Dinglem

34 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

This is an amazing find! What looks like double stacked Solarscope Ha 50mm filters. If the etalons are in good shape, they should provide spectacular views through the little Tak (or any refractor). It would be interesting to know when they were made. Solarscope has been through several changes over the years, but many of the earliest filters were absolutely superb. Potentially a very exciting discovery.

@Highburymark I think the original owner had them for quite a while but hasn't been using them. I can't wait to try it all out, it's all new to me solar viewing and imaging. I was hanging my nose over a brand new Lunt when my friend mentioned these maybe available at a good price, everything looks in good order with a few signs of use.

Not the poastie but a friend dropped these off to me, I got them second hand off his friend, hopefully I will see some sun soon to try them out 🌞

Very nice was over there a couple of weeks ago fishing on the Dove 🎣

@TonyEMDL I replaced the rear eyepiece/diagonal holder with a Baader 2" Clicklock SC-clamp, so will have the one I removed somewhere amongst all my stuff, you can have it, where in the East midlands are you?

@redfox1971 I believe I had it in when I set mine up, to be honest it doesn't matter if it's fully in or out as you can change the direction of travel in the software. Just make sure it's not fully in or out when you set the 0 position, that way if there's an issue it will stop before the full travel of the focusser so you don't damage the EAF.

Sorry if my reply was confusing but for non pro versions you can use Teamviewer https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/info/free-remote-pc/ I use it successfully at home as both of my laptops have Windows 10 home editions

At work we use W10 pro versions and I use the built in version of Remote Desktop.

You don't need windows pro on either as there's other free software available to remote connect like Teamviewer etc. I do use Remote Desktop at work and find it the easiest to use though.

I've not used Stellermate but looking at the website it's just a paid for software that you install on a Raspberry Pi giving you similar control of your astro gear without the additional power control of the Asiair.

There's also Astroberry which is very similar, which is free to download and use, which I have played with many years ago when it first came out, but wasn't very successful with it. Maybe it's a lot better now.

If you go for an Asiair and want a dedicated astro camera you will be restricted to using ZWO cameras, focussers, filter-wheels etc. There are several other manufacturers supplying similar products cheaper.

Hi @AstroblaggerI use both a laptop and Asiair on my two setups. I run an older laptop using APT, PHD2 etc next to my main rig in a plastic box, once setup I use my latest laptop to remote desktop into it from inside, nice and toasty, I'm considering getting a mini pc to replace the laptop and fixing it to my scope to reduce the amount of cables going to it, therefore reducing the chances of snagging. On my small portable setup I have an Asiair clamped to the bottom of the dovetail bar and connect to it over WiFi with a tablet or my mobile phone. This setup I can put in the back of my car and run from a battery anywhere. Over the time I've had both setups I must admit I've had more issues with the Asiair, mostly after firmware updates, also poor WiFi connectivity, constant drop outs and difficulties reconnecting. Not had them out for a while due to it not getting dark till late and I need to be up early for work. If I was to start again I would not go for the Asiair as the cheepness of mini PC's and the fantastic software packages available, which means you can use any make of astro gear, makes it a lot more appealing to me.

@Crispy5573 Lucas will eventually reply, he's a very busy boy

@Figgis I'm not sure the issue with connectivity will improve with a WIFI extender, I have a Whole Home WIFI solution and my ASIAIR Plus keeps losing connection. Sometimes that badly I have to reset it.

I just snapped this, I could have held my iphone a bit steadier.

Hi @deanchapman2705 my small portable setup is a CEM26 and ASIAir, because I setup each time I have found that everytime I use it, on power up, I need to check the co-ordinates are correct for the mount, I then set it to track and move the mount a bit manually, I then tell it to park.

If anything as moved I can then undo the clutches and set it back to the correct park position. It then appears to work perfectly.

I bought the mount second hand and found I needed new drive belts as the ones on it were damaged, I presume from continuing to run when hitting the stops. I've also found that I have to regularly check the Dec axis for slippage as the grub screws in the side of the black ring work loose (in your picture the one with the 4 small bolts in).

That is stunning, both of you have done an amazing job on capturing and processing this image!!

Can I say I have an ASIAir and a CEM26 as a portable setup and the ASIAir doesn't boot with the mount plugged in. I have to power on the ASIAir then plug the mount in once it's connected to my Galaxy pad. Once connected everything works ok, now they've resolved the issues with WiFi connections. I personally would stick with the PC and remote desktop into it, that's how I control my main setup.

@George Sinanis take a look at this it may give you some idea of a cheap easily dismantled solution.

@stevear sorry you may have tried it but on the new laptop in device manager go to "View" and click "Show Hidden Devices"

at least the images were worth seeing 😀

is it me or have they got the apprentice on the camera in the studio?

I can only see properly out of one eye, so one eyepeice works fine for me.

If you need to know the weight of a whale you'll have to go to a Whale-Weigh Station, I'll get my coat.

@mackiedlm that is really nice lot's more detail than I usualy see of this target, I'll have to give it a try myself but it won't be anywhere as good as yours.

Hi @Martyn A E I can guarantee there will be no agreement of what software packages to use for astrophotography, as there are many to choose from and people generally recommend the ones they use.

As someone new to this hobby I'd suggest you look at free packages like Deep Sky Stacker to begin with as some of the paid ones are not cheap, GIMP is a good alternative to Photoshop for post processing.

I'd also recommend YouTube there are quite a few tutorials on using these free applications, that way you will end up with some reasonable images  to start with.

From experience you need to concentrate on getting good data captured first and learning how to process it without spending a fortune on software that is complex and difficult to learn.

Once you're fairly competant at that you can look at the merrits of the more expensive all in one packages.

Conratulations @Adam J well deserved for an excelent image 👍

The iOptron mounts are a lot lighter than the Skywatcher equivalent mounts, CEM26 or GEM28 would give you the payload you require.