gnomus

That’s as maybe, but haven’t you guys heard of dithering?

I'll add my 2c. I have 2x Moonlites and 1 x Feathertouch. First off, my Feathertouch is certainly rotatable, but I don't know the range well enough to say whether or not they all are. I have found the Feathertouch to be entirely reliable. The Moonlite has 'slipped' on several occasions when under the load of a camera plus wheel. I would be happy using the Moonlite with lighter eyepieces, and with my planetary cameras. I wouldn't use it with a CCD and wheel (I have tried it and it wasn't reliable). I would feel a bit anxious putting a big (say 1kg), expensive eyepiece in it on my refractor. I haven't had a problem, but because of the issue holding the CCD, I just wouldn't feel relaxed about it. My second Moonlite is on my Dob. Because of the way this works - the weight is all downwards - I am quite happy using the heavy eyepieces with it.

Wilco.

I like my 690 with my Esprit 120 (f/l 840 mm). It gets me imaging at 0.9" per pixel which I am comfortable with. With your Tec (f/l 980 mm) you would be imaging at 0.78" - perhaps that is starting to become a bit of a tall ask. Your Baby Q is a intended to be a 'widefield' scope - why then use it with a smaller chip? On the other hand, are you certain the Baby Q would give a flatfield right out to the edge of the 16200 chip?

As I've said before, Steve, if you need to 'unload' any of that stuff ......

I too am waiting for a Moravian G2-8300. My astro dark ended on Sunday (and I think I may be south of you). You can try some NB during nautical dark. I had a look at SIPS, but I had already bought SGP. I'd strongly recommend that you take a look at that if you have not already done so. It has its various wrinkles, but it seems to me to be the easiest program to set up and get running. I had a trial of that Maxim DL for a bit ..... My reaction to that would be filtered out if I posted it.....

If I were buying a CCD camera for astro work today, I still think that there is very little to touch the KAF8300. I am struggling to understand the antipathy.

Yes - that would be a deal-breaker for me, but if you get a 7 or larger position Moravian wheel, you won't need to do this. And it is still only one power cable and one USB. If you speak to Zoltan he will sort you out. I do wonder if the website is misleading on this point because we almost declined the Moravian because we thought it only had a 5 position wheel.

Congratulations on your new mount. I am sure that you will soon get used to the set up and it will become second nature. A lot of folks are using these Polemaster thingies now for polar alignment. I know exactly what you mean about storage. You may find these azimuth bolts awkward when storing too. However, there is a simple solution to the storage problem. It inolves building a shed in the garden with a roof that rolls off ..... well ... you know the rest....

Have you any idea how annoying that sentence is? Eleven hours takes about a month where I am.

The setting up and tearing down of telescopes, coupled with our 'unreliable' weather must be one of the most frustrating aspects of the hobby and my guess is that it is this that is a major factor in folks giving up. I lost count of the number of times that I got to the end of a 40 minute set-up only to find the clouds had rolled in. I got to the point that I would set up only when it looked like everything was going to be (near) perfect and the forecast was predicting a good few hours of clear skies. As such, I missed a lot of good-but-not-(near)-perfect nights. I now have an observatory, but you do need space for these and they can be quite expensive. My observatory has a 'permanent' rig set up in it, and I am very reluctant to tinker with that, but I do have other scopes, so I recently added a small pier out in the garden, next to the observatory, so that I could get quick set up and tear down of these scopes. The pier is cemented into the ground. I have one of those AA Pier top adapters. The idea is that I keep my CGEM mounted on the pier at all times. That way I don't need to redo polar alignment each time. Plus, so long as I return it to the Home position, I should be able to use the 'Last Alignment' feature, and not have to go through the tedious 'Star Alignment' routine. I have one of those external barbecue covers to keep the rain, snow and wind out. When I want to use it, I just connect the power, clamp a scope in the dovetail, and away I go. I've only just built the pier, and have only been able to try it out once, but set up couldn't have taken more than 5 minutes and tear down was even less. I will get round to putting tape markings on scopes and bars, so that I don't need to balance scopes every time. It seems to me that having the mount permanently set up is crucial. Having the telescope outside all the time is less important. There is, of course, the risk of things being damaged by the environment or some of the unsavoury souls who inhabit it. But I'd rather take those risks and use the mount than having it sit under the stairs not being used at all. In summary - why not build a permanent pier.

Been there .... done that..... You hadn't had one of those Windows 10 updates by any chance, had you?

Looking very good. Have you any idea how much the new box will have cost you once it's all done? Who needs a shed, eh? Steve

That is looking very compact. The rig seems to be poking up just a little high though - will your sliding roof definitely clear it? Maybe its just the angle the photo was taken at.

I've considered your symptoms carefully, and we may have to think about changing the pescription to 'Longrow' pro re nata - which is quack talk for 'as required'.