michael8554

I'd say that any almost every scope WITH THE CORRECT SOLAR FILTER ATTACHED would give "good shots of the sun", whatever that means. Your 430mm focal length scope will probably capture the whole solar disc. A 3000mm FL SCT would only show a small part, fine for "closeups" of sunspot groups. The sun is often captured with "Planetary Cameras" in video mode, so that the frames that are distorted by atmospherics can be rejected. With your D5300 a stack of a series of single fast exposures would give similar results. Michael

If you had perfect PA (which you never will), then as symmetal said, you wouldn't have walking noise. So you will need to Dither. And PA error of no worse than 5arcmins is easily guided, so no need to obsess over PA. Michael

Hi Chris As Geoff said, enter the location manually. In the degrees-minutes-seconds format. Google will show your location in a decimal format. -15.29, 28.29 for Lusaka. That's 15deg 48min 00sec E, 28deg 48min 00sec S for your handset. And MM/DD/YYYY for the time setting. With DST set to +2, and currently ON. Michael

Where did he go .......... ? Michael

Hi brenski Any lens will infinity-focus before the infinity mark, without modification, if you have the spacing less (or more, I can never remember) than the Flange Distance. Which is 45.46mm for a M42 x 1 threaded Pentax lens. Michael

I may be wrong, but I believe the D7000 requires a serial connection for remote Bulb exposure, it won't do Bulb via the USB. What is your image showing us ? I don't see "PC on display" Michael

I'd say because of conflicting requirements. If the primary mirror edge retainers are wrongly fitted they can cause pinched optics. Too loose and the mirror can move. Secondary mirror spiders robust enough to firmly hold the secondary will have large diffraction spikes. Too skinny and the secondary can move. Only tiny amounts of flex will show. I'm sure there are other conflicts. Michael

The PHD2 Instructions will take you through all the steps for getting started. Here's their short version: https://openphdguiding.org/phd2-best-practices/ Michael

Lots of spec, but no image or link to a problem Flat ! Michael

You have an EQ mount that happens to be on a pier instead of a tripod, so adjustment of polar alignment is the same. You can use software such as SharpCap, pointing towards the NCP. Or Drift Alignment, PHD2 or a reticle eyepiece, pointing south for the Az adjustment. Then west or east, for the Alt adjustment. Time will tell whether your adjustment method retains a good PA. Michael

Hi Martyn Upgrading, but something similar ? What feature are you wanting to upgrade ? What does your current camera not do, that you'd like the new one to do ? Michael

Hi Bish Some Moon Atlases show the moon as you see it through the eyepiece. Inverted, laterally reversed, etc, depending on your telescope. If that would help you identify. Michael

I found this on the interweb, so may or may not be true : So your battery is only at about 50% to start with. What wattage are the "small dewbands" ? Michael

"Tell me it's not just me?" If you insist. Neil, it's not just you 😆 Michael

What is the inside diameter of the threaded lock-ring ? SCT is 2" with 24 threads per inch. Michael

I hoped it would cure the 600D Banding on hot summer nights, but it didn't, so I sold it on SGL.

Yes I did. Michael

Should you ever give up (old astronomers never die they only loose their...........) it would make a good stand for a brass sundial or armillary. Michael

Two features that confused the hell out of a myself when I was a beginner. Some TAL-1's had non-standard focuser and eyepiece dimensions, so standard 1.25" eyepieces would be too loose in the focuser. The setting circles were for the southern hemisphere, so setting on a known star and moving to the target co-ords just wouldn't work..... Michael

Hi Steve 1) I don't have a Skywatcher mount but generalising: You say the Goto is flawless. But I believe the mount won't start tracking until you ENTER, to confirm the object is centralised in the eyepiece. 2) "It’s a fresh new pair of 8 batteries (although it has a blinking red light)." Not a good sign. If you're using rechargeable cells, 8 x 1.2V is only 9.6V, not 12V. 8 nominally 1.5V alkaline cells do add up to over 12V when fresh. But confirm all is okay with a car battery or mains power supply if you can. Otherwise the mount may be faulty. Michael

"daylight snaps" is quite a narrow view". Just my poor attempt at distinguishing between night-time astro use, and daytime use. Part of the problem with descriptions of the mods is that people say "an IR filter remains on which doesn't make sense." The retained filter cuts IR. And "they removed the front IR filter" The removed filter coincidently filters IR, but it's not designed to filter IR, it's a bandpass filter for the visual spectrum. That tries to match the R, G, and B sensor's spectral response to the human eye's spectral response. And is removed because that response happens to attenuate the Ha wavelength. Resulting in the red caste to daytime shots. Michael

Hi Matt 0.5secs at ISO12800 shouldn't show drift, so I would look at collimation. And then try longer exposures until you do see drift. Michael

Excellent first go ! I've stretched it with a 300ArcSinh filter, and increased the saturation: But that's to my taste, everyone else's taste may differ:

You're not the only one. 1) An "IR mod" only allows IR to be captured. For amateur use that's a specialised "daylight snaps" type of mod which gives an interesting and unusual look to the images. The visual band that includes Ha is completely filtered out, and adding a filter won't bring it back. 2) An "Ha mod" retains the IR cut filter, and dispenses with the bandpass filter that restricts the Ha response. 3) A "Full Spectrum" mod removes all filters, so captures UV, visual, and IR. For refractors requires at least an IR cut filter to prevent stars bloated by IR. Best for where Pollution, Moon, Ha, O111 etc Filters are always added. So Spad: "I have an IR modded DSLR with a 720nm filter." Which type do you think that is ? Michael

"clearly some of it is simply not correct." Which info did you feel is wrong ? Michael