tich

On 24/12/2018 at 13:46, L8-Nite said:

HI Tony,

Dorothy & I are looking forward to it. Please put us down for pitch 6;  Don't want to upset Tich by jumping que for # 29. 

Merry Christmas to you and Cath and to all a Happy Holiday.

Cheers MIke lol I'll have the usual pitch Tony from Weds to Sunday Morning please I have PM'd you so all being well I should be able to make it...

A good Quark is a superb bit of kit & they are superb to image with from what I've seen, but I know someone who's on their 3rd one in under 2 years who lives not to far from me so they sound like a bit of a lottery to me.
Just my tuppenceworth.

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

Often the case that the skies are good after a rain shower to clear the crud out of the air. Nice to get some outreach in, we had a event planned but weather was rubbish so we had to cancel. Will keep trying though.

It's been a very busy year for me this year since march we've had at least one outreach event to do sometimes it's been 3 a month, still got a few more to do before the years over too. Most of them have been solar events but we have had the odd nigh time one too.

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Great setup Tich! I see what you mean about the little Lunt! Looks tiny!! Bet the views are still nice though  

Cheers Stu it makes my Aussie mate laugh when I call my Lunt "my Ha finderscope!!" But yeah it does the job nicely & last Friday at an outreach event I had some exceptional views with it in the evening, after all the rain lol.... The surface detail was the best I'd ever seen with it & the proms put on a good show too, sadly the weather was against me that weekend so never managed to get out with it this time.

I must have missed this thread well here's mine I'd love to get my hands on a better Ha scope although this one has given me some great views in the past. Problem is it looks like a finderscope when mounted on the AR127L..


Being used in anger at an outreach event back in July



It doesn't image to bad either.







 

This says it all really!!

I hope it comes with a Batman logo as an optional extra for cloudy nights. 

That's the one I ended up getting to fit mine although its long gone now as I posted all this back in 2012

No problem Stu, if I had room in the car I could bring down the NEQ6 too & we could have a scope fest lol.

Thanks @Stu hope to get to grips with it more next month in Hereford as I haven't managed to get out much to try it out, I did have it in EQ mode a few weeks back at a stargazing live event & it tracked the Sun & Moon really well just a shame the clouds came in just as it were getting dark so never got to see anything else.

@Stu Hope you don't mind me asking but if you use this in the daytime for solar stuff, After setting up the handset do you just point the scopes at the Sun then put in the solar sidereal rate? also how well does it track? I'm only asking as I'm helping out at an outreach event with the Mercury transit in May & I want one scope taking pictures while the other is for viewing.

Thanks guys, I should have mentioned that the other scope on mine is a C6 so only weighs approx 4.5KG's so might have to look at trying to balance the weight better across the mount somehow as the 250P weighs around 16KG's, maybe a weight & extending the bar would do it?
I'll be bringing it to Hereford next month so I'll apologize  beforehand for the questions I may be asking about it.

I've recently brought an AZ EQ6-GT to use at star parties, outreach events or to use at the darksite & after a video popped up on youTube about the AZ EQ5 when they said you can double up the payload on AZ mode it made me think, is the same thing possible with the 6?  As there is no mention of it in the instruction manual. As I own a Skywatcher 250P, in AZ mode having the eyepiece at a respectable level is a big plus rather than contorting your head & neck in silly positions. I did a bit of Googling & found this link with them saying the payload can be doubled in AZ mode; https://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides/sky-watcher-azeq6gt.asp

Here's the link for the youTube video about the AZ EQ5;

So from what I've read online would it be ok for me to operate my mount to be set up like this?

This is a great thread & I'm seeing some pretty impressive results. I haven't actually tried imaging with an Alt Az mount myself although it does make me want to blow the cobwebs from my 6SE Nexstar & have a go just to see what I can manage.

I started off with a 200P & loved that scope but I was given a 250P Dob tube & although its a bit of a lump it does image nice plus I've had some pretty good views with it too.



I do use it as my main scope depending on the target & whether or not it's breezy but I managed to get these last weekend at Hereford.

