nephilim

I studied computer science in the 80's 😂 We were on BBC computers & Commodore 64's. I remember I spent a large part of my time playing Elite & Repton. In fact my sole reason for recently building my gaming PC was so that I could play the new version of Elite although I tend to spend most of my time at the moment with it banging my head against the brick wall that is PixInsight 😬

@Viktiste The first & third arnt Alpine, first is on the way up to Helvellyn & third is topping out of Pinnacle Ridge on St Sunday Crag, both the Lakes. The second photo is crossing the Bergshrund on Mont Blanc du Tacul on the way to Mont Blanc summit via the Three Monts Traverse route & the fourth is below the Epron des Cosmiques heading to climb the Rebuffat Pierre route (Chamonix) This one is me on the actual Rebuffat route itself. You can make out my friends shadow on the glacier belaying me & i'm just left of the centre on the route

Nice. I've climbed a fair bit in the Valais region including the Dent de Perroc and the Aiguille de la tsa which is near there. 7 Skiers tragically died on the Pigne back in the April of 2018, we were there that July & it was a sombre affair. Steve

Nice little set up there @Ags 🙂 I'm similar with astronomy but now I've finally (after many years) got an AP set up i'm very happy with my enthusiasm is back again.

Yep, its still thick cloud up here. In fact I think its actually always been thick cloud & my very few imaging sessions are just fantasy.......

Nice tank there. I look at AP as my nice brain engaging hobby & my mountain biking as the opposite, then theres the alpine mountaineering 😂

@Ags I agree with you there, I just kept wanting fish that needed a lot of space, then there was the whole compatibility issue with certain fish definitely not allowed to be kept with others. I did enjoy it though, I could feed my Niger Trigger, Porcupine Puffer & snowflake eel by hand although my Clown Trigger would have had my hand off 🤣

I agree, my 1400ltr was 7ft long & took up a big part of the living room, it was rather big 🤣

@Viktiste I went down the salt water fish keeping road a few years ago. I ended up with a 1400ltr aquarium with live corals, Trigger Fish, Puffer Fish & the rest......Now that is a time consuming & expensive hobby.

@daemon Thanks Steve, I've only just seen your reply & have literally just pressed the button on the WO one (It must be made of unicorn tears for the price) I very nearly emailed FLO to cancel but then realised it'll also fit my upcoming Sharpstar 100QII so its not all bad 🙂 ATB Steve

Thanks to @Mike73 for the heads up on this. A good budget way of taking flats. At only £17 its definitely worth a shot. Very lightweight, flicker free & adjustable brightness. Unfortunately this cant be charged & has to be plugged in via USB to use but I can plug it into one of the USB ports on my ASIair Pro so it's ideal if you have one of those or just a spare USB port which many of us will have I'm actually excited about taking flats although I'm sure that novelty will rapidly wear thin 😂 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GPRGKPY/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_4DYT38QH9YRN5NJ4F4QB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1.

When I first started out as just a visual amateur I used to get very frustrated when the clouds rolled in but now I've started with AP which is far more faff than setting up just to observe, I've come to just accept its not always going to work out. I wont set up though unless theres pretty much a certainty that it'll be clear for at least two hours. I tend to just try & switch off when its constant cloud for days/ weeks on end although I do obsess over forecasts which are never right anyway. As for processing remote data, getting the practise in is a good thing as I'm only just starting to get to grips with PI (a fully consuming hobby in itself 🙄) but I could never just do it for the sake of processing images that others have taken data for or that I hadn't had hands on work with. It is a massive monetary investment for what would seem to an outsider very little return. For me though, I'm still amazed (and always will be) that we can capture these targets in the first place, the distance & size of them astounds me & the thought of capturing light photons that have travelled for thousands & sometimes millions of years on my camera sensor to create an image of them makes me feel like a kid on xmas morning 😁 All i've written here is really just a way for me to try justifying spending very hard earned money very shortly on a Quadruplet Refractor (Its galaxy season soon so it's pretty much the law that I get one). If I keep repeating everything i've said to myself above over & over again then everything will be fine & dandy 🤣 My other main hobby is mountain biking (Yet another bottomless money pit) so that keeps me going, although I can foresee that both hobbies could interfere with each other as Its usual that I'll have a big ride organised with a couple of friends on a weekend but suddenly the evening before the sky will have cleared. I'll end up imaging most of the night (it's only happened once so far as i'm pretty new to this but it will keep happening) then grab 2 or 3 hours sleep before heading out for anywhere between 8 & 12 hrs on the hills, all the while i'm riding thinking 'I wonder how good that data is.........' 🤔 Steve

