dark knight

How about an engine hoist, they lift up to 1 ton and can be purchased for less than £200, not sure on how high they lift though. https://www.therange.co.uk/leisure/motoring/maintenance/jacks-stands-and-ramps/switzer-1-tonne-folding-engine-crane-stand-hoist-lift/?gclid=CjwKCAiAhqCdBhB0EiwAH8M_Gu_bBkp-3-z9AYHDw2UBp6CIiBtABoh2d6YDHy5NXLeaq80q97kCyhoC15sQAvD_BwE#8083805

Another option would be to sell the esprit 150 and get an esprit 120 instead, that coupled with the 2600mc would frame m42 perfectly, just an idea.

Hiya Dylan, welcome to the forum, say hi to your stepdad. Remember you all so well as you went to school with my son, oh and that's my tent in the background lol

Well seems I am not alone. I set up last night and had nothing but problems, mount not completing goto's, plate solving was a complete failure, dewband cable got so stiff it snapped at the plug/controller junction. It seemed one thing after another and I gave up with not a single sub to show for my efforts. I use mains power to a 12v power supply and run everything from that. I have pi4 at mount running off the mains too via a 5v adapter, and vnc into it from the house. When I looked into the plate solving side of things it seems comparison files had disappeared from the pi4!!! I spent rest of the evening downloading and reinstalling them. Going to have a break from it tonight for my own sanity!

I use a Canon 6d modded by Andy Ellis at Astronomiser, excellent service provider. Why not get a raspberry pi4 8gb loaded with Astroberry and plug camera directly into that, then just use vnc to connect wirelessly from a pc in the house to control everything. This is what I've done and it works extremely well. Nothing like having a large display to check for focusing and framing. In addition it supports autofocusers, guiding, filter wheels and platesolving in a single package. Then there is also the photo planner with full camera control.

Highly recommend Andy Ellis at Astronomiser. http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/index.htm

I have the esprit 120 and absolutely love it, came with a dedicated flattener resulting in pin sharp stars accross the whole field and other accessories all packaged in an amazing heavy duty flight case. The optics are fantastic and can accommodate a full frame camera/sensor (i use a modded canon 6d at moment) however I can't comment on the focuser as mine is fitted with a moonlite focuser.

Simon can I ask what camera you used.

From memory I'm sure I shortened the skywatcher standard 9x50 tube by 10mm. Please don't go off my word though as it was a long time ago, I now use an ED50 and its an excellent bit of kit.

Lovely first image Laurence, its a great start, adding more data is the way forward.

It is indeed a complex process to produce an outstanding image, however I found breaking it down into smaller chunks helped make it easier. Choosing targets wisely when in the right area of sky, practice setting up your gear, balancing equipment, cable management, check software is talking to equipment (all can be done in daytime) etc. Then there's the other side to it all, the intimidating image processing! Luckily there is so much help on the forum, never feel like you can't ask questions, never be worried about posting your images but most of all, all images after processing are speculative based on one's preference, if you like what you have produced you don't need anyone elses approval 😉 Welcome to the dark side

OK thnx for that, how does the set up perform, does it give reasonable views of the solar system? Is the mount stable enough for visual use? For similar money are there better alternatives?

Srry, do you mean in eq mode everything is upside down? My intention is to use it for visual use so should not be a problem, if I went down the eq route in future I'd put a small refractor on it like my ed50 for some astrophotography

OK I'm after a nice grab and go set up for mainly the solar system, if can do some brighter dso's it would be a bonus. I've seen the skymax 127 on an AZ GTI mount on FLO website at what seems a very reasonable price. Anyone any experience with this set up, any thoughts on something better, advice very welcome

I actually really like that first one Mike, so nice to have those rocks in the foreground, great framing.

+1 for the Hotech SCA, very easy to use even in the dark

Hmm point 1 in notes makes no sense, maybe message flo to check, I fitted bobs knobs to my 8inch skywatcher newt with no issues and also to a 12inch

Oh ok well bobs knobs or similar would do, are you sure the hole they go into isn't also damaged?

Hmm are they the screws that hold the spider vane in place?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bobs-knobs-collimation/bobs-knobs-stellalyra-celestron-sky-watcher-newtonian-collimation-knobs.html

What telescope is it Dave, maybe get some Bob's Knobs from FLO

It maybe that once the filters were removed during modding, the actual sensor should of been shimmed at same time in order to retain infinity focus with a standard lens. Removing the filters may have shifted the point light reaches focus when hitting the sensor. Sorry if this sounds confusing, I'm sure someone with more knowledge will comment and explain it better.

What about Slooh, an online option, where you get to learn, it very interactive and you get to book slots to use telescopes via the internet in Chile etc. You can take photos etc in real time and save them, they run lots of events, you can participate in viewing whatever anyone else is looking at via their booked slots, it's like a star party. https://www.slooh.com/ There are others too.

I too use 2 bbq covers, one has a silver lining which I reversed and put as top layer to reflect heat, I also find not having the covers down to the floor beneficial as this helps airflow and stops moisture rising upwards from the ground getting trapped under the covers

Could try using a Bhatinov mask for focus, slew to nearby bright star, put mask on end of telescope and focus, take off mask and slew back to planet. I'm sure there will be other suggestions available too, maybe setting up a parfocal eyepiece