Neil27

Great write up, and now a proud RC owner …. 😉👍🔭

Thanks Jeremy, as do I one day. I’m fairly patient so will bide my time, unless the right numbers turn up of course then the gloves can come off 🙃😉

Brand loyalty is a difficult concept that I struggle with and I guess it comes down to, for me anyway, if your happy with a product then I’ll continue to buy from that product range / manufacturer. One of the reasons i bought another esprit telescope after selling my esprit 150, both exceptional scopes and product range for the price. I can add a little to the Tak appreciation, the only scope I wish i hadn’t ever sold was my beautiful TOA 130, but personal circumstances unfortunately won the day on that one. I still look out for one when they come up on the second hand market and one day I will pull the trigger. Something about that mottled green paint and glorious optics evoke wonderful memories of my first glimpses of the planets.

Possibly 419 images, each one 60 seconds , just under 7 hours?

Adam, a truly amazing image. Well done!

I know the feeling Nigella, since buying my mount in May 2021, I have only just accurately polar aligned using sharp cap over Christmas. The struggle against RL and clouds can be an issue.

Thanks @Laurin Dave, ordered 👍 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-misc-mounting-accessories/adm-universal-adapter-block-uab.html

Thanks @Len1257 Its an esprit 100 and although not a massive issue the clearance between the focus lock and the dovetails is a couple of mm, not ideal. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a 3D printer but may ask at work. I know there are a few milling machines 🤔😉

Hi, Realise I possibly need several of these to ‘lift’ my scope away from the dovetail due to interference with the rotator and focus lock. Does anyone in the UK supply these? https://www.admaccessories.com/product/risers-threaded-or-through-hole-riser-blocks/ Possibly thinking of asking local machine shop as well.

Finally worked it out, a big thanks to @teoria_del_big_bang and @The Lazy Astronomer for the help in pointing me to the right links and previous threads. QHY certainly don’t make it easy.

Last post for awhile, I’m now broke 😏😆 ……… Lovely 7inch ADM dovetail from @geeklee, arrived very well packed, thanks mate! Optolong filters and D1 kit for my QHY camera, delivered safely from Modern Astronomy, great service as always from Bernard.

New ADM losmandy dovetail from @FLO, now attached and ready for action …..

A cat, more specifically a RedCat entered the house today ……

Thanks LA, I think I have it sorted, adaptor kit has been ordered. QHY do make it difficult trying to sort out b/f looking around the web, ZWO certainly appear to be ‘adaptor’ friendly. Thanks for the advice though, appreciated.

Thanks Lee for the help, appreciated. Great illustration from the websites you linked and it explained it very well. I should receive the RedCat tomorrow all being well, no doubt with a dose of clouds, apologies for that 🤐😊

Come back to this hobby after a hiatus of around 10 years to so. Previous attempts were with a Canon 450d and it worked. Fast forward to now and I have an Esprit 100 (with flattener) and a red cat 51 scope. Camera is the QHY268C, No filters yet as deciding what I need best for my skies, states bortle 4! So advice please on correct spaces and adaptors for achieving back focus with the Esprit / flattener and same question for the red cat. I’ve searched online and looked at many diagrams from QHY, I think I have the answers, (55mm back focus from flattener to chip) and the diagram I am using is the one attached, kit D1. Just would love someone to confirm I am on the right track. Also found this useful adapter for using 2 inch filters with the esprit flattener, anyone else use it? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-filter-cell-adapter-for-sky-watcher-esprit-flatteners.html Next question does anyone have experience of attaching a QHY268C to a red cat, if so how did you do it and get a 2 inch filter into the imaging train? Thanks for reading,

Great capture Nigella, glad the EQ8 is working out for you as well 👍🔭

Looks good AD, and a lot better than my first ‘smudges’ some real detail in the nebulosity. I know the feeling, always nice to capture something when viewing though the telescope. Maybe next try a DSLR with raw settings and see what you get. Try really short exposures, say 10 seconds at first. And welcome to the long dark slippery slope of astrophotography!

I had the same woes as you. The mount is exceptional in operation, mechanically it is wonderfully engineered. The software is somewhat a different story I found. Many of the issues encountered were operator error though, as the learning curve for Sitech is near vertical. A few things I found useful when setting it up - Follow the guide at the front end of this thread by @Jonk, it really is useful. So much so I have it printed out to remind myself to always unpark when starting and parking when finishing. If you don’t do these an offset innit is required so the mount ‘knows’ where it is. Another tip, check that your comm port is the same in the Sitech utility programme as the Sitech cfg file, (this is accessed when you start Sitech as normal and then can make changes to your cfg settings). I had connection issues for a while and it turned out to be this. Another tip, when syncing on a star and the countdown starts on the offset innit, make sure your scope is pointing either west or east, there is a check box you tick before hitting the offset innit button. Checking the wrong button will throw out any go tos. Personally I wouldn’t bother with the point xp and just do an offset innit, and use plate solving in NINA. It’s your choice of course but plate solving seems so easy to do it makes having precise sky models ‘pointless’ 😉👍 After honing my polar alignment very accurately and now doing several offset innit I’ve been using the sky chart within Sitech and find gotos pretty accurate for me. Enjoy the mount and if you have any questions, please ask. I’m a newbie myself but the guys on here are very helpful and 6 months ago I was overwhelmed by the mount, but just asked lots of questions and slowly got there. Now it’s just turn on the mount, start Sitech, unpark, starts tracking, open up sky view, click on object, press goto, mount moves, then stops on the object, start imaging! The mount now is the least of my worries, back focus, poor focusing, etc have overtaken my concerns with the mount, which is testament to the mounts capability. Hope this helps,

Hi Matt, Warm welcome as well from a fellow Lincoln lad. If you need any advice happy to assist.

Do tell more …. 🥳😂

I’ll add my two penneth as well. After a few ‘operator’ error moments and learning the idiosyncrasies of the Sitech software I can get it to track and point at stuff in the sky. Its done it twice in a row now with minimal coercion from me, I’d say that’s a success! 😊

Sorry Nigella 😊😉 Courtesy of @callisto arrived safe and sound. And it’s lashing down outside 😂

Hi @Wonderweb I’m just perfecting my PA routine and am planning on using my ‘smaller’ scope the Altair 80mm, focal length of 560mm I think and this seems adequate. For sharp cap as long as you can see 1 degree x 1 degree of sky and are no greater than 5 degrees away from pole you should be fine, well thats the theory anyway 😉👍 Not tried it in anger yet, just bought the sharp cap pro licence.

I feel your pain. It really hasn’t been great viewing / imaging weather of late. Since buying my Mesu, Esprit and 268c camera, I’ve had 4 decent nights when everything has aligned. First 2 nights spent getting the mount and ageing laptop trying to talk to each other and get a handle of how to use this mount, third night getting the camera drivers and focus sorted out. 4th night (last night) trying to start the PA process. All this since July, it’s a real struggle. If I didn’t have my observatory I would struggle even more so I understand your comments about leaving your Astro equipment unattended. At least strictly has started so maybe dance classes instead?😂 💃 🕺