paulastro

Thank you happy-kat, I'll look them up.

Thank you bosun. I might have a use for Siril in the future so the information is very helpful.

Elp. You're right, I said all that in the first post. I only take single frames with my Olympus mirrorless camera, mostly solar. I take pics as records, not works of art. I like them to be as good as possible, but I've no pretentions of being the words best solar photographer. I'm sorry if I've misled anyone Having said that, the information you have all provided has been very helpful, and I'm grateful for everyone's help who has contributed.

Thank you bosun. I'll take a look, but as I said, my astro imaging is at a simple level, and the software I have will be used more for other subjects. I'm the sort of person who'd be happy with the seestar 🙂.

Many thanks. Is Siril for all imaging or only astro,

Many thanks fior that, I'll take a look at it tomorrow when I have more time. Thanks again.

Thanks Mandy, that's along the lines I read previously about GIMP. I think it would test my patience too much. Generally, if an image takes more than about 10/15 mts to process where I want to be I wouldn't bother. As you can probably tell, I spend more time observing than imaging 😊.

Thanks Geoff. I did look on line for alternatives and I recall looking at GIMP in a long list that came up. I'll go back and take another look. I'll compare what it offers compared to my ancient Elements software.

Thanks Mr H. I'll see if I can borrow a cd drive and give it a go. I might buy a cd drive otherwise if they are not too much.

My ancient laptop riuninjg Windows 8 has finally given up the ghost and I've bought a newer used laptop running Windows 11. I've used Photoshop Elements 9 on my old laptop for many years, and it's been good enough for me. I have the original CD and access code, but he computer I now have doesn't have a disc drive. My first question is, if I bought or borrowed a disc drive, would I be able to download Elements 9, put the access code in and carry on using it on the new computer with Windows11? This is my preferred option. If this won't work, can anyone recommend some other free imaging software? I don't want specialist astro imaging software, just something for everyday use. The extent of my astro imaging, such as it is, is only for single frame solar shots, lunar shots or widefield shots of comets and other wide field events using my mirrorless camera. I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Many thanks.

I was after an altaz mount for the Askar 103 Apo. Alas, the AZ5 is fine for powers up to about x80, but above that the view was far too shaky to get the best out of planets and the Moon. I wanted a rock steady mount, manual, with slow motions for the Askar apo - approaching 6k with dovetail, rings, small finder and binoviewer with x2 Orthos. Money was not plentiful and I had a limit of around £300. I was surprised there weren't more options in this price range, certainly that I might have confidence could cope with the Askar. I had a SkyTee (1st incarnation) around 20 years ago if I remember correctly. In my recollection, it could hold a big load but there were some drawbacks. It was rather rough and ready, the movements were not that smooth, not much finess and in those days it was generally accepted you had to replace the two clamps. If you didn't there was every chance that a clamp could spring apart, if you undid the knob too far, and spill the scope onto the floor! Roll on 20 years and we have the mk 11 SkyTee. The mk11 designation perhaps indicating it may have improved over the years? In addition, FLO now have their own version under the StellaLyra brand. In the pics there are at least a couple off differences between it and the Mk 11. It also comes with a couple of counterweights. I had some confidence/hope that FLO would have specified a better spec than the Mk 1 and possibly the Mk 11. With a black Friday reduction on offer, I ordered the StellaLyra. It arrived on Nov 29th and I was impressed with its appearance and sturdyness - at least set up in the lounge! Nov 30th, frozen snow on the ground, - 3 degrees and a GRS transit pending at 9.36pm at an altitude of 48 degrees. I was set up by 8.35, the SL mounted on a Vixen channel aluminium. tripod. Well, in summary, what a agreat decission, rock steady and firm but smooth slow motions. The Askar was mounted on one side no counterweight used on the other side. ( FLO rate the mount as 10 kilo each side) at around x150 Jupiter was indeed rock steady, the seeing was fairly good and it looked like a drawing. The detail, particularly around the two EBs was very good with either barges or other details spilling into the EZ. The GRS was visible all the time. There was easily more detail that I have seen through any four inch class scope scope for some years. One or two expletives punctuated the cold night air. Wonderful. I'm not sure which was more responsible for the wonderful views, the quality of the optics or the steadiness of the mount. The seeing was good, but by no means the best. Certainly the Askar on the AZ5 wasn't in the same class at high power - not unexpectedly. The clamps were very good, and far better that the originals on the SkyTee Mk 1, in my view they don't need to be replaced. Having said that I did replace one with an ADM clamp. The only small negative with the mount was that one of the azimuth slow motion knobs caught on the slow motion locking lever. I noticed this on the day it arrived and removed the offending knob. I never missed it, and I may put on a short-stalked knob which won't foul the locking lever. I'm over the Moon with the mount, it's a bargain buy at the price, it would probably be fairly at home with the Askar 140 Apo 🙂. I have never used the SkyTee Mk 11, so cannot comment on how it may compare with the StellaLyra. The pic below was taken on the night of the test, complete with snow. An extended dew shield was put on to keep the frost off.

