The Admiral

Well that would explain what I was getting too, even having set 'cordwrap' to off. Why on earth would it do that, other than bad programming? Mind you, I've now got rid of StarSense as I'm using an iOptron mount. Ian

Sumptuous image. A wall-hanger for sure! Ian

I have no experience of doing this, but just a thought, if you use a much larger target like the Moon, you might be able to get a feel as to what the issue is, i.e. are you not achieving focus and/or whether your object centring is awry? Ian

Ermm, sorry, my mistake, 1/4" UNC is nearest to M6 not M4. Ignore that post then. Ah, I see you already have ☺ Ian

¼" UNC is a very close match for M4, but the threads are slightly different, enough for binding to take place after a few turns. You can get them on eBay in small quantities for little money, so it'd be worth a punt just to see. Try here. Ian

Personally there is no way I would expect to fettle to such an extent, on a 'scope costing nearly 2 grand, whether I liked DIY or not! It would have been returned, end of. What else can compel the manufacturer to up its game? Each to their own I suppose, and I if you end up with something approaching the optical quality of the Tak, and its ruggedness, then it may be money well spent. Somehow, purse and sows ear come to mind I admire your tenacity though! Ian

I only have access to my tablet, so I can't check it out, but I think the free ShotCut video editor might be able to do it. From what little I've read, the strain wave kit doesn't respond well to guiding, so it would be worth hearing any thoughts. Ian

Ah, then will you be writing up a review of the RT-135? ☺ Ian

May be this is a stupid question for those that run this sort of kit, but what happened to the flattener? It is plainly visible in the first photo, but then vanishes from sight . Ian

I had thought about the Tri-Pier when I acquired my GEM45, but ultimately decided that the extra weight might be a stumbling block, and went for the standard tripod with mini-pier on top. Actually, I would recommend the mini-pier anyway because having to set up and take down each session, I didn't think the threads in the tripod top plate would be long lived. The mini-pier's threaded holes appear to have an insert and hopefully more robust. I haven't enough experience with the mount to know if the tripod isn't up to snuff, but I've not had any problem. If it helps my initial review of the GEM45 is here: Overall, I'm pleased with the quality. Ian

Hi Dave, welcome to the fray! This was posted a while ago and might provide some useful input. At the beginning of lock-down I purchased the iOptron GEM45 (non-EC). Given that we've since gone through short nights and none too obliging weather it really hasn't been put through its paces, but it does seem a quality piece of kit. The latest generation of iOptron mounts do give a good payload for their weights, and was one of the reasons I opted for one as my ability to lift is a bit limited. Ian

If you were to place a mirror in the centre of the board, then if things were orthogonal then what you see in the scope should just be the scope's objective in the centre, reflected from the mirror. I think that's how it would work. It's a technique used in photography to ensure that the camera sensor is parallel to a document you want to copy. So your final image is an actual star field? Hmm, I find it difficult to compare but the false stars did exhibit smearing on the left and in the same direction, akin to the real star field. On that point, am I correct in that the smearing on the left isn't radial, but is in the same direction to at least half way up the frame? Could there be something else going on, like tilt, giving those results, I'm not experienced enough to know these things? It was an experiment worth embarking on. Where do you go from here? Ian

Always is . Ian

Ah, you don't say where you are! There must be equivalent suppliers in other countries. Ian

When I need a small number of bolts I turn to eBay providers who provide sensibly small pack sizes. In fact I've just received an order from Kays Fasteners via eBay for a variety of bolt sizes and threads in pack sizes between 4 and 6! The total costs are small, and free postage. A recently received William Optics dovetail has slots for M6 and threaded holes for ¼" x 20 and 3/8" x 20 ! Ian

I presume that is there to prevent the draw tube sliding right through. Ian

I had a similar experience and for the same reason with what looks very much like the same focuser and a compression ring but was fortunate that a strap wrench, IIRC, did get it apart but it needed a bit of an impulse to get it moving rather than a steady force. You need to be careful not to strain the focusing mechanism of course. A while ago now though, and memory is a little vague. I would have thought that you'd need to cool the male part relative to the female part, to get differential expansion. Could you put some ice cubes in a freezer bag and insert that up the orifice, and try to separate before the outer female thread has had much chance to itself cool down? Perhaps contact TS Optics to see what they recommend? Good luck Ian PS. Sorry to hear that you may have damaged something, not sure what you mean by a ring at the other end of the focuser.

For those of you who use an MGEN guider, especially with a DSLR, can you advise what type the remote trigger socket for the DSLR is please? Is it a standard 3.5mm stereo jack? It doesn't say in the downloadable manual, so far as I can see. Ian

Mmm, yummy! They are nice, almost 3-D to my eye. Ian

I like that! Shows what can be done with an Alt-Az mount and long focal length, albeit at the expense of filling up your hard drive . Ian

Likewise! But I have no experience of using Linux and RPi so can't help on that score. There's plenty of threads on this Board connected with meteor scatter so you might find something to help. Someone might also pop up in answer too. Good luck. Ian

I really wouldn't like to say, but it's interesting that there is colour associated with it, with a light green on the right 'bump' and magenta on the left 'bump', with white in between: I would just make the comment that aircraft navigation lights are red on the left of the aircraft and green on the right and white at the rear. Quite often than these are strobed. I'm not sure that this explains the sequence of colours though, unless perhaps the left and right lights are strobed alternately, but it is food for thought. Ian

Neat enough! (I think johnturley was referring to the original post though in his reply.) Nothing is easy is it? I've got an Altair 102 and the dovetail is 200mm long, and nothing I've found in that length had intermediate holes to use, or the profile amenable to adding the WO handle. I have little space to increase the scope ring separation. The best I could find were the WO 210 dovetails, which as far as I can see should fit the bill. A little bit 'suck it and see' but until they arrive I can't be totally sure how it'll go together. I've ordered those, the saddle handle, and the Uniguide scope. I'm expecting they'll arrive in the next couple of weeks, according to FLO. Fingers crossed in this coronavirus world. Ian

Neat arrangement. You've done what I'm planning to do with my new guide-scope, using the WO handle clamp to mount it on a dovetail between the scope rings. When it arrives, that is . Nice to see it for real. Ian

They are raaather nice! I do like the colour one. So what's been your total imaging time so far? Ian