Gfamily

Yes, the Celestron NeXYZ is a step up from the cheapest phone adapters. It has a simple and easy to position clamp to attach to the lens, and rack and pinion gears to control the positioning. In addition, it has a third axis of movement, so you can find the optimum distance from the eye lens.

The light pollution map shows some promising dark sites. https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=8.82&lat=51.1502&lon=0.7531&layers=B0TFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

That's a nice site An alternative way of checking the Jetstream is to use this 'global view' https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/global-jetstream#2020/10/01/1200Z/jetstream/surface/level/overlay=jetstream/orthographic=-68.58,37.96,712

I think they can calculate the thermal gradient from space and work out the likely temperature at the relevant depth, which is below freezing point of pure water.

Hmmm, that sounds unfortunate. What is your power supply?

The usual suspects would be to check: Is the cable properly clicked into place? Is there any damage evident to the cable? How's the power? Low batteries can cause odd effects?

My principle thought is that the SA was designed as an imaging platform, whereas the AZ GTi wasn't, so if the latter doesn't work as well as you expect, you're really not in a position to return it.

I can't give advice, but I've recently borrowed an Altair 72ED and mounted it on a SkyWatcher AZ GTi and under dark skies it's the most fun I've had for a long time with a telescope. Once aligned, the GOTO has been spot-on, and using the app on my (android) phone has not caused any grief (the only thing, I guess is that you need to make sure you charge your phone early in the evening rather than overnight). It does need dark skies though.

Oooh, Q1 I guess you got from here, but I'm not sure where that 'function' came from, and of course, that's for quasars down to magnitude 23, whereas MK205 is a thousands (or tens of thousands) of times brighter. Q2 The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has identified in the region of 5-600,000 quasars (according to the wiki), so the number may be a bit less Q3 Hmm, maybe (are you including dwarf galaxies?) Q4 What!!!?!!! NGC4319 is about 3' by 2.5' - which is about 1/480 of a [square] degree, so even if there were 2000 galaxies, that would only be about 4-5 square degrees in total Q5 Do we see ~200 Quasars behind galaxies? Question - what is the 'expected' magnitude of a Quasar at about 1 Bly distance? I'm trying to find its magnitude.

One advantage of a 2x barlow is that it can be used with any eyepiece, so it's got multiple uses. Get a 30mm eyepiece for wide angle views, and the barlow means you have the use of a 15mm for free. Another is that using the barlow means you (mostly) keep the benefits of the eyepiece - and given that a 10mm eyepiece is likely to have a bigger eye lens and better eye relief than a cheap 5mm, it can make it easier to use.

I may be wrong, but my thoughts would aim to keep it as simple as possible - so would be along the lines of... Q1 "How many quasars do we know there are?" If we assume they are randomly distributed the next Q is Q2 "How many are there per 'square degree' on the sky?" Now; we know NGC 4319 is a close-by (relatively) galaxy - so its angular size is larger than most. So let's ask - Q3 "How many galaxies are as close (or closer ) as NGC4319?" and Q4 "What's their combined angular size?" Then you can ask - Q5 "Given the total angular size from Q4; how many Quasars (as per Q2) would be covered by a part of a galaxy as close as NGC4319?"

I think I read somewhere that Mk205 is at a distance of about 1Billion Ly, so the foreground galaxy probably did exist when the light was emitted.

EQ mounts take more setting up, so if it'll mean you take it out less often, I'd advise against (at least to start with). If that's not a risk then you could. I'm not sure there are big advantages in an EQ mount though.

Why? Have you done the maths to calculate how many quasars you would expect to be located within the extent of a nearby galaxy? Try it; it's really worth doing it yourself. Bear in mind that NGC4319 is relatively close for a decent sized galaxy, and they get 1/4 sized smaller for every double the distance.

Lol, They're on to you

Really? I thought this was very often how Hubble images are presented. The Wikipedia link has other examples. However, for many targets, depending on its angular size, you'll either see an image from a single quadrant, or the image will be a composite that fills in the missing bit.

You'd need to look at the figures, but you may need to consider the effects of gravitational lensing, as that can have a magnifying and brightening effect. I'm not saying it is that in this case, but it's a possibility.

This might also set your mind at rest. http://www.kopernik.org/images/archive/n4319.htm "Recent Hubble Space Telescope spectra show an absorption feature in the spectra of MK 205 that is in fact at the same red shift as NGC 4319. This would seem to show that MK 205 is indeed a much more distant object with some of its light being absorbed as it passes through NGC 4319"

I had one of those, as Costco were selling them for a shade under £200 around the turn of the century. They all came with the 0.965" eyepieces. However, following a bit of a campaign by UK people on the old Meade 4504 Yahoo group, the Meade importer made available some copies of a replacement 1.25" eyepiece mount - it was simply a case of unscrewing the old one from the end of the focuser and replacing it . This meant there was no change in the position of the eyepiece. As I recall the replacement mount came from Telescope House, so you might (if you're lucky) find they have some left over. Alternatively, Vixen brand used to sell telescopes with the smaller eyepieces, so you could try searching for them instead.

The Wide field and Planetary Camera 2 on the Hubble Space Telescope always produced that shape of image, as there were separate imaging zones I think you can discount a conspiracy to hide 'the truth' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Field_and_Planetary_Camera_2

I bought one second hand a few years back and it became my grab and go scope for opportunistic observing. That was on the SynScan mount which was very good. It's the one we would take on holiday with us, and meant the 8" SCT was reserved for specific trips for star parties or outings to Dark Skies in North Wales. Earlier in the year I replaced the mount with the AZ GTi which has an app rather than a handset. They go very well together. The main downside is the narrow field of view, not only because it means that the accuracy of your go-to and alignment becomes critical, but also because many great targets are just too big to be seen properly. I've been given the loan of a 72mm Altair Lightwave refractor, and that is really satisfying to use, and it'll take high magnification too, so it's really quite hard to say which is better for planets.

You'll find it on the LJMU website, I mis-typed his name though, it's Andy Newsam.

For the last 3 or 4 years I've used a leisure battery for my scopes, but earlier this year I bought a Celestron Lithium power pack that works really well with my AZ GTi mount (it is small and lightweight and straps onto the central column). https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/celestron-powertank-lithium-lt-61ah.html

Hi That sounds like an excellent idea. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the quality of the course, and how it would prepare you for a Masters and beyond, but I'm sure that if you emailed Andy Newsom at Liverpool John Moores University he'll be happy to give his views. LJMU is a significant provider of online Astronomy courses in its own right, and Andy is a big advocate of distance learning.

There is a SynScanInit 2.1; was that the one you used? Have just checked, and yes that's the one you want. However: location setting may need GPS to be separately allowed* depending on the app version and your android version. * On your main android settings menu go to Apps, and check the permissions manually.