Jiggy 67

As a stopgap whilst you save up, you could consider a second hand Baader 8-24 zoom, Mark 111 or 1V (there is no difference in optics, only weight). They are based on the Hyperion but I use one in my f5 and have not noticed any abberations. You can cover a large number of focal lengths for little outlay

You’ll love the mount, it’s a fantastic bit of kit....but I hope you’ve been working out, it’s got some weight!!  😀

I tighten the threaded “through” bar (don’t know what else to call it) as tight as it can go by hand and there is no movement, the mount and tripod are solid, but still allows pa smoothly. I can’t see how yours would have movement. As Parallaxerr said, an absence of the North pin would cause the problem 

Nice improvement on the 2nd, lovely contrast and sharpness 

2 minutes ago, AweSIM said:

I wish I couldve done that. In Pakistan the sun is very hot I dont have anything to shade my telescope from the sun or rain. =(

Telegizmos 365 covers are designed to protect from rain etc......and sun, they have an inner layer to protect from sun

4 minutes ago, AweSIM said:

which may be a couple of days as I managed to injure my spine just recently carrying my gear back and forth between my house and

Hence the reason I leave my gear out 😀

Yes you can. Any of the above options will save all your star alignment and it does it really well too. I keep my mount out all through the winter(under a good cover) and rarely do a polar alignment or star alignment, I do it occasionally just to check and sometimes it may need a slight adjustment. Obviously this is dependent on nothing being moved

Synscan has three options to park:

home position 

current position 

last saved park position 

so you can slew the mount to your preferred position, select park scope and choose current position from the menu, Synscan will save all your alignment etc. For future sessions just pick last saved position and the mount will park there. 
Obviously if you’re gonna move the mount that ain’t gonna work

Can’t argue with those recommendations then.....I’m surprised how few places stock them though, I couldn’t find anywhere in the UK apart from Amazon and even they supply from Europe 

Maybe I should have added a link 😀

https://www.astroshop.eu/collimation-eyepieces/ts-optics-collimation-eyepiece-for-newtonian-telescopes-concenter-1-25-/p,58516

Has anyone got any experience of these, particularly in relation to collimating the secondary, I mean getting it exactly under the focuser? Do they work and do the concentric circles make it easier?

15 minutes ago, Astrosharkey said:

Telegizmos covers, I have a 365 and leave my mount and scope out for weeks at a time, waterproof and thermally protected as well 

Likewise the TG’s are very good and trustworthy 

21 hours ago, deanen said:

I just wanted to follow-up on this tread. Have you managed to update the firmware on the V5 hand controller. 

 

I'm struggling to update my controller. The update software doesn't detect the controller when the USB cable is inserted and Device Manager on my laptop (same for my desktop) does list a COM port. The instructions on the Skywatcher website hasn't been updated for this controller as it mentioned using a separate power supply to power the controlled, but the V5 only has the RJ45, RJ11/12 and USB B ports.

EDIT: I should add, I tried connecting the controller (RJ45) cable to the mount (HEQ5) for power and have been able to enter the firmware update screen, but have had no luck in detecting the controller.

Any help would be appreciated.

Try unchecking the auto detect box for the com port......sounds wrong but I saw a Youtube video of a guy updating firmware and couldn't connect until he unchecked that box....it was one of his tips

...........or one of these

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/hitecastro-four-channel-four-port-dew-controller.html

No I don’t use a dew shield but I do keep considering it. Many say a newt doesn’t need one as they are kind of a natural dew shield themselves but I think I would benefit from one for the secondary maybe 

24 minutes ago, Hamey said:

Thank you. I will not let this go that easily.

I have few concerns. I live in Indian Ocean country (The Maldives.) which is located on Equator. So basically I cannot see both poles. which I meant was both polar stars. I am having difficulties in polar aligning. 

 

I have bought few good rig for my astrophotography. But it is harder then I expected. I thought I once I buy this I can easily start astro imaging. But I was wrong. this is not an easy task.

