paulastro

And then Mike wakes up, as the sunlight filters through his bedroom window........🤣

Really? Still don't care.

With respect to all those who have contributed to this thread, does it all really matter? Personally, I don't care what anyone calls me. I'm not going to change what I do astronomy-wise whatever anyone calls me, or folks who have similiar interests.

Thanks Martin. It sounds as if you are already doing pretty well with it, the longer you use it the better it becomes as you learn all the the things it's capable of doing. Don't worry about the dark edges, you mention when setting up, it happens to mine too. I think it's because it is on a wide angle setting at this time and operates in portrait mode. At night it's not really noticeable. Just ensure you can see as much sky as possible. I would avoid using the advanced controls, they aren't necessary if the setup is right. If it's also telling you that it needs to take longer exposures to find it's position this indicates all is not well. I came across these only when I first had it and it turned out the phone I was trying to use was not compatable. Its much easier to do the setup in daylight, though you can do it at night. If it's done properly in the day, it will work at night time. Then when you take it outside at night just turn the app on, press the flashing symbol on the bottom line, and check the box indicating it is 'still aligned' when it asks you to choose from some options. You're then good to go. The whole procedure only takes a couple of minutes. Unless you've knocked the phone holder this should be all you need to do every time you set it up. You don't have to go through the entire initial setup procedure again every time you use it, but I guess you know this already. Having reflections from the back of the case seems unlikely to me I must say. I always use my phone without the case on when using SS. This is because a couple of times I found one edge of the phone wasn't pushed all the way into the holder, causing there to be a constant error in the pointing till i noticed what it was! If you have a thin case this probably won't be an issue. It's easily dark enough to use SS about an hour after sunsiet and you should get 100% success. Rarely something will happen so it won't work, but this is usually something very simple such as you've knocked the phone holder or aligned it at night and tried to aligne the phone with a different star to that which is in the scopes field of view! Sounds silly? I've done it a couple of times myself! (If you do this you'll have a constant error when you try to point to something) Here's a link to something I posted some time ago that might possibly have something of use to you I haven't mentioned https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/402088-celestron-starsense-explorer-8-inch-dobsonian-review/#comment-4309136

Martin. Re aligning the 'virtual' retincal on your phones screen with a distant object ( if aligning in daytime ) or a distant bright star at night. The accuracy is better the higher the magnification you use and also then magnifying the star you are aligning to on the phone's screen by pinching the screen with your thumb and finger to make it even bigger. Using this method it's easily possible to centre objects even with a mag of x100 plus. I must say though, it should still be easy to put objects nearr the centre of the bullseye every time using your 19mm eyepiece. Re the mushiness you experienced at the end of your session. It could possibly be dew on the phone holders mirror, though this has never happened to me, even when there is ice on the scope or high humidity when the tube is running with water. One SS user also reported when he was having intermittent pointing success, it turned out that his phone camera lenses had many smudges from fingerprints, and when he wiped them the problem went away! Another cause of inaccuracy is if you move the position of the phone holder when putting the phone in place. Ive found it still to be accurate even if your target is near a bright moon. I have found it to work successfully when finding an object less than 5 degrees from the full moon. ( zI tested it when I first had it!) You are right in saying that as you accumulate more experience with SS you will get better accuracy and also achieve success on virtually every time you try and find an object. On most of my sessions I very rarely have any failures. And if I do, it's because l make a silly error, more likely if you are tired. Have fun with it, it's been a game changer for me and I make far better use of any available observing time. Best wishes, Paul

Many thanks Dave, that's very kind of you. You've had some great scopes, and still have! I had followed your thread on selling the FS128 with interest - I used Mike's quite a few times before he sold it so I know what a great telescope it was. Your 'new' Vixen SD115S looks fabulous, especially on the Tak mount. I've never had the pleasure of using one, but I'm sure it performs every bit as good as it looks. I can see many pleasureable observing adventures await you with it. Great to have the LVWs to use with it too. I have had more scopes than I can remember over the years, and have enjoyed using every single one. I don't regret selling any of them though, I've simply sold them on whenever my personal circumstances, or my observing priorities, have changed and I've bought something which has met my new needs. My enthusiasm for observing has never changed- the scopes just change now and again. The weather has been, largely, particularly poor up here since Semptember, I then had to have a heart procedure in early December and a hip replacement three weeks ago, but I expect to be back at it to make up for lost time shortly when the weather improves. I 'll look forward to reading about how you're getting on with the Vixen Dave, by all accounts it's a fine scope.

My ultimate visual telescope is the telescope which allows me to see the amount of detail I want to see, in the objects I like to observe which is commensurate with my current age, fitness and finances. At the current time this is a a Celestron 10 inch Dobsonian Starsense Explorer. The Starsense Explorer push-to app based location system allows me to find any object I want quickly, easily, accurately, silently and without any pain, WiFi connection. or an electricity supply - other than my phones battery! Luckily for me, I already have one 😊.

I think you should buy one too. But then, its so good I think everyone should have one! 😊 This was my very first image with mine on my first night out, and only two minutes exposure, poor seeing and about to go behind some trees!

