Ratlet

Very happy with this.  Looks very good and shows you what objects should be visible in different sized scopes.

Has also fueled my envy of the southern hemisphere.  Feels like 3/4 of the ink got printed on their pages.

According to Terry Pratchett a wizard doesn't use a wand.  They use a staff.  There is a song about it and everything.  Although it is rather more focused on what is on the end of the staff....

TC-E2 teleconverter through a velux window for a hefty 2x power.

I can see these being great fun.  Looking in to Cygnus it made the dark lanes in that region more visible. I think a recliner and a beer would pair well with them.

My window faces almost due north so I had a look where M31 should be and you could make out hints of it.  Quite surprised.

Looking around caseopia I could make out something to the south of ruchbah.  I think it might have been the double cluster in Perseus which would mark a first observation of it.

It's a really fun think to just pan around with.  As you move across things flick in to view as they fall into averted vision.  Would be improved a lot if I had another.  I can see them being really handy for learning the night sky .

2 hours ago, Pixies said:

I got a Facebook astro friend to print it for me. Getting a 3D printer will greatly increase the total cost of the binos!  

Ah yes, but the other half thinks I've bought the 3D printer for her.  I look on that as an investment.

I tell you what though, really impressed with the tc-e2, even with only the one.  Had a look from the bedroom at Cygnus and boy howdy is that wild.  Pretty sure i could make out M31 and the double cluster.  Just hints of them but a definite something there.

My sister is off to NZ in the new year and is staying in a rural area.  I'm hoping to get them finished so she can take them and I can live vicariously through her seeing stuff.

8 hours ago, Pixies said:

Ditto: 

 

In what is a surprise to me the wife has been militant about us absolutely needing to get a 3D printer.  I've tried saying no, but she's put her foot down lol.

Thinking a perusa mini

Just trying to work out some stuff from the sketch, it was 2 starkkink satellites that went past Bellatrix. 1434 and 4036.

Cheers Stephan,

That's really helpful.  I'm glad you enjoyed the report and I appreciate the advice on spotting nebulosity.  That'll be really helpful going forward.

It's really hard to explain how much fun it is to observe.  It's no like you are looking at a picture and it never changes.  As your eye adapts you see more, as you recognise the shapes and the patterns you see more.

I'm thinking about getting an eye patch.  I find covering my other eye relaxes my face and makes observing easy.  It feels like it might also improve the ability for my open eye see.  I already use a hoody, but I will look into an observing hood.  My wife is an excellent seamstress so she will be happy to help me on that front.

Last night was also a test of some dew shields I made for the scope and quickfinder.  They worked very well and this was my first session I wasn't dewed out.

I'm thinking about changin up my observation log book.  I'm thinking of doing 2 columns per observation.  One for the observation sketch and one for a sketch of an astrophoto if the same FOV of the object.  It'll help me practice technique, give me something to do when it's cloudy and maybe help me see more when observing.

31 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

A new second-hand Hercules AZ belt drive mount for my RC6.

 

Are they any good?  I've seen them on AliExpress and always wondered.

12 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

G'Day Ratlet. Nice report, that group of stars close to Bellatrix has caught my eye in the past too. It is the open cluster Dolidze 17. Wishing you clear skies!

Thanks Epik!  It caught my eye as soon as I saw it.  I didn't check to see if it was named.  It's funny having googled it there isn't very much information on it and the other members of the catalogue.  I'm hoping this doesn't turn into yet another rabbit hole for me to fall down!

TC-E2 2xTeleconverter.  Wanting to build myself a set of constellation binoculars (aka bionic eyes).  I... uh might have made a mistake when I ordered this and thought it said there was 2 of them rather than it was 2xpower lol.

Also, the M54 adapter is a dud.  I don't feel it is useable with the scope.  It doesn't thread enough on before it jams for me to be happy hanging eyepieces off.  I guess I get to find out how good AliExpress's refund procedure is.

This will fall into the 'just because you can doesn't mean you should' bracket but, depending on the lens you might be able to fit a diagonal inside the lens, using a modified lens cap to hold it in place.  Focus is controlled by the usual way of focusing the camera.

http://bobatkins.com/photography/technical/Lens-scope-adapter.html

Sounds like it's got no guarantees.  I'm going to give it a whirl because I've got a telephoto which isn't good enough for astro and a spare diagonal.

I picked up an SVBONY UHC filter and an M54 extension.  Because of my work schedule I need to leave at 0430 and work 12 hour shifts...  Guess I'm getting up at 0200.  I'd also done a bit of playing with the collimation, so hopefully it'll be a bit better.  Setup by 0300

The moon was at something like 80% illuminated so not ideal observing conditions.  Kicked off by checking the Quickguider alignment on Jupiter with the 32mm.  The moons were a nice spread and everything was dialled in nicely.

