johninderby

Observing the moon last night with my 10” dob gave me no problems without an ND filter. Didn’t seem too bright at all. Apparently the lighter your eye colour the more sensative you are to brightness and are slower to adapt. Wonder if that is a factor in why some do or don’t need a moon filter? 🤔

On the subject of moon filters for brightness some find them useful but many find them unnecessary..It all depends on ypur eyesight as some people are very sensative to brightness and others aren’t. So if you find the moon too bright then certainly get one but you may not need one. I do like the Baader Moon & Skyglow filter on the moon as it gives the moon a neutral natural grey tone.

A microscope camera which replaces the eyepiece does work for live viewing but using an HDMI connection to a TV or monitor so look for a camera with an HDMI output which keeps ir simple. Have heard of problems with connecting via USB. I used a C-mount to 1.25” adapter and a Baader Neodynium & IR cut filter. Also think they may be more suited to lunar / planetary use. Have tried a regular reducer to give a wider fov but just hasn’t worked. I’m waiting for an adapter to allow use of the reducer that is intended for the microscope camera to fit to a telescope to arrive from China.

Not long to wait until viewing improves.

The Svbony 62 degree eyepieces are plastic bodied with plastic lenses and a metal barrel. However the longer focal lengths are actually not that bad and are certainly usuable. I bought one of the 23mm ones to try and it is probably wotrh the small amount you pay but there are better ones out there for a bit more. Havent tried their wider angle ones so don’t know what they are like.

Firecapture is a very, very good image capture software for planetary use. Much better but more complex but there are very detailed youtube vids on how to set it up. http://www.firecapture.de

The X-Cel eyieces are pretty good but you might also consider the Nirvana 16mm which has an 82 degree fov and is allmost as good as a Nagler but not much more expensive than the X-Cel. A great buy. https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/ovl16nirvana.html#SID=1677

How long before this thread gets locked? 🤔

Judging by some of the latest comments have they bothered to read the thread from the beginning and understand what chapter 11 means. 🤔

Set of twin wheel braked castors arrived today to replace the short legs I had fitted earlier.. Fortunately the castor mounting hole spacing was the same as the legs so no new holes needed. 👍🏻 Much easier to be able to roll the dob around than to have to lift it. 🙂 Also fitted the new Rigel QuikFinder.

Some twin wheel braked castors for the Bresser 10” dob. Cheaper to buy a set of four although of course only three needed.

Hitec have just released a new driver to sort out the 64 bit compatibility problem so download the latest version from their website which should sort out your problem.

Ah the big 50. You’re allmost grown up then. 😁😁😁

A Tracer LifeP04 battery is ideal but rather expensive. My AZ-EQ5 ran with no problems using one of these. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/tracer-lifepo4-12v-16ah-battery-pack.html

The Skywatcher 200p dob is a very good choice. Not perfect but a very good price. If you can up the budget a bit the Bresser 8” dob is a step up over the Skywatcher with a higher spec and including proper alt and az bearings and a really good focuser. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-8-dobsonian-telescope.html

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

In the US Chapter 11 is so common it won’t have much effect.

There is no equivelent to chapter 11 in Europe. Declaring bankruptcy here means you are going out of business unless someone buys the company and puts money into it. The closest thing in the UK is going into administration which means someone else such as an accounting firm takes over your business and looks for a buyer but will wind it up if no buyer is found.

Just be aware if buying a used Baader Neodynium filter that there are two versions. The original without IR cut and current version with the IR cut.

There is already a thread on this subject and btw this American chapter 11 protection which is quite different to anything over here as they are still in business and can trade as normal. It’s a way of deferring creditors or in this case an anti-trust court case.

The image capture software is just for the laptop / tablet. The camera is controled by the laptop / tablet.

An alternative is to use a microscope camera that just needs to be connected to a monitor as they usually have a memory card slot to capture images. Not as good as a proper astro camera but cheap. Hers’s an image taken with a £100.00 microscope camera.

Hi Yes you need something to capture the images on. Usually a laptop but a tablet will do if it has a usb port and a memory card that can be removed and plugged into a PC.. A dob can take decent lunar and planetary imags although with single frames or very short video. Here’s a lunar image taken with a dob using just a smartphone.

Not good news but not terminal. In the US chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection is often used by bigger companies carrying out reorganization or restructuring. Doesn’t mean the company is going out of business though as companies can carry on trading while they make changes. Gives them protection from creditors while changes are made and can stop a hostile takeover. In this case it’s more about protecting themselves from a court judgement in an anti-trust case. A lot different to bankruptcy in Europe.

Rigel QuikFinder and something for the Hell Hound (cousin’s hound) 🙂