Alien 13

Enjoyed that but again all the talks have been excellent. Alan

Might be worth giving the telescope tube a dose of sunlight too as it could be harboring some fungal spores. when I put my camera lenses or lens cell out for a sunbathe I put some tinfoil on the other end of the lens so it gets a double dose and reduces the risk of the lens causing a fire.... best to point it away from direct sunlight too. Alan

You can make up your own cleaning fluid with 99.999% isopropyl alcohol and distilled water but why bother considering its almost impossible to buy the distilled water bit.... Alan

Thanks Grant, thats great news, the Affinity Photo user base seems to be growing recently and it is becoming a genuine contender to PS... Alan

Very good talk and learned lots, would be interested how much of this is transferable into Affinity Photo which I have moved to from CS6... Alan

Must get one, looks like an ideal solution to a portable set up with DSLR and lens. Alan

Not sure you got it all even on that excellent image Alan

Thats good, had a look on google and there are lots of pictures of the battery door so you could make something up but there does seem to be a plentiful supply of battery doors on e-bay or you could buy a battery grip instead which will do the same job. Alan

Hi Brendan I dont know the details of your camera but Canon models generally have a small protrusion on the battery cover that engages with a micro switch on the camera body, it is possible that this broke off the lid at some point but you should be able to test this by using a cocktail stick or similar to depress the switch manually or it could be that the switch has got stuck and again the same method just mentioned could free it.. Alan

I wonder how many of us already have a plan at the back of our minds on capturing the first moments of the bang, remember it will be possible to image it in daylight too especially at higher effective "magnifications". Alan

I use my f/4 Canon 70-200mm with a X2 teleconvertor a lot for normal daytime shots and Lunar when I want a quick grab and go but ultimately for DSO I would opt for a small scope if using the SW adventurer something like the 61mm WO or the Red Cat.. Alan

I managed to run some tests this morning with this power bank and it run fine. I also did some measurements using one of these which is a very handy bit of kit and found my single axis motor was drawing 0.25A when tracking and 0.35A during a slew. The output voltage remained at 5.2V throughout. With those figures the power bank listed could run my mount for up to 40 hours.. Alan

I have so many now but I started with the realy cheap pound shop ones, I would add that the more expensive models with "smart capability" might shut down if they are not drawing enough current (easily fixed by plugin in a red USB light or similar into the second socket). Alan P.S. will test out my mount tomorrow with one of my later smart powerbanks and post results etc.

A mobile phone power bank will run that mount fine, the output is normally 5,2V which is greater than the 4.8V you will get from rechargeable D cells....just chop the end off a standard USB cable and solder a connector. I got a 10AH one for less than £10 and will run my mount for around 30 hours non stop. Alan

Moving any object with mass, be it a single proton or a huge ship makes little difference at close to light speeds so the heavy stuff will have to take the slow ride but you could send an automated factory unit first then update it on a regular basis at light speed on what to build next..... Alan

I have frequently chopped the end off some allen keys with a dremil to give a fresh surface and if that didn't work I have bonded the key in position with some gorilla glue.... a sharp twist usually shifts the stubborn hex screw. Alan

I would think a battery grip for your DSLR might be useful, not only can it carry two batteries at once but more importantly allows access to the batteries from the side of the camera so as not to disturb your setup if you wanted to swap them out. Another benefit is that a grip removes a potential heat source from the camera internals by putting the battery outside the camera body. I kept the remote option with my setup by having a wireless intervalometer which allows me to do the initial set up using the Canon camera connect app over wifi before switching to to the intervalometer. Alan

I would say thats a very good result given the conditions. I do like self contained set ups, proper grab and go and having wifi control of a DSLR is a joy for me. Alan

What software did you use to stack the frames? if it was DSS then contrary to popular belief (have found that using DSS processing is far far better than anything else) use the sliders in that to get a decent image and a final tweek in PS. Alan

That was enjoyable, do have a follow up question though...do exoplanet systems form in the same plane as the galaxy rotation or is it random? Alan

Nice unboxing but do think you need to beg/borrow/steal a Canon 6D or similar as this will likely be its favored partner.. Alan

The 102 Mak is a very good performer but will not show the wide field visual views of the Newt but if you ever think of hanging a camera off them then the Mak is much much much better. Alan

If you are using the focusser compression rings you can get either this or the more expensive WO one, you wont need two inch of extension with a FF/FR. Alan

More Chris Lintott talks please, this was wonderful.. Alan

I am not sure if primes are actually better, I have the 50mm f/1.8 STM lens and the std kit 18-55mm IS and guess which one is better, its the same with my 70-200mm against a 200mm prime. The problem with some primes is that they have to be stopped down to f/4 anyway while most zooms work ok wide open, obviously very good primes like the Samyang range will win out at a price. Alan