PatG

Great looking replacement for Tiny Tak!

Hi Merak, The Lodestar x2 mono seems to be quite popular for EEVA. Lots of examples of images using this camera in the EVAA reports forum that will give you an idea of what can be achieved. I do a bit of EEVA from time to time and use one of these cameras with a Meade 200mm LX90, with a focal reducer and it has been very rewarding indeed. Pat

Hi All Thank you all for your tips, advice and recommendations. some background reading is in order. This project is a slow burner but if / when I get it underway no doubt I will be reaching out for some more advice. Pat

Contemplating building a truss dob for some time. Not sure what size at this point, likely between 12-18” perhaps. Reasonably confident on the joinery aspects but are there any: 1) sources / suppliers of plans? 2) suppliers of specialist parts including truss poles, truss brackets / connectors etc and mirror cells here in the UK? Any other recommendations / tips from Dob builders greatly appreciated. Thanks Pat

Thanks for the feedback Everyone. Homing in on the Baader Clicklock I think.

Hi Folks Slightly off topic but interested in peoples recommendations on best 2” diagonals for visual use. Currently have a 2” William Optics Durabright, which has served me well for many years but looking for a second diagonal and considering the Baader Planetarium Clicklock. Interested to hear if anyone has experience as to how these two diagonals compare. Pat

Great feedback Xio, I will give that one a try! It never ceases to amaze how such distant objects can be seen with EAA. So the light from that quasar has been travelling for over 60% age of the universe or about twice the age of the Earth! I'm sure this has been asked before but I wonder what the most distant object is that has been observed with EAA? Pat

Martin and Mike Thank you both for your advice, very helpful. I will let you know how I get on. Pat

It would be remis not to include M87 on this thread. Whilst the capture is not much to look at, the satisfaction of being able to observe this behemoth of a galaxy with its relativistic jet of synchrotron radiation blasting out (at about 2 o'clock) from the super-massive blackhole at the galaxies core - and all with a modest telescope and camera in just a few seconds. What's not to love! Pat

Hi Folks Had a reasonable session last night - in the main, decided to stay with some well known / brighter objects as the full moon was washing out the captures, limiting length of exposures etc and also had some challenges / frustrations with alignment and some niggly dust bunnies to boot. Notwithstanding that an acceptable haul for a couple of hours. Pat

Hi Martin, Yes I'm using windows 10. I currently have SLL and Lodestar mono working fine on that. I'm not familiar with zadig. Maybe I will try using it through the watched folder first. So to set this up, do I save the RAW FITs files to the Jocular watched directory from SLL as screen shot below and then select that directory to be watched in Jocular? In this arrangement, do you control / operate the camera through SLL, selecting exposure etc and then switch to Jocular once the exposures / captures begin. Do you effectively run both SLL and Jocular concurrently? Regards Pat

Hi Folks, Having difficulty connecting to Lodestar mono x 2 camera in Jocular. Attempt to connect and message 'cannot find lodestar' appears. Camera is working OK in starlight live. Clear outside and should have tested this earlier!! Any ideas? Pat

Thanks for the feedback and CN links, clearly there has been some hot discussion about this subject over the years! One of these nights I will dust of the C11 and give it / them a go!

Just wondering if anyone has attempted to observe Einsteins Cross with EAA, or any other examples of gravitational lensing?

In preparation for downloading Jocular, I have checked my Windows 10 laptop and don't have Python installed. I see from the Jocular web site that I need to download a Python V3.6-3.9 but not V3.10 On the Python website, I'm looking at Python download 3.9.12 which is latest version 3.9. I'm not sure which batch of files to download as there seem many and I want to make sure I am downloading the correct pack. I'm looking at this webpage. Python Releases for Windows | Python.org I'm also unsure whether I need to download a 32 bit or 64 bit version - Advice/guidance much appreciated. Thanks Pat

