Mikel56

Last night I took a couple of sunset photographs and noticed a few clouds in a clear sky. I’ve been following the post on noctilucent clouds and wasn’t sure if “my” clouds were noctilucent or just another cloud ! M

Every year I head towards Los Roques. My wife from that part of the world so not too difficult for me !

Bonefishing ?

Thanks for asking that question. This helps too - “then download the following programs (free) PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax. first PIPP will centre the target of each frame of the video. Autostakkert will stack the best percentage of all the captured frames. Registax is used to bring out the detail of the stacked image” So far I can only take single frame photographs of the moon and Jupiter. I use a celestron 9.25 with a Celestron NexYZ holder for my iPhone. I also have similar photographs from a Swift 831 which has an aperture of 77mm, less than your 114mm. I only use the iPhone software. Jupiter is a bit more difficult due to the fact my mount does not track. Increasing the necessary exposure time I get a “rectangular” Jupiter so , yes, you need to be able to track. I’m about to take a jump in to the photography side but it’s mostly about the mount and they aren’t cheap ! M

Thanks for that, I’ll have a listen. A couple of days ago I watched on iPlayer “8 Days: To the Moon and Back”. It’s about the first moon landing and uses the recorded onboard conversations.

Thanks Phil, My screen is as attached. I can single star align no problem and check against Stellarium. After that the azimuth gets confused but the altitude is correct at any star selection thereafter. I think I need to have a look inside ! Regards, M

Hello, I checked the voltage of recharged batteries at 11.50v. Voltage at slewing is 11.23v and 11.3v whilst tracking. I think that should be ok. (I don’t use the integral battery holder as I connect with a separate unit to the power supply fitting). I’ve done all the calibrations, training and so on and double checked times and dates etc. There may be an internal issue so next step will be the hammer and shifter ! The tracking is excellent and the optics very good, particularly for the moon which I enjoy. Thanks again, M

Last night the only star I could see and name was Arcturus. I had the star in the centre and began to track. With a 10mm lens Arcturus stayed centre for towards half an hour. I was impressed ! From the hand controller data base I selected Izak and a star appeared dead centre. Going by Stellarium that indeed was correct for position. I then went back to Arcturus and with fingers crossed the altitude moved upwards, so far so good. However the movement kept rotating until about 180 degrees out ie bedroom window. I’m using 8x1.5v rechargeable batteries in a separate unit plugged in to the external power supply. I check the voltage beforehand. I’ll recheck the times and dates but I think ok. There may be something about grease in the encoder wheel. I saw a video about that. I think I may have to defork the Meade and buy an AZ Gtix, the one for two telescopes. Thanks for taking time to reply. If I have success with the Meade I’ll be in touch, Regards, M

Hello, I recently bought a relatively unused ETX 90 with the Autostar handset. My experience is limited to manual alt az but I’m learning. Reason I bought the ETX was to gain experience in tracking and goto. After a gentle clean the optics proved good, nearly as good as my Swift 831 ! The telescope tracks very well although that was using the moon as a test. The issue I have is the goto. I have read and used the tips in Weasner’s excellent online guide. I have trained the telescope, learned about orientation and calibrated the motors. The alignment procedure I have followed and with a slight manual adjustment synchronised to the target. When I select another star or planet for observation the telescope travels to the necessary position however when I ask the telescope to return to the original aligned star as a test there’s a problem. The altitude is spot on however the azimuth is out. I then ask the telescope to return to the previously observed star or planet but overshoots. The difference is about ten to fifteen degrees. When I go back and forward between the two observation points another ten to fifteen degrees is added each time. The altitude has no problems. It’s as if the goto has ten to 15 degrees error which is added at each repeat change. Ten to fifteen becomes twenty to thirty and so on. It’s a bit frustrating but the tracking is good. Is there a simple solution ? M

Date 16th May 24 Swift 831 iPhone SE Celestron Universal Adapter (Holder) Software Used - IPhone SE (single frame) Eyepiece - 6mm

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Date 16th May 24 Celestron 9.25 iPhone SE Celestron Universal Adapter (Holder) Software Used - IPhone SE (single frame) Eyepiece - 8.6mm

