropriate spacers to give 55mm of backfocus when used with a reducer, but with no reducer I had to buy additional extension tubes (another 50mm) to insert between the camera and the focuser. If you have a barlow, try using that as well - you might get a bit closer to focus which would at least confirm it is not a software/driver issue.

What problem are you hoping to solve by guiding? In your thread on cameras you said you wanted to image deep space objects which implies long exposures. Guiding your Evolution on an alt-az mount is not going to solve the problem of the earth's rotation and you will still be restricted to very short exposures which are unlikely to need guiding.

So...you can do some of the imaging you want with the set up you have - have a look at this thread (and search for 8SE which is similar to your mount) to get an idea of what you can do: No EQ challenge - You will notice quite a lot of people are using Canon cameras as well. You could start by piggybacking your camera on top of the telescope and using a short focal length lens which will allow you to get longer exposures before you start getting trails from the earth's rotation. You will find astrophotography a lot easier to start with though if you can get an equatorial mount and shorter focal length refractor - it is a much more forgiving platform for beginning imaging. As your Edge attaches to the evolution mount using a dovetail, you would also be able to move both OTA between the mounts. So retain the evolution mount for a quick set up for visual observing (with Edge or refractor), and using the equatorial mount for imaging (again with either scope). If you wanted to stay with Celestron there is an AVX mount advertised in the classifieds on this forum which would suit (although many recommend the Skywatcher HEQ5-Pro mount as the starting point).

How much power do you need? I use a £33 powerbank to extend my laptop usage time by about 4 hours (plus however long the laptop battery lasts). It's about the size and weight of a small paperback book (or a Kindle for those wondering what paperback is!) - a couple of those aren't too much of an issue to carry around if you only need to keep you laptop going through a single night.

Hi Mike, I bought the lightwave reducer and also a couple of extension tubes from Altair. I can now get focus with the reducer (using the standard 55mm extension tubes) and without the reducer using an extra couple of extension tubes. What's most frustrating is I have had only two clear nights since buying the camera!