Hi Patrick I saw this link on a previous post a couple of weeks back, there may be some useful tips on it.. https://www.californiaskys.com/blog/category/eaa-for-beginners As Noah says above, Cloudy Nights is a good source of info (along with SGL of course) - a quick search on Cloudy Nights will give an idea of what can be achieved in EAA with this camera, such as link below. ZWO ASI224MC - Potential Deep Sky Use - Beginning Deep Sky Imaging - Cloudy Nights I reckon the 150P (as reasonably fast and larger aperture) in conjunction with the ASI224 would give you a pretty serviceable combination for deep space EAA in particular. Pat

A few Hickson's from last night. Conditions somewhat tricky with a lot of dew / condensation to start with followed by frost. couldn't feel my fingers by the time I packed up. Hickson 68. I was keen to try this again, having been enthused / motivated by others vastly superior captures on this thread. Definitely some improvement in detail from my previous observation, helped by larger scope. An object was moving across the FOV during time I was observing this cluster and not sure what it could be- I'm somewhat perplexed as it doesn't look like a satellite. I think it looks quite at home in this field of view! Next is Hickson 61 Sometimes referred to as 'the Box'. A tight / compact cluster of 4no galaxies., Reading up on this - 3 members of this group including NGC 4169 bottom left are at a distance of circa 170 mly whilst the elongated galaxy upper LHS (NGC 4173) is much closer at circa 43 mly so is not a physical member of this group. Lastly Hickson 57. A lovely grouping and a real pleasure to observe. Copeland's Septet +1. Circa 400mly.

Hi All Had the opportunity to return to Hickson 68 this evening. Had a productive session and spent quite a bit of time on this lovely cluster. This time using a LX90 200mm SCT plus 0.63 FR and the Lodestar Mono x 2. Captures obtained this evening are definitely an improvement on the previous attempts with the 100mm refractor and clearly using the 200mm SCT helps to tease out more detail. This was my first time using a non linear stretch in SLL, so a bit of trial and error on that front. However during the 25 minutes or so on this target, I have captured something moving around, in different directions on the field of view. A selection of stacked captures below with the object clearly moving around. It was in the FOV from 21:18 to 21:43 - Any ideas what this might be? Pat PS - sorry should have posted this in the dedicated Hickson thread.

Thanks Michael - that does it

A very basic question ..... Can anyone explain how you enter coordinates manually into the hand controller for an object that is not in the preloaded catalogues. I just want to enter in the RA and DEC coordinates of obscure targets manually and then goto? Does'nt outline this in the manual. Any advice appreciated. Pat

Thanks Martin - very helpful. Found it on the Aladin website - Its UGC 8841, a smaller spiral type SABb at circa 120mly.

Also Looking at the capture of NGFC 5371 again, there is a fuzzy blob to bottom RHS, I have circled on the image below. I have cross checked against a Webb Society Megastar chart (see link below) for this area and it is annotated as MAC1354+4015 - Any idea how I can find out what this object is? Webb Deep-Sky Society: Galaxy of the Month: Hickson 68 (webbdeepsky.com)

Hi All I also had a productive EAA session in Canes Venatici on Friday evening. My captures are far inferior by comparison to Catburglar's above but none the less it is so rewarding to be able to 'observe' these objects in a quick session after work on a Friday night! The haul included: M51, M63, NCG 4631, NGC 5371, M3 and Hickson 68. All captured in SLL, using a 100mm refractor and Lodestar Mono x2 with circa 0.5 FR. As always comments / feedback welcome. Pat

Great captures Mike and Bill, I will be having another look at these at the next opportunity, likely to try with the 200mm SCT next time. I think these objects will benefit from a bit more aperture. Truly fascinating subject matter, when you start to scratch the surface - simply mind boggling - plenty of background reading to do around these compact groups I think. Pat

Just checking in to see if anyone uses the 2” eyepiece adapter / 2 “ EPs with the quark? Do you recommend? Is it a worthwhile purchase? Any feedback appreciated. Pat