M106 & other Galaxies. by tich_dude, on Flickr

M108 23-5-15 Hereford by tich_dude, on Flickr

Just a shame the nights are short this time if year would loved more data, I wouldn't mind getting another scope maybe the 130PDS sometime in the future

They are a very clever design I have to admit just a pity they aren't made any more as with rising fuel prices & the changed towing laws I think these would sell very well nowadays. Yeah the walls are quite thin but I'm sure with today's insulating technologies they could improve them, but I have to say I've never been cold in mine. I've made a few friends in France who own these one guy has got loads of different types from the early 60's/70's all wooden models to the later models although he doesn't own any of the rarer T models yet!

I did think about buying a rough one & putting it in the garden to use as an observatory once but as the back garden is shared access it isn't the most secure so it's put me off having a permanent set up. Pity really as I did have one for spares & sold it on & it would have been ideal but I never had any scopes back then.

Think I might hang a glitter ball from the ceiling

loving the 60s clock on the table!

It's one of those Bush reproduction radios Gaz, looks the part though I keep meaning to bring it with me but always forget lol.

If you could ever find a Confort T for the right price then they are definitely the ones to go for as it can be set up solo.

This is a photo of the one my mate used to own, no 70's décor in these.

I'd rather it called a beer tent than a burger van lol,
Depending on how long I'll be there for next year I may bring & set up a full awning for next years beer fest.
 

I should have added that bit Alan but it's only my model that has the 2 doors, still the Confort has it's own party trick.



 

As I've had folk asking & looking around my caravan at SGL7 & SGL9 I thought I'd add my tuppenceworth as an alternative.
If camping in a tent isn't your thing anymore then I think these quirky folding caravans could be the next best thing before owning a regular caravan. They made 3 models the Confort, Record & Export. After 1982 models made had torsion springs to aid unfolding of it & were called Confortmatic, Recordmatic & Exportmatic. As I have an Export two people are needed to unfold it as it is quite heavy however the Confort can be done solo. I keep saying I ought to downsize to a Confort so I can set up by myself but I'd miss the extra room of the Export. There is also the rarer 2 berth Confort T which has a separate washroom a model I've considered owning too.

Ok so these aren't as luxurious as proper caravans & they are pretty basic but it has everything in it that I need, plus it can sleep up to 6. Not bad when you consider it folds down to the size of a trailer. It also only weighs 650KG The Confort being much lighter around 500KG so I think they can still be towed by folk who passed their test after 1997 but it would need to be confirmed with the Matic models are a bit heavier.

I know there are other models of folding caravans out there but they just don't seem to be as big as these.

The video below gives you an idea on how these work but if you do buy one I'd get some practise in first setting it up plus you need to get these things level before unfolding or nothing will fit together.

They stopped making these in 1990 but the more extras you can get with it the better, things like floor heater, fridge,awning etc. Be warned though there are plenty of bad ones out there but there is also bargains to be had too if you know where to look. Mine only cost 300 quid & while it was usable as is I have done some work to it so it probably owes me around 500 quid. For that I've got a fully functioning caravan with cooker/ grill, floor heater, awnings of various combinations & a fridge.









Mmmmm very 70's lol.







I run a forum about these as I couldn't find out anything about them from the clubs here in the UK & I have since learned a great deal about them. Spares are pretty scarce though but a lot of repairs can be done by yourself with a bit of ingenuity.

 

I'm not sure why this should be.  I process my full disc lunar images a different way because they're quite large and AS!2 doesn't seem to handle large images very well:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184192-full-disc-lunar-imaging-with-a-dslr/

James

Thanks James I'm glad it's not just me then, I could stack the images ok when using the C80ED but using the SCT I'm guessing it's just to large so I run them through PIPP & Registax which seems to cope better now I've upgraded the memory.

A question for James, I've tried using this program doing a full lunar image but AS!2 keeps cutting a huge chunk off it for some reason. I've tried different settings but not having any joy, any ideas?

Damn I've got my NEQ6 set up in my living room as a Christmas tree but now it looks puny after seeing this!!!

Very nice Olly.

I've only just come across this tutorial after I was having some stacking issues with Registax so a great tutorial James, I've been doing a few full moon images using the 80ED & 1000D recently & after converting them with PIPP Registax was having none of it. I tries Autostakkert & it worked straight away. Does anyone know what the drizzle function does? I only ask as I tried it a couple of times but it said that I ran out of memory, most likely due to my ancient laptop that I'm using.

Anyway I was quite pleased with the results I got so hopefully I'll be doing some more full disc lunar images processing them was a bit hit & miss in Photoshop as every one looked different as regards colours.