groberts

Yes, very good + also liked the music - what is it + what equipment did you use imaging?

That's a truly great image of M31 and very interesing in black & white.  Well done

Thanks all, some good advice + seems to bear out my concerns:

(a) zoom is probably not the way to go, and

(b) tend towrds the lower end of magnifaction

Regards, Graham  

I'm looking for a monocular for general use just to carry around and look at birds, distant views etc. and would apreciate any thoughts from any monocular owners regarding (a) desirable spec and (b) any specififc monocular - budget up to £100.

I'd been hankering after the Helios 10-15x42 Zoom but have been unable to track anyone with these is stock any longer and now considering a similar Orion version https://www.astroshop.eu/instruments/orion-10-25x42-zoom-monocular/p,25379  

Any thoughts on this would be helpful or would a non-zoom say 10x42 or less mag be better?  

Thanks, Graham

Nice video Steve.

Don't do much solar but have a Bader solar filter for my WOGT81 and as it's white light anyhow, was thinking of using my ZWO1600MM-Cool + Luminance filter rather than DSLR. 

1. Will this work?
2. How do I deal with focus - it's already focussed for deep sky, so I'm presuming that'll be OK?
3. What sort of settings should be used re. exposure?
4. Multiple exposures for stacking or just single? 
5. Any other advice?

Thanks, Graham

Unless there's something wrong with my eyesight, I only see one ball head in those pictures?  

43 minutes ago, Space Oddities said:

I'm afraid the Minitrack also needs 2 ballheads to work. I'm not sure it will be an upgrade, unless you're specifically looking for something that doesn't require any battery ? 

Ah that wasn't clear to me at all! Thanks. 

42 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

I had one, works fine the maximum exposures are about as advertised. Nice construction. In all honesty though didn't really feel it was any better than a star adventurer or equivalent. Spring tension er on back is a bit of a pain to get to grips with, polar alignment is surprisingly faffy. ultimately the setup times were exactly the same as any other small system, and no matter what setup you're always going to have other things that need batteries anyway! the ticking is a bit of a pain and it had a habit of stopping in the last 20 mins of the spring wind. 

But a quality product, def not a toy, but If you already have a Polarie I think you'd regret changing. 

Thanks for the feedback.  The problem with the Polarie is the need for batteries and x2 ball heads - one off the tripod and another off the Vixen Polarie, which gets a bit cumbersome to erect and not quite as portable as I'd hoped.  Notwithstanding, it is a good piece of equipment that once set up works well and I'm likely to heed your advice on changing.

Graham   

I'm interested in replacing my Vixen Polarie with one of these - like the no batteries concept + just seems easier to use.  But has anybody got any feedback yet on actually using one please?

Graham

Very interesting,thanks for posting.

Assuming you've got another operating system with the PC do you then erase it once Ubuntu is installed?

Although obviously different, does it broadly 'feel' like Windows + intuitive to use?   

Graham

Thanks Geof, again that's very helpful. 

Sounds like we're on a similar journey as I moved to mono + filters at the beginning of last year with a ZWO1600MM-Cool camera.  I am in general quite adept with a DSLR camera and now it's processing requirements in astrophotography but have been surprised at the difference with the new - hitherto unkown - challenges with the mono camera, of course, ultimately with it's benefits too!          

Graham

Thanks Geoff, that's very interesting.  Like you I've seen the recommendations from others in favour of Registar but thought (a) what can be so wrong with DSS which I currently use and (b) the price.  I wonder if you have processed the image processed with another method whatever that is and what does it look like for comparison? Furthermore, what is your post processing - Photoshop?

Glad everything else worked well for you. I also bought the Lodestar X2 for guiding just over a year ago and am very impressed + very easy to use.

Graham

Can add nothing new, except to say this is a wonderful image that literally throws new light on the Horsehead region. 

Can't see why you'd not be happy with this Sara, it is fantastic!    

Thank you, however, the problem turns out to be more basic.  

On going back to the website and, this time, reading the information, it turns out that it is necessary to have Registax 6 downloaded and installed before downloading the update v 6.1.0.8!!  All is now well.    

I have not - how would I do that, the download process doesn't seem to offer that option?

I have been successfully running Registax 6 on a Windows 7 based laptop for some time but have just installed v 6.1.0.8  on a new Windows 10

laptop and it will not run, with the error messages: 

• Cannot run because CXCORE210.DLL is missing. Try re-installation of this program to solve the problem.
• Cannot run because CV210.DLL is missing. Try re-installation of this program to solve the problem.
• Cannot run because cv210.dll is missing. Try re-installation of this program to solve the problem.

I have tried this + deleting Registax and re-installing with no success.  Does anyone have any suggestions how to solve the problem?

Thanks, Graham