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jonathan

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Everything posted by jonathan

  1. You may find that it'll give some unwanted thermal currents if you have to turn it up to combat the freezing cold. My advice: become an expert on dew forecasting (takes experience!) and if it looks really bad, just stay indoors or use something less susceptible to dew. I find there's nothing more frustrating than being totally dewed out after having put in a load of effort to setup etc and not really get to see anything.
  2. With a thick layer of sleet / slush over everything that has then frozen solid and remained so for the past few days, I've only been venturing out during daylight hours. The society domes are hybernating at the moment, they live in the forest and when it's freezing like this it can be dangerous just trying to drive to them, let alone try to open the sliding roof hatch or turn the dome top half. Typically the flat concrete area they sit on is wet and freezes over like a pond quite easily, making it even deadlier. No thanks, I'll wait for some slightly less freezing conditions before going up there. At least you weren't dumb enough to try to lick the door hinges!
  3. We've had a few good clear spells recently but they've been accompanied by a thick layer of impenetrable ice over the ground, so I haven't been very keen to go out there in the dark (plus it's bloody cold!) A few minutes from the bathroom window is as much as I've had recently.
  4. Something that I've seen happen quite often is a retailer or intermediary supplier will take a part off a stock item and send that out to the customer as a 'spare part', then either continue to cannibalise that same stock item or send it back to the manufacturer as faulty. This works quite well for the customer as it means they don't have the hassle of losing their product for a while or organising shipment of it, and their problem gets sorted out quite quickly (in the case of something that's easy to replace). I think one could get a bit too hung up on the whole 'acceptability' thing... a lot of complex or expensive products will have some generic / cheaper parts on them, I'm not saying that's a good thing but it's just something that some industries do. Take bikes for instance, it generally doesn't matter how expensive the bike is, you'll usually get a bog-standard set of cheapo pedals and a generic saddle, these are considered to be optional and the buyer is most likely to want to choose their own from their favourite brand. Also computer monitors have an acceptable 'dead pixel' percentage (according to some big manufacturer's standards anyway), if you get one that has an annoyingly obvious dead pixel then people will just send it back, and keep doing so until they get a monitor that's acceptable... perhaps there is a dead pixel but it's black so they don't even notice there is one (as opposed to bright red etc). I guess in the case of Skywatcher and Celestron telescopes we should expect some corners to be cut, think of them as the cheap pedals on a new bike - we could use them for a while or replace them straight away, just like we could replace the focuser wheels or the rubber on them, it's not hard to do and IMO we shouldn't kick up a big stink about it unless we want to go through the hassle of sending the scope back and twiddling our thumbs until a replacement or fixed one comes back (which carries the risk of it being knocked and potentially damaged in transit). I'm only here because I have the same problem (Skywatcher focus wheel rubbers perishing) and am curious to find out if anyone has come up with a sensible solution. I like the O ring idea, had thought about the rubber bands but doubt I could find one the correct size (wouldn't want to have to cross one over). I might just give the innertube a try as I have some spare already. Sorry, rambled on a bit on an old thread!
  5. Don't sweat it too much, I doubt any of us could claim to have got their first telescope / equipment purchase 100% correct! Each person's expectations and ultimate requirements are going to be slightly different, in time only you will know what's the best kit for you. A wise person once said (along these lines) - don't worry about perfection, just do it and if necessary do it badly, it might turn out better than you expect.
  6. OTA = Optical Tube Assembly, I think. If I were you I'd look at the AZ3 one, the number usually refers to the weight carrying capacity so to my mind 3 > 1, and I know from experience that an EQ1 is rather weedy even with a lightweight refractor such as the ST80 (a short tube refractor). As a beginner the AZ3 might be easier for you to get your head around as well, although I've never actually used one myself.
  7. I'm confident that I cured a dodgy HEQ5 SynScan handset via a firmware update, if it's a newer one then it should be relatively painless (no need for a '90s PC and Win98!) Just be sure to read the instructions several times before you start and get the correct firmware for your handset, if you're at all unsure then ask more questions here, someone should know. FYI mine was a v3 handset, in my case the motor control board in the HEQ5 appears to be faulty as well but I tested the handset on an NEQ6 Pro and it worked fine with that after a firmware update (requires a different cable though).
