Bigwings

Having spent my astronomical time avoiding the moon washing out the rest of creation, in a mad moment I turned my 10" Dob to her......When my blindness resolved I popped in a filter and with lunar atlas in hand returned to the view....CLOUDS. Settling down to a bottle of wine and the atlas I studzzied harzzzzzzzee snore sliding into a heavenly Xmas Dream. Santa came sliding down the trail of a huge meteor, throwing me a a box wrapped in clouds and dew. Standard astronomers wrapping I thought. 🤔 Peeling of the clouds behold a box from FLO. Inside a small plug in device for my StarSense. My dreamy self found myself sitting by a 24" Frac on an enormous AZ EQ 6000. Following the instructions I plugged in my new toy whilst reading the unique selling points highlighted on the box. 1. Automatically recognises your scope and presents the moon the right way for your Atlas regardless of author. 2.Points to any point on the moons surface when you say the name. 3 Gives all relevant data. 4 Sees through clouds..... CRASH as bottle slips from my fingers..... 😕 perhaps FLO can tell me where Santa got it from??????

Just experimenting with my recently obtained Bresser MC100 with Vixen NPL 30. Filled the EP with the Sun. Loved the view with all the sunspots so tried to photograph iy with my phone. Here it is. Not much but it's my first astropic and first view of the sun through a telescope. 😁

I'm happy with my 10" Newt and my 6" Classic Cassegrain. Both mounted on the AZ-EQ6 which is trolley mounted. Being indecisive I don't have to worry about which one to set up🤔.

It works OK Andy. Had a quick peep at the morning sky just before dawn today. Better stiff than floppy I guess. I will compare it with the Skymax over the weekend. It died when I dropped it onto concrete. Corrector plate didn't bounce to well. 😕

Stiff compared to how I remember my Skymax 150. 🤔

Just aquired a nice little miniMac in very nice condition. Original box and packing. The focuser works but seems quite stiff. Anyone any ideas or is this normal on this scope? Cheers Mike

As years roll on my memory gets a little...... Difficult. She who must be obeyed (SWIMBO) asks why I Need more than 1 scope and I respond..... " Have I ?". Tried the handbag argument and it's close cousin the shoe question but she says it's not the same. She is right to a point. I have tried looking through her peep toe naughty night shoes but the view although pleasing can't visualise the full moon. 🤔 Last count of scopes secreted in rooms and garages comes to 6.....just like playing with them.... Looking at them and touching them...... The scopes that is😉 Come to think of it the weather has been so poor I can't remember seeing a star through one...... Mind SWIMBO looks heavenly, shoes and handbags.

I just want the one that sees through the clouds that are on constant patrol in case I get my kit out. My 10" Newt and 6" Classical Cassegrain sharing the AZ EQ6 trolley mounted can be deployed in 5 mins but the clouds...... Fast little sods. 🤔

Well I have just looked up this thread as I have a ClickLock that won't release. Its new, well 6 months old but has only been installed for a few months as I have not been out with my kit due to knee surgery. It literally has not been used. It is clamped onto a Baader Aspheric EP which it won't let go off. It just unscrews the end of the focuser. The supplier has asked me to return it so that they can have a go. ClickLock... Yep sure can't call it Click and release. Previous contributors remark on not leaving them locked on an EP. Wish I had read it earlier.

Afraid its a home build by my son. Total cost £120 and some metalwork. They can be purchased on USA but cost a lot plus expensive to ship and import. Invaluable when you have one. 😁

Not a silly question. If you take the excess of £250 and consider the increase in premium its getting close to the price of a second hand one. Still we don't know what other problems may be present The focuser sometimes feels a little rough.

