Thalestris24

I found some stuff - invoice and registration ack. Looks like I created an account then registered on the web site. Not sure if export@jeulin.com is still their correct email. If it is you can contact them to check the ordering procedure, if you need to. Part of invoice - the shipping and handling adds a fair bit... Louise

You may do. I can't remember now but I'll have a look back through my emails. Make sure you are buying from Jeulin, not Ovio. Louise

You only need the disk itself tho I got one with the holder not realising at the time you could get one without, d'uh. However, they are quite fragile. Have fun! Louise

Just go here: 12 simple radial slots - 40 mm diameter token - Jeulin Add to basket. I think you have to create an account. It's 3 yrs since I bought mine so not sure if anything has changed.... Louise

Hi there! Well I'm afraid I'm not doing any serious astro anymore. It's really the lack of clear skies that's the problem. It's rare that I can look out and see more than a couple of bright stars. Even if it's not actually cloudy the amount of water in the atmosphere negates transparency. An exception might be frosty winter nights but, as I enter my twilight years, I can't cope with the cold anymore - not even from inside the flat. Louise

I got it basically working but kept dropping it! I just got frustrated and put it to one side. I've not really done any serious astro for most of the last 2 years. The sky conditions here have become terrible (they always were but now it's just too difficult to do anything interesting so all of my astro equipment just gathers dust I hope you fare better. Louise

Hi Rick You just need a camera rotator - maybe one of these Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics T2 Thread 360° Rotation and Quick Changer - 5,5mm short or similar. Louise

Thanks for your reply though my post was from nearly 3 years ago... Louise

Yeah - Night of the Demon movie and Kate Bush 'Hounds of Love' Great movie and great song cleverly mashed together here Louise

ps Very impressive for 10sec exposures!

"It's in the trees! It's coming! The demon - it's coming!" Louise

Have downloaded 'Open Camera' and taken a few more phone pics. Open Camera lets you operate the shutter with just a noise, which is handy. However, images are still unsharp and I've come to the conclusion it's because of thermals. Nothing I can do about that. A short focal length would help. My F4 300mm Pentax lens would probably work quite well but I'd need an EP (T2-1.25") adapter for it. I could make one Louise

I'll have to try that 'Vantage' just to see if it's of any real use. I installed my old/new Green Cell battery earlier but it was dead, Jim 😢. My fault. Surprising that the original battery still works albeit only lasts about an hour now. I've ordered a new 4400mAh one. I'll install it straightaway this time! Louise

Oh never mind - it's the thought that counts! My win 10 home won't let me use the remote desktop feature but the Project/Connect lets me do the same thing over my LAN so all's good. Mind you, not tried it in anger yet. I need to sort out all these blessed cables. I would probably benefit from having some very short male to female usb cables, if I can get such things. I can use a usb hub for some things, I suppose. The laptop only has 3 usb connectors - not enough for some things. Louise

Yeah, mine just has a couple of spring-loaded latches - out with the old, in with the new! Fingers crossed! Louise

The adapter actually came today! I had a quick daytime go on the frac - the adapter seemed ok, generally. The only trouble is my phone has a soft case and I don't really want to have to remove it. Still, I was able to get it in position. I had to set it up to use remotely via a desktop. Of course, any small vibration would be disastrous! Even so, I think there may still have been some vibration as the image wasn't as sharp as I'd hoped. It may have been just that I took the image through window glass else it might have been to do with the autofocus. On first switching on the camera there was just a relatively small, bright, round circle. But I realised I had to expand it with finger and thumb on the phone touch screen . Much better! I'm not sure about using it at night except on the moon. I don't know how long an exposure the phone can take but it's probably not long enough for anything faint. I'll try it on the microscope when I can. Anyway, here's my first go: Just a distant pylon (much reduced in size. There is some shadowing on each side - I'm not sure if that may just be caused by the soft cover which does get in the way a bit). I'll try some more shots when I can. Louise

Well it's actually Li-ion though I don't know if there is any real difference in charging characteristics etc.? Thinking about it, I've never tried running the laptop without a battery i.e. just plugged in the mains. Not sure if that would work or if something terrible might happen! I've been 'sitting' on the new battery for several years for fear of something going wrong if I removed the original battery! Not rational of me, I know, but it's actually my first laptop so no experience of them. It sounds like it might (probably has!) have age deteriorated, as you say. In which case - my bad. It can't be worse than the original one which discharges pretty quick in use. I'll be brave and attempt the swap tomorrow. What's the worst that could happen? The same ones cost about £45 to replace now Louise

Oh great, thanks for that, Peter! I've always been thrown by the laptop warning about it being fully charged with the charger still plugged in. But not leaving it at 100% charge when not in use makes sense! I think! Cheers Louise

... ever so slightly remote! In my quest to get rid of as many cables off my deathtrap floor 😮 , I came up with the bright idea of going wireless. The idea being that I could have my (albeit now ageing) laptop located at the particular mount/telescope I want to use with short usb cables just between the laptop and the mount. Then monitor and control everything from my remote desktop. 'Remote' being around 2-4 metres away My first thought was to achieve this using Windows Remote Desktop but then I found my Windows 10 Home doesn't support it . No matter, I thought, there are other options and, in my mind had settled on TightVNC - free and basic. But then came across this Windows 10 feature - Project and Connect. Things like that have never previously been on my radar and I only acquired a wifi card for my imaging desktop this last week. So installed that, together with a wireless access point. My old Virgin Media router supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz - but not at the same time! I should really get an upgrade from Virgin but it's so much hassle... Anyway, the TP-link access point didn't cost a fortune and the pcie wifi card only cost about £16 off Ebay. Anyway, got the access point set up in dual speed mode and talking to the laptop and desktop. The laptop, being from 2014, only supports 2.4GHz, and not at a transfer great speed, but it's always been adequate. I've ordered a cheap replacement/upgrade wifi card for it via the slow boat from China - should be here in the Spring, sometime! So after a bit of fiddling I've been able to project the screen and controls wirelessly from the laptop to the desktop - result! I wish I'd done it before! So I can now control the laptop remotely and whatever is on the laptop screen appears on the Desktop For my purposes, it's all I need. I got a bit confused because my online research suggested I needed Miracast-compatible hardware, which I apparently don't. However, everything seems to work ok via the Win10 utilities. Of course, I still have to have some cables across the floor e.g. mains psu's and cables, but no more usb spaghetti! Well, when I've sorted it all out . I ought to be able to rationalise the mains cables also, with a bit of thought. Ooh, does anyone know if it's possible to have a laptop battery charger plugged in for long periods without it ruining the battery? My original 2014 battery has pretty much had it so needs replacing. I've had a new one sitting around for over 2 1/2 years now, lol. Hope it's still ok... Louise

It's not the money, it's the principle!

Well, at least it wasn't a complete waste - I'll have to try it on some dso's, if I get the chance. Louise

Had a good view of the Moon with the aspheric on my 115mm/f6.95 frac and 2x Barlow Shame I don't have my phone adapter yet! Should come next week, hopefully. Louise

That's different from driver. The beta driver was the one I said you had to select manually. Hope all goes well now! Louise

That must have been the beta driver?

It may be just the microscope use. I've put it a 115mm frac so will have a look through in daytime, and night time - if we ever get a clear night! Thanks Louise