First thing I spotted was that my usual targets were all gone!  Not used to observing at that time.  Having a look around I could see M45 was pretty high up (about 45 degrees) so kicked off with that.  Decided to commit to a sketch of it.  No nebulosity visible (not sure if you could see any with a 130PDS at x20) but some very interesting star patterns.  I think I might have to invest in a tracking mount for sketching.

By the time I got my sketch finished Orion was starting to clear the tree line (20 degrees).  I could almost make out the belt but needed to move further back in the garden.  Ended up stood in the weeds by my ferret run but the belt was clear and the sword moving up.  Threw the scope at Mintaka just to have a look.  Didn't realise that it was a double, but managed to split it.  I could have sworn the secondary was a pale blue but this could have been due to the proximity to the moon.  Next I had a look at Bellatrix.  There was a nice little grouping of stars to the North that in the Newtonian looked like a handbag so I decided to do a sketch of that, mostly because the idea of Bellatrix La'Strange swinging a handbag is somewhat funny.  Whilst doing the sketch 2 satellites went through the FOV at almost the exact same time.  Pretty cool.

M42 FINALLY cleared the tree line and could make out a definite area of nebulosity through the scope.  I didn't do much with the with 32mm and dropped in the 8mm BST.  There was a definite line and blob going on, but decided to test out the UHC filter.  This definitely improved the contrast.  The nebulisty extended for what felt like the entire field of view north and south.  It looked a bit like one of the Shadow's ships from Babylon 5.  HAving largely observed things that were round and nebulous this was really cool to see.  I could faintly make out M43.  It felt like every time I adjusted the scopes position there was some new/more nebulosity moving with it.

Unfortunately it was getting to 0420 so I had to call it a night.

Conclusions:

The UHC filter is a definite help for M42, even with the moon out.

The M54 extension doesn't really work, it is not screwed in properly and I'm not sure if it is tilted.  I think I might try to get a refund for it and instead get an 2" Extension and a parafocal ring for the 2" to 1.25" reducer as all my eyepieces are 1.25".  I'm looking for an alternative as the supplied extension with the 130PDS means I can't get focus without my glasses on as it it too long.

I need to draw more circles on my sketch book before I go out.  I ran out of circles and left my compass inside.  I would have liked to sketch M42 but between not having the compass, being stuck in the weeds and running out of time I couldn't.

I run Nina and all the gubbins (guiding, etc) off a 2015 vintage i5.  I remote desktop from an even older laptop in my shed.

For me I would suggest that you try to get 8GB of ram if you can.  Ram will do more per £ spent than processor in my opinion.  However the speed limiting step will likely be the transfer from canon to mini pc.  The chances are it won't affect your workflow though. And it will all be good. I use a t3i and it is fine.

Make sure that the mini pc has a good signal and is setup to only connect to the one WiFi network. 

I keep all my stuff up the shed.  I use the really useful storage boxes from Hobbycraft and put those chemical desiccant boxes from Asda in them.  They will eliminate  any moisture well and are easy to change and monitor for use.  The wrapping paper storage one is even but enough to take the legs from my GEM28 Nd all the cables and desiccant box.  

If you are doing platesolving run it locally rather than online.  It'll be much quicker.  I use astap with Nina.

My latest haul from AliExpress.

SVbony UHC filter to start my foray into that side of visual

Some M4 knurled screws which I hope will fit the secondary if my 130pds

And an m54 extension which doesn't fit.  Grabs like the first 3 turns and then jams.  Suspect that will either be scrap.  Might work as it grips well with the few turns it does get.  First lemon I boughton AliExpress.

Set off to work at 0430 and had Orion nicely placed at the bottom of the street.  Keep a pair of 10x50 panovision binoculars in the car so had a quick look for m42.  Found it easily enough.  Surprised it was visible as I was stood between 2 street lights.

Also looked at Betelgeuse.  It was orange.

First observation of both items.

25 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

I think I understand, you are using the ASI224 with fisheye just to show us how it looks right? And not for actual AP! I was thinking why is he using fisheye to image? Duh 🙂 I have the ASI224 too and so very familiar with it.

I think he might be collimating his scope by using a webcam, or in this case an asi224.  The overlay should allow you to centre everything.

Funnily enough I just did the same thing yesterday using a yi home camera that I use to keep an eye on the car.  I was really struggling with the offset if the secondary.

I put a couple of wraps of craft foam and it fits snuggly in the 2" focuser and should be relatively central.

I think though that when you align everything this way it should be aligned with the focus tube.  This link explains how to do it:

I found it pretty simple, although I followed it up with a laser collimator because that's even easier and it was mostly the offset I had borked.

I also discovered that if I put my laser collimator in my Barlow for aligning the primary it reflects back to the collimator as concentric circles.  Makes it even easier to get it bang on.