I'm in the same position as I'm also looking at Sharpstar. I think i've settled on the 100Q II Quadruplet which has very good reviews. Not having to buy a separate flattener helps & also theres no need to worry about faffing around with spacers etc for back focus with a camera.

I'm at the foot of Cross Fell (Northern Pennines) & 10 miles from the Lakes so I'm blessed with around 1,000,000 different weather systems, any and all forecasts are usually wrong. When its clear here the skies are pristine (thats what keeps me going and sane) but in AP i've certainly chosen a 'challenging' hobby as far as needing clear skies goes.

Cheers for the link mate but i'm useless at making things 😂 I think i'll go with @Space Oddities one.

I'd seen this one but forgotten where. Thanks for that 🙂

Can anyone point me in the right direction for a good quality Bahtinov mask that will fit my 135. I bought a 3d printed one which cracked so I dont want to go down that road again (I wouldnt trust anything 3d printed really as my printed mounting system cracked as well a few weeks ago 🙄) TIA Steve

All of the above is good advice, I'll add my two penneth. As has been mentioned previously, I cannot stress enough how important the mount is. Buy cheap, buy twice is a phrase I've heard many times in the forum & it's very true. Several years ago I tried to image on the 'cheap' with a EQ5 & the after market motors but all I achieved was a headache 😂, there's enough to learn without having extra issues with unsuitable/ sub par gear. This hobby is very rewarding but it can also be very frustrating & (I speak from experience unfortunately) it's always best to get it right first time around with the best gear you can afford & if the gear you need is a little out of budget save until you can buy it (You'll be glad you did in the long run) I'd go for the HEQ5 then you'll be future proofed. Buying a mount that is right on the edge of its weight limit for your gear or trying to match a scope to the mount just to save money wont be a good idea as at some point you'll maybe upgrade your scope, with a bare minimum mount you'll end up having to also upgrade the mount which will be an expensive job. Steve

As mentioned earlier, Swindale will be a good bet just over from there.

@GalaxyGael Hi, thanks very much for such good info. I'd read a thread on CN re pinched optics although it was from a while back. I'll definitely ask FLO to carry our a bench test etc. A Fl of just over 500mm is what I'm after really for the likes of the Leo Triplet etc, I think @414 mm the EDPH is a little too wide although it's certainly one to keep in mind. I've a month or so of saving to do & also to continue looking at all other options around this quality & price point. steve

@Lee_P Thanks 🙂 I've just started getting my head round flats but they will be added from now on, thanks for the advice. I've a fair way to go be be at the standard your producing but I'll give it a good go 😂 I'm sticking with PI as I'm picking more & more up each time I use it. Steve

Hi, I have my eye on the above scope https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sharpstar-telescopes/sharpstar-100qii-f5-8-quadruplet-apo-astrograph-telescope.html for some winter galaxy AP & was wondering if anyone has this scope & is it worth the price? (Also would it suit my ASI533MC-Pro?) I'm particularly drawn to the fact that I wont need to faff with backfocus when changing filters. Am I correct in thinking that a quadruplet doesn't need a flattener or is that just wishful thinking? Any images taken with this scope would be much appreciated. Thanks Steve

I lived in Shap for 6yrs & fully agree with that 😂 Although Wet Sleddale is a good shout, its called wet for a reason plus theres LP from the nearby steelworks & Shap also suffers from what locals call the 'Shap Cap' due to its position its regularly cloudy but half a mile in every direction its totally clear.

Good training for been a high altitude window cleaner 😏