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Wow, what a fantastic set of images. I love the detail you have caught in those loops. The silhouetted disc image is extra special. Jim

Wow. Jim

Some related discussion here: Jim

StellaLyra 12 inch using carbon fibre tubes comes in at 24kg. That is reported as the tube weight, I wonder if it includes the mirror and mirror cell as well though? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-12-f12-m-lrc-classical-cassegrain-carbon-truss-telescope-ota.html Jim

Well done, keep it up Here's my prediction for the hot topic of your 10,000 post " For Sale - My trusty ZWO Auto Polar Aligner - no longer needed" Jim

That is some accolade "a planet before Pluto was a planet and downgraded before Pluto was downgraded" Jim

There is something very civilised about astronomy during the day Jim

Permanent Observatories make you lazy - what's Polaris Jim

I'm pretty sure that these are generally for setting the float of the bearing surfaces, set up a the factory. I may well be wrong so stand by to be corrected. Jim

Trust me you are doing everything right. This is the rite of passage we face, each frustration that you encounter, piece of kit forgotten, each lamp post acquired is adding to your knowledge, skill, muscle memory call it what you will. It does get better and it is worth it, keep going. Jim

That is actually a cracking image Laurence. I think your description and experience of how you used it to share images in real time is exactly what these telescopes are about. Quick no fuss setup and no wait images that can be shared then move on to the next target . Perfect for any group viewing or outreach. I haven't got one but I would get a kick out of using something like the Seestar while I have my main rig working its way through its imaging task. Jim

I found the Ed Ting video confusing and not really that worthwhile. In his opening he states he would not advise people to buy smart telescopes because in his words they are not very good. He then goes on to say that they are here to stay and will only get better! Sorry but if nobody buys then the manufactures will see that there is no demand and close down that line. So he is contradicting himself there, there clearly is a demand. I think he is massively overlooking the selling point of this type of telescope - it is plug and play, point and shoot technology. It wears its heart on its sleeve. It is not pretending to anybody that it will produce outstanding quality images and it is not marketed at those who have dedicated imaging rigs and experience. To hold this product up against those criteria is a bit of false analysis. As for "don't buy the technology will change" - well that's pretty much a given ever since the oft quoted model T Ford! Jim

I like the way you have the DSLR setup there with the use of cable tidy, very neat. I've gone for short USB cables with right angle connectors on my RedCat setup, also using the ASiAir but was considering using one of the 3D print cable tidy system. I take it the camera lens is focussed manually - is it just a matter of setting it to infinity and leaving? Jim

Not sure what you mean by pure energy. I don't think separating the energy/matter equivalence makes sense either. Jim

The way we experience time definitely makes it difficult to understand its true nature but time does appear to be an intrinsic (potentially emergent) property of our universe. Jim

Yep I think I have managed to turn off auto update and forgot about it. I vaguely remember manually downloading my current version of the app V2.1 10.74. I need to start writing these things down lol. Jim

There is a roll back firmware option. Not really needed to use it yet, touch wood. Jim

Thank. I have the app running on my iPhone and iPad, but mainly use my laptop vi bluestacks. None are flagging up a new update available. I think it's possible to disable auto updates and I wonder if that is what I have done. I can download the latest version from the App Store then. Jim

@Neutrinosoup, for landscape astrophotography, the Samyang 135 mm lens is one of the most often praised lens matched with a DSLR. You may also find some useful information from Paul Haworth's Youtube channel. Paul is member of the forum (FenlandPaul) and he produces some of the most amazingly creative astro landscape photographs. I'd start experimenting with a DSLR and a suitable tracking mount, the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer or AZ GTi are are nice portable setups and often pop up in the second hand market. Once you're ready for a scope then the RedCat 51 is an excellent choice and if you marry it to a ZWO AsiAir (computer controller) and ZWO auto focuser and camera, then you have again a really versatile and portable wide field setup. Jim https://www.youtube.com/@nightscapejournals

A few of the updates like fuzzy search and new LDN catalogue will be good. Much of the rest looks like support for additional cameras. I've just turned my app on and there's no message to update the firmware. How do you do it? There is a rest firmware function back that only rolls it back to either factory or previous settings far as I can see. If I can find up how to update I'll give it a go. Edited - just checked the forum - some users reporting usb port failures after update! Jim

I tend to transfer the files from the AsiAir by downloading to my laptop (in the house) using the ethernet connection. I use a PowerLine Network adapter to connect the observatory to the laptop in the house. Works fine so far, touch wood. Jim

The way I reconcile this is - because we (our intellect) are part of existence (ourselves products of the "after the big bang") we are constrained only to know that existence or reality. The common answer is that anything prior to that is not a legitimate question as prior is a measure of time and time appears to be a property of existence (part of the fabric of our universe). That leads to the entirely unsatisfactory "time", and hence "prior", did not exist before the big bang. That's so difficult for us to conceive because we don't experience time like that so our thinking is constrained. But as you say "hats off to them" - it's one thing to read about it, another to come up with it from first principles. They are genuinely gifted people. Jim

I wouldn't like to let go any (Esprit 120, Bresser 8 inch reflector, SW 80 ED Equinox). But at the moment I'm having so much fun with my William Optics Redcat (black and white version). This really is an amazingly versatile and capable telescope. Jim

I always thought, that the physics of the universe at the period of inflation were not those we experience now. The fundamental forces were not yet discrete (still unified) - not 100% sure so I may be wrong here. The faster than speed of light restriction is a restriction on mass, stuff in the universe, and not space itself, leaving the universe free to inflate faster than light as it saw fit. Exactly how physicists can predict what conditions were like during such incomprehensible timescales is always a source of amazement to me ! Jim

So it may be a conflict with other pieces of equipment, different mounts, cameras etc. I use a plus and one of the old pros. My plus is mounted on my main setup at the moment and is getting fairly regular use with no real problems arising. Both connected by ethernet cable, I very rarely use the wifi. I connected the pro at Christmas just to get it ready for use with the other telescope and the only thing I had to do was update the firmware - this worked fine after an initial problem doing the update. I haven't used it in anger yet seems to be doing what it is supposed to do. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Jim