  8. If the scopes you're looking at are essentially the same then you might be interested more in what equipment, fittings, and things like cases come supplied with them. I have the Altair Astro Wave 102, a very nice refractor that came with a good rotatable dual speed focuser, 2" to 1.25" converter (all of it has brass collars), and an excellent custom fitted hard case. I also bought the matching finder scope with diagonal and illuminated eyepiece, an expensive but nice-to-have luxury. As you mention travel then a strong case should be high on the list, if it has custom fitted foam for the scope then even better and should serve you well. There appears to be quite a few OTAs still in stock over at altairastro.com, unless their stock status is inaccurate. I have the 38mm SWA PanaView eyepiece, it's a serious piece of glass that gives tremendous wide, sharp views on clusters, Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, etc. There are other super wide angle eyepieces, some I'm sure may be better (so I've heard anyway) but I can't afford to buy them all to compare! Worth the price if you're in for the visual wide field stuff.
  9. This should be emphasised, safety is paramount when observing the sun. I've seen people use the Baader solar film on those small holes in the objective cover, should be fine so long as you take care of it (perhaps add a ring of thick card on the back side too to help prevent scratches). I followed the Baader guide and made solar filters for my binoculars using thick white paper/card and PVA glue.
  10. I'd go with the collimation or dew thing. I had a very similar looking effect from my DSLR and zoom lens, couldn't find the cause but I can only think that it had to be either collimation (which I'm never going to be able to sort out) or some fine dew that I couldn't even see (maybe on the CCD?) It was a bitterly cold night when I did mine, perhaps it could also just be down to the electrical characteristics of the camera sensor not being able to function correctly at that temperature with bright point light sources?
  11. I'd second (or are we on 3rd now?) a good quality small refractor (spend around £1k on some decent glass), enjoy the small but perfectly crisp visuals it gives and learn the ropes of astrophotography with a less expensive mount. If you're already toying with the idea of spending about £1,400 on an 8SE then I think you should easily be able to afford a high quality refractor (between 60mm and 102mm) on a medium sized EQ driven mount, with or without goto (if Skywatcher then look for the mounts with 'Pro' in the title, they usually have better gearing).
  12. Having missed the Transition of Venus (clouded out) and only just caught the last few moments of the Transition of Mercury (was that 2020? I forget now), I was very pleased to have caught some great views of Mars as it came by. The sun woke up a little late for the party, however I did manage to get the solar scope out a few times for the recent sunspot clusters and other things, plus despite lockdowns I managed to repair said solar scope by replacing the small blue filter, which was provided free of charge by Lunt. I have heard others comment on the poor seeing conditions and weather of recent years in my area, which have not been conducive to observing, so I'd say overall an above average year for me compared to the previous few years. There have been other factors too, not least work stress (which has largely been absent for me in 2020, replaced by other different stress of course).
  13. I don't think I could ever stick to that one, but I'll give it a damn good try! List of excuses so far this year: Too windy Too icy Too cloudy Too rainy I think in fairness to myself those are actually not bad excuses.
  14. If it's a small tabletop one then it can be lifted up to a comfortable eye level with books or crates etc.
  15. I would say for nebulas you'll probably want the largest reflecting telescope (popularly found on Dobsonian mounts, but can also sit on an Equatorial or Alt/Az mount) that you can afford. A refractor telescope (traditional type with glass lenses) will give sharper more contrasty views, which is not really what you want when looking for a faint grey misty patch, you may lose them against the black sky. Maksutov and Schmitt-Cassegrain telescopes probably give a slightly dimmer view than reflecting telescopes, and while you may be able to see some nebulosity I think you'd need to spend considerably more than your budget to see more than just a handful of the brighter ones. So in conclusion, for dim DSO hunting you need to go for light gathering, and that means the biggest light bucket reflector you can afford. You can save money by going for a Dobsonian mount, it will be steadier than an EQ mount (technically a Dobsonian is a type of Alt/Az mount, but there are tripod mounted Alt/Az mounts too), and don't bother with tracking or goto to save even more.
