paulastro

Robert. It's not a coincidence. If you look carefully you'll see that it's the two multifinder shoes (in the first pic) joined together that makes the angle come out as I needed it to be. I just fiddled about with them until I arrived at the angle I wanted. There were several possibilities. A bit like doing a puzzle 🙂.

Previously I have tried Starsense with the C5 on my AZ4 and a Scoptech Mount Zero. Both these worked, but neither was the most user friendly setup. I've now managed to set it up on the AZ5 and this is much better, to the degree it's going away with me to a visit to a an astonomer friend of mine in the Midlands shortly. Previous difficulties were to do mainly with the designe of the other mounts and the fact that the finder foot on the C5 is not convenient for fitting to single forks which need the scope to be attached to the right of the fork, as seen from behind. The photos are hopefully self explanatory. The first pic is of my spare phone holder with an orange 3D printed adapter to fit its base to a Vixen finder foot, two different designs of multi-finder holders I used and the Celestron 30mm finder. The other pics are from different angles to show how it is all fitted together. The tripod is an Artcise AS88C CF tripod. The rig is very secure, no skakes or rattles and it's easy to use and smooth in use.

I think I'm right in saying that they started to make motors for the Scopetech Zero. A few seemed to appear but as far as I know they quickly withdrew from offering them. Perhaps it was that they were too expensive to make, or there wasn't the demand.

Yes, but its not long enough for a short 6inch reflector tube. Its frustrating, it was just a little too short. It only just takes my C5. I'm fact I got excited when I saw your post as I thought the arm might be longer in the Sightron. If it was I might have been tempted to add it to my AZ mount portfolio 🙂. I wouldn't part with my Mount Zero, I'd just like it to be a little bigger.

Totally agree John. If a mount needs power to use it and time to set it up, it's no good as a grab and go mount for me. Observing time is at a premium. Hence I have a dob and use my other scopes on my AZ4, AZ5 or Scopetech Zero mounts. The latter is a great mount, but I would say I've been irritated at times when for want of the arm being an inch (or even less) longer, I've been unable to use a small scope well within its load capability.

Thank you, thats kind. Its been cloudy here too since I took that frame early on.

Single frame and crop taken at 8.17 am, through early cloud and mist. I/100 sec, 200 asa, Altair 80 ED-R

Well, that's cheered me up no end 😊.

Well done for persisting Neal. Hopefully you'll have a good session next time you try it, and you'll see the effort was well worthwhile.

Possibly a big bird?

Yes, my car had Saharan dust on it too this morning. Luckily for me, it never gets cleaned anyway as we usually have enough rain up here to do that 🙂.

Ah well, I don't feel so bad it was so murky last night now, thought not so good if it lasts a few days.

If the finder foot is over one side of the scope, a multifinder attachment can be useful to shift the phone holder to the other side for better balance or convenience. Not sure this is helpful in this case though.

At least there is in Yorkshire according to the tea time local weather forecast. Enough to make the sunsets redder apparently. Do be aware if you're thinking of leaving your scope optics open to the elements for very long this evening just in case. It wouldn't be the first time if I woke to a layer of red dust on the car in the morning. Its certainly looking rather murky outside.

Yes it was Robert, just a shame it doesn't happen very often - at least not around here 😊.