Thanks Kon, That helps me understand what I need to be thinking about bearing in mind my basic knowledge, Regard

Thanks Peter. I’m waiting for a clear night ! Next time, hopefully by midweek, I plan to use an iPhone with a better camera. Should make a difference, I think. I’d like to take same photograph, same time and with same equipment of the moon using the Celestron and Swift in order to compare. I think it would be fair to aim for 100x so that design parameters not compromised for either. Thereafter enlarge to same viewing/display size for both. I’m not sure if there’s much to be gained however if the Celestron is my benchmark I would like to see a like for like Swift “effort”. From what my layman’s eye tells me it appears my old Swift performs, Regards

That’s an impressive photograph, much better than my recent efforts. I’m new to photographing the moon, anything in fact. Is the photograph a single shot or created from several photographs ? Is the view that which is seen in the eyepiece or enlarged in the subsequent processing? I enjoyed the detail of your photograph, Regards

Thanks Peter. I should have read your post before the four photographs above ! Regards

Hello, For the four attached I used the same single frame setup as above attached to a Swift 831 with a 6mm lens. Again I think that would be the limit for the telescope, Regards

Forgot to add the difficult part for me was focussing. A slight touch on telescope focus control and the “picture” jumped about. I think I need a hands free focus unit, something like that, Regards

Hello Neil, The holder isn’t of the best engineering quality however far superior to the cheap ones you can buy online. The holder in the photograph operates in three dimensions with three separate controls. Only took a minute or so to get the moon centred on the iPhone with a previously focussed telescope . The clamp fits around the knurled part of the eyepiece and accommodates different eyepiece external diameters. There’s still a slight movement to the setup but once working there’s no need to touch anything so the unit remains steady. I used the iPhone timer however without the timer, pressing the button gently, the photos turned out with no noticeable difference to my eye. There’s an app. called AstroShader. Apparently this app allows you to take several photographs and “stacks” them automatically. It’s a free download so I’ll give that a try weather permitting. Bottomline the holder was a good buy for my basic skills/knowledge. I noticed there are two similar holders. Mine is the Celestron. I noticed the other is cheaper but I suspect it’s a Chinese copy. Might be ok though, The attached photograph was taken with a 6mm eyepiece. I think that is at the telescope limit or my focus was rubbish ! Regards

The photograph showing the setup was taken at the same time as the photograph of the telescope (with the moon shown in the iPhone). The setup then included a 19 mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow and a fine focus all on to a right angle thingy. The “gap” was a consequence of the 3d holder and was in that position whilst moon in focus. The actual moon photographs were with an 8.6 m eyepiece, Regards

Hello, I haven’t been in contact for sometime but still read ! Many thanks for your help last year. Tonight was a good night here so for the first time I’ve managed to take a couple of moon photographs. Apart from the telescope (Celestron9.25) my equipment and skills are basic. The attached photographs were taken using an iPhone SE with a Celestron “holder” for positioning the iPhone over the eyepiece. The photographs are only “single shot” as I haven’t much of a clue about stacking frames. The eyepiece was 8.6mm and a mount with no goto. I’ve learned the moon travels fastish and my focussing needs practice ! Regards

Thanks Steve. It’s good to know I’m using something for which it was designed !

Attached is a photograph with an eyepiece to the left and a “unit” to the right. I have been looking for something to help me with fine focus and avoid a lot of image vibration, particularly on the Celestron 9.25. In a box I found the unit shown on the right of the photograph. It is graduated in mm from 0 to 10. When the knurled section is turned fully from 0 to 10 the unit extends by a measured 1 cm. I added the unit to the Swift 831. I can focus the Swift roughly by using the drawtube and indeed if I get that initial focus more or less correct for my eye I can fine focus with the unit however there’s not a lot of room for error. Is the unit designed for this purpose or something else ? If not would it be better to source a unit specifically to aid focus, particularly for the Celestron ? Thanks, M

Tonight with the projection fully extended and 32mm eyepiece. My focus needs attention z!

I’ll try tonight on the moon, thanks for that.