bomberbaz

I have used a cable similar to this although it's 5 metres. Cable. It isn't a powered cable, but I have streamed video with it although as yet not recorded high speed video.

UPDATE. Correcting first off my previous statement that these are F2.6, I think that is not correct and do not know the correct F ratio despite much searching however they are probably around F6. I spent half a day on birding, looking in trees of course and chromaticity is apparent but not excessive. I guess it depends what is acceptable to you. WHat I did also do was follow an incoming passenger plane faultlessly and also managed to easily track a helicopter at great height where because of the stability, was able to identify it as a police one.

Reviews here. Amazon reviews need scrutiny though, they have been known to be somewhat suspect. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Binoculars-2-1x42mm-Waterproof-Stargazing-Atronomy/dp/B0822QRLKJ

Ok so really not sure if this is right but here was my calculation as there isn't a focal length on Bressers website for my bins. They are 16x42 which gives a 2.6 exit pupil. Devide objective by exit pupil gives F ratio 16\2.6=6.1. Is this correct or am I barking up a wrong un?

I have a 10x30 pair, used them a fair bit for astro. What they lack in aperture is made up for by the stability.

Had another look at the 72ED and won't bother with the rotator. I rarely rotate anyway but if I need to simply slacked the tube rings. Think that will suffice here too and the less parts on the focal train, the better imho. Going to have a good think about all my gear next, I simply have too much and need to scale down before I get the 72ED.

Thanks Lee. Glad you put that in. Never knew I also would need a rotator too.

Thanks Lee. Is there enough room in the focus to accommodate a filter drawer. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-2-filter-drawer-m42-m48-v2.html

Not exactly sure what you mean by this although I know increasing or decreasing this affects performance both ways. What I have with the evoguide has served its purpose in getting me into imaging, now I just want to step it up a little. As you know it is married up to the az GTi so in my efforts to improve performance, I must be wary of weight as I have no wish or intention for that matter of upgrading my mount. The 72ED seems to have the perfect compromise of weight and hopefully performance. I have now forgot what point I was trying to make here 🤣 Anyway, seems it will work so just need to look at finance 😭 haha

I have been looking at the 533mc, seems to marry up ok when running it through this and has no amp glow https://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability Last time of gathering data on deerlick group, the total data grab was 7 hours so happy putting in the time.

Ok been thinking for a while about upgrading my imaging telescope to increase aperture, reduce image size and reduce integration time. Current gear Evoguide +FF and zwo183MC osc. Evoguide supposedly 240 fl (F4.8) but ASIAIR reports it as 267fl which would give F5.34. I do not know if this if this is accurate but assuming it is, it makes things less complicated. Anyway, I was thinking of getting the SW 72ED + a FF that leaves it at it's native focal length of 420 F5.8. I have calculated (assuming the evoguide fl is 267) and the 72ed is true to its stated fl, that the 72ed will gather data at around 1.25 the speed of the evoguide, all other things being equal. Both ota should be ok with regard to sampling from my back garden. Am I missing anything here? EDIT Further to the above, I have it at a 1/3 improvement for the 72ed over the evoguide but only about 8% if the fl of the evoguide is actually 240. !🙄

Right but it does explain to me the barlow 2x/4x issue which for a long time, had me confused. No longer. TBH I find much of it confusing, I guess I have not got a great head for maths.

I have been trying to get my head around this myself for some time, finally I have found an explanation that tells it in my language that I can relate to !

Actually not all are from the USA, I am UK based. I bought my laser from Optic Star a few years back, certainly after the last changes to laser guidance was made. Unless that is changes have been made that I am totally unaware of, however I have not been able to find anything. A laser is pretty much the same as any other dangerous tool such as a chainsaw or angle grinder, safe when used correctly & with care. Mine is not left on all the time and like others have alluded to it is flicked on, then move scope to area of interest, flick off and then centre with my RACI. The usual burn for want of a better description is I would guess around 5 seconds. The guidance for using lasers is quite lengthy and well worth a read "laser safety advice". I believe my laser falls within safety guidelines and I will continue to use it "with care".

Plus 1 more here for a laser. Much more fun to use and as others have pointed out, I too find it much easier to use than a telrad or similar. It is also used in conjunction with a RACI.

breathtakingly beautiful. Just take a little time looking and considering the size of it, bonkers and beautiful.

Ok did a play with images above of @alexbb & @tomato then blended them together, think it looks pretty neat. Hope you don't mind.

Have to say that is a pretty sweet image indeed. Well done. It's the star processing side that really interests me in Pixinsight, although the entire package is rather compelling. If I do get into imaging in a more meaningful manner, I may indulge myself.

I had a chance to have a quick play around with this, data as mentioned seems pretty decent. So I used Siril for the main work and then tweaked in Gimp. I didn't go mad with the stars, and tried two versions with the lower version adopting a less is more approach.

The L3 is purely a IR/UV cut filter, the L-enhance is for filtering your ionised gas lines in H and OIII so they are not doing the same thing. You should stack the filters. I have the L2 version and it is permanently fitted to my set up to avoid bloating. Regarding the star shapes, I had this once and it was actually the tracking in RA that was shown to be the fault (I use ASI AIR btw), once I tweaked this I got my stars nice and round again.

Yeah despite my previous posts, a very lot to be said. It's basically try before you buy.

Ok sorry for spamming this thread here but there is also a Ursa Major 8" scope on offer. It has a great focuser (better than the 150p), better finder and cooling fan for primary mirror. Another great option. The market is awash with offers! See this one Neil Ursa Major 8" f/6 Dobsonian | First Light Optics

Can't see the 200 Neil, is it this 150P Sky-Watcher Classic 150P Dobsonian | First Light Optics Bargain.

This is a very frequently asked question, there really isn't a one size that does all but some come close. @mikeDnight above has already mentioned my preferred option given your budget. I am a big admirer of this Sky-Watcher Classic 150P Dobsonian | First Light Optics For one it has good reviews for planetary mode. It is perfectly capable of high magnitude (250X) views of the planets, it would even push to x300 with the F7.8 focal ratio but it will capture and do well on many deep sky objects (DSO) such as andromeda, M81/82, most star clusters would be superb and there are many nebula that would give pleasing results although the fainter fuzzies as they are often known would be beyond its reach. A little more explanation on why this is good might help. Generally longer focal length scopes with a ratio F10 and up are often used for planetary as the targets are brighter and the lower F ratio just works better for these. Lower focal length scopes of F5 and lower are preferred for DSO viewing as it means you have more light hitting the retina of difficult to see things. My option above ^^ just sit inbetween and will give very a very good return in all areas but won't be best in either. What is also good is the low price leaves you with a very nice wedge to buy extras to embellish and improve the scopes performance. I would be looking at a decent zoom eyepiece Hyperflex 7.2mm-21.5mm Eyepiece | First Light Optics, a reasonable 2" eyepiece for larger DSO. PanaView 2" eyepieces | First Light Optics If you are wondering why you need more, if you read the forums it is generally accepted that the 25mm eyepiece provided is ok but the 10mm version is pretty naff. This clips at the heals of £500 but is definitely as close to all-round as it comes.

I have had this data for a while but only just got around to having a go. From the off I was struggling with the green in the image. tried several different methods but in the end came up with these two images. One a straight forward process in Gimp and the other a blend of images using Gimp and Siril Only 29 minutes data but still a bit disappointed at lack of colour in comet, however only using 50mm of aperture so maybe I shouldn't be that surprised. One thing I am happy about is managing to keep the stars fairly round. EDIT: Dropped the top version into siril and used remove green noise tool mask, this has improved the image quite a bit to my eyes.