  16. I have parents who are now in their 70s and they enjoy the occasional look through my telescopes, I know sometimes they can struggle with dark adaptation so dimmer objects might be out of reach (I think we all envy young eyes as we get older!) Unless there's someone available to lift and carry, then I think realistically a full tripod and mount setup might be a bit much to ask of your mother to setup by herself, although I wouldn't rule out a small dobsonian, either the Heritage 150P, or if you think she can handle it (probably best moved in two parts) the Skyliner 200P. Perhaps one of the small tabletop telescopes would be a much easier proposition, something like the Skywatcher Heritage 130P or 100 reflector telescopes. The 130P weighs about 6kg so shouldn't be too much trouble to carry and setup outside on a garden table, then it's just a matter of point and look. I'd say any of these telescopes, from the 76 upwards, should give far better views than a typical pair of hand-held binoculars. It should be noted that I've also seen refractor and Maksutov designs fitted to those small tabletop Dobsonian type of mounts, some have motor drive for tracking. A refractor is probably the more recognisable type of telescope and the one with the least maintenance requirements, however at this size (probably around 70mm aperture) they won't show as much as the 100mm or larger reflector telescopes. There's a wider selection at this Orion website, Orion are a well known telescope brand however I can't vouch for them as I've never ordered from there. I would avoid the Travel telescopes that come with a small tripod, I have the Celestron 70 Travel Scope and the tripod is absolutely useless, the scope itself is great but requires a much better photography tripod to enjoy properly.
  17. Knowing what I know now, I would not buy an 8SE with a view to using it as-is, I would either look to buy the 6SE (which comes on the same mount as 8SE, so is much more stable and suffers less from vibrations) or ditch the SE mount and buy an HEQ5 Pro or AZ5 equivalent, that is the minimum mount an 8SE will reasonably perform well on IMO. If you might struggle with an HEQ5 then an AZ5 might present the same kind of problem (assuming it's just the mount we're talking about, not mount+OTA). Just FYI I believe it's the 4SE that comes with a flip mirror back which is handy if you want to attach a camera as well as an eyepiece. Personally I'd recommend that you look at a 102 or 120 refractor, perhaps the EvoStar 120 on EQ3 Pro which looks like a nice portable setup, or maybe a mount + OTA combo of EQM-35 Pro with an Altair Astro 102 Wave Refractor. Either of these should be great for visual, the Altair Astro is a higher quality product from what I can tell (I have no experience of the EvoStar line) and should provide superb visual and photography opportunities. A refractor should afford you sharper views of stars than an SCT as there is no central obstruction and far less internal light bouncing, from my experience of both the 8SE and 102 refractor, the views are actually quite similar when it comes to detail - the image is larger in the 8SE but the 102 has greater definition and contrast so it's swings and roundabouts, sometimes I prefer the 8SE, other times the 102, but the 8SE is much more of a chore to get out and use so the 102 tends to get more use.
  18. I think that's the thing, of all the differing designs there's no getting away from size and performance, there's no magic scope that's small yet allows fantastic magnification and clarity (compared to a much larger one). Maybe there will be in Star Trek, just not right now. There's always going to be compromise. I think the OP would do well to look at the refractor option, watch a lot of YouTube videos and imagine how they would handle such a telescope setup in their environment. Spending more on higher quality glass counts for a lot when it comes to refractors.
  19. I like the look of those shiny counterweights. I upgraded my 8SE with a Steeltrack focuser, best upgrade by far for that scope, however it means one also has to upgrade to an EQ mount as there isn't enough room for the Steeltrack and the scope no longer balances in the old SE goto mount (which has flimsy legs anyway, and a wobbly single arm, and mine had a dodgy power socket). So yes, 8SE is a nice size to handle but it requires a decent mount. It's possible to carry it fully assembled on the original SE mount but after upgrading or adding anything to the scope (e.g. camera) the SE mount becomes overloaded and a bit useless.
