Owmuchonomy

1 hour ago, Cabstarman said:

Thanks, that’s interesting & good to know. Did your optical tube come supplied with a case/bag? Not sure if the Sky-Watcher does either.

No it didn't. I just keep it in the original box with the end supports.

My AZ Gti handles my MAK 127 very easily.  I purchased the Bresser version for several reasons.  It has a full 127 aperture unlike the SW version and has a significantly better baffle system.  It is slightly more expensive but better for it.

Getting any detail for Venus is a great result.

‘Up and right’ are the same as the normal tracking direction of the mount so against the backlash motion.

The dongle sets up its own Wi-fi so you don’t use a router. As Dean says for IOS two devices are required if you want to use Sky Safari too. I have done that but the Synscan App is comprehensive so I don’t need SkySafari too. Regarding range I can wander around the  6 acre field up at the Obsy and it stays connected to my phone.

I had a 12" flex tube Synscan Dob.  It was definitely a two person effort to deal with.  The mount only just fits through a standard door.  As well as being heavy you can skin your knuckles each time you try to get it outside.  I found it best to get help.  The same applies to collimation.  It is a slow job on the primary unless there is two of you because the tube is too long to manipulate the adjusters and look through the Cheshire/EP simultaneously.  Under my skies it didn't offer anything better than my 9.25 SCT when well collimated so I sold it.  The GoTo was remarkably accurate though for such a beast.

@FLOI can't see anywhere the weight of the 80mm f/10.  Can you post that please?

Yes, Seymchan is reported as very stable but even so it’s staying in my box.

I was lucky enough to get a slice of Seymchan (pallasite) recently.  Found in a dried up river bed in NE Siberia.  I made a presentation box with 2 LED panels so I can pass it round during our events at LTO.  The children love to switch it on as they pass it round.

The grinding noise is the clutch taking effect.  This is most likely down to poor balance set up of your equipment and/or too tight an adjustment on your worm drives(s).

Hi both @John @Telescope40; sorry I didn't catch your post earlier.  I think I mentioned in this thread or in the other one where I tested the click-lock that the flange is not compatible with my Moonlite.  It is larger than both the ED80 (I still use) and the ED120 (I sold on).  I'm not aware that Moonlite have produced a compatible unit.  The stock focuser on the ED150 is actually very good; it holds my kit steady in better fashion than the stock ED80 unit.  I don't put loads of weight on it because I don't image much with it except the Moon with my ASI290MM.   Regarding the scope then I am very happy with it.  It produces extremely good views and unlike @JohnI seem to have a well collimated example.  The Rosette for example is a magnificent view using a 24mm 82' ES EP, something I've not achieved with any other scope (of larger aperture) I have owned.  I also let some folk observe M42 and they commented that the view was "like it's in 3D".  If you are thinking of buying one then just be aware of the weight and balance. The scope is very front heavy and so has to sit a fair way back to achieve balance.  It would be an easy fix because a lot of the weight is in the dew shield.  If that was constructed of a lighter material it would help a lot.  So a tripod extension is a must.  It works well with my ED80 in tandem on my AZ EQ6 GT mount.  I saw the one on offer at IAS so I was wondering if someone snapped it up!  In the Spring I will do some bowl of Virgo testing and report back.

We have frequent public events here in North Yorkshire. The 14th of February marks the start of the two week Dark Skies Festival. There is large choice of events to choose from. Search the interweb for dark sky festival and choose your location.

I can’t comment on Nebulosity. I have always used MAC and use Photoshop with various plug ins such as Gradient Exterminator. DSS, AS!2 also run on a MAC in WINE.

Are you willing to say where you are roughly located. It may be that a local club or SGL member could help. I have just set up and demonstrated exactly the same telescope for someone close to our observatory.

In addition to the above, please take a photograph for us looking down the main telescope tube.

It is best not to seal anything.  You need airflow under the obsy floor so allow 150mm above the concrete base before running the floor.  Concrete doesn't fully dry in a lifetime according to my civil engineer friend.  I used a roll off roof design and the overlap had a 25mm gap to allow airflow at wall height too.  In this way everything airs off very well, no rust, mould or condensation.  Dew bands are a must if you have a lot of exposed glass like my 9.25 SCT.

It will depend upon the band pass of your respective filters to some extent.  Green I understand, because you want that part of the spectrum for your OIII and red for your Ha.  I have a 1.25" visual Astronomik UHC filter which is nothing short of spectacular on M42.  The filter produces no aberration at all and the stars dim slightly (obviously) whilst the nebulosity becomes granular.  Last week during our last event at LTO, the public commented on how the filter produced a '3D effect' on M42 (through my ED80). On the veil though my Baader OIII prevails due to the high proportion of OIII revealed.

You may wish to check this concurrent thread too. 

I also have your mount but have never used the polar scope.  It's not necessary. Just do a rough alignment then use the handset polar alignment routine as described in the manual.  It's quite straightforward even if you can't see Polaris.  Also, remember a compass gives you magnetic north not true north.

3 hours ago, CaptainShiznit said:

Is this the setting on the handset that tells you to pick a star, tries to point at it then you correct it, then repeat a couple times? I thought this was a fine tuning routine and not an alternative to the polar scope stuff. Can you just point your mount North and do this?

Yep.  Level your mount. Roughly align your mount axis to the pole.  Do a 2 star GoTo alignment (not 3) then follow the routine on the handset.  Using an increasingly powerful EP will help with accuracy.  Folks who can't see Polaris can use it too.

16 hours ago, cuivenion said:

I've always controlled the mount via my laptop so I wasn't aware the handset had a polar alignment routine, yeah that's definitely a good way to go. If he's guiding anyway then I'd recommend the Sharpcap method.

It surprises me how many don’t know or ignore it. It works very well, so well that I needed little adjustment using PhD2 tools to refine it for imaging.

Or you could save some time, effort and expense and use the polar alignment routine already built into the Synscan handset. It will also save you the back breaking exercise of using a polar scope.  From personal experience, the number of iterations required to get good alignment is reduced by ensuring the mount is level.

In addition to @vlaivexcellent response above, many solar imagers (me included) primarily use the ZWO ASI 174MM for this purpose (and the ZWO ASI 290 MM for solar and particularly lunar).  If I were to choose a colour camera for planetary imaging then I would personally go for the ZWO ASI 224.  Examples of images taken with 2 of these cameras on my Flickr page.

As far as I know it’s actually brightness when SN can only be roughly estimated so maybe yes, maybe no. Interestingly, imaging shows that it’s axis of rotation is not pointed at Earth otherwise we would be in serious danger of being hit by high energy radiation such as gamma. I also saw a presentation of a century of magnitude data which suggests the current dimming is not unusual. It’s a hot topic though 😎😁.

Yes, but make sure even for limb shots that you fill the chip with de focused sun. I have also used cling film over the objective at small apertures but the method you describe works best for my 60mm aperture.

I reiterate what Geoff says about power supply. Very commonly the power supply is to blame. Make sure it is capable of providing 12 to 14volts and up to 2 amps continuously.