Gfamily

That's not the issue, the date is read from your phone, so you can assume it's correct in the app.

Don't worry about it, if you're using the synscan app it should be getting the time and location from your phone. Synscaninit is normally for when you are using the mount with a handset. BUT do check the Location under Settings on the app to confirm it is showing the right Lat and Long. You may need to give the app permission to use the Location Services on the phone.

Our best was last summer when mrsG and I were out - me with a small refractor and her with a pair of binoculars. We were looking at things around Sagittarius and both happened to be looking at M22 when a short bright meteor went right by it. I'm pretty sure it is the first time that I've viewed a meteor through an eyepiece, so for us both to do so with the same one, was pretty special.

I refer the reader to my previous reply image

Stellarium Plus works well enough (with Synscan WiFi mounts) on Android, in that it shows you to select a target and move the scope to it. The one thing I'd like would be the ability to do fine adjustments. It's worth noting that there's quite a difference in feel and look between the desktop and the mobile versions of Stellarium, And something of a difference between Basic and Plus versions. Personally, I'd give Stellarium Plus 6/10 as a planetarium app (whereas I'd give basic Stellarium 8/10). Being able to control the scope is a plus (as it were). I am interested in seeing how Sky Safari Plus does, but I'll wait until it's on a decent discount.

That's a bit prescriptive in my view. Fortunately, we don't have eligibility tests for membership of the great club of amateur astronomers, so not knowing where (for example) Draco starts and ends doesn't mean you can't enjoy the hobby. At least not in MY club

I would say that's a fair price considering how well they work. Maybe it varies by time of year - around last September, there were a few in the 'sold' listings on Ebay that were between £20 and £30 (plus P&P) - which I only appreciated after our daughter had 'won' hers.

I bought one (or at least I pointed our daughter at one to buy) as a birthday present for MrsG to use with her binoculars last year. Second hand on Ebay I was surprised that it only went for about £20 (incl Postage), as I had expected it to go for a lot more. They don't come up often, but they don't seem to go for silly prices. Manfrotto version of this Calumet one/

I do - and I recommend them to people who are just starting out, as I don't think there's a better way of showing how the constellations join up with each other - nor how the night changes from hour to hour and from month to month. The Philips 12" ones are also useful to users who are trying to find the names of the brighter stars that are suggested for 2 or 3 star alignments. Again, particularly for newcomers to the pastime. Sometimes it's hard to remember which is Castor and which Pollux for example

Rod Mollise (whose opinion I respect) was impressed by the Sharpcap approach. https://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/search?q=sharpcap

I know a lot of people like Sky Safari, but I think it's worth also suggesting Stellarium. I have both - and although Sky Safari has a lot more information within it, I find that Stellarium is the one I always go to first. I think there are free versions of both (or at least, there are free versions on Android), so it might be worth getting each to see which you prefer

For value for money DIY dewshields, I reckon you can't do better than getting a sheet of Proplex* - and using sticky velcro pads to hold the edges together. £4.50 for a 1.2m x 2.4m sheet that will do a one-piece shield for anything up to about 35cm aperture. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet-2400-x-1200-x-2mm/p/118670 *it's the twin wall sheeting put down to protect floors from scratches when builders are working indoors

Iridium satellites used to be frequent sources of 'flares', and being in Polar orbits, they were often see at high latitudes. However, many of the older satellites have been de-orbited, and they are being replaced with smaller antennae, so they don't produce the same effect as before.

The SVBony 7-21 is pretty reasonable and significantly lighter than the 8-24. The field of view is relatively narrow at the 21mm end - so you lose some of the usual benefits of the longer focal length eyepiece, but if you already have a 25mm or thereabouts, it can be a good way to get a range of powers available for a reasonable price. (assuming you have a 1.25" focuser of course)

Is this the specific Android 11 version downloaded from the Skywatcher website(1.19.x) , or the previous one (1.17.0) from the Play Store? If the former, other than checking the Eq / AltAz mode settings, I can't suggest anything I'm afraid.

Around 2nd week of May 2025. It might make a useful quiz question some time. (Maybe something about a Rover ('s Return) arriving at another star system.)

This is a modified image to show the difference between my view of M13 from the Astrocamp site in S Wales, and the view 2 weeks later from my edge of urban home. It's worth getting away if you can. Camping is a good way of getting to dark sites with little ones.

If you use the L bracket, you can still use the polar scope with the imaging equipment attached, so you can confirm the alignment is still good.

A friend was using a TS60 scope on his SA, but had to use a counterweight because he was using a dSLR. To allow him to do guiding he attached the guidescope to the counterweight bar.

What's your power supply? If it's getting intermittent results 'in the field' but consistently working an hour later indoors, it could be that your batteries are dropping voltage in the cold. As for the directions - I can't help, except to say that in EQ mode, the two directions will be RA and Declination rather than in Altitude and Azimuth, so the directions of the axes will vary depending on where in the sky you are.

Coming up this weekend a free, all age event run by the National Museum https://museum.wales/whatson/digital/11286/Amazing-Astronomy-/ Talks, "Show and Tell", selection from the exhibits, Kids Crafts. Spread the word

As Lee says, your last two movements when aligning have to be up and right ( or right and up). This ensures consistency in the final alignment. In practice it means you should aim to get the alignment star just below and to the left of the centre, and then do the tiniest nudge up and right to get it centred.

As wookie1965 has said, the answer is to download the SynscanInit v2.1 app. That gives you the correct values and (more importantly) gives you the correct format to enter.

Given that the centre of the galaxy is only about 6 degrees from the crossing point of the ecliptic and the galactic equator, I'd say we're pretty much either in the galactic Spring or Autumn. If we were looking at the comparable position of the Sun relative to the first point of Aries, it's equivalent to about 6 days after the Equinox.

If you do manage to get the app working , you can use Sky Safari Plus (or Stellarium Plus) alongside it to directly control the scope.