Ratlet

The design of the platforms is largely determined by the scope COG (centre of gravity) and the latitude. You are projecting a cone that passes through the centre of gravity of the scope (base + ota) and the latitude from the ground. As the latitude decreases the pivot point position moves further away from the COG. In a VNS platform the segments are basically the circular sections of the cone projected into a vertical section (to give an ellipse). Taking a look at a design for a 10" Stellalyra (because I'm building one and have the COG and feet measurements) and designing for 28 degrees latitude, we can see that the Southen Pivot Point would be 850mm from the COG, which once turned into a platform would probably end up being over one meter long! Not ideal... The alternative would be to simply take another circle through the cone that is closer to the COG and make southern sections from this.

I'm in the process of designing one myself for 57°. Is the issue that the platform would become very long? It it possible for you to replace the south pivot with sectors instead to keep the length down?

My rampant geekery collided and I missed the first few hours of darkness because I was running a d&d session. Managed to get out about half ten. I'm not convinced on the Starsense on the honor 20. More often than not it fails to find stars and I don't think it's sky quality since I could naked eyeball Andromeda! Will try and find my daughter's iPhone and try that. Anyway, Andromeda got the 30mm launched at it in the Dob. Made a point to look at M110 whilst I was there. Got the owl cluster which looked suitably owly (hopefully it's not the cosmic owl). Caroline's rose got the 30mm but didn't make much of it till I put the 17.5mm on it, when it definitely looked rose like. Also used this on the blue snowball nebula and it definitely looked blue. Jupiter remained behind the trees but broke out the X2 binoculars for a bit of a tour. I'd love to get these fired up at a more southern latitude. They're brilliant. Great on the double cluster and give a good effort on Andromeda. Best thing for these is m45 though as it looks like a mini big dipper. Called it earlier than I would like as it was cold and I've sprained my wrist. It hurts to do simple things like putting my hand in my pocket and adjusting the tension on the dob was agony. I sprained it when I literally touched my mattress picking up my phone (somehow) and the wife has started calling me 'mattress toucher' which frankly sounds worse than my wrist hurts!

You've not seen the arm he uses to lift the Dob.

I use a sack barrow to move my 10" dob about. I think I moved it in two parts about two times before I found it too much work and swapped to snack barrow. Easier to move the whole unit with the barrow than either part on their own.

That's an incredible amount of detail for such short exposure. Great job. Nebula colours look reminiscent of a dual band filter.

Hope they work for you! I loved mine on the dob, though I used a digital inclinometer for inclination. Like goto should be.

This is basically the conundrum I'm in at the moment. A 4" Scope would be a nice compliment to the 10" Dob, however I could also do with something that would be flight compatible as we tend to go on holiday to the med / gran canaria and there is plenty extra this would let me see from my 57 degrees latitude. I think unfortunately the Tak is outside my budget (and I'm not a fan of the aesthetics) and the AP definitely is outside of my budget! Would be nice if the Starfield 102 could be broken down small enough. I think in terms of 'realistic chance of me getting one' I'll need to look at a 90mm and hold out for a used Megrez 90. Or remove the mirror cell from the 130 pds, throw the rube in my case and take the primary/secondary on as carry on lol.

Really good session last night. Not much new observed as I wanted to make the most of the summer constellations. Starsense was being an absolute mare on the pixel 6, first time I tried it, but fortunately it was slightly better behaved on the Honor 20 so I swapped to that. I spent some time a couple days ago to work on the balance of the Dob with the dew shield and everything else on it. Took a bit of getting used to using the weight to help with the balance at different inclinations, but doing fin adjustments on target was infinitely easier and more pleasant than previously. Probably not best practice, but there is something intensely satisfying about nudging a dob with your eyebrow. It'll be more satisfying once I get an EQ platform built and don't have to nudge at all. M13, M92 and M71 provided some nice globular viewing. They are all quite different in structure and density so it was a nice little tour. M71 appeared quite elongated, more of an ellipse than a sphere. I took in Albireo and Almaak for a bit out colourful double viewing. M27 looked quite spectacular, helped massively by averted vision. Not required but I'm starting to notice colour in stars a lot easier, especially the orange/red ones and noticed a couple to the edge of the FOV with my 12mm around M27 and focusing on these helped bring out the detail in the nebula. More detail on DSO with the 10" Vs 5" Newtonian, but the difference in globulars is the big draw for me. I've been trying for The Veil for a couple of months now but with my high latitude and summer nights, it has not been forthcoming. Swung round to 52 Cyg with the 30mm Superview and still couldn't see it. Until I could. Running about 45 degrees there was a something there, not bright but a definite difference in texture. I had the imaging rig setup in the shed so pull out the SV220 7nm Dual band filter and dropped it in. Suddenly it was everywhere! The Witches Broom extended well through the FOV and had the appearance of high clouds. There was a distinct radial lighting to the broom itself which was surprising. The more central areas were also apparent although I couldn't pick out much detail, panning across you could easily see the difference in brightness. I panned up to the Eastern Veil and was greeted with a nice door handle shape nebulosity that had the similar cloudyness to it although the 'lighting' wasn't as impressive as the broom. I'm going to need to whip out the 130PDS for it next time to get a wide FOV. It should be able to squeeze both in with the 30mm. With the filter in I went back down to M27 and swapped to the 12mm BST. The contrast was greatly improved as you'd expect but where as previously the nebula was spherical there was now a clear horizontal elongation to it, the filter helping to highlight some of the subtler nebulosity in wings. I swear at some point I'll use that filter for imaging, but so far it's doing too good a job as an OIII filter! Saturn had cleared one of the trees (about 20 degrees is my limit) but I could see it through the branches so decided to give it a shot. Having removed the filter the focus was out so I was greeted with about 5 out of focus Saturn's which gave me a minor panic. Turns out Saturn had not quite cleared the branches and there was some diffraction through the leaves. Getting her in focus though and I got quite a pleasant view of our ringed neighbour. Despite the tree it was in the sweet spot between houses so there wasn't a huge amount of turbulence in the atmosphere. I stuck with the 12mm and whilst there wasn't a huge amount of detail I could make out a subtle band of cloud that ran parallel with the rings. It gave the impression that the rings were passing in front of the planet. I'm looking forward to the next few years when the planet gets out of the ruddy weeds. If only some of the constellations would join it!

