michael8554

Hi Claire 1. "set the PHD2 refresh to 0.5 second" As knobby said, use SharpCap in video mode, auto exposure. 2. "moving the camera / OAG body in and out of the tube" The OAG "stalk" has two adjustments. One allows the guidecam to move closer or further away from the prism, to get focus once the main camera is in focus. The other lowers or raises the prism and camera without altering their spacing, which would alter focus. You can roughly setup by measuring with a ruler on the outside of the OAG and cameras. Measure from the middle of the OAG body to where the main camera sensor is. All measurements from the prism, not from the back of the OTA ! Place the guidecam sensor this same distance from the prism. Now focus the main camera on a distant landmark. Then drop the OAG "stalk" all the way down, so that the prism is well into the light path. Focus the guidecam by loosening the correct screw and by moving the guidecam closer or further away from the prism. Take main camera Flats, adjusting the stalk height, not the focus adjustment, so that the prism is as low as possible, but not causing a shadow on the Flats. Fine tune the OTA focus, then the guidecam focus, at night on the moon and then on stars. Then in future only adjust the main camera focus with the OTA focuser, the guidecam will always be in focus too. Michael

The ASI585MC colour camera that was added to the spec would do for Planetary work. Though a smaller sensor would probably still be big enough for most planets, but not the moon. And would be cheaper. The tiny 2.9um pixels means it's Oversampling if it it was used for DSO work. Michael

https://www.meade.com/downloadEntityFile/assets/product_files/instructions/01_DS-114ATmanualfinal.pdf

Hi Harry Once you have a "Tak Wide Canon T mount", you attach a "Canon lens to CCD adapter." Then you have a M48 thread to adapt to your ASI533MC-Pro M42 threads. Michael

"... so FR on camera side " Yes Michael

Hi Harry Did you look in the Takahashi Instruction Manual ? Looks like you need the "Takahashi Wide T Mount" Michael

The University of Arizona manufactures those huge mirrors that professional telescopes have with a rotating glass furnace. There may be a situation that calls for your lightweight resin version, but I doubt it will be for astronomy. Michael

"By zoom factor, I mean the zoom section in the boxed in area " I would guess that's just a screen magnifier :-< "Should it be reserved for planets such as Jupiter and Saturn?" Many people take closeups of sunspot groups, like your image, instead of the whole sun. Michael

"how many millimeters is this thread?" Currently 3 pages......... Michael

Just guessing, as you were economical with the details. Was the cellphone image taken by holding it close to an eyepiece ? That captured the large field of view presented by the eyepiece. Then you removed the eyepiece and inserted the Neximage 10 ? The sensor of this is only 6.4mm x 4.6mm, so it only captured a small portion of the available field of view. A larger sensor such as a DSLR has would capture more of the sun. Not sure what you mean by Zoom Factors. Michael

"Hi Michael8554, you mean it should be on the camera side (of the focuser) - for the reason you stated?" No. OTA + Crayford + FR + Camera. Because with OTA + FR + Crayford + Camera, the FR backfocus will alter when you focus the Crayford. Michael

Posting a fuzzy, covered in reflections, camera copy of a computer screen, is not going to give us any useful information to work on. Is this how you would process your images ? At the very least use the PrntScrn button on the keyboard to grab a screen image to the Clipboard. Even better Save the image and post that. Michael

Clear as PferdStarke......... Michael

aged 4-1/2 Don't you mean 4.5 years ? 😆 Michael

Meanwhile, post the original image you took with the iPad, not the duplicate. Michael

Hi Matt "So actually trying to image planets by using a Barlow and dslr is not recommended " That's not what I meant to imply. A planetary camera will be best, but your DSLR can be used to good effect, if budget is tight. A x2 to x5 Barlow or Powermate will help, but there comes a point with any scope where too much "magnification" actually degrades the image. Michael

Hi John. What are we looking at ? Best focus, or an Airy disc ? Do I see window frames, or roof eaves, in the image ? So maybe an image of a lightbulb ? But there are stars ? around the edges. So maybe a damn good attempt at a Hubble-quality image of Sirius. Just can't tell what's going on here. Michael

Hi Matt "a dedicated planetary camera is better suited due to the smaller sensor size". Dedicated planetary cameras are preferred because they provide high framerate uncompressed video. The sensor size doesn't matter, so long as it's larger than the focused image. "DSLRs aren't suited for planetary as you say one the main issues is that their sensors are large,........................ a large planet like Jupiter will look tiny so the sensor won't be capturing any detail." Lets compare a planetary camera with 3.75um pixels, and a DSLR with 3.75um pixels. Crop the DSLR image to the same size as the planetary camera's sensor, you end up with two identical images with the same resolution. In fact that's one way you can use your DSLR to do planetary, using Liveview 5x Video mode, or Crop Video mode: https://www.astropix.com/html/equipment/canon_one_to_one_pixel_resolution.html The main advantage of a DSLR is that finding the planet with the large sensor is so much easier than trying to "thread the needle" with a tiny 1/3" sensor. Michael

The Dec motor is nearly always necessary for Guiding. Otherwise for visual use it could be considered to be a luxury. To make slewing to a target easier than manually twisting a knob. And for GoTo (not Push To). Michael

Who decided the world standard is metric ? You mean the majority of the world is metric. Only the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar are officially still using "inches". Michael

"I need to go for something with big pixel size but I would also like good quality images." What do you mean by "good quality" ? If the pixel size is a good match for the focal length, then resolution won't be a problem. A dedicated cooled OSC might give less noisy images than say a 6D. And the OSC may be more sensitive. I use a modded 6D at 1280mm FL Michael

Hi Stuart The Crayford won't alter your Backfocus, but it will eat into it. The FR must be on the OTA side. Otherwise when you alter focus with the Crayford, you will alter the FR Backfocus, which must remain at the correct setting for best star shape. Michael

As you've outlined, making a mosaic with such a small FOV is going to be challenging. The moon is a big bright target, wouldn't you get as good results using the 6D or ASU2600 ? Fast exposures, and stack the best. Michael

Undo the two crosspoint screws. Then take the whole part to a DIY store and try bolts until you get a match. Might not be Metric M size, , might be "American " UNC. Michael

I'd guess that those tree branches are too close. Try a really distant landmark. 25mm eyepiece and no Barlow. You might get an image by sliding the eyepiece in the holder. Michael