Skipper Billy

35 minutes ago, Midnight_lightning said:

I still want the best raw ingredients I can produce

 

You do!  I have noticed that after I changed my budget scope for the Takahashi I do a LOT less in Pixinsight! 

21 minutes ago, Midnight_lightning said:

Pretty much. I will look at each sub and say, could it be better? What could I do to make it better? But I will also ask was it worth the extra £? 

Fair enough - I have just looked up the price of the Esprit - it's MUCH cheaper than I thought it was and an absolute bargain I would suggest!

The Tak is about 6k but you wouldnt need any flatteners etc.

Its also worth bearing in mind that a skilled processor would turn out images form a budget scope on a budget mount with a budget camera and filters made from sweetie wrappers that would wipe the floor with my efforts from a reasonably specced outfit!

2 minutes ago, Midnight_lightning said:

The 106Q is out of my budget  so I didn't look at it

But you said ......

19 minutes ago, Midnight_lightning said:

I really like the Esprit I'm still hoping there is something even better if I spend a bit more.

Would you be looking at every sub and be thinking would it have been better with a Tak??

Just playing devils advocate! 😉 

I have heard that the Esprits are not too shy of Takahashi performance but if my Tak 106 was ever stolen or damaged I would buy the same again without a doubt - flat right into the corners even with a full frame sensor, zero spacing issues, tight round stars.

But will a HEQ5 do it justice??  Probably not - I would spend the money on the mount then look at a better scope.

Uncropped image attached - Tak 106 and Atik 16200

3 hours ago, Northernlight said:

Billy out of interest  - have you tried any unguided imaging with your Mesu - And if so, how long can you go before loosing round stars ?

Never tried it - I stay on the side of a large sea loch and we usually have either a sea breeze or a land breeze so even if the mount were capable of long subs without tracking I would still guide due to the persistent breeze.

This graph is from last week on a rare still(ish) night - you can see that in several minutes not a single corrective pulse was issued.

Tempting???

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=160936

Might be worth posting a 'wanted' ad on here and ABS?

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/browse.php

Most of us tend to take great care of our gear and I have bought several things from both places and been entirely satisfied.

I use a 72ED for guiding along with a Lodestar - works superbly.

Important to have the right imaging / guiding ratio - there is a very good calculator here - http://astronomy.tools/calculators/guidescope_suitability

Mesu - 75kgs for imaging.

http://www.modernastronomy.com/images/products/Sky_firstlightmesu.pdf

If you planning to set up and break down every session juts be aware that the Mesu is heavy.  With the c/wshaft and cw weights mine is approaching 45kgs. 

10 minutes ago, Saganite said:

That is exactly the way I did mine, with 16mm resin anchors.

Me too.

Drilling the holes took less than 30 mins with a decent 20mm masonry bit and an SDS drill. Mine is anchored down with 14mm studs into 20mm holes so there was plenty of room for the construction epoxy.

Some photos of the pier are here https://www.davidbanksastro.com/micro-observatory

and the bottom of this page https://www.davidbanksastro.com/micro-observatory

I would support the idea of casting the concrete and adding a steel pier for all the reasons given above.

My pier is a short length of scrap thick walled steam pipe with a flange welded on each end - cost me a bottle of single malt. 

Its bolted down flush and although it has a 'rats cage' at the top its 8 x 14mm bolts not 3 weedy 8 - 10mm studs that I can well imagine would allow flexure.

There is about 0.6 cubic metres of concrete in the base. 

It holds a Mesu 200 and about 30kgs of rig without any issues whatsoever.

This from last week on a breezy day.

Ah a Fifer!

Enjoy yourself and keep well.

A warm welcome from the West Coast of the Highlands !!! Whereabouts do you stay - Scotland is a big country! 😉 

Yours Aye!

55 minutes ago, miguel87 said:

I dont mind people knowing where I live, all my neighbours know, my postman knows, my amazon delivery man knows, my employer knows, my friends know.

With respect they aren't the people who are likely to nick your rig.

I know from bitter experience that some thieves troll forums where people have high value kit with a view to nick them.  Many years ago I posted a photo of my new Harley on a Harley forum and the 'for sale' board for our house was in the photo. The culprit was caught and he admitted that he had called the estate agent - described the house and got the address - the estate agent very kindly informed him that viewings could only be done in the evening as we were both at work during the day - by the following evening I was sans Harley. I got it back and he got smacked legs but it taught me a lesson.

Does this help?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yAtelH3YXG_d0xl4wYrmEsxQdNax-Tj_/view

It's always a sad day when it all goes into a cupboard until late August but the last couple of weeks has been an unexpected bonus so I can't complain. It's in a coma and having a nice rest 😉 

This morning..... and this afternoon....

F

26 minutes ago, apophisOAS said:

How often do you have to replace the dessicant tablet on the 460?

I see a large black screw head on it , is that where you put it in?

I used to put a fresh on in at the start of each season after a similar problem to Carole's.

Yes!

I have asked Grant at FLO if they will stock this book to save on the crazy postage cost/import duty etc.

He has emailed the publisher so fingers crossed.

+1 for the Mesu

I had yet another night last night bored to tears..................

(and this was in really poor seeing / odd clouds wandering about. Loaded with about 26kgs of gear)

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy. Definitely the last image of this season. Just 90 mins of Luminance binned 1x1 and 20 mins each of RGB binned 2x2. There is less than 2 hours of astronomical darkness now - so that's it now until late August. Short exposure time makes the image more 'noisy' and my telescope is not really suited to imaging galaxies so this is heavily cropped which again increases the noise.

Hi res here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/113316085@N05/49821083673/in/album-72157675109735132/

What FL scope are you guiding?? Not the Guide scope - the imaging scope??  May be no need to change your guide scope - a 50mm guide scope is usually good for guiding up to about 1000mm imaging scope.

An ASI 120 should work just fine with it.

Beautiful !!  Well done and great to see you back 'in the saddle'.