jambouk

Nice image. to see more detail on Jupiter you need to do two main things: - reduce the brightness of the planet when capturing your data; this will mean you need to adjust the settings of your capture app. The moons may appear to vanish but if you want detail of the bands, that is probably a sacrifice you’ll have to put up with for now. - increase your effective focal length; if you have a Barlow or a more powerful eyepiece, try that. You need to magnify Jupiter a bit more. nice work. Keep at it

Yes, you need to experiment. DSLR -type cameras compress the files and in doing so lots of data is lost. This will be less of an issue with the Moon than Jupiter as the Moon is so much bigger and brighter. I would start out in 1080 60fps mode and then try the 4K and then slow mo. But trial and error. To stack lunar images you want as many frames as possible, but you also want each of those frames to be as good as possible and as least compressed as possible, so it is a balancing act.

That looks to be the wrong T ring; it should just clip in like a lens would. It looks too small.

Can you post a picture of the bits you are trying to fit together in the order you are trying to fit them?

It is likely to help a little, but don't expect miracles. If your light pollution is caused by old fashioned lighting it will probably work better than if your light pollution is caused by LED lighting.

Is it possible to hear how you got on with it being a portable set up?

Thanks both. Yes, the £2000 extra seems steep when in reality one would still need to guide anyway. James

The biggest concern is security. I can't imagine any insurance company would pay out of the stuff got stolen if it was left outside unprotected. Having said that, many of us have done this when there are clear spells of weather. GreenWitch used to sell a canvas wax-lined green bag protector which was good (though mine developed holes at the stitching sites), so any good canvas bag (or two) will keep the rain off, but will also trap moisture inside which won't escape during the day time. If the set up gets full sunshine it will get very hot inside the bag, so there will be a wide temperature range which can cause expansion and contraction of things. I suspect this is unlikely to be a problem, but any optics underneath will get hot and probably take longer to cool down than if you stored then in a shady place during the day time and put them out at dusk. If perfect PA is important to you, then personally I would do a new polemaster polar alignment each night if leaving it outside, in case a badger scratches its ar£e against the tripod leg and moves things, or a football from next door hits the set up, or a small earth tremor shakes it a bit etc. A new polemaster alignment should only take 5 minutes and you'd be surprised at how much you need to adjust things to get it bang on polar aligned again. They would be my thoughts. James

There is still very little discussion about this mount on here or elsewhere. £6000 seems like a big jump from £3700 for the standard EQ8-R Pro (without the encoders). And it all seems a lot of money when there isn't even an internal spring mechanism to sort out the backlash on the RA. The 50kg payload capacity though and the familiarity with the Skywatcher handset is all very appealing. £2300 extra for the Rh encoders though seems too steep given the potential gains. James

Did this ever get resolved?

There is no built in feedback system in most mounts / telescopes, so the mount has no idea if it is actually pointing at the correct thing or not. The user is the feedback system. Many issues are related to user error. A system is only as good as the data it is supplied with. Give it duff data and your output will be duff to the power 4. You also have to remember polar alignment is totally different but as important as star alignment if using GOTO on an equatorial mount. One could argue why so many cars crash, when they are built so well these days with sensors to indicate when the tyres are going flat or the engine needs oil - all well and good but there is still a human behind the wheel and they are prone to errors. James

There are likely going to be many more questions posted here than answers. Are you observing from a dark location? Or in or near an urban setting?

Do a three star alignment, it should be better. The first star is often way out. If the third star is way out in the alignment process, there is something wrong, most likely operator error...

Glad it is sorted. Getting the polarity wrong is a common cause of this problem, but certainly not the only one.

Seems like a sensible next step. James

Thanks. Yes, I've been through that and been unable to solve the issue. Even with the Relay firmware installed, the laptop won't recognice the handset or the mount. I've contacted Skywatcher. It's not an urgent issue as I have a spare handset, just annoying that the now spare handset doesn't work on anything. James

I found some older versions of V4 handset firmware on my laptop going back to 2014, but none of them help. Currently: HC Firmware 04.38.09 HC Hardware 04.16 Database 04.02 Firmware update version 2.4 James

The V4 handset worked fine before updating the firmware to 4.39.10. Now it says no response box axes. I've installed the earlier firmware version (4.39.05) but that has the same error message, and installed the relay firmware, same issue. The AZEQ6 has the latest motor controller firmware and other handset work on this mount with this lead and this handset doesn't work on other mounts either or with other leads, so it is an issue with this handset. other V3 handsets have 4.39.10 on and work fine. Any ideas? Does anyone have earlier versions of V4 firmware I could try? James

The options are (non-exhaustive list): - get someone to polar align it for you and mark the spot the tripod sits, then always set up there and your polar alignment, assuming you don’t fiddle with the mount, will always be ball park polar aligned. - get a PoleMaster (£250 or so). - upgrade SharpCap and assuming you have a camera you can attach to the scope, use the pole alignment routine in that. - use the handset poor alignment routine (seems complicated to start with but is actually ok, and gives good results). - drift align (tedious and unnecessary for you by the sounds of it). You’ve not said what scope you are using or exactly what the issues are you are having with polar alignment. James

It seems the R.A. encoders correct for periodic error and for non-periodic errors such as running too fast or too slow to keep the R.A. at near prefect sidereal rate.

Peter, thank you for the helpful comments. I'll send you a message. James

Our Society dome is in need of attention. It was once an old grain silo in the 1980s and converted into our dome. It is now pretty rusty and corroded in places. A formal replacement dome would cost in excess of £40,000. Does anyone have any ideas of cheaper options, other than another silo. Thanks.

You need the to confirm power is being delivered to the mount end of the lead.

Do you have a multimeter to check the mount end of the power lead is delivering 13v? Have you switched polarity on the battery and blown something on the board? If the power lead is working fine, I’d put my money on polarity...

Have you observed the primary and seen that it doesn’t move for the first 5 turns? If it really doesn’t move the primary, send it back or talk to them first.