TheThing

So, I've e-mailed Vasco and was pleasantly surprised at the price of the bracket etc.  I've ordered one this morning and he thinks he'll be able to post it out tomorrow.  Pretty good service.  I'll update once received.

Some M7 bolts! Too exciting so I had to sit down.  My 127 was held into my CG-5 with a small,  thumbscrew type bolt at a 45° angle, which I've never really liked, so now I've added a big bolt to give me peace of mind.

A very wise choice.  You will have excellent views through it and it will be a joy to use.  Enjoy!

Coupled with a Telrad or a Rigel quickfinder (or even the Celestron RDF one) that has a set circles display and, a copy of Turn Left, for example, and you can easily explore beyond the solar system.  In practice, the 'narrow' field of view isn't really a problem, or noticeable, for all but the very largest of deep sky objects.  However, no 'one size' fits all, which is what makes the choice of a scope often bewildering.

Little Opticstar 80 I picked up recently for a bit of grab and go, wide field kinda stuff.  Not had a chance to use it yet, but clouds willing.....

Scrub that, have decided to go with a ZWO ASI462MC instead.

That is so neat.  A simple solution to the problem.  Have you had it for long?  How do you find it in use?

Now that is neat!  You have one of those on your scope?  I'm going to drop him an email right now!  Many thanks for sharing that.

I'm going to hang the Motor off a L shaped dovetail them use a belt drive and toothed cogs to actually turn the focusing know.  I've seen a YouTube on it, I think from Cloudy Nights, which seems to work quite well.  I struggle to find focus for solar system imaging, even with a clothes peg on the focusing knob. I'm hoping that the motor focuser with an old HiTechAstro controller will do the trick like it used to on my old newt.

I would be interested to see the video you suggest though.  Might be easier then trying to find a L shaped bracket long enough but not too heavy!

I'm currently using an Opticstar PX-126c camera for solar system imaging, which I picked up quite cheaply as a toe in the water type return to astronomy kind of thing.  I've recently been offered  a Celestron Skyris 236C camera which, to my amateur investigations, seems to be a bit of an upgrade?  Would welcome advice from those with more knowledge of these things please.

A Skywatcher one (I think, I've had it for may years on my old 6" Newt).

I want to add a L shaped bracket to hold a motor focuser.  I won't be removing the dovetail, just taking that bolt out to then bolt the bracket on.  Possibly will have to try a longer bracket and use one of the spare holes  instead.

If I take out this screw/bolt from the dovetail, will it cause anything to rattle about in the OTA (nut or washer) or is it just a bolt on its own?  SW127 mak.

Thanks.

Excellent, thank you!

Just wanted to check that this little grub screw is what holds the focuser know on? Skywatcher 127 mak. Thanks.

Very nice!

Thanks both of you. Wise words.  

Nice looking set up.  How does that work? Are you the only one to use your set up, as I assume it's all your equipment? Are you allowed to sub let it for thr nights you're not using it?

Did you have to take your s ope etc over or did you just have them delivered there? Sorry for all the questions and do tell me to go away if I'm being too nosey!

So nowhere near as good as the brilliant images shared here but... I did manage Saturn yesterday.  Albeit tiny.  I don't mind because

a) It's still fun

b) It's great having a solid goto that works at last and;

c) It can't get any worse.

My real problem is focus.  It all looks good on the screen but then in the  cold light of day, it's obviously out.  I think a Bahtinov mask and a flip mirror might be next on the list of essentials.

I've tried with Barlows, but it's the same result (only bigger!).  I think I need to seriously adjust the settings.  I've got the gain right up but maybe I should drop the exposure to 5ms rather then 25ms?  Contrast needs a bit of jig too, I think.  Next clear night I'll have to experiment.

Eventually, I'll get to a reasonable image I hope, but in the meantime, please enjoy the fruits of my labour! 

I often find that it is difficult to find something far enough away to align the finder scope with during the daytime.  Instead, I tend to get mine roughly in place and then use Polaris to fine tune it.  At 4,087 trillion kms away, that's just about far enough!  Plus, it doesn't move very far, so you have plenty of time to fettle whilst it is still in your EP's FOV.

2 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

I'm still a bit tempted with the SW 127 Mak.🙄

There is one on AstroBuySell for £200.  Bit of a bargain really! 

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=192250

That'll do nicely! 

Have a look on AstroBuySell ( https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php ).  You can get some relatively cheap cameras that are good for planetary imaging crop up on here fairly frequently.  I bagged an Opticstar PX-126c there for less than £80 and it's perfect for lunar and planetary imaging.

Think there might be something wrong with my app cos it's showing wall to wall cloud for the next week! 🥴

Bob's Knobs do springs as well as, well, knobs.  Replaced them on my old Soligor many years ago and they hold collimation really well, still.