As my diseased hip got worse ( I had it replaced with a new one on Jan 9th!) I too struggled with my 10inch SS Dob. Quite by accident I came across the device below on FLOs website. When I read about it, I was very doubtful and so I was when it arrived - at first it just looked like a jumble of wide Velcro. However, it works extremely well, at least for me. It works very well even if you just use the two straps, the harness round the neck makes it easier if you have to carry the scope any distance. The harness bit can be detached by two clips when you have the scope in position.

Well, this just popped up on my phone. I've only read a little of it. It's not April 1st is it?

Just spotted this. Note, this is a photo from the TV ,not an actual link.

Yes ,I've been tempted on occassions. But then I think it's just another gadget to have to keep up with. Also with two devices I'd never end up putting the right one to my ear! 🤔.

Any old excuse to spend some money😊. My pics go straight to Gallery on my phone. Alas I have never owned a Tablet - you're tempting me now! 🙄.

No harm in window shopping. And all those nice friendly people to talk to. 😊

Welcome back, lots of exciting developments to catch up on since you left equipment wise. Have fun!

I'd imagine the traders will make some good money this year. There's been an awful lot of new inovative gear come onto the market in the last twelve months. If you need a sub, just let me know Mike 😊.

It's the first time I've used it, but it won't replace my visual observing. Mind you I'm getting older and it's very easy to carry in and out if I'm not up to getting out the 10 inch or other scopes. I'll also use it for different reasons. Of course I can image things I can't even 'see' through the 10, or not as well. As you say, it will be easy to observe visually and take pics at the same time.

There are many reviews and comments re the S50, but there are many, what appear to be, discrepancies between them. Of course this is not surprising as the writers have many backgrounds. It's not surprising that experienced imagers may look more critically at how good the images it produces actually are. This is fine, but the S50 was designed so just about anyone can use it to get some good images with the least effort - and including people with little to none experience of imaging, observing or even astronomy. My views are those of an observer of over fifty years with no experience of imaging apart from occasional prime focus images on undriven altazimuth mounts. I'm not going to cover the setup of the S50, there is plenty of Information available in other reviews, u-tube videos and comments on SGL and other places. Your experience will differ primarily according to how competent you are using a smart phone. I'm just about competent and read lots before buying my S50 which arrived on Dec 20th. Anyone with just a little more savvy than me will probably have it running in little more than five minutes. I think the interface is great and very easy to navigate around. Some people have indicated some info is somehow hidden away and they had to 'discover' it themselves. Not so in my view. There's nothing you can't find out by looking online. I suggest people actually check out the brief instruction leaflet that comes with it, as well as the tutorials on the app. The company also have a good video 'manual' on utube which tells you where to find just about everything - though it moves along quickly and like me you might want to pause it to make a few notes. Since Dec 20th, when my S50 arrived I didn't have any clear periods to try it out on deep sky imaging until last Saturday morning when it cleared to a hard frost at 1am. The images below are some that I produced. All of the exposures were 5 mts or less except for M51 (19mts) and M3 (10mts) The Orion Neb was only 2mts and the Horsehead 3mts. I would have taken longer exposures but these two were very low down and about to disappear. I did a little additional processing using the photo processing software that comes with the camera on my Samsung A52s. Too much on the Horsehead as 3mts was way too short. As a non imager I sadly have to confess I'm over the Moon with them! I'm not daft enough to believe they are anywhere near what my imaging colleagues can produce - but for an aging technophobe they meet my requirements. Hopefully they may assist others to decide if they will suit them. Of course if you are an imager you can stack all the individual images yourself and produce really nice images - and longer exposure make a huge difference. I haven't mentioned the Scenery, Lunar and Solar modes, only because they are so straight forward it's unlikely you'll go wrong!

Hello AstroCurl. It doesnt make sense to buy two different complete DX scopes. The mount is the same for both scopes - you don't need two mounts. Any scope with a Vixen type dovetail will work with the DX mount you already have. This means you could buy any new or used scope with a Viven dovetail and use it on the DX mount you already have, as long as they are within the capacity of the mount. The phone holder is fixed on the mount of course - and it doesn't know or care what telescope you are putting on it !! I've had a DX, and personally don't think it is as sturdy as it should be with some of the scopes supplied with it. If you want to 'upgrade', I would consider one of the tabletop dobsonians, or if you want a larger scope, the 6-12 Starsense dob scopes are all excellent and the mounts are much better than the DX mount.

Carbon Bush, I think you'll find it's the lack of clear night skies that has prevented many of the seventy five S50s FLO sold in one day producing any images. Its certainly true for the one I bought 😊. Mind you, there does seem an awful lot of traditional imagers selling their gear. Perhaps they account for the other seventy four people that bought an S50? 🙂. Happy Christmas everyone - and clear skies.

I'd put myself in this category. I admit l just haven't the skill set or patience to climb the steep learning curve or enough clear skies to do visual observing and astrophotography. Or the money come to think about it - which is why I ordered an S50 myself 🙂. Just checked and FLO have sold all their stock.

Probably the price if you're an imager who has spent 5k or more on imaging kit and hasn't yet produced better pics than the S50 can 🤣.

Looks like they will sell out by later this evening.

Yes, I'm not surprised I guessed that stock would be going to all the outlets at the same time.

About an hour or so ago they had 54, now stock down to 38. Apologies if this has been posted somewhere already. Best not to hang about if you want one 😊.