David Crane

What adapter can anydoby advise for the back end of a Takahasi 120 TSA and a ZWO 8 P

I have a mouse problem with windows and my wifi. I have a small pc on top of a telescope and a laptop, running Window 10 and 11 repectively. The telescope pc is picked up using Anydesk by the laptop but both pointers/ mice appear and slow down an already feeble wifi. I'm imaging in remote areas and using my phone hotspot but even at home with strong wifi I get the same although it then isn't such a proplem. Any help please

Thanks for your help. My basic instinct is to go with the Tak for the reasons you have mentioned. I'm hoping to sell my Skywatcher 12" go to Dob to go towards it so fingers crossed. Yes, your right about imaging.

I'm thinking of getting a Takahashi 120mm but I'm unsure if I need the Takahashi field flattener or if there are other options that are more affordable but of a similar quality?

Its for AP. Thanks for that, I'll have look at it

OK, thanks. Actually that's what PHD say in their notes I..'ve just discovered. Now I looking to see if I can make the adjustment bolts on the HEQ5 mount a bit easier to operate and still get a good lock but I think the system is tried and tested.

For a few years now I have struggled to polar alignment because polaris is just out of sight behind a building. I do have a reasonable decent southern aspect. I now normally use PHD polar alignment but as this can take some time I have just tried Sharp Cap Pro which seemed less frustrating. It didn't work as I had to angle my scope nearly horizontal to get above the other building skyline and I think I exceeded Sharp Caps plate solve data base. Is anybody aware of a similar program that I can use with my southerly aspect that is less time consuming than PHD drift align. I have tried a few others but all suggestions would be gratefully grasped. Regards David

Thanks Brown Dwarf. I have had the scope more than two years. I too live in Spain but I'm in the UK at the moment but when I get back I will check the purchase date. I'll contact them again as soon as I have some fresh data Thanks David

Thanks everyone for the replies which I will follow up with my experienced colleague. The problem is that I can't be sure the fits files I have are not taken with filters or the flattener so I'm waiting for a clearish night to be sure. I will probably take some with the camera rotated and the scope vertical as well. I sent emails to TS about a year ago and they just tried to sell me a flattener. I will try them again though. I'll keep this post open for a while in case the clouds clear before christmas. David

I have a TS PHOTOLINE Triplet FPL-53 80mm and we have a strong suspicion that the optics are the long standing cause of elongated stars of varying severity across the FOV. Please can you help , we need to get this checked out and if need be adjusted. We are over in Spain and desperately need advise/support , we have introduced a field flattener , ensured optictics are tight , filterwheels removed but keep coming back to the primary cell !. Can you advise/offer a service to check/repair ?? Regards David Crane

Thanks, I might try the 30 days free first. I've been using DSS and Photoshop but I'm not always happy with my stretching in Photoshop although I've used it for years.

Apart from Pixinsight, can anybody recommend good image processing software. Thanks

Hi. Ollie Thanks for your comment about my eggy stars. A friend and I have been trying to get to the bottom of it for some time. Last night we connected the Atik directly to the scope, took some shots and then rotated it through 90% and took some more and the eggs moved, so It's not likely to be the optics but the comera, maybe the sensor not quite square. Kind regards David Alan -thanks for your help.

OK thanks. Did you manage to open the file I sent you?

Hi Adam Sorry, do you mean me or Alan. David

Thanks all for the advice. I'm still trying to track down the egg shapes. We have turned the camera and filter wheel through 90 degrees and the egg shapes also turn suggesting it's not the optics so I'm a little undecided about a flattener. Love the Veil. I was out last night on the Eagle nebula and other targets, processing and coffee today.

m13Light180sec2019-05-30-1.tif

Thanks Adam.Ill get one of last nights M13 shots. I have egg shaped star but I am hoping this could be due to a slight mis-alignment in the filter/camera connections rather than the TS optics but I trying to cover all my options.

I have a TS Photoline 80apo triplet and I'm thinking of getting a flattener but I have been told that because of the small sensor size the flattener wont do much. Has anyone any experience with this issue