Gfamily

2 hours ago, WilliamAstro said:

could you send me any links to this mount please?

Try here for details and some reviews

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi-alt-az-mount-tripod.html

Here's the 'owners thread' on this forum

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/387014-skywatcher-az-gti-mount-owners-thread/

The Skywatcher Az GTi is a good one.

There's a thread in the Discussion Mounts forum.

43 minutes ago, Ags said:

Thanks! Yes, that was shot alt-az with an ASI485MC and ZenithStar 66 (reduced to f4 with an SCT 6.3 reducer).

Oh dear, you're going to be getting me imaging again!

13 minutes ago, Ags said:

As far as I know there is no need to align (what?) North. Just plonk the scope down, get it level, point at whatever, and point-and-track it. In theory the tracking will be just as good as a three star alignment, unless you are pointing at something near the zenith (in which case the mount won't know where north is). 

I never use goto because I hate the bother of alignment. I took this with point and track.

Very impressive. Was that using an AltAz mount?  If so, I may try some long exposure imaging

1 hour ago, adyj1 said:

If we're going back to change previous posts without making it clear the edit is to change the gist, then this could get really messy... 

Apologies - the initial "not really" was in regard to your 'You've said it doesn't need any star alignment routine, but '... and there is no need for a star alignment. 

My later edit was to allow for the fact that 'it needs some idea where North is' and to recognise that it does (internally)  

ETA - in my defence I would say that the edit was made only 3 minutes after the original post, and had actually been completed before you had posted your reply. But apologies all the same.

1 minute ago, adyj1 said:

Thanks @Elp

I think we should 'like' this as the seminal answer and delete the rest of our posts. 😉 

Except for two points:

• There is no need to start with it initially pointing North (or even nearly pointing North)
• The Sun is only given as a Solar System Menu item if you are using the Synscan Pro version of the app, and you have enabled Observing the Sun in the Advanced Settings

2 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

I didn't know that, it will be very handy for me if that is the case, I thought it only functioned in az mode.

Can you let us know if it works, the online Synscan app manual says 

So it would be useful to know if it adjusts the tracking to RA only if in EQ mode

44 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

Thanks for trying to explain @Gfamily, but you're going to have to talk to me like I'm a five-year old...  😉

I said "surely it needs some idea where North is?"

and you answered "not really"

then clarified by saying it knew it was pointing at the moon "and so it would know where North is"

Yes, I could have been clearer - What I meant is that You don't need to do anything to give it an idea where North is

44 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

I can see that if the mount knows a) your location b) the time and c) what the mount is currently pointing at, then it can roughly work out North. I hadn't gleaned that information from the 'just level your mount and point at it' comment that I first queried...

As you say, because it knows a), b) and c), then it can work out where North is without any 'initial conditions' such as starting from Level and North. 

31 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

You've said it doesn't need any star alignment routine, but surely it needs some idea where North is

Not really (or rather, yes!)

When I set it to Point and Track the Moon, it was at 9:30 am and the app could calculate the Moon's then Azimuth and Altitude (256° 59' , 37° 48').

Because I was already pointing at the Moon, it knew it was at 256° 59', so it would thus know where North is.

It only works if you are already pointed at the thing you want to P&T.

16 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

I'm confused - If you haven't done any form of star alignment, then surely this has to be at least 'level-and-north' (the AZ equivalent of a rough polar alignment)? 

Not really - if you centre on a target, and it knows where that target should be, then once you have it, it can compute what its path should be.  It assumes that the mount is level, but apart from that it's relatively straightforward (in principle - I wouldn't like to have to work it out on paper of course 😀) . 

Do you have one ?  Try it out. 

ETA - to be honest, it came as a surprise (and a delight) not only that it worked, but also how well it worked. 

40 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Does it not require alignment of some kind?

Nope - if you can see something and it's in the app, you can 'Point and Track' - so long as the mount is level, it will track remarkably well. 

It doesn't set the encoders, so its internal pointers aren't aligned automatically (so if you then connect with another app it won't necessarily give you the right scope location)

ETA - as per the handbook, this only works in AltAz mode - but it is a great thing for a very quick set-up. 

I feel like an idiot that I've not really looked at the 'Point and Track' functionality before.

This morning however, the waning gibbous moon was looking lovely in the clear blue sky, so I quickly dragged the mount out.

I wasn't sure how it was meant to work, but I manually moved the scope to point to the moon, before selecting Moon from the Solar System menu and hitting Point and Track.

20 minutes later the Moon was still centered. 

Not only that, but it keeps tracking even after you've disconnected the app.

