kirkster501

I can highly recommend the Baader wedge. Works a treat with my TEC140.

I have the AstroPhysics CCDT67 for my 14" ACF. I have yet to try this reducer since I bought it off of ABS two weeks ago due to other projects and cloud out. Others have used this same reducer on the ACF 10" scope successfully. I can't think why the 14" should be any different so I have taken a punt on it. https://astrojolo.com/gears/acf-10-and-ccdt67-telecompressor/

Looking at the Apollo 11 landing area and I could clearly see the Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins craters, with the Nagler 12mm = x300. Also spent some time observing Taurus-Littrow region of Apollo 17. A project idea I have is to image all Apollo landing sites in fine detail. Not often can use x300 magnification in my experience.

Hello all, Used my recently acquired Meade 14” SCT ACF with my 12mm and 17mm Naglers tonight. Got the scope well collimated and at ambient. I have never seen such spectacular lunar views. Crystal clear, almost as if I were in orbit. The Apenines were sharp and leaped out. Craters like Copernicus full of fine detail and colour. wonderful. Still mesmerised by it. Had to come in since up for work at 5am but looking forward to the next session!

Cool, many thanks. I will investigate.

Superb, well done Adrian. How did you connect the ASI to the Samyang please?

Yes on the very outskirts of the Hebrides there is a bit of Class 1. Even Galloway is only 2.

... this thread explains a key reason why I kept my SW Dob 300, monstrosity though it is. Sometimes, simply CBA to be messing about with IT. I do IT all day at work and it does my head in having to do that at night too on an hobby I am meant to be enjoying when platesolving, autofocus etc is not playing ball - and we all know that sometimes, the imaging gods are not kind to us.

Absolutely 100%.

Indeed. But you can remove the "pipe peer" as well with an angle grinder in ten mins and then cover the stump up afterwards. Amway, good idea to build a peer. Good man.

Looks good but a much easier way is to get a piece of 8" diameter plastic drainage pipe, hammer some rebar into it and fill it with concrete into the block in the ground in one pour and set the pier top assembly into the wet concrete. When all dry, paint the outside of the plastic whatever colour you need to blend in with your surroundings. It's cheap, easy, looks good and is as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.

From Bortle 1 skies the North American nebula is easy to see and I have done so numerous times. I have seen M81 with the naked eye as well under such skies in Northern Russia. Alas, never seen this from UK. Not sure there is anywhere in the UK that would get a Bortle 1? Indeed, from Bortle 1 the sky is almost scary, almost like you could fall into it.

M101 is tough, as is M51 and even M33. Don't expect to see spiral arms even when you do find them - which you will eventually. Just very faint, hazy patches. You may need to adjust your expectations from your location. To see structure you need dark skies, that's why we are always moaning about the lack of them in this forum. And that's why simple Dobsonian scopes, even modest aperture ones, are so good because you can sling them in the car and drive off somewhere into the countryside that is dark and set up in no time at all.

A pair of bins, a sun lounger, a Star Atlas and a good brandy make a very fine combination.

And if you lived nearer I'd buy it mate....!

Sorry I might have missed something... are you using an OAG yes or no, it is not clear ?? You tried it and didn't have the spacers is what I deduced? I have encountered all sorts of weird issues with guide-scopes when coupled with imaging instruments with a mirror. I move over to OAG and nearly every problem goes away. I think you have to persevere and get OAG working with your set up. Guidescopes are fine for refractors but not SCT or RC type scopes. That's my opinion and experience. Others may think differently of course. I also echo the point about the PTFE. Can you try a different guide-cam? I also had the issue where the chip was moving inside the guidecam in different sky positions by the weight of the cable (even though it was cable tied) and affecting the guiding. Slight movement of the mount moved the chip minutely and threw the guiding out in weird ways. It took me months to figure this out.

I am camping at Kelynack in Cornwall end of July with my daughter. Trying to decide what astro gear to take with me.

Agree with the sentiment. However, different people have different interests and we need to be mindful of that 👍🏻 And I love visual as well.

I am aiming to concentrate on the moon as and when I can and see what this Meade 14" ACF can do. Also some wide field DSLR with Samyang 135.

Turned out nice and clear last night but even at 22:00 was still too light to get the camera going. Had to be up at 5 this morning so skipped last night and just had 15 mins with the bins. Hate missing clear opportunities but at our latitude in summer, it's a bit difficult to do a great deal about it. All that gear doing nothing makes me feel a bit guilty....

..nor will it be for three more years or so. Saturn another ten years. Back on topic, superb pictures of the moon Neil. Inspiring.

The lack of a ton of ads makes the site so much better. Chapeaux for FLO for picking the tab up for the site.

Ballpark how much does it cost to host SGL Grant with a cloud server of those specifications in that IaaS type configuration? A reasonable sum I bet. Do they leverage bandwidth charges as well?

You may want to investigate the CCDT67 from Astrophysics. I plan on using this on a F11 Meade 14".

It all continues to work well and site loads well. Notice from the IP address that it is hosted by Digital Ocean in London.