michael8554

High alacant Had a look at the compatibilty chart in BYE, and the 4000D can indeed be USB driven. Michael

Curious to know what you will do with that ? Michael

Sounds like it's out of focus. Go back to an eyepiece on the OTA and check that the finderscope is well aligned with the eyepiece image. Then try the camera on the moon, in the focus mode you should get at least a white blob. Then focus, be aware that SCTs have a focus range of many many twists of the focus knob. Michael

Firstly, a stacked image is not the best for checking star shape. Look at a single short exposure, stretched if necessary, to avoid guiding and stacking errors. Take a second short exposure with the camera rotated 90 degrees. Comparison will tell you if the sensor is tilted, or the rest of the kit. I'd say the Horse Head has tilt, but the other two jpgs look okay. Michael

If I'm right, looking online through the 4000D User Manual,. It seems the 4000D has a Bulb mode, but can only be worked by holding down the shutter release. And it has a USB port, but that only seems to be able to download images to a computer. And suggests a wireless remote is needed. The 1000 range has always been the stripped-down budget range, but Canon serm to have gone to extremes with the 4000D. Michael

Not necessarily, check what you have first. Michael

The original LX200 is now known as the Classic , to avoid confusion with the newer redesigned LX200GPS/ACF. The Classic an have problems with duff capacitors on the circuit boards. Look at the "dashboard" on the mount, does it say "Meade LX200 GPS" ? Michael

Typical behaviour with power supply problems. Start with loose power connectors, then check the battery pack. Michael

Hi James ? What is your budget ? Do you want an astro One Shot Colour (OSC) camera ? Or a modified DSLR ? Michael

You could drill out a 8mm with a 9mm drill bit. But on a lathe would be better, so that the hole can be drilled absolutely concentric.. Michael

"i altered some parameters in "settings" to suit my situation" Reset those to the same as on the second (working) phone. Then alter them one at a time "to suit my situation" until it stops working. Then tell what that setting is called. Michael

So the handset only stopped working after the update ? Did you update with the free StarPatch updater, or the dodgy Meade ASU updater ? There are Safe Load techniques you could try. Andrew Johansen is the expert on these sort of problems. If he doesn't respond here try posting in the Meade section of the USA Cloudy Nights forum, where he's OzAndrewJ. Michael

For the asi120 mini with 3.75um pixels, a guidescope with FL of about 200 to 250mm , giving a pixel scale of 3 to 4 arcsec/pixel Michael

You may not find drivers for modern OS, Windows 10 etc. Michael

To sum up: Setting the EQMOD ASCOM PulseGuide settings correctly for RA and Dec should enable PHD2 to Cal in about 12 steps. If possible Calibrate at +/- 20 degrees of Dec = 0, not Dec = 61.6 deg. Michael

50mW sounds excessive. Michael

Assuming the Audiostar is the same screen as the 497, look on Cloudy Nights forum for details of a source of replacement. Michael

In the UK lasers are frowned upon because of the danger to air traffic, which we have a lot of, so more than1mW is illegal to sell. Check out the rules for SA. Michael

Happy New Year ! Were you able to make sense of daytime landmarks ? The moon should look like this with the 26mm eyepiece, if I've entered your scope details correctly: Is that the same as your "small circle of white" ? Or is it out of focus ? Michael

Pretty sure the ETX 125 needs a 5.5 x 2.5mm plug, so a 2.1mm plug will be a loose fit, giving you all sorts of issues as you slew around. Michael

Show us a Dark taken with the camera off the rig and effectively hidden from any light source. Michael

Hi Tasmania Can you make sense of distant landmarks viewed during the day ? Try with the longest focal length eyepiece, the 25mm not the 9mm. Can you reach focus ? If not make sure any adapters shown in the instructions are fitted to the focuser. The image may be inverted. (It's that island under the mainland of Australia). That must be dark 😆 Michael

As I said in reply to your other post, you don't need a super-accurate PA for Visual. A guidescope and PHD2 to PA is unnecessary. Michael

You say you are "stargazing", then the polar scope should give good enough PA. If however you are imaging without a guidescope, then very good PA by Drift Alignment is necessary. If you have guiding, then there are two Polar Alignment options in PHD2, written by an Australian to address the PA problems in the southern hemisphere - PDA and SPA. Michael

Similar Norwegian experience. Spent a cold evening on a golf course, no breaks in the cloud. Next evening on the cruise liner we had a magnificent display. It would seem that Scandinavia in winter is often 100% cloud cover. So seeing the lights is a matter of luck, going to a different location may make no difference. Apart from being further north, which is deeper into the zone. Michael