MBJ

I'm about to go down the serious imaging route after around 10 years of visual astronomy, I have quite a good idea of what's required and how to image. 

I'm ok with the equipment I've got at the minute regarding guide cameras, guidescopes and software, I have a good mount in the az-Eq6 gt with plenty of payload capacity. 

I currently own a 150 esprit and a meade 10 inch sct. 

I'm looking for the best imaging scope and camera I can get for my money which is around £1800.

I have been looking at the esprit 80 or 100 with field flattener for the scope but not sure about which camera, mono or colour? , mainly for deep sky nebula and galaxy's. I know filters come into the equation and can add these at a later date. 

Mick. 

1 hour ago, Gina said:

Yes, a good job indeed.  I wondered though why you used channel rather than the usual FH Brundell rails that most of the rest of us use.  There will be friction and wear when the wheels rub on the sides of the channel.  The other reason I rejected the idea of channel was that debris can collect in it and impede the running.  I tried all sorts of wheels and rails etc. as my observatory developed, eventually going for FH Brundell 120mm wheels and semicircular section rails.  Others have used V section, don't know if there's much difference.

The ease of sliding it under the rollers was the deciding factor for me. 

It took seconds and was a quarter of the price of v rail. 

1 hour ago, carastro said:

The whole thing looks fantastic except for that piece of wood sticking out propping the whole Obsy up level.  Can't see in the later photos whether this has been better supported now.  As it was - one kick and the whole obsy would droop one side.  

I am sure you have done a better "fix".

Carole 

The blocks of wood holding it up we're at the joiners house carole just to level it and keep it off the wet floor while it was being built, it was transported to my house after it was built in sections. 

1 hour ago, WanderingEye said:

Looks superb....very good job indeed.. 😀👍

Can I ask, in the early pictures you show the shed propped up on blocks of wood, and then after it was built you say you did the floor and pier, this seems backwards to how everyone else does them, so how did you concrete the floor and pier..after the shed was built... ?

 

The reason the frame was sat on blocks of wood was purely to level it while it was fixed together, also it was built at the joiners house then transported to mine to be put in place, the concrete base was already under the decking tiles so after it was placed where it was going, I could then decide the best position for the pier and bolt it down before the floor was built round it. 

I decided after some time to build my own observatory. After getting fed up of setting everything up only for the clouds to roll in then put it all away. 

Persueding the wife wasn't as easy as I thought but in the end I got there. 

I designed it myself which took a few weeks and some ideas from a Joiner friend of mine who actually built it for me. 

He is thinking of doing it as a sideline to his business so if anyone is interested in a quality well made observatory built, delivered and erected then drop me a pm. 

We started off with 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" timber for the framework. 

The cladding we decided on was 22mm loglap tanalised. The dimensions of the frame are 2200mm x 2400mm.

The height to the top where the roof rolls off is 1600mm.

The roller system I chose was 80mm v groove gate rollers. I didn't use the v track that these rollers were designed for. Instead I chose 41mm x 21mm unistrut channel. 

After building it at his house and trying the roof it was time to transport it up to my house and get it in place. It is sat on decking tiles to keep it raised from water that are sat on a level concrete pad

The roof covering was firestone rubber system. 20 year guarantee and 1 single piece. Once in place and erected it was time to start on the pier and floor. The pier was designed by me and made. Then powder coated black. 

The round section on the top of the pier that takes the mount head is a section 80mm long cut off a skywatcher extension pier and welded on the top of the pier, I used 16mm threaded bar 12" long to give me scope for height adjustment if needed. 

After getting the floor in I then used b&q rubber interlocking mats that resemble chequer plate for the floor covering, also on top of the black shelves. 

And finally the electrics and a security camera where put in as well as networking from the main house. 

Overall the build took 2 weeks, I am extremely pleased with it. I didn't go down the warm room route as its next to my outbuilding which is heated and networked up. 

The only thing left to do is put all my gear in and get some clear skies. 

Mick. 

On 29/04/2019 at 16:15, Davey-T said:

I've just purchased an ZWO ASI178MM haven't tried it yet though, I'm using it on 152mm so your 80mm will get you a bigger FOV, probably still need a 12 pane mosaic to get a full disc.

Dave

Do you need a front mounted erf on the 152 dave,?

My first telescope was  a 200p on an eq5 goto mount,it gave some great views and was ok for some astrophotography.

My advice is buy what your budget allows,dont go throwing money at expensive gear that you might not need or use.

Its a great starter scope for someone wanting to get into the hobby.

Www. Rothervalleyoptics.co.uk do a nice mains power lead for said mount for around 35 gbp.

Have you got them the right way round as one is longer than the other.

The az eq6 pro has weight capacaties of 25kg eq mode and 25kg + 25kg az mode.

4 hours ago, Davey-T said:

I use a Baader 2" 35nm HA filter in my 152mm f/5.9 refractor, Quark chromo produces super surface details and good proms, I have tried a Quark prom version which showed better proms than the chromo version but poor surface detail so not worth having the prom version and sacrificing the surface detail IMHO.

Also bear in mind that there is no such thing as a standard Quark, they are very variable in the quality of the views although they all presumably pass the Daystar QC 

Dave

Does the 2" filter screw onto the barlow and do you not use a front mounted erf?

Im thinking of getting a quark after owning a few solar scopes.

I have currently an apm 152 f7.9 refractor.

Would a quark work on that scope,which is best for prominence and surface detail and would i need anything else as ive heard about front mounted erf,s being expensive but some people use normal 1"25 uv/ir filters on the back end.

On 12/09/2018 at 12:40, stash_old said:

What was the name of the Astro Shop ?

I dont kiss and tell.....sorry ?

15 hours ago, stash_old said:

Wouldn't make any sense plugging into the handset as it replaces the handset and the output socket on the handset is NOT TTL its RS232 levels (plus you might damage your Adapter circuitry ). If you were to plug the wifi adapter into the handset mount port how would you get a signal from the mount ???? ?

I know it wouldnt,im merely stating what i was told by a very well known astro shop that it plugs into the bottom of the handset and this seems to be backed up by the presence of 2 cables in the adaptor box to plug into the handset or direct into the mount.

On an eq6 pro or az eq6 the wifi adaptor plugs straight into the mount using the original supplied handset cable,it wont power the wifi adaptor up if plugged into the bottom of the handset.

When you start sky portal instead of doing an autoalign do manual....change it in the app settings

 slew your scope to say vega  so it's in the centre of your fov....make sure vega is selected in the sky portal app and then click align....then calibrate......it will add vega as a reference point in the app and it knows your scope is pointing at it because it asks you to centre it on vega before you click calibrate.

it should then ask you to do an alignment......do the manual alignment it worked great for me.

hope this helps.