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Thanks Martin for that feedback. Very helpful! Andy

This is spectacular! Thanks for sharing. Amazing stuff. I am so excited to read about your observations. One question though you said the HEQ5 could handle it bit surely the dish is a bit heavy for this mount?

I recently acquired a second hand Atik 16200 camera for a good price- then realised that it was too big for my telescope!.......I have now upgraded the scope to an Espirit 100 and the combination is dynamite! Wow! What a duo! Here are my first two photos (couple of ipen clusters) take from Lichfield, UK, 800m from a large Tesco Extra supermarket and close to the centre of town, woth the light pollution that comes with that. My garden has a number of trees around it so quite dark at ground level but of course that doesn't help in the sky. My atik 16200 is mono and I am using Atik EFW with Svbony LRGB filters. My guiding is still a work in orogress so the stars aren't as round as would like. However up to these two photos I had only ever taken 60 second exposures with my 183M camera - these two were taken woth 300 second exposures so I am quite excited that I have managed to increase the length that far. This has provided quite reasonable noise control. The 6 micron pixels appear to be quite forgiving too. It also seems a lot easier to get colour on the stars with this camera and scope than with my 183M and Equinox 80. Can anyone tell me why? As with all my entries, please feel free to give any constructive feedback you would like to - everything is welcome! Andy

I have just bought a 2nd hand AZEQ6QT mount and my initial attempts at using it have produced guiding as below. Can anyone advise what is going on and what to do about it? There is a picture of graph on PHD2 and a guide log from same evening - but I don't know how to interpret them. Andy PHD2_GuideLog_2021-02-27_193831.txt

The image almost feels 3D. Incredible!

All I can say is wow! I must move to the desert.....

Me too! I prefer first version but both excellent

Hi folks, I bought a second hand Sky Watcher Equinox Pro 100mm factor and have discovered that the focuser is missing two of the four screws arlund the outside of the base plate. I am NOT talking about the locking screw or tension screw both of which are present. I presume an electric focuser was installed previously and when removed the screws not put back. Can anyone tell me what specs these screws are so that I know what to purchase to replace them? The focuser is not entirely stable without them. Andy

3D Images created from 2D images in Photoshop CS6. Some work better than others. You need blue/red 3D glasses to view these. Comments welcome! Andy

Reflecting on experience now an illuminated ridicule eyepiece with variable XY movements is the best eyepiece for my spectroscopy. Great purpose! Andy

Looks like I have solved it but need clear night to confirm - by factory reset. Andy

Brilliant advice. Thanks all. Andy

Thanks for these thoughts. I haven't done the proper Polar Alignment procedure but have used reticle in polar finderscope to centralise Polaris so I doubt I am 45 degrees off! However I do need to learn how to do the polar alignment properly - but it is good enough to allow me to take 60 sec subs on recent images, including the Witch's Broom on Wednesday night. One thought - does it matter how the puck is facing? I have presumed that it is OK as long as the telescope is facing towards Polaris when mount is turned on - but is this correct? Does puck need to face in particular direction? In particular, I recently changed to dual scope setup to accommodate a guiding scope and this means the mounting bar now lies horizontally (between scopes) across puck rather than vertically as it was with one scope (however this error in alignment did occur just BEFORE this switch as well as AFTER it). Andy

Hi All I wonder if any of you can shed light on this issue I am experiencing. My mount is refusing to align "alignment failure" and is saying my position is 45 degrees out in RA. However I have checked my location and date etc many times and all seems OK. Clearly I am doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't work out what! Andy

s to align and says it is 45 degrees i Hi All I wonder if any of you can shed light on this issue I am experiencing. My mount is refusing to align "alignment failure" and is saying my position is 45 degrees out in RA. However I have checked my location and date etc many times and all seems OK. Clearly I am doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't work out what! Andy

I am quite excited about this new Meade Illuminated 9mm eyepiece – it has adjustment screws which can Chang ether XY position of the cross hairs and allow me to align the cross hairless exactly over the spectrometer slit on my CCDSPEC spectrometer overcoming a problem I have using it at Night – the fact that i can’t see where the slit is in the dark!! Up until now I have relied on the fact that a star separates into a small spectrum when it reaches the slit but this can be hit and miss at Night. I have tried 12.5mm illuminated eyepiece without adjustment – that is OK but the cross hairs are not quite on the slit so still can be difficult in practice getting single star in correct position. Can’t wait to try this out under the stars…. For more details see https://roslistonastronomy.uk/new-illuminated-eyepiece-for-ccdspec-spectrometer Andy

I am quite excited - managed to take a spectrum of Jupiter on Saturday night and show the methane absorption bands using my CCDSPEC spectrometer attached to Sky Watcher Equinox Pro 80mm - hand-guided on Manfrotto 116 video tripod! Details of observing session and other observations/spectra from Saturday can be found at https://roslistonastronomy.uk/spectra-taken-with-ccdspec-on-sky-watcher-equinox-pro-80mm-scope-with-rob-leonard-11-12-5-2019 My spectrum is in red and reference spectrum in blue. Software = RSPEC. Andy Jupiter-120719@01117-G2V-Ref-spectrum-methane-lines-marked.bmp

What is the best way to identify the lines on the RELCO? I think compact fluorescent bulbs are certainly convenient so I have taken the liberty of starting a conversation on them on this forum - but I would like to get the RELCO to work for me as well. Andy

The problem with the neon and other lines on the RELCO starter bulb is that it is a lot of work to identify them. Not so for fluorescent bulbs which give a readily identifiable series of lines and with easily accessible online data on the wavelengths of those lines. Problem is that they run on 240V - not the safest or most accessible voltage outside in the dark.......but then last week Incane across someone selling off 12V compact fluorescent bulbs - I have purchased a pile before they sell out as they are in process of getting rid of old stock in order to replace them with LEDs! Today, I have made myself a lamp with a 12V cigar car plug at one end in order to power these bulbs. Now I need a bit of Perspex to make a diffuser and I am away! Andy

That confused me too - but like you I realised that the lines in the off graph had not disappeared in on graph but instead were simply less obvious due to much bigger scale on on graph. I think I might add something to that post to explain that! I will load up my first neon/argon RELCO starter calibration spectrum is here showing many lines that I need to identify. Andy

It has been quite an enjoyable project making this calibration light - just hoping I can identify the lines now! Andy

I have now completed the RELCO starter calibration light (240V version) and my first calibration spectra can be seen here: https://roslistonastronomy.uk/first-calibration-spectra-from-relco-neon-starter-bulb-reclo-sc-480-s53993-taken-with-science-surplus-diy-spectrometer-9-9-2018 Andy

I have started to make my RELCO starter based calibration light - my first version is driven by 240V through inverter in field. At our Astro club, earlier in the year one of our members (Ed) made some fantastic leisure battery based battery packs for us and hence we have access to ready supply of low amp 250V in field. click on link below to view photos of this first stage of RELCO fluorescent starter calibration light: https://roslistonastronomy.uk/modifying-relco-fluorescent-light-starter-to-create-neon-calibration-light-for-spectrometry Next step is to house it all in something safe to stop getting electrocuted when used outside! I also intend to use a circuit breaker in line with the plug. NB I am not a qualified electrician so if anyone follows in my footsteps please ensure you are qualified to do the job or ask someone who is to do it for you. Andy