 

I own An Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, Skywatcher esprit 100ed scope, ZWO Cameras and ZWO ASIAIR Pro. I have spend a lot on this. but I still cannot do it right way. I thing the issue is my mount. even though I enter the correct date and time it still shows me stars below horizon. and when I ask to go for stars on the sky it says those stars are below horizon. I couldn't solve this issue.

Ah, now I see your problem. If you are inputting correct time, date and location the fact that you are not polar aligned might explain why Synscan has the stars wrong as it needs some sort of polar alignment. I don’t think it’s a fault with the mount. I don’t know how you polar align on the equator, googled it but couldn’t get an answer. Hopefully someone will come along with an answer

By the way you live in a beautiful part of the world....best holiday I ever had!!  😀

I wrap mine around the bottom, adjacent to the mirror (a newt)

2 hours ago, Pixies said:

I'm at sea-level (about 100m from the beach). No issues yet, this year, but have been thinking about getting prepared for the dew.

I'm unclear about using dew bands/heaters with a dob. I thought we were busy trying to get everything at a stable equilibrium temperature-wise, rather than having anything that might create convection currents? I understand how a dew shield would keep the moisture away from the mirrors, and how we can use heating devices on EPs and finders. But surely we don't want to start heating up parts of the OTA?

Dew bands should be used in conjunction with a controller that can regulate the heat. I use them on my OTA and they can prevent dew by just raising the temperature above the dew point without creating any major currents. I have an ep one as well but find that to be pretty useless, a warm pocket is the fix for those I think 

200 all day long, you will only end up getting one later anyway 😀

I viewed C6 back in February (though I know it as NGC6543) A beautiful planetary which I found to be surprisingly bright. I found the UHC filter made it jump out of the background skies. These were my notes at the time:

Reasonably bright nebula with a bright disc which has a blue/green haze to it. unable to see central star but a beautiful nebula which is still visible under a light polluted and moonlit sky.
astronomix UHC filter used to provide contrast.
 

Lovely object and well worth a look for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet 

I wouldn’t worry about polar alignment. It will frustrate you for the first couple of attempts but very quickly it will be second nature to obtain accurate alignment so I wouldn’t let it influence your choice of mount, there are far more important factors particular to your requirements that should drive your choices

The problem with constellations are that they were catalogued years ago, sometimes thousands of years ago when the skies were pitch black. Under light polluted skies they can be difficult because half the stars are not visible 

Yes, as long as the polar scope is centered in the mount just replicate what you see in the app in the polar scope, it’s easy once you get your head round it.....it doesn’t really matter where the numbers on reticle are

Unless you’re using a different method than me I don’t understand why you are moving the RA 90 degrees (it’s the dec axis you move to gain access to the polar scope). Is it to get the star diagram at the top? 
I ignore that, there’s no need to use it for polar alignment that I’m aware of, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it in mine. It’s not a method I use

25 minutes ago, RobDoyle said:

Can you please elaborate on upright and aligned with the mount. Apologies for still not understanding correctly 

Apologies, what I meant was that the polar scope doesn’t always come with the “0” (12 o’clock) in the correct position, the above solves that issue. It is also the case that quite often, the polar scope is not centered in the mount and not aligned with the RA axis so when you move in RA the polar scope will be off centre 

If you have the new polar scope reticle, the one looking like a clock then you need to ensure that the reticle is in an upright position and aligned with the mount, they do not come from the factory like this unfortunately unless you have an EQ6 R Pro. To do this level the mount (a must do) then using alt az adjustment only place Polaris on the centre spot of the reticle. Once centered using alt adjustments only move Polaris to the top of the circle (12 o’clock). Then rotate the mount in RA until the reticle 12 o’clock position is on Polaris. Your polar scope is now correctly aligned with the mount. If you use an app (polar align pro is very good) simply replicate the image on the app in the polar scope, using alt/az adjustments only. With a bit of practice it will take 5 minutes for very accurate polar alignment 

The polar scope has its own focus adjustments