Still waiting for a clear sky but think It's likely that it's beond economical repair unless I can find someone with a damaged scope with an intact corrector plate. Getting a replacement at the moment doesn't look good. 😭😭

I use 2 most of the time as they are sort of joined at the hip. No they are not binos, just mounted on thr AZ-EQ6 Pro. A 10" Bresser Newt at f5 on one side and my newly aquired StellaLyra 6"CC at f12 on the other. That used to be a Mak till I dropped it😭 Mounted on a dolly and fitted with StarSense it can be out of the garage, onto the deck and ready to use in 5 mins. I'm 75 and don't fancy anything I have to lift and my Directorof Household Affairs vetoed an obsy. It works for me as I can have the same target in both scopes with different magnifications etc. Life is likely to change as I am tip toeing into astroP Clear Skies Bigwings

A while ago I confessed to having dropped my Skymax 150 with this result. Today I gave it a bandage to it poorly eye😢 in In an optimistic fit of madness I mounted it and had a look. Focused on the most distant tree. It focused but not perfect. That could be because the trees are not that far away. Tonight will try a star test. Perhaps I have lost a great scope. Perhaps I have just lost some apature. Time will tell. Clear Skies Mike

Thanks guys. Problems solved.

My kind friends bought it for my Birthday but getting it to focus on the laptop has been difficult. Perhaps I am getting seduced to imaging. after years of visual. I have 3 scopes 1. StellaLyra 6" Classical Cassegrain f12 2. Bresser Messier 10" dob (mounted on AZEQ6) f5 3 SW Explorer 130 P-DS f5 I have tried with extension tubes using a tree about 200 meters away which is my most distant object visible from my garden and am fed up of seeing a white screen. The camera is working with the all sky lens fitted. Please can somebody give me a ballpark figure about how many extensions I need to get focus. distance from the end of the 2" focusser when fully retracted will help me seatch when I can next see the moon. Any advice most welcome and thanks for your support. Kind Regards Mike

If the problem is your body (as is mine needing 2 new knees etc) causing difficulty with weights and setting up there is another solution. A scope trolley. This is an AZ EQ6 with a Bresser 10" Newt. It's now fitted with StarSense so takes about 5mins to set up and align after pulling it out of the garage with very little effort

It works. Thanks guys

Thanks guys. The experimental version fron Skywatchet site loads and runs. Now let's see of it works 🙏

Don't you just hate it when your "upgrade" doesn't work. I just bought a lenovo m10 2nd generation which on booting upgraded to Android 11. Downloaded SynScan Pro to use the tablet to control the mount. The front sreen of the prog loads and then disappears. Crash, gone 🤔🤔🤔. Anyone had this problem. Is there a fix? Thanks for your ideas Bigwings

Bad title I know and let's face it Astrophotography tends to be for the well off. It's just sad to see the cost of reasonable kit rising fast. I'm just a visual observer and I am learning to stay with what I have which I could not afford to buy now. I'm thankful to have it but I feel sorry for key workers, carers etc for whom this hobby is getting out of reach. 😒

Love my Telrad but it used to fog up or ice up just when I needed it. You can buy a lift up dew shield for £12. Dont. know why they don't fit one as standard. Introducing the Telrad Cosy. Made from a cardboard carton covered with Duct tape. Lift it off, look put it back on. Works a treat and costs 10p.

SOLVED.... HUAWEI was the problem not letting SynScan run in the background. Open Optimizer on the home screen. Touch the Battery icon. Find and touch App launch. Toggle off the switch next to the desired app. In the displayed Manage manually dialog box, toggle on the Run in background switch. Clear skies 😃😃😃😃🤭😉😎👍

Trying to get my AZ-Eq6 working with the Skywatcher WiFi dongle. This bit works very well and accurate. I want to use Skysafari6 to control the scope. Tried everything..... Is it my Huawei P30 Pro causing the problem? I can connect with the mount with SkySafari but get an error saying scope will not respond. Has anyone got this sort of set up working. If so can you tell me what phone or tablet you use and what settings you have made? Clear Skies Mike

The answer is a scope cart. 10" Newt and all the bits just wheel out of the garage and ready to use in 3 mins 👍😄