Yearofthegoat

He seems to have improved his delivery this series. It's never going to satisfy everyone - and doesn't (shouldn't) intend to. There are lots of other resources out there for more detail on the science. I watch this with my kids who are 8 and 9, and they don't have much trouble following it. Which is great.

Me too. The PDS is designed for use with cameras, so I second the suggestion if you might want to do astrophotography in the future.

No, it just means we don't visit the site as often as you. We're busy with real life.

Very useful topic. I've just done the belt mod but haven't checked guiding yet. Just enjoying the lack of gear chatter is very nice! I did also find that 12v isn't quite enough for the HEQ5. I used a 12v power pack from an old Virgin Superhub(!) just because it came to hand and it crapped out once or twice - same error with the handset not initialising. I went into Utilities/Information/Voltage on the handset and watched it while slewing around and it dipped into 11.7v territory, so am guessing a nominal 12v just isn't enough with a bit of load. BTW my Maplin bench PSU gives out 13.8 ish and has been utterly reliable (RIP Maplins, we miss you ). Anyway, thanks for the thread - very interesting and I'll test my guiding with the bench PSU, no other wimpy wall warts. Hopefully the worms will be okay without tinkering.

Very cool! Sparring with Goblins indeed. Wow what to search for??

Mine's been fine - I have it at around 20% or so though. Not sure what you could check in terms of connections. Might just be faulty of course.

Definitely do a darks library. I found out the hard way trying to guide on a hot pixel. When I played with the gain setting, it showed more 'stars' that weren't.... Fantastic graphs, but no guiding! I was surprised to find that PHD2 would carry on guiding through light cloud. Wispy stuff, I mean.

Well all, most (I think) variable aperture lenses have blades... Could be there's no solution it's just an attribute of the lens system.

Maybe try shooting something terrestrial, like a far-off street light say, with the same camera settings and check for similar bursts?

Trying to think of what could be 'in the way' - lens blades are definitely one thing, but maybe atmospheric stuff also: ice crystals? high faint cloud?

Lens blades?

Am guessing he means the star bursts? "A starbust from a light source is the result of light diffraction. Diffraction is the slight bending of (light) waves around small obstacles and the spreading out of (light) waves past small openings. As light passes into your camera through a small opening, i.e. a small aperture at a low focal length, it bends around the edges of the blades and creates the “star” look. The number of rays from each starburst is related to the number of aperture blades in your lens. The more blades your lens has, the more “starburst” is possible. " from: https://www.slrlounge.com/diffraction-aperture-and-starburst-effects/

Just a thought - does epoxy/Araldite crack in low temperatures or with flexing? Yes I know the ideal is not to have any flexing, but the tripods do settle after setting up. The spreader plate usually needs re-tightening after cool-down, for example. TBH I'd go for re-tapping. The tap kit is useful for other stuff too.

Haven't had that particular issue but some parts of Skywatcher kit seem to be made out of a variety of soft cheese. Re-tapping is probably the best option I think, vs epoxying etc. Unless you never plan on dismantling the tripod. You can get a cheap tap and die set from Screwfix or MachineMart, they're not fantastic quality but will go for a few jobs and save buying new kit. I used mine recently to tap a dovetail bar with holes for my guidescope rings. The kit Instantly paid for itself vs buying a ready-made bar.

Has s/he missed off a zero?! Maybe being nice to persuade you to vote Remain in the next referendum Seriously, that's a great price. Am very envious, would love my own observatory but had to compromise with Mrs Goat and we got a summerhouse. It's better than the open air at least.