Going to pick up an enclosure for it as well. Fortunately the missus is very much on board with the maker movement. So long as it does the job, she's happy. Mostly it's stuff made from 3-5mm ply for small crafting items. With the 3D printer I've noticed that there are some things which it does well but there are plenty of others that some thin wood and some glue wood do a better job off. Primarily I want it for some wood working projects I've got planned. Going to build an EQ Platform and a better base for my dob. I don't want to use the laser for cutting the wood but I think it could do a good job for inlays and engraving on it.

Good to see you're still getting use out of it. The missus gets lots of stuff online that is made from laser cut plywood. boxes/shelves/models/etc so she is in favour of getting one. We're thinking about getting one of the fancy 40W diode units that have just been released. Looks like it will cut up to a reasonable thickness of ply (3/4in) without it taking forever and burning the wood up too much. I like the sound of the co2 units but there isn't an option for feed through on the cheaper ones.

I never got round to actually fitting them 😳. I've been having too much fun with the dob. I used these. I was mostly trying to get my monies worth out of the printing so filled the sheet as much as I could https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/621600-skywatcher-az5-manual-head-setting-circles/

Trouble is that celesteon are probably shifting more scopes now with the Starsense unit and the markup must be pretty good. To be fair, amatuer astronomers have basically said the phone holder/mirror thing is worth +/-£180 since most people will buy the scope just for the Starsense. They'd be loopy to sell a standalone for much less.

I think that would have been easier than what I came up with but I like to make it difficult for myself lol.

I really like photos of doubles. There isn't anywhere to hide with them. Brilliant.

I used instant print for mine. They have templates so you can make sure your print doesn't get resized. I used waterproof pvc for mine. The ink is not massively hard wearing and will scratch off with a bit of effort (mine are fine after several months though). Probably a bit of varnish would help if it were a concern. It does mean I didn't need to get them cut out or worry about picture getting through penetrations on the lamination and I could print other stuff on the sheet. Ended up getting two sets of circles, puckle of verniers (spares in case of loss) and a couple extra circles for my az5.

I wonder if you could attach a motor to one of the slowmo controls for using in eq mode to get tracking. I like goto for tracking but hate it for moving the scope about.

It is done: Sticking with a nut for the bottom on the basis it doesn't really need to be untreaded. Side bracket now mounts on either side! https://www.printables.com/model/559841-starsense-explorer-finder-shoe-mount-holder

I'm using fusion 360 for design. The design is going to be completely modular once I'm finished. The basic cradle can be be mounted side saddle or from the bottom. At the moment I'm not too far from that. Mirror symmetry being the only current issue. Current design has focused on using nuts rather than inserts as these are more readily available and easier to use. Also simpler for prototyping designs.

Prototype finished. I'm going to refine the design as the sloped design means the side mounting brackets are not symmetrical. Will get it so it can be swapped over. EDIT: tested it mounted side saddle on the ST80 because it's the only thing I've got to test it on. Screenshot from the Starsense app. Telescope was focused on the flagpole tippy top so plenty of clearance.

I can't believe this gem has been sat here since Sunday! The break in the clouds has been timed perfectly with me working so I only get a cheeky wee half hour or so if I get up at 0300 instead of 0400. Got to say though, Venus is looking fab in the morning

That looks really smart! The price for the easy push to seems nuts though, only 99? I must be reading that wrong... I'll need to price that up. Was going to build an equatorial mount, but this looks interesting.

How wide is wide? M31 is always going to be a classic. Something about a photon travelling unimpeded for 2.5 million years only to end it's life in a Scottish bams retina is amazing to me. Open clusters in Auriga/Perseus are some of my favourites, M34-M38. I find with a wider view some of them take on a slightly organic view, almost like moss or lichen. It's hard to describe. Probably better more into autumn.

Cracking. Would be interested in seeing how the 120mcs did for imaging.

Out again at 0400 to attempt to see the GRS on Jupiter. The seeing was brilliant and I'm pretty sure that I got it (only taken me a year). Slightly off centre just after 0400. I had a decent look, the viewing only hampered by using the arm of a garden chair instead of my astronomy chair. The contrast was not great as I had no filters at all and it was bright enough to really need either the VPF or a contrast booster. Tried the Morpheus 17.5 in my BST Barlow and it was really quite nice. Dont think it will have much utility for me on planets though. I get some wild reflections which detract. I get this with the star guider eyepieces and Barlow too. I'm coming to the conclusion that it's the combination of the Barlow and my eyeball that's the issue. Still will be good for DSO. Tried to grab a video through the eyepiece using the msm phone holder but didn't have the time to play about with the settings. I did use the moon to line everything up and after a quick process I'm quite happy.