tomato

Yes, that is correct. The lift may look awkward, but if the scope is put horizontal on the mount, with the clamps loosened you can just tilt it out of the dovetail with these handles. If you have tall tripod/pier it would be harder but my pier was a short one for imaging use only.

Do you want the handle to stay on permenantly? @Tomatobro made these for an Esprit 150, from aluminium angle and some sturdy plastic handles off the internet. They do have to be bolted on and off but I safely put the scope on and off the mount with these maybe 30+ times before I got a permanent setup.

I have a very bright LED streetlight adjacent to my back garden and have recently taken up visual astronomy on the back lawn. I was thinking of erecting some poles along the boundary fence and attaching a blackout curtain to this but realised we have a ruddy great tilt able parasol in the garden already. When put up in the correct location, it blocks the streetlight a treat! Nobody will see you putting it up at 11 pm.😃

What a brilliant film! I just love the footage of British engineering in a bygone age, and the approach to health and safety. Steel erectors riding on the crane lifts, machinists gently caressing the workpiece while it’s still turning in the lathe, ah those were the days. But what an achievement, they looked really chuffed at the end of the film and so they should.

I have to adjust the collimation every time I use the scope as it gets a bumpy ride from the garage to the back garden. I slacken the o rings completely then tighten them up in the focuser each time, then carry out the collimation process. This has given me excellent star shapes (but visual only) every session so I have to conclude the Collimator is ending up central in the focuser each time.

I think he is based in Cambridgeshire so might not be too far for you to take it.

Sorry to hear about this unfortunate event, I have come across a few mishaps related here on SGL, but not this combination. +1 for trying Es Reid to see if a bench test is possible. From memory FLO charge £75 for one on a new Esprit purchased from them, so I presume a test service is available. I think adjustment of the collimation is possible, but I’m not sure what could be done if there is more damage done than that.😕

My experience agrees with Olly. The dust mote pattern (and alas I don't keep and assemble the kit in clean room conditions, so there are a few bunnies on there) is the same on all 4 filters, telling me the dust that counts is on the camera sensor window.

Spikes or no spikes, I’m looking at the galaxy, and that’s first class👍

I have a slightly different take on “the best scope is the one you use the most”, at the end of the day I think it is a balance between what you want to see, convenience and budget. The ultimate grab and go instrument is the mk 1 eyeball, and that works fine for some folks but most of us into the night sky want to see more and buy a scope or binoculars. What really matters to me for visual is glimpsing faint objects and maximising detail, I have a reasonably dark location and I am prepared for some set up and take down ‘hassle’ to get the best views at the eyepiece. I don’t like the idea of always wishing I could see more so I went for the biggest aperture I could afford, knowing that this would be big and heavy and require time and effort to set up. However I do understand that this philosophy won’t work for a lot of people, its just my take on it.

Me also. I keep the same flats until I disturb the optical train which is usually a few weeks unless we have a particularly lean spell of clear nights.

Here is one hour of Lum integration from last night, taken with Esprit 150/ASI 178. The object was very low down for me but the SN is still quite distinct through the murk.

Yup, neither of the two Esprits on the rig have ever had an eyepiece anywhere near them. The previous scope I bought you can't look through if you tried, your head would block the photons. But several years ago I had a really great first visual session with a 20" Dob at Eddington Lodge in North Cornwall, unfortunately the dark sky/large aperture combination rather spoilt me, I keep comparing my current visual forays back to that experience.

Great capture, following it by hand must be quite a challenge.

One of my favourite targets will soon be imageable again from my location so in anticipation I dusted off 150 mins of RASA8/ QHY268c data from last year to see if I have improved my processing skills over the last 10 months or so. This was processed in Startools 1.7 rather than APP. This year I am planning a 6 panel mosaic using an Esprit150 with FR and a KAF 8300 for Lum, and a 150 with the QHY268c for RGB. I also want a decent integration time with the RASA/OSC set up so I am hoping for a mid August heatwave.

Well, we at least get to see some great footage from their indulgences, and I do respect the faith they have in their respective vehicles to take the ride. So why doesn't Mr Musk go one better and orbit the globe with his outfit?

I’ll always be an imager first and foremost, but I recently acquired a Dobsonian to do a bit of visual now that the imaging rig behaves itself.😉 But third session out, what do I find myself doing? Taking shots of the moon at the eyepiece with my smartphone. Ah well, I tried…

I had the same problem a while back when using SGP, it has gone away since switching to NINA, but I am also running Win 10.

I Know I shouldn't be shooting galaxies in a light sky but like everyone else I'm not letting these clear nights go to waste. This is NGC 7331, taken with the dual Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig. L 83 x 3 mins RGB 20 x 3 mins Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in Startools and Pixinsight Thanks for looking

As part of @rorymultistorey's BAT project, I have been trying lucky imaging of M27 with the Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig. This is the best 624 x 5 sec Lum subs of over 1000 taken, trying to capture more detail in the brighter regions than would normally be achieved with longer exposures.

That’s a fine M31 first DSO image. I can only echo Steve’s comments, the star shapes look like a camera spacing issue, as the elongation is similar in all 4 corners and the centre stars are good. I understand from your previous posts you are based in the UK so this image wasn’t captured in Astro darkness, the quality of your DSO broadband images will improve once the dark nights return.👍

Just for info, I imaged with an Altair 107 APO and Moravian G2-8300 plus guidescope on a belt modded HEQ5. It was a nice setup, guiding around 0.6-0.7 arcsec RMS total.

Congratulations to all, lots of diversity in the entries, and really stunning winning images.👍

Hi Brad, I think OVL are the UK distributors for Skywatcher, http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astronomy_faqs.html If you are prepared to waive your new scope warranty there are some good people on SGL who might have a go at fixing the problem, but there are no guarantees that they can fix it. Have a look at this thread:

Agreed, not impressed with the choice of host for the live stream...