Thanks John. I had owned one many many years ago - perhaps as many as 25 years if they've been around that long. My recollection is that they were more 'industrial' at that time. Some aspects seem to have been improved over the years, and it seems a bit smarter than I recall my original one being. It's certainly very sturdy, Hopefully I'll be able to put it through its paces tonight - but the omens are good.

This arrived this morning. The mount is FLOs version of the SkyTee 11 of course. There are some minor differences, but I'll leave those until I write a review. The important thing is, it appears steady as a rock, and we'll within the mounts capacity. It doesn't need the counterweight - I was just trying it out. Far more convenient than a GEQ for visual observations for me - especially when using the Starsense Explorer. Me buying this mount has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it can take the weight of some of the 103s larger cousins!

I'm not on Facebook but my wife went on the link re the 185. It appears to be a few pics and people's comments. I've attached two of the pics - bear in mind they are screen grabs so haven't the original resolution. The Jupiter pick was taken with the 185 - the original is much better.

I'm not trying to tempt you John, but I'd like to see a pic of the 140 on your T-Rex altaz. 🙂

Perhaps instead of asking why Askar triplets cost so little, perhaps we ought to ask why some other manufacturers charge so much. There just might be some refractor manufacturers feeling just a little nervous right now.

A lovely image Vash, thanks for posting it.

Just to say I gave much thought before buying the 103 as the price seemed too good to be true. But in the end I decide that with FLOs return policy there wasn't anything to lose. Also, though there were no visual reports when I ordered mine, but there was a good comparative imagers report with three other four inch scopes on u-tube in which the Askar stood up well to more expensive scopes. I've only had nine hours observing with it due to poor weather, but I'm very pleased with it in every way. I don't know how they manage to produce such a high quality scope with so many features for such a comparatively good price. As Peter says, if the others turn out to be as good, then they may not keep the price so low for too long.

That's quite true - also I'm VERY wealthy - but don't tell anyone else 🙂.

ASKAR 103 TRIPLET £150 KNOCKED OFF PRICE- one only under 'offers' on FLO. I should have waited a couple of weeks 😊.

I'm saving up to buy the whole set - I'm just hoping they don't introduce any more!

You've missed out the 140 version! I've just seen it listed on FLO, £2098.

The Askar 103 Triplet has a new companion. A friend of mine was kind enough to sell me a black Vixen GP mount, from the time when they were supplied with some TeleVue telescopes.

Good to hear from you Andrew. You're always welcome to come round. Regards, Paul

Hi Robert. Yes, that's correct. In actual practice I'll probably rarely take the section off for binoviewing - I tend to reserve BV for the Moon and planets. I didn't mention it, but the focus travel is 100mm, plenty enough to get focus with just about any eyepiece type I would have thought.