bomberbaz

to be fair dave that wouldn't be far in front of a baader zoom and 2x focal extender

I get that, had I not been having tracking issues I doubt I would have swapped. TBF as it turns out the issue appears to have been more electronic rather than mechanical, but at the time of purchase I had been unable to verify this. Damn tracking 🤬

I have both wedges, the WO version is vastly superiour IMHO. Now I have got the hang of it I can align it very quickly but more importantly, it feels far more steady once aligned than it did with the SW version.

At the point where the legs join the tripod to mount connection, this is where your free movement is likely to be. There are two hex bolts either side of the joint which probably need a good tightening.

Sorry I disagree. I have the skywatcheer tripod Sky-Watcher Tripod for Star Adventurer | First Light Optics which is advertised with the mount. I also have the extension pillar. The mount > pillar > tripod connection is solid, however there is a big amount of movement from the legs to tripod joint as these easily work loose through constant use. As mentioned above I re-tightened mine with a hex key and now leave it fully set up to avoid it loosening itself again.

Honestly cannot remember and cannot find anything about it on our holiday pictures. It does sound familiar but that isn't saying I am right. I have checked their website and none of the tours look familiar either however things change. A quick look at all available tours seems to point to a lot of them doing the meal thing, might be a recent collaboration between island entrepreneurs. They (NST) look like a good outfit though.

we got a guided tour by what I presume was a astro society of some description. They had half decent gear of I think an 8" dob, 4" frac and they were taking some pictures to show people too. It wasn't cheap, think about 60 euros or maybe more PP but it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. 1 thing, whatever you decide on wrap up well. It was blooming freezing up there.

That's one heck of a post and a lot of great data. You can read all the retail blurb you like but nothing stacks up better than good research and user reports.

Could you send me your current process workflow up to starnett Lee, I am still getting starnett artefacts and wonder if I am going wrong somewhere. cheers pal

I note you have started using Siril. How you finding it and what you using it for. I really do find it helps with my processing to run it through Siril before I do anything manually.

Very nice work Lee, very nice indeed. That is one you should be having framed and put up on your wall it's that good.

Just checked your alignment stars, they are a touch close being around 5 hours apart. A key to alignment is try to have your stars inbetween 30-45 degrees elevation and ideally 12 hours apart, E & W being best. This for a start does help tracking accuracy a little and improves finding accuracy loads. Arcturus is slightly low, so try Izar just above it if your can see it (Arcturus would still work ok if not) and also use Caph in Cassiopeia or Scheat in Pegasus. Caph is probably easier to find though. Finally, use an high powered eyepiece once you have centred each star which is out of focus as this helps make sure the star is centred. You can use a zoom if you have one but best of all is a illuminated reticle eyepiece as this ensures you are well centred on your chosen eyepiece. Sounds a lot to get a good alignment but it's a simple process once you get used to it and all the above really does set your stall out for the rest of the night. You say Saturn disappears from the FOV after a few minutes, if this is at high magnification then it does happen without tracking, mine does the same during solar although it lasts longer than 5 minutes however it is at a lower magnification of around 60. Make sure your power pack (which I am unfamiliar with) is fully charged. (Just checked online and it looks good quality) Try to get it as level as possible, this also helps accuracy. Use a cheap spirit level instead of the in built bubble jobs and finally if your tripod is this - Sky-Watcher Tripod for Star Adventurer | First Light Optics then they are not the best. I got a hex key and tightened mine right up and now I leave the tripod permanently set up as setting it up and down again cause the bolts to constantly loosen.

thanks Louis, I started reading that before but accidentally closed the page. I read it right through this time and found the review which was quite revealing. Seems to me it is a good step up from the budget zooms from the likes of SW, OVL etc and possibly at the level of Baader which I already own. If I do decide to buy one I shall run a shoot out between my celestron (Solar) zoom, the baader and this one. Could be a fun exercise.

Hello all. I might be in the market for (another) zoom and I was looking at this offering from StellaLyra. Now apart from it looks different to other zooms in the market and the Lanthanum glass sales pitch, I am wondering if it so different to others in the market from the likes of SW/Celestron/Baader etc I have looked but can't find anything that refers directly to the eyepiece. So has anyone got one as a personal review/overview would be helpful. cheers steve

Good idea Steve, could do to find out what my up to date size is. I shall give this method a try.

inline with the rest of you on this. I have often seen people say in the getting started with imaging section that the mount is where you should sink all your money, I think this is clearly not the case but depending on your overall ambitions this definitely needs a lot of consideration. If like me your happy with a 50mm (ish) OTA as your main scope in a wider field configuration and expects it to remain so, then I see no real reason to go to huge expense of big heavy duty mounts, the AZ Gti should be on your shortlist. If however your expecting to upgrade to a 200PDS or similar then it's another thing entirely.

Should have updated on this, sorry for late reply. It is actually the Tarazed dark nebula.

Thanks Don, much obliged.

I bagged the nag recently using a 4.9mm exit pupil, an astronomik HB filter coupled with my 14" dob. Wasn't a brilliant thing to see but it was bagged. My intention, when conditions allow is to look for a number of dimmer DSO emission nebula objects and find which EP size my eye responds to best for both OIII and HB. I expect OIII to be slightly smaller as typically they are brighter, Jones Emberson 1 would be a good target as would or pelican. For HB I am wanting diffuse objects and thinking california or the Cocoon. Thing is with HB objects, like the cocoon, is a lot of them also emit in the oxygen bands too and to get the best test you really want a pure HB emission nebula like california and HH. (Just remembered SH2-235 in Auriga as another HB object) Anyway, when I do manage my comparison test I shall report back on my findings.

found it on amazon, think I will give it a go, cheers

haha yes I know that's very optimistic of me and somewhat arbitrary but that was what my BBC weather forecast said yesterday, today it is forecasting tomorrow night as a maybe clear 🤣

Sounds interesting, was it a good read?

Well that is what I heard will be the length of time before we next experience clear skies again, 10 days! Yes we have experienced far longer in the past and the last (very hot) clear spell didn't really fall at the best lunar period but astronomy wise I made very good use of the latest clear patch. What will I do you ask? I am going to tinker with my AZ Gti mount to tighten up RA slop and have a general tidy up of all my visual kit. SWMBO has reminded me a few times (as she does) that there are bits all over the place. TBF I have to agree. Your turn!

That's an exceptionally large exit pupil Iain. I don't doubt mine won't dilate that far but I can guess it would work very well indeed. Personally my largest EP size I go to is 5.8mm although my optician measured it to 6.1mm under near dark conditions.

cracking image that, lots of lovely detail and great control of your stars