matsey

I'll certainly not argue against the Televue eyepieces, but I will warn you that once you start going down that path, there really is no going back..... Just a word of caution on switching to a 2" diagonal though - I did that for a while but found that I had to be really really careful if I wanted to go anywhere near the zenith as the diagonal would hit the mount if it was pointing too high. Stressed me out so much trying to watch and prevent that happening I ended up switching back to the 1 1/4" diagonal (but a new William Optics one, much better than the one supplied). The 2" diagonal I had was a Williams Optics, possibly others would be slightly smaller and not suffer the same problem, but certainly worth watching out for. By the way - I still love my 6se, even though I've upgraded since and have a bigger scope, I still use the 6se for star parties and astro camping weekends, I would never part with it now

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Oh that's horrible . How long has the focuser been on the scope? Perhaps get in contact with starlight or where you bought it from, they might have some ideas? Otherwise hopefully someone with better mechanical (?) knowledge will come along to offer better suggestions - I'm a bit rubbish in that department, I actually had the focuser for six months before I plucked up the courage to install it !!! Really hope you get it sorted, sorry I couldn't help further. Matsey Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like you have the same scope and micro focuser I have. I haven't had that problem on mine, though it's only been installed just over a month. Only thing I can think of is to reverse the installation instructions - they're here in the PDF on this page: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/starlight-instruments-feather-touch-sct-microfocusers/microfocuser-for-celestron-925-sct.html Hope that helps, good luck. Matsey Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've got a little app on my iphone that notifies me of new exoplanet discoveries (app is called 'Exoplanet' if anyone's interested) - when I got the notify icon up earlier with that count I thought the app had gone haywire and somehow reset itself! Excellent work from NASA though, most impressed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've got the 6se which has the same mount as the 8se and I've always used the maplins jump starter without any problems. This one: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/nikkai-portable-jumpstarter-3-in-1-400a-a81jw It will definitely be fine for the mount, possibly with the dew controller too but think it may struggle to cope with a laptop as well, but by that point you may want another powertank/jumpstarter to cope with everything anyway. But no hesitation recommending the jumpstarter for the mount. Just have to remember to never let it run flat and charge it perhaps once a month even when not in use to keep it functioning properly. And enjoy your new scope - it's a lovely piece of kit. Matsey Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi all, One of my (very kind!) astro-society friends has loaned me a planetary camera to use - it's the Lumenera LU075M, which I understand is a mono camera. I've got it all set up and everything installed and working with my laptop, so I'm good to go with Jupiter when it gets dark later. Initially I'll probably just go with mono imaging to get the hang of the camera (I've had the Philips SPC9000 for a while so have dabbled before in planetary imaging). However, just wondering what I would need to do to get a colour image if I wanted to. Am I correct in thinking I would need to take three separate images/video captures with a red, a green then a blue filter attached, then somehow combine them in post-processing? Now this one might be a really stupid question... but I have a filter set with the celestron eyepiece set that I bought when I got my first scope. Will the red, green and blue filters that came with the kit work, or do I need to have special imaging filters? And will that even work with Jupiter - if I have to take three lots of videos won't the planet have rotated enough to cause blurring anyway? Does anyone manage to successfully image Jupiter that way, and if what would you recommend in terms of video length? Thanks very much Matsey

Hi Martin - I'd also recommend giving the Astroshed videos a watch, I found them incredibly helpful when I first got my mount.There are five of them and they specifically cover neq6 setup. The second vid covers polar alignment, but I would recommend watching from the first video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fO6hyYtPwM). Lots of it you can do indoors while it's raining, so plenty to play with until the skies clear !

congrats Martin, it is a fab combo - even though mine has become something of a cloud magnet in the last few months, on the rare occasions I do get out with it, the views through it are pretty special Sure you'll love it too

I've got the 6SE which has the same software as the 8SE and yes the quickest way to get set up is to go through a one-star alignment. In fact just as quick and sometimes easier to do if there is the moon or a visible planet in the sky, is to do a solar system align. With both the one-star and solar-system align the tracking and goto won't be fantastically accurate, but it'll be good enough for a quick session. You can always replace the alignment "star" or add an additional alignment star on a subsequent goto which will increase the accuracy. I often do that anyway as the evening progresses as I've always found that the goto accuracy on my 6SE degrades over the course of a few hours if it wasn't spot on to begin with. One thing I will say from my own experience though is that it is worth spending some time when you first get the scope learning how to properly align and pick up all the little techniques to improve accuracy (eg, making sure the alignment star is in the centre of the eyepiece, choosing well-spaced alignment star pairs, etc - do come back to those when you've got the basics sorted!). It does feel quite time consuming when you first start out, but once you've cracked it and know what you're doing you can be up and running in under 10 minutes and the improved accuracy will definitely pay off later in the session when the goto is spot on every time you go to a new object. Hope that helps, and enjoy your new scope, the SEs lovely scopes Matsey

Done and Done ! Woo hooo !!! :grin:

refresh, refresh, refresh.....

Booked . Red 365 + 365. Women I spoke to said there is still plenty of availability but they are booking up fast... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No problem at all, I'd not been back to the thread for a while myself. But yes I think this will be the best solution long term, I know it's meant buying a second oag but that definitely feels preferable to having to compromise on the reducer/flattener part of the setup. Just looking forward to getting it all in place and having some clear skies to use it all now :) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Yes that definitely looks like that will work as well, good find. I think I'd still go for the TS one only because I know someone who already has one but to be fair the one you link too looks equally as good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free