41 minutes ago, Stephen_M said:

If I was starting out again, these Bresser scopes look very nice - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-5-dobsonian-telescope.html . I have a truss tube dob and tbh, it's a right faff getting it out and packed away. I haven't used a 150p, but the fixed tube dobs (not sure on the terminology), you won't have to worry too much about collimation and it should be easy to set up.

We have a 130P Heritage and haven't had any problems with collimation - and I'd expect the 150P to be the same. 

56 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Did anyone on here find binocular astronomy anywhere near as exciting as telescope astronomy?  Without excitement, passion quickly wanes and interests migrate elsewhere.

MrsG is a big fan of binocular astronomy - and probably sees far more than I do with my telescopes. 

Yes, she uses a tripod and trigger head, but that's still very straightforward - and the wide field of view means that star hopping from brighter stars is easily done and very easily checked off against a star atlas or a tablet/phone. 

She uses the suggestions that Steve Tonkin ( @BinocularSky ) includes in his monthly newsletter (link to binocularsky.com ) and is very satisfied. 

Although starting with a pair of 10x50s, she has recently moved up to a pair of 20x80s - for which she'll be using our heavier tripod. She's very much looking forward to our next star party to take advantage of decent dark skies.

That said, I would say that binoculars complement telescopes, so if someone is looking for a telescope, the best advice is get both.  And for the OP - the suggestion of the 150P Heritage collapsing Dob is probably one that would not disappoint. 

Hi Ash.

You may have seen that there's an occultation of Uranus by the moon this evening (Sept 14th).

The Virtual Telescope project is planning to stream the observation this evening, which may be something you'd like to follow.

Details here

https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/

24 minutes ago, Quetzalcoatl72 said:

Oh dear that's a shame I image in a north facing garden so I'm always facing above my house 😕 I've been waiting for saturn to appear above my house which I estimated another 2 years but even then I guess it's pointless because of the heat.

The planets will be highest above the horizon at night during the winter months. So you shouldn't get a lot of distortion due to heat rising from the sun-warmed rooftiles at least.   A good reason for making sure that your loft is well insulated, I guess.  

On 10/09/2022 at 22:49, Peter Drew said:

A bit optimistic to see Uranus naked eye at mag 5.7 close to the mood.  Should be a good binocular/telescope view though.   🙂

Agreed - and even through binoculars, it would be a challenge to see it against the bright limb. The Moon is about 2 million times brighter than Uranus. 

Easier might be seeing it reappear about 52 minutes later (for my location at least), as that will be emerging from the dark limb. 

34 minutes ago, RobertI said:

I’d have a look at the Sky Guide app. 

I think Sky Guide is Apple only. Which is a shame as I'd like to see the content written by Dr Jen from Astrocamp.

4 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

Wow this looks fantastic, what year was it??

 1969 - it had to be really, didn't it. 😄

Anyone play Blast Off? 

You had to do a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous and then visit the planets.

Used to take forever, not sure we ever finished a game

DSO Planner has images. 

There's a free version that you can try out and three paid-for versions if you want more catalogues.

It generates observing lists and has note taking capabilities for recording your own details.

James Ritson has produced some free Affinity macros for Astrophotography processing.

I'm pretty sure you can try these out on the trial version of Affinity Photo

https://jamesritson.co.uk/resources.html

19 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Superb images, even if, of course, the colours are all made up.

I'm not really sure what you would be expecting  In optical wavelengths, the images would look like this... 

According to the NASA Artemis blog

Quote

During today’s launch attempt, engineers saw a leak in a cavity between the ground side and rocket side plates surrounding an 8-inch line used to fill and drain liquid hydrogen from the SLS rocket. Three attempts at reseating the seal were unsuccessful. While in an early phase of hydrogen loading operations called chilldown, when launch controllers cool down the lines and propulsion system prior to flowing super cold liquid hydrogen into the rocket’s tank at minus 253 degrees C, an inadvertent command was sent that temporarily raised the pressure in the system. While the rocket remained safe and it is too early to tell whether the bump in pressurization contributed to the cause of the leaky seal, engineers are examining the issue.

I'm not sure if the following has been mentioned here or not, but depending on the length of investigations required, there is also the issue about the certification of the batteries on the Flight Termination System - and replacing them will require a return to the VAB. 

There is a timetable on the NASA site giving the launch windows - with the mission lengths possible for each artemis_i_mission_availability_aug2022.pdf 

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks @philj, lovely setup. I have the very same, just used for visual though. I’ll have start a Tak thread, however unpopular that may be 😜😂

Looks like we already have one, just needs a change to the thread name.