Owmuchonomy

I have done various school talks and scope surgeries in the local community. I don’t charge for my services but if folk insist then I choose a charity or currently give them the just giving page for our planetarium build fund. At the Observatory we ticket and charge but I take nothing as I am a volunteer. It’s a CIC so all gets ploughed back into that.

As above but I also turn mobile data off.

SkySafari is the most utilised of mine. Stellarium is ok for PC but it’s buggy on Mac/IOS. I use Sputnik (free) for ISS predictions.

14 minutes ago, Mike409 said:

Hya guys thanks for your response I just thought an auto one finds planets easier I’ve only looked through s scope once which was cheep and I don’t want to be disappointed in a cheep scope

Hello Mike, the juicy planetary targets are poorly placed from UK skies at the moment. No scope can solve that problem.  Things start improving over the next few years. Mars is good this Autumn. So be sure what you are using it for before you buy. It’s sound advice to have a try before you buy. I’m not sure who told you a 12” mirror is best but that doesn’t mean much without context.

Is your pressure tuner working correctly. Can you hear it ‘pop’ when you release the pressure. Does it then recharge ok? It could be the sealing ring has degraded in that time?

2 hours ago, Pappy said:

Good day Owmuchonomy, thank you for your response. I forgot to mention that I do press enter after centering the first (and second) alignment stars. I will try placing the control panel on the south side of the mount next time I have it out. I assume the scope is on the right side of the mount (when facing the mount). Do you point the scope at Polaris or level the scope?

Regards, Pappy

Hi Pappy, your thread is about use of the mount in AZ mode so Polaris is irrelevant. Mount should be absolutely level and pointing due north. Use North level alignment and continue from there. Here is mine ready to start alignment.

3 minutes ago, CentaurZ said:

What is your estimate of its current magnitude?

I have no idea. The picture and data in the link above were captured recently in Namibia.

Hi Sara, I saw your tweet on this too. There are threads on here somewhere because I recall reading them but some time ago. May have to try searching for them?

Welcome. When I first started I used an excellent book called ‘Turn Left at Orion’. That was 2007 and I’m still using it. I would strongly recommend you invest in that. You won’t regret it.

I was catching up on this here at breakfast: https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=161451.  The suggestion in the article is that it is around mag 7 or 8?

Interesting thread. I have this mount and it has proven extremely reliable and easy to live with. Just a couple of comments on your workflow. The control panel should be on the South side at initial alignment. Use the handset to do all the slewing. There is a step missing from your workflow which is to press enter after centreing the first star. After choosing the second star the mount should slew itself, manual slewing is not required. When the second star is centred press enter again when prompted. Hope this helps.

Well as I describe in other threads the views of some DSOs through the two scopes pictured are very similar. The larger aperture of the SCT is counterbalanced by a better resolution in the refractor. Another issue with SCTs is the narrow field of view. If you have dark skies I would say you aperture fever will only be solved by a large Dob!

To answer your last question then the attached photo should help. That’s an ED150 and a C 9.25 easily dealt with in Alt AZ mode.

A modern equivalent would cost just under 200GBP. Assuming it is in good condition and all the accessories are present then a starting point may be around 50% of that? Only you can decide what selling platform is suitable for your situation. Best of luck.

What are you going to power with the portable supply? Mount, dew control, laptop etc? There are much better items than the Powertanks. Both Powertanks I owned gave up after a few months. Once we know your power requirements we can advise on suitable items.

Sounds like you need a pier/tripod extension.

Do you need something portable? How dark is your sky. Answers to these will help us guide you. 

I used a ball head thus enabling freedom of orientation of the lens and camera after polar alignment of the mount.

Excellent post. Do you know the distance (or z) of the two quasars?

If you can see the vanes holding your secondary mirror then you are miles away from focus. As above focus until a star becomes as small as possible. You then don’t need to adjust it unless it is slipping or you change eyepiece.

Personally, I struggled with the Baader zoom. The eye relief is very short and so I passed it on.  I enjoy much easier views with my Lunt zoom on a variety of targets. It was used predominantly with my 130 pds and an Altair Astro 102 triplet. For me, the ES 82’ range are unbeatable at their price point.

Picked it up tonight using the Bresser 127 Mak and the ES 20mm 82’.  An almost round core with averted vision only. No tail. I used Sky Safari Pro through my AzGti. It was close but it placed it slightly West of where observed. It helps being near the zenith. I then spent time on brighter objects, M3 looking particularly splendid through the Mak.

The symptoms you are describing are not unusual. Sounds like the alignment is working ok after 2 or 3 star alignment. Synscan does assume your mount is reasonably polar aligned (doesn’t have to spot on) and that the OTA is in the home position. You may find you have some cone error. Which is working best 2 or 3 star alignment?

John's reference to "sometimes" is more like "frequently" for me! 🤣 In all seriousness, attenuation of bright objects due to thin cloud cover can greatly enhance the view.  We had the same when the local Probus group came up to LTO recently and Venus was greatly enhanced by the thin veil of cloud.  Same applies to ND filters and the Moon.  Haven't tried one on Venus yet. 

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I've just updated the Skysafari database and it is now listed at mag 9.7 which seems more accurate. Looks like it might be a good one!

Hi Stu, how does one update the SkySafari database? Thanks, Chris