Rob_Jn

Phew, I have succeeded in cleaning it without removing the lens but took a soft lens cloth on a rod and gently tried rubbing a small area and it seemed to clean up, carried on very carefully and although it’s not perfect it’s nearly back to normal ( most of the dust you can see is on the outside now 😊) I suspect I’ve been very lucky in that it has started to develop recently with the onset of damp and cold weather. Lesson learned though I’ll be keeping it indoors from now on. thanks for all the advice guys, Rob

I’m glad something good has come out of my troubles Mike, William Optics are well known over here, I’ve had the 72FD for 10 years or so and it’s always performed very well. I’ll probably expose to some UV as Jonk has suggested (we have a uv exposure frame where I work in the absence of sunlight at the moment!) but very carefully, I don’t want to degrade the paintwork. Rob

Yeah I thought it looked a bit more suspicious, worried that it might be between the lens elements 😒

I’ve come to use my WO72FD after some months stored in my observing shed in a case and found a deposit on the inner surface of the lens. I’ve tried blowing warm air down the tube thinking it was just condensation but no luck. I can get the dew cap back to reveal the lens housing which has a grub screw in. I removed the grub screw thinking the lens housing might screw off but no luck. Anyone know if it should screw off or will I have to clean the inner surface down the tube? thanks, Rob

Thanks 😊 I meant to mention JPL had the predicted mag as 14 but I think it was more like 15-16, maybe 14 in the ‘glints’. NASA updated the story yesterday. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7795&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily20201202-1 confirming the spectrum matches another Centaur stage wandering about up there 😊

Managed to catch this last night moving eastwards across Gemini as it passed close to the Earth. This has been designated an asteroid but is in all probability the upper stage of the Centaur rocket that launched the ill-fated Surveyor to the Moon in 1966. I think the image confirms this is man made as it appears to be tumbling and possibly glinting in the moonlight every ~10s. This is a gif of 3 frames 60s each through my 12" f5 reflector, 23:10 to 23:12UT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_SO

I’m a bit limited with where I can mount the camera so couldn’t guarantee I might not get some illumination down the tube but I might be able to rig up a nearby post perhaps? The Amazon blink looks a good choice. Ah the SPC900 😊 can’t get hold of one now it seems, my old ToUcam probably would have done the job but it packed in a few years ago. thanks for the ideas guys

I’m imaging and the CCD is very sensitive to IR, ok most filters block most of the IR but I don’t like the thought of illuminating my rig with IR. Do you get any problems?

I’m looking to place a webcam to monitor my telescope while it’s operating automatically to make sure nothing untoward is happening. Can anyone recommend a webcam for doing this? The security types I’ve looked at all seem to have IR illumination fitted and the one I have for general use can’t see a thing in the dark. thanks, Rob

A very nice image, I would be very pleased with that too, agree on the more delicate processing approach. Bought an OIII a couple of months go but haven't used it yet to do some HOO the rosette is probaby too far to the west now.

Thanks 🙂 I like the drawing, it's certainly less stressful than imaging!

M15 from the 28th, 144x60s subs, always difficult to process colour with so much LP but PI's photometric colour calibration helped make the task much easier.

Thanks for all the advice, very helpful, I suspected the Astronomic was too good to be true. The Baader filter is probably worth a try at £200 for a 1.25" I think. Rob

Looking to try some bicolour images as my light pollution is much worse sine the installation of LED street lighting nearby and wondering what the best value OIII filter is for CCD. I already have an Astronomik 12nm Ha filter, would an Astronomik OIII be worth getting? Thanks, Rob

The thread on the clamps are M8

I use a 13/16" socket seems to fit quite well though I'm sure they will be metric so I suppose 20 or 21mm would be correct. I'll have a look at the thread in daylight tomorrow unless anyone jumps in first.... Rob

Nice setup, been considering one of these so I'd be interested to see how you get on with imaging through it. Is the steel tube rigid enough? What gauge is the steel? Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the tips, glad to know I have the correct bar. Rob

OK I'm new to dovetail bars Strange though that may seem ☺ I have just took delivery of an eq8 mount and bought a Losmandy 15" type d bar for it. I have fitted the bar on and was surprised to see a gap between the mount and the bar of a few mm. Is this normal? Have I got the right bar for the mount