Shimrod

No problems with it - I think it only had two grub screws instead of three to hold it in place, but it hasn't budged at all (I have packed away for the summer, so it's not so easy to check the mount). The actual camera fits into the adaptor and had a single screw to hold it in place, but the camera was a tight fit into the adaptor anyway.

I wouldn't recommend the polar scope for the AVX. I bought one, tried to use it once and bought an iOptron iPolar instead. The polar scope is easy enough to fit and align, but it is not illuminated and it is really awkward to try and see through. The altitude knob gets in the way and if you are tall you have to contort yourself to get into a position to see through it. I've left it in the mount to remind myself of the folly of ignoring reviews on FLO: AVX Polarscope There is a link to a youtube video on setting up the AVX here: Stargazers primers and tutorials

I would check the retaining ring and if it is loose, at least get in hand tight by rotating with a finger - you don't want to give it a good shake and have a lens or two fall out! My Edge 8" reducer made a clunking noise similar to what you are describing just before it fell apart in my hands.

There are some online mask generators out there that claim to size the mask differently for various apertures- here is one example: astrojargon You could try printing one of on stiff paper first of all to see how it performs with your scope before using your 3D printer for a more permanent version.

You seem to have deviated from your original goal of a smaller and more portable version of your current scope! You haven't said what you want to observe or image, which may affect the overall scope selection. Using a DSLR is handy if you don't want to image using a laptop, but I have found that I have ended up using my laptop anyway so check focus. If you are going to be using a laptop for guiding, then I would consider getting a dedicated astro camera from the start - you are only going to end up wanting one anyway! The only reason I can see for getting the RP would be if you also wanted to use the camera for 'normal' photography as well - it's not like you're saving money over the purchase of a dedicated Astro camera.

Possibly a wedge or an equatorial mount? You could get a piggyback bracket and start off with some widefield photography which would give you longer exposures which might lessen the learning curve. I had an 8" scope on an alt-az mount, and when I recently got back into astronomy (in general) bought an EQ mount to take one complication out of imaging.

Possibly you need to patch your firmware on the telescope. There is a bug fix note on the Celestrom firmware page: Astro Fi 7.17.00310 April-2020 Bug Fix: Data corruption on SSA camera when used with internal Gen3 WiFi You can see the full list of changes here: Firmware update history Download CFM using the link at the top of the page to perform the update.

Glad I bought mine at the end of March, when Martin advised me there were only two left!

I used a bottle of Carplan de-ionised water to clean the mirror on my LX90 - about £1.50 from Asda in the car section. Hasn't left any deposits or marks on the mirror.

I can't comment on your issue with Stellarium, but I use Starry Night 8 Pro (from the SkyFi people) to control my telescope (with the Celestron Skyportal module). That has native support for the Skyfi module as well, but if you are happy with your solution I'd save the money. Starry Night can be a bit of a resource hog if you are using the same laptop to image with as well.

A quick search brings up this replacement tripod for £65 from Grovers: TRIPOD I am sure someone will be along shortly to recommend sturdier tripods and method of attachment - I suspect it will go on to most standard tripods like this one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html

I suppose you don't need any software, but in my first attempts with a Canon 7D I have found it much easier. Viewing a larger image on a laptop makes it easier to see if I have got focus, and the EOS utility also lets me set interval timing with exposures longer than 30 seconds. I know from reading on here that you can use the images from the camera to plate solve as well (depending on software) although it is not something I do. Others with more experience might explain why it is essential to have software control!

I'm a little confused - if you do wildlife photography what camera do you have at the moment and wouldn't that be suitable for astro? With only 4.4fps shooting, the K1 is not best suited to wildlife. If I was buying into a new system from scratch, I'd been looking at one of the mirrorless camera systems. No need to worry about shutter counts!

The K1 is the top end DSLR from Pentax, if you've bought this primarily for terrrestial photography, you've bought a nice camera - if you've bought it for astro (and assuming you've bought new) you have spent a lot more than you need to, and it probably isn't appropriate for your OTA. The K1 does have a nice astro feature when used on a standard tripod - it allows for long exposure night photography, tracking the movement of the stars across the sensor to avoid star trails. This feature is also available on the K70 at 1/3 the cost. You might also want to have a look at this thread over on 8SE and full frame sensor for an example of the vignetting you can expect to see. Pentax is also very much niche when compared to Canon and Nikon, so you may find some of the specialised items like brands/filters and control software may not be available in Pentax form. If shopping for lenses though they have kept the same mount throughout the SLR/DSLR era so even the oldest manual lenses will still work with the current models.

I can't give you an answer to your question, but I am envious of your wide open sky! I am hemmed in by houses.

It's always the way. I bought a new telescope last August, and I think I had weather good enough five times between then and February. Being retired, you at least won't have the constraint any more of curtailing an evening's viewing so you are capable of working the next day - enjoy your retirement!

The Evolution is an alt-az mount, so polar alignment is not required. Have you checked that tracking is really turned on in the handset (you scrolled to sidereal and hit the enter button) Is your correct location set (if you are using skyportal to control the telescope, this will be set from your tablet/phone). What happens if you do an auto-align with starsense? Have you calibrated the starsense after attaching to the telescope? Are the mount clutches firmly engaged?

The manual for that mount does only specify a 1A power supply, 11-15 volts. Have you used the power supply successfully before? You could try a factory reset on the mount in case there is a wonky setting in there somewhere.

I also have Starsense with an AVX mount. I polar align (with iPolar), then calibrate the starsense, then align. The calibrate should really be optional, but I have found I get a greater accuracy if I calibrate at the start of each session, and it only takes a minute or two longer. Once the align process has completed, I then just GOTO the first target of the evening - I don't move it back to the home position first. I control the mount using my laptop and CPWI/Starry Night, so I don't even have a handset plugged into the mount. It might be worth checking your firmware versions if you are having problems - there is a list of changes here: Celestron Firmware History

You can get a sky fi adapter ( SKY FI) that is compatible with skywatcher mounts. Skyportal (the software) is a version of the Sky Safari from the same company with built in Celestron telescope control.

nope! Discussed here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/355038-starsense-autoalign-for-skywatcher-with-skyportal/

I understand the confusion - there are two products both called Skyportal - Skyportal the software (compatible with starsense for skywatcher), and Skyportal Wi-FI module, which is not compatible with Skywatcher mounts.

if you haven't seen it, you can find a full history of Celestron firmware updates here: Firmware History

It looks like it has a third party focuser and an electronic focus unit added as well. Have you taken those into account with your estimate (probably a bit of a challenge given you can't see the brands/type)?

If you have an account on TeamCelestron, there is a post from a firmware engineer from April this year confirming Skyportal is not compatible with the interface box: TeamCelestron