pyrasanth

I believe the sand helps as it increases the mass of the pillar & is a great damping agent. I did not bother putting it into bags- I just filled the hollow pier! (even if it rots the metal in 20 years!)

I have to say I'm quite appalled by the choice of materials used in this premium telescope. What happened to stainless steel screws & covers designed to adequately protect an investment of £3500.00. I would have an easy decision to make- which carrier would it be returned on today or definitely by tomorrow. This is really taking the <Insert profanity of choice> & my money would be going to a manufacturer who deserved it.

I use a similar type of pier, albeit a different model http://www.altairastro.com/altair-skyshed-8-observatory-pier.html, & it happily supports my Paramount MX+ & a fully loaded Celestron C11 Edge. My T-point model gives me a SKY RMS & PSD of under 12 & if there was anything wrong with the pier I would know about it. My pier sits on a modest 30" of embedded concrete & I filled the hollow tube with bags of sand for extra dampening. The design makes polar alignment a breeze. I made a graduated degree scale & added that to the pier so its easy now to fine tune alignment although I've not done this for a year which proves its a solid mount. If I had any doubts I would have got rid of the pier very quickly so all is good. I quite like the rats cage type configuration as it is fairly straight forward to level the top & I've not had any perceived problem with vibration or movement. This also makes a useful space to put power supplies & other small items under the mount. I have a four port cigar type lighter adapter & various power supplies under the mount. All in all a worthy additional to your observing happiness.

I do very little observing at the eyepiece because I'm lazy & can't contort into the required positions to position my eye. However for what little visual observing I do I use mostly either a Televue Nagler or a Baader Hyperion Mk III zoom eyepiece with a barlow integrated if required. I'm no expert on eyepieces but the MKIII smashes the critics negative opinions about zoom eyepieces- it seems very good.

I ran the Celestron firmware update manager on the Nexstar 9.25 & connected the Starsense camera & updated both devices without issue. The Starsense works fantastic with the telescope- they feel made for each other. I used Vega to do the initial centering of the optical plane of the camera & then ran the auto align. This works flawlessly. I have an external GPS module which deals with time & location issues very nicely. Now to find a nice dark sky! I did not find an issue with the red dot finder I was supplied. I quite like the device. Yes it is very light & plastic abounds but it does its job in a functional way & is very easy to align. The Starsense camera sits opposite the red dot finder on the OTA as there is a parallel set of mounting holes. I bought the 2" Baader click lock adapter so I can now use the Baader 2" Di-electric diagonal & the Televue Nagler 31mm eyepiece which is a stunning piece of glass & metal. I only got about 7 hours from the fully charged battery but this was with the Starsense & GPS plugged in. I have a Tracer 22 amp hour battery so this looks like it will be needed for the winter. I do take manufacturers quoted battery life with a pinch of salt anyway.

I've ordered this model from FLO so your report has been really helpful. I have GPS & a Starsense so these items could be useful. I will let you know I get on with the new setup as this is going to be my portable instrument for dark site work. I just need to get the pro wedge & a focal reducer. Does anybody know the size of the visual back thread on the 9.25"- I want to use the Baader 2.0" diagonal- will it fit or does it need an adapter- not sure if this is the standard fitting as in the other 9.25" or something different. Let me know if you know!

It does not matter how good a range of product is if it is left down by appalling bad service & customer disrespect. In the second week of May I ordered the camera adapter for the Altair 60 mm RACI finder as I had every intention to use this as a guide scope as it has very good optics. I was shipped an adapter that bore no resemblance to the adapter described on the website. This adapter did not fit the 60 mm finder or guide scope in any guise that could achieve focus. It is simply the wrong device. I had a conversation with Altair immediately after receipt on the first available opportunity & I was directed to another web site potentially told spend £20.00 to get another adapter to make this item achieve focus. I ignored this option as clearly the device I paid £40.00 for should have done what it was supposed to do. I have sent 2 further emails asking for the right adapter to be shipped & the wrong one collected. These have been ignored. I left a telephone answer message this has been ignored. The final insult was the notification from Altair's automated stock control that the correct adapter is in stock. Whatever the reason for this chain of events it has now been going on for a month & I'm no closer to getting a refund or the proper adapter that I paid for. In closing if the matter is not resolved in the next week I take appropriate action for breach of my consumer rights. This is a shame as good product is being potentially marred by shoddy disrespectful service.