  20. I think if you didn't enjoy lugging the 8" dob about then you won't enjoy lugging an HEQ5 Pro about either, nor a 9.25 or 11" SCT (which would probably need an NEQ6 Pro or similar - a VERY heavy and surprisingly bulky mount - feels like a World's Strongest Man event lifting it out to the garden in several stages). I have an 8" SCT which I mount on an NEQ6 Pro, it would probably be OK on an HEQ5 Pro but I have to say on the NEQ6 Pro it's massively steady even in considerable wind, which is a bonus when standing on a breezy hillside. On the SCT side of things you'll get a narrower, more magnified field of view when compared to a newtonian, which is nice for planets and small bright targets like that, perhaps not the best for dimmer objects or wide field stuff. You could look at a 102 or 120 refractor, the mounting requirements will be considerably less than a reflector or SCT, and if it's a high quality one then you should be able to use high quality eyepieces for high magnification. Have you considered adding castors and fold-down clamps / stands for the dob base? I think that would be a much easier solution than spending £££ on an even heavier EQ mount.
  21. The refractor telescopes will show significant colour fringing on bright objects such as the moon, Jupiter and Venus, Saturn is a bit dimmer but it'll be small so you won't see it in any great detail through those scopes, might be able to make out the gaps between the planet and the rings (it will be very tiny) but most likely not the Cassini Division. You can use something like a moon filter to reduce the glare and colour fringing, but the only way to really eliminate it is to spend a lot more money on higher grade glass as usually found in a triplet apochromatic refractor, or go for a different telescope design such as a reflector, Schmitt Cassegrain or Maksutov. That's the thing about planets, they're tantalisingly close yet still surprisingly small (and technically still very far away in terrestrial terms). You need a lot of magnification to see much detail at all, and I don't think $300 will be enough if surface detail is your goal. You may see two or three cloud bands on Jupiter on a good night, the great red spot can be tricky at the best of times because it shifts and is sometimes pale so blends in with the surrounding cloud patterns. If you want to get the best views for your money around your price point then ignore any telescopes that come with goto or even motor drive, but beware that planets will move across your field of vision quickly at high magnification, it might then be difficult for you to study the planets at length if you have to keep adjusting the telescope (which will introduce vibrations, taking a few seconds to settle each time). I think maybe something along the lines of these two/three might be something you could get a lot of enjoyment out of: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-astromaster-series/celestron-astromaster-130eq-newtonian-telescope-with-smartphone-adapter-barlow-t-adapter.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html or https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html The latter two have a Dobsonian type mount which is cheaper to produce and easier to use than the Equatorial, but will make tracking planets a little more difficult. A motor drive can be added to the Celestron EQ mount for a reasonable price, making tracking planets a lot easier. Spend as much as you can comfortably afford on the telescope and mount, they will serve you well if you buy well in the first instance. I would steer clear of a lot of those funky sounding brands on Amazon, they sound like cheap Chinese knock-offs to me. Stick to Celestron, Skywatcher, Orion, or Bresser (there are others, best thing to do is check a proper astronomy retailer to see what brands they sell, such as the one I linked to above). The main thing you need to get your head around with an EQ mount is that it's designed to track the movement of the sky as the earth rotates, so it is essentially countering that rotation (staying fixed on one point in the sky), this requires some initial one-time setup based on your location, then for each session you need to align the mount to the pole star so that the 'EQ' part can do it's job correctly. The mount must also be level, often they come with a small bubble level but any levelling device will do if placed on the accessory tray in the tripod during setup (adjust the leg length to get the tripod level). Precise polar alignment isn't necessary for visual use and won't be possible for smaller EQ mounts anyway. Once it's setup and aligned then it should just be a case of tracking the target using one of the slow motion control knobs, periodically adjusting the other to compensate for any slight alignment errors.
