iapa

55.8N no astro dark after the weekend. So, lots of setting up, aligning, tweak this, hammer that. Probably end up with lots of data across only a few targets - may be able to fool myself that the processed results looks good. Something to aim to improve on tho',

masking tape around the focuser?

Steve Richards is also one of "ours", a long well standing member of the site.

I have the 200P-DS which I collimated a couple of years ago, and when I checked at the start of this year it was still fairly good. The Quattro, being f4 really does need accurate collimation, and I found that I needed to redo every 3-4 months. Being the carbon fibre version it's lighter than the steel one. For both I was tearing down and storing after every session. The 150p-DS has had a lot of good reports in various forum here, including comments about collimation staying in place a quire some time.

In my case, a flash of total genius, I completely removed it. If you have adjusted it you would know as you need to take the barrel off first to get to the lens - a very deliberate act.

Duh - of course. I'll do a sample set of flats to get timings, take the camera off, build dark including a set to match the flats Get the camera back on then my formal flats. The should do me a few weeks (or months now :()

I see all images.

I have a semi permanent setup; by that, I mean my gear is pier mounted but not protected by a permanent shed/building. This I do not tear down unless necessary. C8 XLT, ff/fr and ASI1600MM-C (MKI) For my flats I will just point to zenith and use a light panel and t-shirt to reduce light intensity. Dark-flats - generally the suggestion is to cover the camera lens then take the dark-flats; but to cover the camera sensor I need to remove it from the rig. If I just cover the C8's collector plate with the cover, that's not light proof. Any thoughts?

As the mount will be rotating on an axis that runs up through Polaris, start with a reasonable Polar Alignment - SharpCap has a tool built in that uses your imaging camera. The EQ6 has built in methods to build an internal start map, by pointing at several different points in the sky. Takes patience, every time you take the mount outside, but you also get faster with practice. Those are effectively free (although SharpCap does have an annual subscription of £10pa after trial period expires) You could get a refractor such as the Skywatcher start traveller 80 and a small guide camera (c£200 - see FLO website) and piggy back your camera on that - with a laptop and PHD2 software that would let your mount follow the star in the ST80 field of view. Come to think of it, I am sure I have seen a hotshot adapter to take a much smaller refractor, then, as above, you can guide.

+2 for that advice. Here is a link to a thread where refocusing the Starsense is discussed:

I should qualify that I am a beginner at this, started about 5 years ago - lots of learning to absorb yet. Many others know a hell of a lot more than me. There is a difference between using an f4.9 for daylight and astroimiging. For imaging f4 is generally regarded as being "quite" fast; roughly speaking that is on par with the 150PDS and 200P reflectors you started asking about, but a different field of view. Refractors, e.g. Skywatcher Equinox Pro ED80 have an f-ratio of around f6/f7 - others are available at a cost I have a couple of x2 for my Canon DSLRs which I used with a 75-400??? I think to give me a longer focal length, but also a higher f-ration ("slower") When imaging with a DSLR on a guided mount there are a couple of guides such as the "rules" of 400/500/600 For rule of 500, basically it is : Shutter Speed = 500 / (FL * CF) FL the focal length expressed in mm and CF is your sensor’s crop factor, i.e., the ratio between the size of a full frame sensor and yours. Common crop factors, CF, for different types of camera are: 1 for full frame cameras; 1.6 (1.5) for Canon (Nikon) APS-C cameras; 2 for micro four thirds cameras; 2.7 or higher for compact cameras with a 1″-type sensor or smaller. It just gives you an idea of where to start with your exoiuser. Not hard and fast/guaranted I did manage "reasonable"results with the 400 rule on a camera tripod (no controlled mount) - before I found that there is a whole range o them. To reiterate earlier comment Research, Research, Research And get Steve's Every Photon Counts Invaluable

Now we are in a different world. A basic refractor has two lenses, rather than mirrors. One reason that they are more expensive than reflectors, particularly as you go upmarket is the glass that is used. If you remember secondary school physics, for any convex lens light of different frequencies refracts at a different angle. This means that the main colours you are looking at (R,G & come to focus at different points. This is chromatic aberration. To correct this you have rather expensive glass design to allow the focal points to get nearer to each other. You can also have a third lens which can help this as well. You would not want to consider a 200mm refractor, unless you won Euromillions jackpot as several rollovers Having said this, a refractor has, generally, a smaller aperture - less light to get to the camera sensor, but also a wider view. If you wanted to image a large target, say, the Andromeda galaxy, you would not be able to fit all of it into the field of view os the 200P-DS, but a refractor, say, 72-80mm should allow you to capture the full galaxy. On option you might want to consider is something the the Star Adventurer; a lightweight mount that could fit onto a normal camera tripod ( again the beefier the better for stability) and sue existing DSLR and longer focal length lenses. That would minimise your initial outlay £200-300 I think. A 400mm would do Andromeda quite nicely I expect. A good tool is a Field of View calculator, one is available from the First Light Optics site - http://astronomy.tools/ That would give you an idea of what you could see/image with a variety of lenses/OTAs/cameras etc.

