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Ratlet

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Ratlet last won the day on March 22

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    Angus, Scotland

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  1. I'd buy new just to avoid hassle, but I believe you can contact Celestron if you run out of activations. Hope so. I used 3 goes trying to get a phone that worked, a 4th on my daughter's iPhone and the 5th on my pixel after they released a patch because despite it being compatible it did not work! Might email them tomorrow actually and check. I'll report back. I got the az80 cause it was on offer at flo, but it is absolutely worth it I think. If you need a mounting solution for another scope and don't have a 3D printer, let me know and I can do one for cost + postage + hobnobs. Someone is selling my design for £28 on ebay (rip off, but nought I can do) but I rattle them out for about £8 (inc postage). If you do have a 3D printer, go for this one: https://www.printables.com/model/559841-starsense-explorer-finder-shoe-mount-holder But back to your question, it's brilliant. Provided your phone is compatible (iPhones just are, android is a bit hit and miss, but pixel phones now work). The app is a bit weak though. You cant save observing lists so you just need to search for each target in the software. I think iPhones can integrate it with sky safari but I've no idea how good/bad that is.
  2. I'm wanting to build an electronic focuser and whilst there are plans available I figure it would be a good idea to actually try and understand electronics and programming (my job now involves both). Won't be building a focuser with this, but will at least understand it a bit better. I get stressed doing things without understanding why I'm doing it. Figure this would be a good place to start. Figure with the lack of clear skies I can spend an hour or so a night doing the projects.
  3. The desiccant isn't a magic bullet and needs time to work. Or at least time to work before the water condenses out. I think your desiccant is working, it just needs time. If you are sealing the unit in a warm location (like inside) the air inside the box will be loaded with moisture and will need time to dry. In this case you need to leave it for a while, sealed with the desiccant to dry out whilst it is still warm. If you take it out to the cold before the desiccant dries the air then the moisture will still crash out of the air when it cools down.
  4. Love slow mo control on an alt az mounted newt. Feels like you're giving the tube a cuddle.
  5. How much space is there inside? Could you try to more effectively seal it with some dehumidifier packets inside?
  6. Sounds like a win, although one with a long lead time. Fortunately (ahem) the weather is garbage so you've probably not missed much imaging time,
  7. For all the times I've used (and I've taken it apart) I still can't find the coffee grinder.
  8. Playing devil's advocate here, but Ed Ting is known to have high standards and to be particularly cautionary on astro imaging, particularly for people just starting out. His standard position is that if not to start out in astrophotography, so something that is designed to be an easy start (and one that is soon outgrown) it's unlikely to be a comfortable fit for his opinions on what is useful. Edit: I'm wishing I hadn't wandered in here. I'm looking at the images and thinking about getting one. Would be ideal for going on holiday, or even for imaging faint stuff to sketch from. This forum is dangerous!
  9. I guess the 'there will be a better one along soon' doesn't apply if you collect vintage scopes? Ed collects vintage scopes so it might inform his statement.
  10. I love Ed's videos but I made it 3 minutes in and gave up. He's missed the point of the scope. I couldn't help but think of @MarkRadice on Refreshing views on taking his 90mm on an azgti to Florida and doing live stacking. I think Mark would get the point and the benefit of a scope like the seestar. I think it would be great to take it out quickly set it up on some targets you couldn't hope to see by eye with a scope 10x the size. I really enjoy sketching and the images the seestar makes look just about perfect for something to sketch from. Nice balance of detail and colour. I wish something like this existed when I started out. I think it would be a better fit for what I want from my images than the cooled camera route I went down. Though that's with the benefit of hindsight of course.
  11. Fantastic! I feel this is a silly question, but how do you get the curve looking natural? Mine looks like they've been done by a 5 year old. Also the shading of space, when I try that It looks awful
  12. I've not got on with it so far. I suspect that part of that is I was the azgti trying to point a 130pds. It's pretty much on the limit of the mount. I'm definitely going to give the gem28 a try though as I've heard good things. It'll also fit in the workflow pretty well. The 130pds lived in the shed so was already at ambient. The refractor lives in the house for now so will need to acclimate, which will be time to setup the polar alignment.
  13. I was going to make a sepearate post to ask, but really it was your input I was looking for, and you've gone an posted a picture of both articles! I'm looking for something to upgrade the mount from my inadequate AZ5 and I'm about 90% certain that you used your EQ5 it with a motor for tracking? I'm thinking something with tracking (for sektching), but not goto. For some reason I prefer hunting targets down or just using starsense where as fighting with goto makes my blood boil. Basically I'm wondering how accurate you needed to be with the polar alignment to get decent tracking? I've got a GEM28 but with the ipolar and full goto it feels like it would take longer to setup than an EQ5 with a single motor for tracking. (As an aside I did get the scope on the GEM28 once, but it clouded over. All I managed to confirm was that I could comfortably use the starsense on an EQ mount) Do you need to do a full polar alignment with a setup like yours or is it a case of setup properly once and then get it north enough? EDIT: Should probably mention that this is the picture that made me want a Starfield lol.
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