  22. The star in the last photo could actually have been Venus, it's a very bright object that's best viewed with a filter to reduce the glare, or if your main cap has a smaller cap that you can remove to reveal a small hole then use that to reduce the amount of light entering the telescope (can also be used when viewing Mars which is still quite bright at the moment as it slowly moves away from us, and Jupiter too). Use the free program Stellarium to check what you can observe in your next session, or what you might have seen once you come back inside. There's a facility whereby you can add your telescope and eyepieces, once correctly configured Stellarium can show you how things should look through your scope. When observing planets you should try to get comfortable, sit down if you can, make sure the image isn't too bright and dazzling (use a moon filter or the smaller aperture cap if necessary), relax and then just keep looking - even if the planet is a small disc in your eyepiece you may still eventually be able to make out surface patterns, colouration, or cloud bands, patience is the key. Some nights will be better than others, and keep in mind that you're looking at other planets with their own weather patterns, orbits and rotations, so you won't necessarily always be viewing the same side and if there's a dust storm on Mars you might not see anything but brown dust.
  23. I have no experience of Bresser equipment myself, but just going by the item photos and description (ignoring the boasts about Jupiter's surface), it looks like a fairly typical 200mm Newtonian Reflector on a mount that may be nearing it's limit with the scope and accessories mounted (looking at the size of the mount and the width of the tripod legs, digging deeper I find the mount+tripod have a carrying capacity of 13kg and the telescope weighs 10kg). I have a 150P Skywatcher reflector that would sit quite happily on a mount of that size (I am guessing it is similar to a Celestron CG4 mount with 1.75" tubular steel legs), so the 200 will be slightly larger and heavier, the upshot might be increased vibrations which take longer to settle every time the scope or mount are touched (e.g. focusing or slewing to a different target) and also might be affected more easily by wind. A more sturdy mount for such a telescope would be the Skywatcher EQ5 Pro or equivalent, not essential for visual use but more important for smooth guiding / tracking if doing long exposure photography. The telescope itself is probably a decent performer, you should be able to see several cloud bands on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, plenty of shape and detail in the Orion Nebula, perhaps even some of the dust lanes in the Andromeda Galaxy (depends a lot on sky conditions and how good your eyesight is), plenty of moon detail too. The camera mount is exactly as pictured - the camera piggy-backs onto the scope body and thus uses it's own lens, to attach the camera to the focuser for through-the-telescope shots you'd probably need to also purchase an extension tube and also a T-ring specific to your camera. The straight-through 8x50 finder looks good but could be awkward to use and possibly confusing / difficult for a beginner, this could be replaced with an easier RACI finder or red dot finder of course but at additional cost. Being a goto you might only need to use it for initial alignment each session so not such a problem, so long as it's aligned with the telescope correctly (something you should probably check at the start of each session using a distant chimney or an easily identifiable landmark). The power pack is described as 12v made up of D cells, I wouldn't bother with that (it sounds very similar to the one that came with my CG4 mount, except mine was 6v) and instead go for either a dedicated 12v telescope power pack (one of the newer litium-wotsit ones, not a lead-acid battery type) or a small 12v leisure battery (when I say small, I mean small for a leisure battery - probably the size of a small car battery). Much more power, longer lasting and easier to handle than fiddly D cells, just requires a decent smart car battery charger to maintain (one that can charge leisure batteries). If going for the 12v battery you'd probably have to purchase a suitable 12v power cable and a simple lead acid battery terminals to cigar lighter type "auto" socket adaptor (which a typical 12v telescope power cable will plug into). You could also use a mains power adaptor to provide the 12v supply, it would need to be one that could provide 2A minimum, preferably more like 5A to prevent overloading, and depending on the supplied fittings you may need to buy the appropriate telescope power cable as before. Others may know more details about this particular Bresser reflector telescope, this is just my opinion based on experience and the item description.
  24. If you went for a leisure battery with 75Ah instead of 7Ah, you could use a simple buck converter to make up the 19v or whatever your laptop required, the converter would be able to make any reasonable voltage and amps your laptop required by converting amps into volts or vice-versa (a decent leisure battery should have no problem providing the power), but obviously you need a powerful enough source to supply such a conversion (a little will always be lost in the process). I use an 85Ah leisure battery for my NEQ6 Pro (non-goto), never had any worries about running out of juice, I don't run any additional equipment other than the mount and a dew heater, but a socket splitter could soon solve that problem. Be sure to use an inline fuse in every power cable that carries significant amps and volts, the last thing you want in the dark is overheating or melting power cords (with potentially exposed wires carrying many amps!)
  25. Do you mean a ham radio scanner or something else?
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