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.

9 minutes ago, Gina said:

This is mine - Arduino Based weather Station.

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!

18 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

As this is in the 'getting started' section I think it would be appropriate to say, here, that the term 'crop factor' should be dispensed with in astrophotography.  It offers a means of comparison between the field of view of 'chip x' and a traditional 35mm film-sized sensor. This is not a useful comparison in astrophotography and leads to confusion with regards to being 'zoomed in.' (This is another phrase which we should abandon.)

'Crop factor' implies 'zooming in' which in turn implies an increase in captured detail. In reality more detail requires an increase in focal length or a decrease in pixel size or both. Detail and sensor size are entirely unrelated.

We should stick to focal length, chip size and pixel size in this kind of discussion and describe resolution of detail in terms of arcseconds of sky per pixel. That way we can avoid confusion.

Olly

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! 

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

Ive a few more questions 🙈

Bent pier or wedge?

Can it be bought without either? as I can get one made locally

Can the bought bent pier be bolted directly to the floor or is it a bit over engineered / too large at the base and more suited as a tripod?

Could I just pour a deep base for the whole observatory and forget about a large block for the pier base if I’m going for a large bolted down design, since it’s not going to be centred if it’s bent?

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

4 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Apart from CWs for the Mesu, are there any additional purchase costs?

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 😉 

1 hour ago, Skipper Billy said:

mesuquickguide.2087302805.pdf2.46 MB · 8 downloads

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.

On 18/12/2019 at 22:50, Skipper Billy said:

MESU-OPTICS
Lucas Mesu
Jasmijnstraat 14
5492 JT Sint-Oedenrode
Tel: +31 (0) 413-479981
E-mail: info@mesu-optics.nl

He will want to resolve this with you - people struggling with a Mesu is rare and he will want to keep it that way!

Have you tried the Mesu forum or emailed Lucas??

1 hour ago, dan_adi said:

I have the latest software that is on the sitech site. If nothing else works I will reinstall sitech software.

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 ???

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

The difference may be that the friction drive of a well balanced mount is a fairly low-torque application. A focuser pointing at the zenith with a heavy CCD rig,  filterwheel and reducer-flattener is a pretty high torque application. I'm not an engineer but I have one staying and will see what he thinks. I'm certainly R and P for preference.

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 ! 

14 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Yet you swear by Mesu - both being friction based products

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 ???

48 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Not too surprised. Many red giants are semi-regular long period variable stars. Not likely to be the the herald of anything spectacular

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