24 minutes ago, alacant said:

1.4x12x15 mm:

Fit six. 3 replacements and a further 3 passively over the locking screws. Leave the latter loose. 

AliExpress: lots of 10 for €sensible.

Whilst you have it on the bench, we'd recommend removing the mirror clips.

Just our works-for-us approach but HTH anyway.

 

Perfect!  Much appreciated.

10 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

Hi, thanks for this Ratlet. Could you describe using your mobile to help with polar aligning?

Cheers,

Steve

So at the moment I use an Intel nuc setup by the mount to control everything on my rig.  I control this remotely from a laptop in my shed.  Previously I would take the laptop out so I could see the Ipolar app running on the nuc.  Now I'll just quickly log on from my phone using the remote desktop client app to do the polar alignment.  Really you just need to be able to see the guidelines and click on a couple of buttons.

I was going to give it a try tonight (full moon isn't an issue since I'm still very much getting things to work stage), but my work have changed my shift so I have to start at 0400 tomorrow.  Hopefully there will be some clear skies in 2 weeks.

EDIT:  Just seen that you're not wanting to risk voiding the warranty.  Hopefully the vendor will reply with an answer.  I'll leave the below for you though in case they do ask you to check the work gear.

You can remove the panel with the grub screw and check that the carrier for the brass worm gear isn't damaged:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/794915-skywatcher-az5-deluxe-mount-azimuth-control-not-working/

1 hour ago, Elp said:

Thought I'd put my feedback here regarding ipolar as I hadn't used it previously.

Downloaded and installed the software from ioptrons website, installed fine but when I started the program it said MS .net 3.5 SP1 was not installed. So I installed the latest version of .net v4.8.1 and it still didn't work. So I installed v3.5 SP1 too, then the program worked fine.

Camera was connected though I note my up axis requires rotation of the camera 90 Deg clockwise for it to work as per alt az 3d space.

Tried it at night, fairly straightforward, if you don't see any stars make sure the front cap on the mount is removed and change the exposure to something like 250ms, dark images are taken upon startup (keep cap on polar scope end) or you can instruct the program to take them at a touch of a button, and program offers instructions on the LHS of the window as to what it's doing and what to do next, starfield appears quickly afterward. I input my longitude and latitude manually as the mount wasn't on at the time then moved it up in altitude until it plate solved then asked me to rotate the mount in RA, I then powered it on to do the rotation. You have to confirm the position once done. A maroon circle appears as what it thinks should be the pole then if it's not on camera FOV a red arrow appears on the edge of the screen denoting which way you should move the mount. Once the pole star is in view it appears as a red cross and you simply adjust altitude and azimuth of the mount until the maroon circle overlays the red cross. When you're very close the two shapes magnify so you can make fine adjustments, once it's on they'll change colour to green.

Simple process and easy to use.

I don't however see me using it personally as I use an Asiair which is much quicker to PA in, and it also doesn't require a computer to be with me. But ipolar certainly is one of the better PA routines I've used.

Yeah the ipolar is pretty easy to use.  I use a nuc to control everything and remote desktop onto that.  Never thought about just using remote desktop from my phone to do polar alignment.  That's going to save me a bit of hassle lol

Not a huge amount tonight.  The wee man had a danger nap at about 18:00 so I was still trying to get him to sleep at 22:30 when the wife came to relieve me and said she could see the moon.  Took the 127 mak out for a spin and a test of the underlay dew shield.   It gives great views and I would swear that the Casini Division was flickering in and out of view on Saturn.  Jupiter was good as ever although it seemed a bit washed out, there was still amazing detail on the cloud bands.

To finish off I tried splitting Epsilon Lyrae.  Easy split for the double with the 32mm (x47) but I'm pretty certain I managed to bag the quad with the 8mm (x188) for my first complete split of that particular grouping.

I think I will need to part company with the mak however.  I can't really find a comfortable way to use it compared to the 130pds and I much prefer the wide field views.  It's a cracking scope but I think with what I'm doing the 130pds does the bulk of what I need to.

Has anyone upgraded their springs?  I'm slowly collecting bits and pieces for upgrades and I think springs are the last low cost item I've got to get.  Looking for size to go for.  I could take the ones out but I don't want to disassemble till Ive got all the bits to do the upgrades in one go.

46 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Going to try this. 

I thought these were a meme!  I didn't realise people were getting them.  I'm going to have to have a read of the post now

With your lens you will be best of starting at 150mm till you get things dialed in.  It will be more forgiving of tracking errors.

My gut instinct would be to try and make something cheaply to test the theory first.  I'd be thinking cardboard tubes that come inside carpet (you might need to do a bit of a bodge to get the right diameter) or parcel tubes/ducting if you want to drop some cash on it.  Probably set you back £20.