kirkster501

Speak to Ian King about this, he will tell you off the top of his head. However, when I ran this set up this was the train of parts, without and with the reducer: FSQ-85 AT F5 (native without reducer) 1. CAA 2. Auxiliary Extender 3. CA35 TSA102 4. M54-T2 Adapter (Wide T Mount) 5. EFW2 FSQ-85EDX with reducer at F3.6 1. CAA 2. Focal Reducer 3. CA35 SKY90 4. M54-T2 Adapter 5. 7-10mm T –Space 6. EFW2 In both cases you also need the T to M52 adapter to allow the M54 threaded EFW2 to connect to T thread.

TBH, I am becoming more interested in this form of wide-ish field with Canon (Samyang) lenses than I am wide field telescopes. Indeed, my FSQ85 is starting to get a bit jealous and unloved. For sure I think am going to sell the FSQ 0.73 reducer and put it towards a QHY camera to mate onto the Samyang lenses.

Nice one! Yes, a difficult one for those of us Midlands northwards. It does not get very high above the horizon.

Doesn't look much like the UK with those palm trees in the background dude . Did you get that in your Easyjet baggage allowance?

As SPM used to say, and I repeat it again, a 3" refractor like the ED80 or a Dob 200. Cheap, cheerful and fantastic scopes, both of them. I love my Helios Apollo bins for visual.

No such thing as a daft question. Fire them over....

What app are youy guys using on your phone to do this? Wow Geof, you get a 2? In England????

I'm Bortle 5. On a clear night does not seem so bad. Always a balance been accessibility to services/civilisation and being able to do astronomy. Regardless of Bortle class, give me some clear skies. I'd happily swap a drop in Bortle and have more clear skies.

Indeed. They are huge, much bigger than many expect them to be. Difference between the 200 and 300 is huge.

Of course a bigger scope is "better" all other things being equal. But never forget, the best scope is the one you can easily use. How many times have we heard that???? A cliche but it's so true. Some beginners, especially ones who have the financial means, get excited about big scopes but then get disillusioned at the size and weight of them. Sadly, seen that so often, and they get fed up and quit. Have they seen the size of a 16" Dob? Even a 12" one???? Or a C14 and the mount needed for it? A CPC 1100 - fab scope - is a big beast to handle and store if you have never seen one in the flesh. The best telescope is the one that *you* can set up and use easily, on a sustained basis.

Very true. I don't think he ever had anything humongous though. I seem to recall a 12" or maybe a 16" reflector. He was such an experienced observer that he could wring every ounce of benefit out of a scope.

in Windows 10 Device manager, do you see the camera appear when you plug it in? And disappear when you unplug? Tried different USB ports? Remove camera, uninstall the driver, reboot and then reinstall driver again before connecting the camera again and see if it reappears. There is a reason it is called Plug and Pray.....

Some of the best views you'll ever get are with a 3" refractor. There is a reason that Sir Patrick always raved about this scope.

Thanks folks. I am going to give the camera a check and get the dust blower on it. Thanks for the tips Olly, I will have a look into that.

If I play back the two subs quickly back and forwards, one before the flip and the other one afterwards, the two bunnies on the upper right seem to move. But they could not have done, the camera never moved other than flip with the telescope!

Nope, I leave it all to Pixinsight to sort out. So you mean rotate the lights before calibration?

I am really baffled folks and could use your help. I thought flats taken either side of the peer would work fine. They normally do... There is absolutely NO rotation of the camera taken place (TEC140 with Atik 460). Flats taken at same CCD temperature, same focus position. I tried different ADU for the flats and no difference. Retaken lots of different flats and still same result. This three hour data set in luminance is lost if I can't figure this out A sub (east side) of the peer before the flip and my flats calibrate out dust donuts. As it happens, flats ALSO taken East side of peer (facing my wall mounted flats panel). But the subs AFTER the flip (with the same master flat as before the flip) and the flats are leaving strange residual donuts that are not calibrating out. Vignetting removed but weird artefacts of the dust donuts are left. To repeat no rotation of the camera has taken place at all. Leaving me with a messed up result with 16 x 10 Minute subs.

With my side-by-side bar, my obs roof just clears - by an inch or so - the top scope (my TEC140). I have to be careful, at 3 in the morning, rolling the roof back so as not to whack the TEC. I would have made my peer a tad lower if I built again. Still an option to angle grind two inches off the top but I'd rather not if I can help it.

So what was wrong with it?

I don't get it how a telescope "only" the size of the Earth could resolve this from 50 million light years away?

I'm at the beginning of my journey with this fabulous lens that I acquired two weeks ago. Using with Canon 1100D (modded) at the moment and want to switch to a QHY183C. Also, this lens is a beaut with a £20 adapter on my Fuji XT2.

I recently bought Geordie's 135 to add to my 14mm and it is sublime lens. I am getting started with wide-field. It is on my 1100D at the moment but I am looking at fittign my Atik 460 to it. Adamar98, how did you connect your Atik 460 (with filter wheel?) to the lens? Is it canon fit? Mono?

Can see those easily.

Miraculous, another clear night here..... Set to ASCOM 16 bit driver with maximum dyanmic range. Aggression 80 on both axis and hysteresis algorithm on both. It's looking good........ Seeing is rubbish and blowing out Alnitak. May try the Z algorithm.

You took the words straight out of my mouth kens ?