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@Rattler I have a RASA 8. I spent a long time reading various reviews of both the Hyperstar and the RASA 8 (though there wasn't very much around on the smaller RASA at the time). CN was the biggest group offering reviews, most quite negative - but that's very much CN. Collimation was the major concern with the Edge/Hyperstar combination. That being that you a, had to collimate the Hyperstar unit when you remove the Edge secondary mirror and replace it with the Hyperstar. Then b, collimate the Edge's secondary when replacing it after using the Hyperstar. That put me off somewhat. I then thought more about the kit I had. I use an Altair 115 ED APO refractor a lot in combination with an ASi 294MC Pro cooled camera. I'm an imager I don't 'observe' visually and I'm more interested in wider FoV's so the Edge HD would be pretty much perminently set-up with a hyperstar unit attached. So with the cost of the Edge HD and the Hyperstar being greater than the RASA 8, that scored in the RASA's favour, next the ASi294 whilst not exactly suited to the RASA (2.39"/pixel) it wasn't a bad match (very good in fact) so another notch in the RASA's favour. The only negative for me was the addition of filters in the RASA optic chain. With a very small back focus (max 29mm) the only unit available easily this side of the pond was a Baader one but that didn't allow filters to be mounted with their correct face to the sky (I think they've now modified this). So I went for the RASA 8 from FLO. I've got round the filter orientation problem by making a filter draw of my own and sold the Baader one. A reasonable mount is needed for both the Edge HD/Hyperstar or the RASA8 as neither are particularly light weights. I'm now thinking about changing the camera to either an ASi183 or 533...

Hi All, I'm interested in the ASi183 MC Pro and looking for comments from owners regarding amp glow in their images. I have a 294 MC Pro which produced tons of amp glow (thankfully removable in processing) and I would like to know if the 183 is the same. Thanks Francis

The threaded parts I've arrowed in red. The red part is the ring that any adapter is held against. The grey areas I've indicated as A and A' are the collars that sit each side of the corrector plate. Undoing the red collar will (looks like) release the lens assembly and this is probably the collar that needs tightening to reset the lens assembly against the collars A & A' I've added a second drawing from the Celestron White paper which shows the whole lens assmbly in the corrector. I think this shows that the red collar is the unit that tightens the lens assembly in place against the corrector plate collars. Hope this helps. That's how I read the Celestron drawings.

@tich Have you down loaded the Celestron RASA White paper on the 11". On page 24? there is a schematic of the lens / corrector assembly which may help you. It's dealing with customised adapters for the rasa when their supplied ones don't fit your camera. It looks very much like a screw threaded ring. Link to the paper in my drop box: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2tjwfmjwydczggf/AACfdFkUjxEo7glVbN1O80OOa?dl=0

@Krakon Welcome to SGL. Maidenhead and Reading Astro Soc's are great places to find things out. Newbury too has a great Soc. Previous member of Reading and Maidenhead before a house move a few years back - great crowd all round.

Well second night in a row I've had to just give up and watch a different show... From last night: Single 3 min sub of NGC6960 which was just getting washed out with light from a bigger show to my NNW 😎 Storm images Nikon D800E 85mm f4 800 iso 5 sec frames.

@teoria_del_big_bang Thanks Steve, Curiosity got the better of me so I opened up the controller, all looked good no smoke stains, I pressed lightly on each component closed it back up, plugged it in and away it went. No idea what - I guess one of the pins wasn't connected and my light push reconnected it! So I'ce bought a new cable rather than a new motor and saved a few pounds. Phew. Currently doing a re calibration. Thanks again.

@teoria_del_big_bang I've taken readings from the 9 pin connector linked to the motor. Readings taken between pairs, pair to pair, pns to common, pins to casing and linked pins...

😀👍

Reprocess: I used a luminance mask

@Richie092 Wow thanks for the offer what a great bunch of people here. I've just ordered a new ribbon cable from FLO. If that fails to make the grade then I will contact you. Thanks again. I'm guessing it's the stepper it (too) is getting on in life now...

@MarkAR Yes tried everything I can think of. Just ordered a new ribbon cable as the cheapest option.

Hi All, My Lakeside focuser didn't want to play last night. It's an old version having a ribbon cable between the controller and the motor/gearbox, USB from controller to laptop and 12 VDC connection. V1.3.0 on the display. I have confirmed the port connection is good (via device manager and simply assigning different port refs). I use it via SG Pro, I've uninstalled the current version and installed an older version which I know the Lakeside works with. Here it connects OK but shows the focuser position as 0 when it should read circa 9500. I've also tried it through the Lakeside utility program but again the motor/controller show a connection but the motor doesn't respond to any key strokes. I tried to do a calibration but it fails to move the focuser to find the ± positions. I've tried connecting the USB direct to the laptop rather than through a hub - same null result. I'm guessing it's a failed stepper (6 wire, 2 common and 2 pairs). the gearbox is a 250:3 ratio giving a 4000 step/rev output. Any thoughts anyone. I think I've covered most bases but electrics arn't my greatest gift!!

Thank you. No I left as Debayered fit files, aligned and stacked in PI. Applied DBE, Saturation, Curves Transformation, SCNR and Histogram transform before saving.

The sky is still so bright especially after the moon began it's climb last night. ASI294 gain 122 offset 30 Altair 115 EDT-APO with IDAS NB-1 nebula filter NGC6888 15x 300s NGC6995 8x 300s

There are smaller CW's available: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/counterweights.html I have a CEM60 and have a smaller 5Kg CW for when I use my WO ZS 73 and DSLR. Even then the CW is well up the CW arm. As for balancing accesories keep things as near to the optical axis line as possible, above or below the scope.

Superb imaging Carole, Bortle 8 it may be but you've made it look like a 3. Ace. 👍

Quickie last night checking on PA adjustments. 4x 120s processed in PI