Mikey0368

I had a go at L100 on Saturday night but I'm not sure if I got it or not. I'm in the right area but it could just be a bit of brightness so I'm not certain. Using a picture I found on here as a comparison, what do you think? Taken with a StellaLyra 8" Classical Cassegrain, ZWO ASI224MC and ZWO IR Pass Filter.

I had the polar scope out of my HEQ5 as it was away being repaired/tuned, but now it's back I'd like to line it up properly so that 0 is at the top, 6 at the bottom, etc, without me having to rotate the mount. Can anyone give me any pointers? I had a quick search on YouTube but couldn't see what I'm after. Thanks.

I got my 8" Classical Cassegrain in the first batch that FLO were selling and I'm really happy with it. Here area couple of pics taken with it, including a daytime shot of Jupiter.

Cheers, I'll check that out.

Brilliant, thanks.

Would this filter sheet be suitable for viewing the Sun continuously over a couple of hours? I'm thinking ahead to June's partial eclipse. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DS7SSEW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'll be using a SkyWatcher Esprit 100ED. Thanks.

I'm trying to image with an LS35T that I have on loan but I'm not quite getting there. The camera I'm using is a ZWO ASI224MC, although I have an ASI294MC I could try as well if that would be worth it. The draw tube is in as far as it will go and it feels like it just need to go in a little bit further to get to focus. Is there anyone here with experience of that scope? Here's what I got this morning......

I tried again this morning to get Saturn but it's just too bright. I got another pic of Jupiter though.

Saturn didn't come out too well and I'm still fiddling with that, but Jupiter is at least recognisable! Image taken at about 9.45am. It's an experiment I'm unlikely to repeat though.

Cheers folks. Hoping to have a go tomorrow morning so will report back.

Do any of you have any experience of imaging Jupiter and Saturn during the day? They're sitting nicely for me at about 9 - 10am at the moment and I thought I would have a go. Any tips would be appreciated. I'll be using an 8" classical cassegrain and ZWO ASI224MC with an IR 850nm Pass filter. Capture software will be FireCapture. Thanks.

That's really useful, thanks. I've been trying to process my daytime video from 20th December and this has helped a lot. I've at least got a stacked image to play with now.

I currently use the Optolong L-Pro filter with my ZWO ASI294MC OSC but I'm thinking about replacing it with the IDAS LPS-D3. I'm on the edge of town (Bortle 6) and we're scheduled to get LED streetlights later this year. Is the improvement worth it?

I've only ever used data from a DSLR or OSC so this was new to me. Processed in Startools 7 and tweaked in GIMP. That star is a right nuisance! Processed using the following modules in StarTools - AutoDev, Bin to 45%, Wipe (Basic, Dark Anomaly Filter to 5 and precision 128x128), Film Develop (Gamma to 0.90, Dark Anomaly Filter to 16, Home In then adjust manually), HDR, Colour, Shrink, Entropy, Tracking off and denoise.

Thanks. I also posted this in the Skywatcher Mount facebook group and got a similar answer.......

I'm wondering if anyone can help me get to the bottom of a problem I'm having with my HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt modification. It will track for about 20 minutes and then something goes wrong that stops it tracking on one axis. The attached pictures are both from last night, one before the problem kicked in and one after. I also have a couple of YouTube videos that show the noise that it's making........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTlcFN95SEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncJEcX5cPzQ The noise began when I got a new StellaLyra 8" Classical Cassegrain a couple of months ago and although it's within the payload limit of the mount (9.1kg) it seemed to struggle with it right away. Have any of you seen this problem before? Needless to say it's a couple of months out of warranty!

Is anyone having trouble attaching a finder scope? I have two finder scopes here and neither fit the shoe, regardless of which way I put them in. It only goes so far then sticks. I've contacted FLO about it but it would be useful to know if anyone else has the same problem. The attached pics show how far it goes in from above and below.

I finally got a picture! You'll see better pics of Mars but it's my first one and I'm happy enough with it for a first attempt. To get it to focus using the ASI224 I used all 4 1" spacers that came with the telescope and the 16.5mm and 21mm spacers that came with my ASI294.

Thanks. I'll give that a go tonight hopefully as we're supposed to be getting a rare clear spell. I can't believe I've had this telescope for about 5 weeks now and I've barely had a chance to use it, never mind work out focus with the ASI224.

Are any of you using the ZWO ASI224MC with the 8" Classical Cassegrain? If so, which spacers are you using? I've tried 1, 2, 3 and 4 inches and I get a very fuzzy Mars right at the end of the 4" spacer. It's as if it needs a bit more. The Moon looks sharp when just observing so it's not a collimation issue.

Can I use the same laser collimator (LaserColli Mark 3) that I use with my 8" Newtonian to collimate the Classical Cassegrain or do I need to get something else? https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/accessories/optical-accessories/collimation-tools-cleaning-and-maintenance-products/laser-colli---mark-iii.html

A couple of other points......... Mine is the 8" CC and the weight is 7.5kg without the losmandy rail. I also got just the one screw in the spotter mount. All the pics I've seen have only got one screw so I assume that's just how it is.

Thanks. It's just arrived and I've switched the vixen rail to the bottom and so I'll leave the other one off to save weight.

Thanks for the video, that's really useful. I'll be swapping the vixen and losmandy dovetail bars around as well. Do I actually need to put the losmandy one back on or is it needed for stability?

I've taken the plunge and ordered the 8CC. Would a 2.5x or 5x Powermate be suitable with this or would it not need it? Perhaps worthwhile for the outer planets?