upahill

Thought it might be, thats tonights film chosen then, only seen it a few hundred times 🤣 "Spandex: its a privilege, not a right."

1200D is what I use and other than some banding (which I think is common with a lot of the canon models) its been great. You can get them with lens for £150-180 on the bay of E. The 450d is a very popular model though and about a third cheaper for kits. If you are prepared to hold out for auctions there are some real bargains going too. Have seen a 1200d kit go for £110 and a 450d go for £90

No worries, out of curiosity is your username related to a particularly great 1995 film?

Would depend on how many amps the straps draw, those plugs will handle 5v @ 2.1A (that might be shared on the cheaper ones) The straps I just looked at on eBay are 4W and draw 0.8A @ 5v each so would be fine. YMMV depending on your straps specs. I don't know what your setup is, but I picked up one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Surge-Protected-6-Way-Extension-Lead-White-6-Gang-Multi-Plug-Socket-with-USB/133045836542 for £8 at HomeBargains yesterday to use on my pier so I can have my phone and torch charging. Saves a socket.

Can you not just use a 240v to dual USB plug, like this... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Speedy-Fast-Dual-2-Port-USB-Charger-3-Pin-UK-Mains-Wall-Plug-Adapter-UK/183745203959

Thanks Looking forward to getting a decent dew strap on the scope instead of my heath job. 🤣 Hairdryer works but not ideal.

Last night was clear for a few hours between 10pm and 3am. Managed to get a couple hours worth of subs, took some better calibration (mostly as I rotated camera) and kept the dew at bay. Processed this today and very happy with the results. I haven't had this much 'star glow' before to deal with, but I quite like the effect its given the image. I have tried imaging this before, and the goto + platesolve usually leaves it in a landscape orientation, but having played with Telescopius I thought I would give this orientation a go. I actually was a little out from what I had planned which would have given me a little more in the upper right, and shifted the image over to the right slighty - but will save that for next time. Just glad the observatory is doing what I wanted it to do - letting me get out and imaging without the faff.

"The problem with standards is there are so many of them." I looked into this as I will be using aviation connectors throughout but couldn't find anything that would suggest a common convention. I will just choose my own convention and make sure I make up all the leads from power bricks etc to match. Other than the Eagle im not sure if any standard astro equipment uses these connectors off the shelf, so shouldn't be much in the way of cross compatibility issues.

I started with, and still use, APT - its simple and free (there is a premium version too which gives you a few more features) - generally the camera stays in manual mode all the time and the settings are controlled from the software, so I setup a run of say 30 x 30 second exposures at ISO800 and click start. Pretty simple and there are some tutorials on youtube to help out too. Sounds like you got a good deal there.

No problem, as for screen size - I do all the aquisition from a laptop, actually wish my camera didnt have a screen, never used it.

Assuming you are printing with side facing us being the top then I can't see any issues with that.

Sideways holes usually come out ok for me. If it gets chance to build up the sides (eg cylindrical holes).

I had considered painting inside. If for no other reason than to try and make it look a little smarter. Also considered fitting a vent at the base of the ring to try and improve the air flow and reduce condenstation but more research needed before I do either I think.

Forgot to mention keep an eye on some of the Facebook astro sale groups too - there is someone selling an EQ5 with motor kit for £170 - doubt thats the GOTO model, but a boost in payload capacity and tracking facility. The one i usually look at is Secondhand Astronomy Equipment UK

These earlier ones are one piece bases and one piece dome, the later designs got assembled in sections and much easier to move I imagine. That's the largest luton I could get, and thats the only orientation it would go in. 🤣

Thats an interesting solution to the aperture problem. Not sure I would trust the weight of it on that hinge but it does look like it may have had safety wires attached. FYI, I happen to know these wont fit in a luton without cutting 🤣 Flatbed trailer is the way to go. Potentially a bargain though I paid around £600 for mine.

I was worried that might be the case, as much as I hate insects - I do struggle to kill them. A couple of them have released some pretty gross looking bright yellow liquid.

Well im putting it down to the sheer volume of rain we have been having but came home to find the dehumidifier screaming. It doesn't seem to be able to kick the compressor in so is resetting every 2 seconds. The bucket switch seems to functioning ok and can't see a seperate float switch so not really sure what is causing that. Will take another look in the daylight but I imagine that im going to have to replace that. Picked up a storage solution for loose cables, tools etc which is astro-themed, £19 in Lidl.... Perhaps the biggest issue besides damp at the moment is the wildlife, we have some crazy 1cm spiders everywhere here at the moment, quite a few in the house, but they seem to be partying in the obsy. Whilst they look relatively harmless they freak me out, have started hiding in autoguider ports etc and frankly are just unpleasant. Going to have to figure out a way to keep them out a little better. We have another insect which has decided to build a nest in the corner of the aperture, if I open the aperture im likely to crush them all so need to move/get rid somehow. There are already a few fatalities around the dome floor

That would scare the heck out of me, really struggle to feel safe around cows. Having observed them from the window for sometime it could be that they were heading over thinking you had some feed. The cows in the field next to us can hear the farmers truck and will hurtle the full length of the field to get to him - quite a scary stampede. Very rarely they break through the gate and head down our lane, I have found arms out wide and loud shouting whilst walking towards them slowly will get them to back off and go back to the gate - YMMV.

Im not a camera expert so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but from what I can tell the 1100d has a better ISO range, uses DIGIC 4 instead of DIGIC3 with better noise reduction and faster processing. It's also 3 years newer. Both have the same size and resolution sensors. The 1100 would be the one I would go for. Plenty of people using the 1100d for astro so its a fairly safe bet.

Welcome to SGL from a not-so-sunny Monmouth. Clear skies!

My guess would be a drone. Blinking lights and erratic movement.

Don't get me wrong, as a package I think its great for those that understand its limitations, and are happy to buy knowing those are there. And I don't begrudge ZWO making margin on it, they put some work in. It's just not for me, I have some ZWO products, but im not prepared to buy into their entire product ecosystem, others will which is cool. Ill go for whichever option gives me the most flexibility on product use and software. If they improve 3rd party device support, go open source, or whatever ill probably buy one. Of course the downside with that for me, is having to lug around my laptop with a dozen different programs. I envy the convenience gained by those with an ideal setup for the Air. What I do like about the rumoured Pro model is that they are evolving the hardware side of things, it looks like its not a Pi with some software anymore and they are thinking about stuff like power distribution. Adding some value to the hardware element and not just the software.

I have been tempted by the ASIAir but it either has to support everything or be open to using standard drivers. If they dont address it someone else will build a nice mobile frontend for EKOS/Indi and a script to update your ASIAir to use it. Pushing ZWO software out of their own product. As the current version stands its £130 more than a standard RPi - which is an expensive mobile app imo.

I love the stuff, wouldnt use it on its own though as a substitute for concrete. As WanderingEye says it never really penetrates all the way through and tends to crumble. I opted for building a block of concrete using premade £3 blocks - was easy and seems very stable but if you are planning on being there for some time I would go for straight concrete pour - probably much cheaper and you wont be worrying about it everytime you bump the pier.