I was out from 10.40 pm to 2.20 am, primarily I had planned to observe some particular deep sky targets, double stars, red stars and carbon stars. I spent the first two hours doing just that. It went well enough, though there was some cloud going by early on, some mist and a rather bright sky due to the gibbous Moon about 15 degrees from Jupiter. At 12.40 I thought I'd have a planetary interlude observing the four gas giants and the Moon. I put on the Badder binoviewer, two 24mm Orthos and a x2 barlow element in the nosepiece along with the Baader Contrast Booster filter. My usual planetary setup. WOW ! I couldn't believe what I saw. The Dob gives very good planetary images, bit I wasn't prepared for the view. At x200 there was a picture perfect view of Saturn. The main belts, Cassini's, the rings on the planet, cloud belts and the edge of the limb. All without a flicker of movement. Like an etching from a 19th century astronomy book. With several satellites to complete the seeing. Even when I swapped up to 16.8 Orthos, x286, the view was as steady. The sort of seeing I'm lucky to see from home only about every 2/3 years. I then observed Neptune ( on the dim side in the mist) and onto Uranus showing a perfect little pale blue disc. Then onto Jupiter. I gasped, I usually spend little time if any on Jupiter with the 16.8s as the seeing is too poor and I go back to the 24s quickly. Not tonight! To have a steady view of Jupiter at such a power is awe inspiring. The sheer size of it with the two EBs showing raggedy edges, and hints of festoons and other features in the EZ, plus at least another couple of belts and detail in both polar regions, wonderful. I also observed the Moon with Janssen on the terminator the most impressive feature. Lovely to see it at such a higher power without having to trade in sharpness and steadyness in exchange. This continued on and off for about an hour before I returned to a few more deep sky objects to finish off with. By this time the seeing was still good - but not the jaw dropping views I had just had the good fortune to witness. What a night !!!

Ian, it makes a huge difference using the SAO designations. It will make it so much easier to find stars using my 10 inch Starsense Explorer Dob. My copy arrived today and am delighted with it. I love your descriptions and in addition to the scope aperture, mags used and the difficulty of observing each star it will be a wonderful tool for planning observing sessions. Thank you!

Ian, many thanks. To be honest I couldn't read anything of the first pages 😊. Still, as they appear to be listed by SAO and HD numbers they will be a breeze to find using Starsense Explorer. Looks like they all have descriptions as well which is great. I'm in and have ordered a copy. I can see this volume getting a lot of use. Thanks again, Paul

Many thanks. Can you post a page of data entries so we can see how it's set out?

The same question really, is the pic the front cover or a typical page? If the former, it would helpful to have an example of the latter. Many thanks.

Clarkey. Re not being able to see stars on the screen, have you tried maximising the size on the screen? I ask, because when I first tried my phone out I couldn't see any stars on it either. I only saw them when I zoomed in that they came into view. Also when aligning with the crosshairs at night time, make sure you use a bright star or planet, its much easier. When you have it all set up Starsense will plate solve when there are surprisingly few stars visible. It will plate solve on occassions when there are not enough stars visible to be able to use a use an optical finder. This is because it takes time exposures to find it's location.

Many thanks Robert. Best regards, Paul

Just came across this, looks impressive!

I had an 8inch f6 for over a year up to July when I had the opportunity to part-ex it for a 10inch f5 version of the same make Dob. I used the 8 at every opportunity and became very familiar with its performance while I owned it. A wonderful scope. Roll on about six weeks, and I have to say I am surprised how much the 10 surpasses the performance of the 8 . Both on deep sky and planetary, it clearly gives a better performance unless the seeing is particularly bad I was surprised as I've owned 10 inch and up to 14 inch scopes at various times over the years but couldn't recall the difference being so much.. Though, I hadn't owned a scope greater than 6 inches for some time before buying the 8 inch. (I had used other people's larger than this though in the odd occassions). So for me, on performance it is a no brainer. However, Peter makes a good point on size. I should have had a hip replacement in July, posponed as during the pre-op I was diagnosed with a heart condition so the op is off for some time. I also have a back problem. I only have to carry the 10 (in two pieces) a few yards to use it, but it can be very painful - despite doses of codeine. I don't regret the swap of scopes at all, but I do have three smaller scopes I can use instead if I'm having a particularly bad day. The weight between the 8 and 10 isn't great, but it depends on how your condition affects your lifting ability, which will be different to mine of course. But it is important you take it into account when deciding what to do. PS I should have said, moving the 8 around hadn't given me any real problems.

It's rare I don't see a satellite zap through if I'm observing any object for more than five minutes. It must be a nightmare for imaging colleagues.