Dark Raven

Thank you! It is Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 550 AW II, modular system and it is carry on compatible. I have taken it on several plane trips and it even fits in the DHC-8 overhead compartment. I find it to be quite good and I can pack over 20 Kg in it. Seems to handle it quite well with WO Redcat51, ZWO AM5 and battery. For AP 110GTX it will be a stretch in size and weight. There are two minor things I would like to have better: Strap management. Super handy during storing in overhead compartments or going through security scans to avoid strap snags. Osprey and some others do it perfect and it is easily remedied with aftermarket backpack protective cover & rain cover/flight cover. Back loader access. Helps when setting up so your straps do not go on often wet/damp/dirty surface. Other than that, perfect back pack, carries a lot and I can take my OTA with mount onboard.

More here:

It finally arrived! I present to you AP 100GTX #030 and I´ll let the pictures speak for themself. AP 110 GTX compared to WO RedCat 51 OTA, rings, handle and dove plate all together do not fit in to Pelican AIR 1535, however if set on its side and rings unlocked it is possible to close the case. However I would not recommend it. In visual configuration, as still waiting on new ZWO ASI2600MC Duo do be released. First light hopefully next weekend.

Some time ago I got a Lego ISS Ideas Set 21321 as a gift. It was fun building it with the kids and as it stood on the shelf, I did not pay much attention to it aside from occasional dust off. That is until looking for something completely else I stumbled up on RPI ISS real time Tracker. Idea came to mind and few days later I ordered the parts. Spent another weekend with the kids assembling the tracker and combining it with the Lego set. None of it is my work, but simple monkey see, monkey do. I used RPI Zero W. For further instructions, see the International Space Station Tracker Tutorial at Hackster.io Came out all right I´d say and makes it fun to look at.

Latest AM5 Firmware V1.3.0 is out added meridian settings added altitude limits added a fixed park position optimized cable winding problem in the Alt/Az mode memorized custom guide rate fixed DST/LST misunderstanding fixed problem that track light off after GOTO added multi star alignment fixed other bugs I will not rush to update, just to see first reports of potential bugs. On completely unrelated matter ZWO AM5 Review for Visual Astronomy

Unfortunately, still no OTA. Maybe I can point the rings at the Moon... 🤔🤣 Although FedEx is still claiming it is on time, I doubt it...

First rewiew is in

First package with accessories arrived few moments ago. Delivery status for OTA claims it is still on time by the end of the day. Parts are heavy and feel well machined. Smell of metal and machine oil is dominant. Rings are felted on the inside. Field flattener and reducer (Telecompressor) is a beast weighting 1.25 Kg without covers. Now waiting for the rest and hoping it does not get stuck on customs over the weekend.

In transit. Be still my heart, be still just a little more...

The step-by-step guide below: Hope it helps.

This below might be an idea. RPI CM4 with 8GB of RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage on a carrier board with 4xUSB 3.0 and an external antenna. All off the shelf parts. "Just" plug and flush astroberry / stellarmate. Have a look and let me know what do you think... More details in the post below

Soooo, this happened... The conversation with the S.O. is going to be an interesting one... 🤔

I would agree with the caveat that you are familiar with the instrument and are able to collimate it fairly easy/fast. It is quite probable that (any) SC will need some degree of collimation after transport. Unfortunately and in regular circumstances, you do not have influence which boarding group gets to board first/last. Only way around that is to buy priority boarding.

My AP rig is airline optimized. RedCat 51 with AM5. Although I use a smaller and commercially ready-made battery. It is over the weight limit but I carry it as a backpack and have not been stopped so far. Fits even in the overhead compartment on DHC-8 My visual rig with Heritage 150 and iOptron Cube Pro also fits in the backpack. All hand luggage, nothing ever checked. Took them both on plains, trains, buses, and car trips.

Work in progress. Ordered and got the parts, took far longer than wished for. Sitting in storage for some time as no bandwidth to work on it at the moment. Idea is to put together Stellarmate secondary setup based on RPI CM4 maxed at 8 GB RAM and 32 GB eMMC with with 4 way MOSFET switch. Power board and mosfet switch should enable it or run on and distribute 12V the rest of setup. This should in theory be slightly better than the ASIAIR plus as it would have 8GB (instead 4) of ram and 4 USB 3.0 (instead 2). Main components: PiBorg | PicoBorg - Quad Motor Controller Not happy with this as 2.5A MAX, will search for alternative, perhaps Teleskop-Express: ZWO Board for ASIAIR Pro - ASI_AIR V1.3 Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 | The Pi Hut DockerPi PowerBoard (seeedstudio.com) In theory it should allow for controlled setup. My previous experience with RPI based Stellarmate / EKOS were quite frustrating, but that might be to user inexperience at the time. Using ZWO ASIAIR PRO power board would make it more elegant as EKOS/INDI already support it natively, but they are hard to come by. When / if I get around to putting it together I will post it. In the meantime happy using ASIAIR Plus as it just works

Interesting post from European Astrofest 2023. Scope and THE star in the background. 🤣

If you mean something like the photo below there is ZWO adapter for that. Teleskop-Express: ZWO Canon EOS II Lens Adapter for filter wheels and astro cameras

There seems to be an entire line of WO WIFD scopes coming.

Besides recently introduced Gran Turismo 81 WIFD, there appears to be RedCat 61 WIFD, f:4.9, Fl:300mm, with estimated availability in June 2023. Does anyone have any more details? On the first photo below you can see RedCat WIFD on the mount and entire WILLIAM OPTICS Internal Focus Design (WIFD) range of scopes on the table.

Looks like some time towards the end of H2 2023

There is also a middle path of achieving 10´C below ambient without voiding your warranty. Using smartphone cooler for your AP planetary camera will newer get you to the levels of dedicated cooled cameras but it certainly helps. If you at all have option to go for the cooled camera go for it, if not please se below my example and thread with tests here on SGL forum.

yaiks.... 😬

How do you find the saddle compared to AM5? Many have complained about the saddle on HEM27. Do you have to balance the DEC due to worm/belt system?

The latest AA+ with 256GB uses a custom board. RPI Compute Module 4 does indeed support up to 32 GB of eMMC storage natively. Original AA+ is based on it, not on RPI 4B. ASIAIR PRO is based on RPI 4B. Below you can see first three generations. Original ASIAIR based on RPI 3B at the top, ASIAIR PRO based on RPI 4B in the middle and ASIAIR plus 32GB based on RPI CM4 at the bottom.

I can only echo the post above and add backpacking portability to it as can be seen below. Reducing weight from 5.5 kg to 3.9 kg would allow for a larger capacity battery going from 18 Ah to 30 Ah and perhaps a cooled camera. Spec wise it has fantastic guiding regularly achieving under 1 arc-sec and quite often sub 0.5 arc-sec. All of that with no dead weight in the form of counterweights. Super fast to set up with no need to balance. AM5 is total overkill for my RedCat 51, but it allows for future growth. AM3 would be more appropriate, but not sure I can justify another mount with so few clear nights this year.