go to the software bisque website & look at versions of the Sky- I don't think there is anything better & versions to suit all budgets. A fantastic range of features available & ASCOM compliant.

It is so very rare to do business with a company & feel valued. First Light Optics makes every transaction feel very special. It is a pleasure to do business with FLO & my buying experience has been nothing short of outstanding. I do a lot of business with FLO & if they have the item I need they get the business & I buy a fair amount as any one at FLO will verify- so I haven't been paid to write this! My new purchase is a Celestron RASA & I could not have wished for a better dialogue or rapport with FLO. They deserve to be the world's top astronomy retailer & I think one day they will be. Best wishes to you all at FLO & clear skies to you all.

I've seen worse looking stars.......just look at some of mine!

I bought an Atik 460 EX mono from FLO. I tried to take some calibration flats & the images were failing with lots of horizontal lines in the pictures & thus making them useless for calibration purposes. I sent the camera back to Atik & they quickly diagnosed an amplifier that had not been correctly calibrated when the camera was manufactured. Atik could have said anything as to the reason for failure but they admitted it was human error in the manufacturing process & should never have happened & apologized for the mistake in manufacturing. The camera has been turned around in under a week & I consider this to be superb service. I get the impression that Atik really care about developing their business & customer base. I give them 10 out of 10 & feel very comfortable with the products & levels of support provided.

That's a really good image. Well done. can you give me some details of the equipment used & the total number of exposures.

Thanks for the kind words. It takes a lot of work & money to get to be able to take these type of pictures. I must have spent enough to buy a car!

I forgot this shot of M45 Again shot with an H-A narrow band filter on the hyperstar

Hi everybody, This is my first post in this section. I normally post in the getting started section but I think I have progressed a little by now. I have a very light polluted garden but I have started taking images with narrow band filters fitted in the filter slide of a hyperstar. My first attempts are posted below. I wanted to take the full spectrum with S2 & OIII but the filter jammed in the slide and not having any spares I stuck (excuse the pun) with the HA narrow band images. Whilst I would not normally use HA for M31 I tried it anyway to see what I'd get. I'm quite pleased with the fuzzines of the companion galaxy as I think that's detail beginning to show- what do you think? I will order more filter slides as I guess narrow band is the way to go as I have 3 street lights around my garden (sodium) and a big glow from Birmingham airport. The Hyperstar is great but as it is so fast needs careful use. Most of these photographs are 60-120 secs with between 10-20 subs at 2x2 bin on an Atik 460EX. The filter is a Baader high speed narrow band H-A.

I collected my new imaging toys from FLO's distribution center today in person. The gang made me feel really welcome. It is good to deal with real people & not an automated robot which is so familiar with many web based companies. They even took the time to check that all the camera mounting accessories being supplied were suitable to couple everything together. Outstanding service- I wish the every success & FLO will have my continued custom.

I bought a 490EX CCD camera from FLO. I was exploring my new device & decided to take a look a the desiccant pellet. I removed it for inspection & the doorbell sounded downstairs. I put the pellet next to the camera & dealt with the intruder. I went back to the camera & was greeted with the sight of my playful new kitten chomping on the desiccant tablet & destroying it. I emailed Atik customer service & explained the problem. A couple of days later 6 new desiccant pellets arrived in the post. This was fantastic service so thank you to Atik UK support. On a footnote the kitten is doing very well- she was a bit thirsty for a few hours!