Skipper Billy

I agree with everything Gav said above. I found PEC training and T point a waste of time - there was no discernible improvement. Fire it up, slew to target, plate solve, image. I wouldn't get obsessed with PHD2 settings and equipment - I have guided with all sorts from a converted finderscope to a SW Evostar 72 and irrespective of equipment or settings (within reason!) it churns away at about 0.4" total RMS - worse in poor seeing but increasing the exp to 10 seconds helps as long as your PA is spot on. Cracking piece of kit - mine is the earlier model but I would expect the latest to be even better!

1370mm focal length £375 8kgs 20" long https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-telescopes/ioptron-photron-6-ritchey-chretien-telescope.html

Great stuff. My only comment would be to smear the Geoptik counterweights with some sort of waterproofing - they will go rusty if you dont! I have lacquered mine and so far they are rust free but originally they rusted with a couple of weeks. I removed it and lacquered them before it got too serious.

Thanks Gina.

I am interested in having a weather station at home and looking at the ready made ones they very quickly get very expensive! Does any one know of kits to make one or a resource to build one from scratch?? I am reasonably savvy with electronics and a dab hand with the soldering iron and fabricating things like waterproof housings etc (boatbuilder) and my son is a whizz with programming 'things'. I would want wind direction and speed, rainfall, temperature and atmospheric pressure and some sort of logging and a wifi connectivity. Any suggestions??

I had the same issue with a 2" mounted Baader OIII - exchanged without any fuss by FLO - the replacement is MUCH better.

All our boats have at least 3 batteries in parallel - charge together and discharge together - no problem.

Hello Adam Going back to the concrete question - I noticed this morning that just up the road from us a field has been dug out for foundations for a house - this site is on a severe slope and is at the edge of a moss - parked up was a car and men in hi-vis jackets labelled up 'Concrete Masters' - so I went and a had a blether with them and told them about your situation - their unanimous suggestion was straight poured concrete - no fibres or reinforcements - pick a week when no frost is forecast and cover it with tarp and keep it wet for a week. Also a bit of personal experience - my pier is not isolated from the floor - it was all done in one pour - I am never in the obsy when its in use but as a test I jumped up and down right next to the scope whilst imaging and the PHD2 trace did not record any anomoly. The pier is filled with kiddies play pit sand. Some photos here that may or may not be useful - https://www.davidbanksastro.com/micro-observatory Good luck!

Here here. I guess that many people are arriving here are from daylight photography with a DSLR and the change of terms used is a tough one to get used to.

Hello and welcome from another Lancastrian although I too have not lived there for nearly 50 years!

I dont know the answers but Bernard at Modern Astronomy will..... Modern Astronomy Ltd. 60 Purley Bury Avenue, Purley, Surrey, CR8 1JD, United Kingdom e: bernard@modernastronomy.com p: 020 8763 9953

You might need a pier adapter plate - https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/mesu-mount-accessories/mesu-pier-adapter-plate/ And you will need some muscle relaxant as your face will ache from constantly smiling when you see the guide graph and resulting images 😉

Well I would uninstall the software - then reinstall the original files then follow the above guide and see what happens - if its not successful then contact Lucas - he is very helpful and speaks good English.

Have you tried the Mesu forum or emailed Lucas??

Yes - BUT - the stuff on the USB stick contains a raft of settings particular to your mount and it may be that something has been accidentally changed. Lucas keeps copies in case you cannot locate the USB stick.

Thats a pain. Did you try my suggestion of reinstalling the 2 pieces of software that comes with the mount on a USB stick with the correct settings for the mount then following the setup guide ?? It worked for me 😉 Hi - its not trying to do a Meridian flip is it ??? Its hard to diagnose with knowing what settings you have put into the two pieces of software. Have you still got the USB stick with the base settings on it that comes with the mount?? It might be worth going back to basics and fresh settings. Then make sure you have the latest software/firmware. Then follow the attached guide to the letter!!!! (You can tell if you have the latest software when you right click on the park button you will have three park positions to choose from). The only part of setting it up that caused any issue was setting up the Meridian flip - it needed a bit of messing about between the Mesu settings and the SGP settings but apart from that it was very straightforward. Now I go out - power up - slew to clear sky and plate solve or slew to known star - sync - up and away....... Good luck!!! mesuquickguide.2087302805.pdf2.46 MB · 8 downloads

Welcome - lovely part of the world you are in - I spent a couple of happy years in Lavenham just around the corner from you!

Any progress ???

True. I had a Moonlite on an ED80 loaded up with flattener, EFW2 and 7 filters and an Atik 460 and the focuser had to be tightened to almost cracking the bearings to stop it slipping. Its all down to design though - the clutch in my sports car is a friction drive and handles lots of bhp being side stepped at full revs no problem !

If Mesu made focusers I would buy one in a heartbeat !! Until then R&P every time !!!

Blue is the diagonal Red is the focuser wheel

Hi and welcome to SGL. Have you got a diagonal with it or are you putting the eyepieces directly into the scope? If it came with a diagonal I think you will have to use it. Either way - have you focused the scope? You have to turn the silver wheel to focus - in or out - whilst looking through it. You will know if you are going the right way as the white blur will get smaller then snap into focus. You can do this in the daylight on a distant object. If the white blur gets bigger then you are going the wrong way. If none of the above helps then a photo of how you have it set up would be useful Lastly - apologies if the above sounds condescending but I have no idea of your skill level so I am starting with basics!! 😉

I like every word in the post title !!! Deep Sky - Imaging - South Pacific Island Not at all jealous !!!!! 😉

@dan_adi Any good ???

I know you are right, but I SO hope you are wrong 😉