+3

Can I say - STOP. Start with a budget; Increase your budget by 10%. Have a cup of coffee, or wine, to calm your nerves, and increase by another 10%. Research, research and research!!!! Spend most of the budget on the mount. Questions: do you mean 200P, or the 200P-DS? They are not the same; the formers is primarily for viewing, the latter is designed for imaging with eye pieces. So, the 150P-DS and 200P-DS are specifically designed for imaging, the 200P is not. So, as an example the focus point to the 200P is somewhere inside the focus tube to bring focus to the eye piece which fits inside. A DSLR had a fixed distance between the sensor and the front of the body. Around 55mm, that means that the sensor is some distance from the focal point. On the '-DS' models, what they did was move the primary mirror further forward (closer to the secondary mirror) which brings the focal point further away from the secondary, effectively a point outside the focus tube. This allows use of adapters for cameras, to allow a "nose piece" to be added (fits in the focus tube). BTW, the 200P does NOT have 10:1 focus, it is single ratio. The 200P-DS has 10:1. The F4 Quattro is a much "faster" scope, but also requires a better level of collimation. I managed to get my hands on 10" F4 Quattro, carbon fibre. It's gorgeous. I also spent several months getting the collimation about right; it was preowned.. Ultimately, any of the above OTAs mentioned above will need a coma corrector to reduce the distortion caused by the optic towards the edge. I think you should start with something more substantial than the HEQ5 if you are putting a 200P-DS on it - it can be a massive sail. I upgraded from an AVX to CGEM-DX due to the combined weight of focus motors, spacers, filter wheel, guide scope etc.

Sorry, hadn't noticed you post was some time ago

FWIW I have a 2014 mac mini server, dual boot (with bootcamp) to Windows 10 Pro PHD2 - ASI174 & StarTreavel 80 ASCOM 6.4 SPI SGPRo Stellarium StellariumScope (yes, I know I don't need it now, old dogs/habits) Pegasus powebox and focus cube DSS HitechAstro focus controller are all installed with no issues, or need to use compatibility mode. Remote access via TeamViewer if I need to, primarily tho' using Microsoft Remote Desktop from my iMac.

I used a compute stick with an intel Z8300, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, c£140 from Amazon, running Windows 10 pro (I upgraded from Win10 home with an license purchased on amazon for £15). Also has MMC slot, 1 x USB3, 1 x USB 2 and HDMI. Also have a 4 port powered USB 3 hub. This was stripped down year before last after the observatory was destroyed in the winds. I use SGP Pro for scheduling and capture, PHD2 for guiding, MS Remote desktop for remote control, Teamviewer kept telling me I was using it professionally and needed to buy a license. This controls CGEM-DX mount, ASI1600 cool c.w filter wheel, pegasus cube focuser on Celestron C8, Pegasus Powerbox, hitecastro focuser on StarTravel 80 guide scope. With lockdown for past 4 week, I have started reconstructing this. HTH

I remember that some years ago, Celestron sold an AUX port adapter to make 2 ports available instead of just the one. TBH I'd not bother with GPS if you are going to be using a mobile phone/table or laptop device to control over WiFi as they will identify your location and can update the SE hand controller.

Celestron C8, ASI-1600, Startravel 80, Touptek mono 1:5.01 without .63 reducer, 1:3.16 with This also matches with my spread sheet. +1 for traffic light Removing the full stop after the ratio would make it cleared

I found this in an old spread sheet that I had used to guage the ratio

Nice and neat i’ll send mine to you when I’m ready lol

Hi, ‘I’m interested in how much further you managed to get using this.

I found that if there is an ELCB (or whatever they are these days) then the power net things don't seem to work well. Not supposed to be happy on extension cables - but I tried one c50m and the powernet worked fine

10yo, I still feel the same when I see it

Having some mesh wifi devices, I can get coverage to the pier form the house, so, just save images to a filled under onedrive so it synchs to wherever I need it Images ore only 24-24MB so, it works reasonably well. And, in case of "disaster" I have also run Cat 6 out to the pier too