CraigT82

Same here, and I’m perfectly content with that!

It’s the field stop diameter you want to look at. Generally they are around the same number as the focal length or a few mm more or less. If you have a two inch 14mm EP and it’s field stop is 18mm let’s say, then there’s no point in it being a two incher, it’s just more weight. Any EP with a field stop of less than 31.7mm might as well have a barrel size of 1.25”. Essentially If you have a 2” EP and a 1.25” EP, both with the same FL, then the two incher will show more sky only if it’s field stop is larger than the 1.25”

Nice one, don’t need an autofocuser right now but tempted to give this a go just for the hell of it. Never done anything with arduino.

Well that settles it then! Very nice work Kostas 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Yes I did see JokubasJar’s post but I didn’t really realise he was using an 8” scope too until looking at it again now. Fantastic stuff, conditions on Venus must be just right for it right now.

That certainly looks good to me but I’ll leave it to the ‘pros’ to critique… I’ve never managed to capture loud details in IR so I’m not qualified to! Yes with the UV you may struggle with a colour camera. Not sure what the QE curve below 400nm looks like for the 462mc as the chart stops at 400nm, but it looks like only the blue channel is letting anything through, as opposed to all channels at the longer end. The Astromania UV filter advert states it’s bandpass is 300nm to 400nm so quite broad and that’s probably not great for daylight imaging either. If you’d like I can send you my Altair GPCAM3 290mono to try it out with your UV filter? I don’t use it much anymore, just for guiding occasionally. I removed the AR coated glass sensor cover to maximise the UV signal and it performs pretty well on Venus. Edit: for info this collage was produced in 2020 with the 290m, Baader filter and my old 8.5” f/7.5 Fullerscope. All captured in bright sunny blue skies. Edit 2: Just a thought, what capture parameters are you using with the UV filter and the 462mc? Checking my old posts the above images were captured with 9ms exposures at 75% gain and 90,000 frames captured, best 10% stacked.

Very nice image… gotta be honest I’ve no idea if you have captured IR details there as it’s quite rare to see and I’m not sure what they should like through an 8” scope - they’re usually seen captured with larger instruments under v. good conditions. For reference the most recent one I know of (included below) is by Antonio Cidadao in Portugal using a 14” SCT and Baader Sloan 820nm to 920nm bandpass and the 850nm long pass captured in early Jan. You’re image certainly has the brighter area in the centre of the disk just like Antonio’s! I think it’s definitely worth submitting to Dr Paul Abel at the BAA and getting his opinion, would certainly be a great achievement if you have managed it. Regarding the UV captures I always had my best results in bright blue sky, I have great memories of sitting out by my scope in the sunshine whilst on furlough back in May 2020, gin and tonic in hand and Venus on the laptop screen 😃 (I was unsung Baader UV filter btw not sure what you’re using or if it makes a difference?)

That would be amazing thanks Mark, I’ll see what it’s like when it comes as it may already have one, couldn’t quite tell from the listing. But I’ll get in touch if not. Cheers

Are car ports covered under building regs at all? Could be an issue if it was something he built himself, I.e not inspected and signed off. His insurer may refuse to pay out for his damages on that basis if so, although I’d like to think they’d still cover your damages (wishful thinking maybe). Good luck and fingers crossed for a positive outcome 🤞

Have just ordered one of these TC-E2 jobbies off the bay for monocular viewing, only £20 so no biggie if it doesn’t work out.

Would you be able to give us a link to which lenses you bought? I'd only need one as I can only see out of one eye, no point paying for binos when I only ever use one side!

Yeah same for me in my newts with 4 vanes. At low mags the spikes are obvious but the higher you push the mag the dimmer the spikes get

What the OP is seeing may just be the result of slight fogging or dewing of the eyepiece eye lens. Big problem in winter…. The eyepiece can mist up when you put your warm face next to the cold glass, or maybe breathe on it slightly. Also if it’s left in the scope or in a case for a while pointing upwards it will start to dew up. When there is even a tiny accumulation of moisture on the eyelens you will get a glow around bright objects.

I think you’ll need to use shims or washers under the corners of the base to adjust tilt. I used to have one of these and it was a nicely made focuser but pretty basic with no tilt adjustment IIRC.

The 294 sensor is 4144x2822 pixels so printed at 300dpi it would be 13.8” x 9.4” in size. Double that for 150dpi. 72dpi is just standard screen display resolution

Don’t forget the bears!

Wow this is impressive skies. Last night at home I thought it seemed pretty dark for here and so I sought out the faintest star I could see with averted vision That was Wasat in Gemini (mag 3.5!).

Quick look at Jupiter and Mars but seeings was very poor. Took a tour round some beautiful open clusters (my new favourite things!) instead: Ms 36 (Pinwheel), 37 & 38 (Starfish) all in Auriga M35 in Gemini M34 in Perseus Double cluster in Perseus M45 (Pleiades) in Taurus Quick look at M42 finally M44 (Beehive) in Cancer All lovely looking through a 4” frac with a Stella Lyra 30mm UFF and followed up with an 18mm BCO.

Nice work 👍🏼Looking forward to the first images from the new pier. I’d also say go for the EAF or whatever motor focuser… you can the just automate it all, set an imaging run going and just go to bed!

So what’s the consensus then? Is it a hunk of junk?! 0.7” rms does seem pretty underwhelming

That’s normal according to 10 micron specs…see below. But I suppose what you’re paying for is being able to guide 100kg of payload at that accuracy. Also I guess there’s a lower limit on guiding accuracy imposed by your seeing blur. No point guiding at 0.3” RMS when your seeing is 1.5”?? That’s my thoughts anyway… Will be interesting to hear comments from mount experts.

Looks suspiciously like daylight there Vroobel 😉 I love that mount, you have some serious skills!

That’s surprising considering the front wheel configuration 😉 Nice work though, making me look at welders on machine mart

As above, Most likely dust specs on the eyepiece lenses. If the dark areas are dynamic (constantly move around in the image) then you’re probably just looking through poor seeing.

I reckon I could handle those, dealt with some pretty big hedgehogs in my garden 💪

I meant me not you… I can make a nice cup o tea for the crew in exchange for somewhere to set my scope up 😂