Cosmic Geoff

I meant you can use any power source that gives you +6v into the same port that the battery pack connection goes into, so long as it delivers the right voltage with the right polarity. I used to have a similar setup and I replaced the primary battery pack with a +6v rechargeable battery from Maplin, a home-made lead and a +6v battery charger I bought on ebay. If in doubt, seek expert advice.

You definitely need a polarscope as without it you will have difficulty getting an adequate polar alignment. Note there is a limit to what you can expect to achieve with an unguided EQ mount, in terms of exposure length. It depends on various factors, including the focal length of your imaging scope. I suspect that a battery powered motorized mount will not be ideal for unguided imaging, but it probably has a guide port, and you could ditch the 6v battery pack and replace it with a mains supply, or a +12v power pack driving a step-down converter (probably sold for R/C model cars and suchlike).

From an engineering point of view, no need to worry unless you strip threads in soft alloy, by over-tightening. A M6 bolt is not going to snap under the weight of a 102mm refractor.

I picked up a copy of "Astrophotography II" by Patrick Martinez from a disposal at my local astro club. Published 1987, it deals with film-based astrophotography, and should be very useful to anyone still into this. It's packed with technical discussion and diagrams. Not much use to me, but...

In Bortle 7/8, visual observation of DSO's other than brighter gaseous nebulae will be rather a waste of time. I suggest developing an interest in small bright things (double stars, planetary nebulae) or trying EVAA, which can be remarkably effective in showing up galaxies, even from an urban site. For the latter, you'll ideally want a small fast refractor rather than a big Dob.

Why do you want to install Windows 11? Some reviewers say it isn't that great. At least two of my machines will not upgrade to Windows 11 (reported incompatible), and I don't care.

I feel you are over-thinking this. Just aim the telescope using the GoTo (Planet button, then Moon with most GoTo mounts), fine adjust the aim and then take a video as per the usual planetary imaging procedure (or a single still, if you prefer). The exposure time will be measured in milliseconds, so there is no need to bother your head about sidereal or lunar tracking rate - either will do.

I have a SCT fitted with the Starsense and can confirm that there is no 'Precise Goto' feature. In practice this is not a problem, as the scope is employed for visual use only and the Starsense Goto in conjunction with a 32mm eyepiece is good enough to get anything within field. I never saw the point of transferring the Starsense to the CPC800 (which has GPS) as the saving in overall setup time, which includes assembling the major parts and attaching fragile accessories, would be trivial. The GoTo is fairly accurate and I value the 'Precise GoTo feature.

What is your budget?

I rely on plate-solving to aim my EVAA setup (102mm f5 achro, ASI224MC, EQ-5 Synscan). Both ASPS and ASTAP are loaded on a laptop with 250GB of SSD memory. The plate-solving is used to correct the aim of the GoTo, and the process is relatively quick. Note that if your scope has a smaller aperture, or the actual FOV is smaller than I am using, the plate-solve may not work so well. The finder is only required to perform an initial GoTo alignment.

You don't necessarily need a GoTo mount to do some astrophotography. I suggest you do some more research into what can be done without spending a wad of money, for instance by mounting a DSLR + telephoto lens on a tracker. Decide what you want to accomplish, set a budget and start saving. A lashup using your existing telescope may not satisfy you for long, and may just demonstrate to you why you need to buy the proper kit.

That will be difficult to achieve with one scope, as the Andromeda Galaxy is several degrees across and the Sombrero is quite small, as are many other targets. I found that nearly all targets fit within the half degree field of my no-budget 102mm f5 & ASI224MC setup. My object was to get better views of deep-sky objects that I could obtain visually. From this point of view, the low-priced 102mm Startravel does the job. Trying to improve the images further could send me down a rabbit hole of expensive APO scopes, expensive cameras and expensive filters. Typical Startravel EAA result is attached. You do not need a large aperture unless your aim is to collect high-resolution images of small targets. As with many areas of astronomy, one setup will not do all things well.

What do you have already? You could spend a lot of money and find the rig does not do quite what you wanted. I use the following for EAA: 102mm f5 achro refractor, ASI224MC camera, EQ-5 Synscan mount, Sharpcap 4.0, cabling and software for platesolving. I had all this stuff already but it works well for EAA, and if I was to change anything I'd probably go for a ED refractor and/or a camera with a bigger chip. I also used a C8 SCT, focal reducer and similar camera for EAA occasionally. Why not read the EVAA threads on this forum and see what folks are using and what results they got?

I think that is the least of your worries. You can sell the power tank without it and let the seller source a lead. For instance, I have at least one lead that would connect it to a Celestron or Sky-watcher scope mount (probably), but not to a Meade mount. As pointed out above, there may be a lead among your bits that will connect it to one of the mounts you have inherited. If you post photos of the astro gear here, many people will recognise the items, name them, suggest ballpark values, and places where you could advertise them. In particular you should include pictures of any nameplates on the scope(s). You may be surprised at the 2nd hand value of this stuff (depending on what it is).

Nice shots. I took a shot last night (22nd) with my Iphone 7, but it is slightly out of focus. It doesn't seem to auto-focus well in the dark. Must read the manual.

Before you commit yourself to a MM camera, or a filter wheel, check whether you will have enough focal range to accommodate the extra path length introduced by the filter wheel. A SCT or refractor can usually accommodate such devices, but a Newtonian maybe will not.

?? If you remove all the screws holding the fork-base-cover, it will come clear of the forks if deformed slightly.

I'm sceptical about the scheme you propose. You don't need a large Newtonian for imaging deep-sky objects in general, as imaging time will generally substitute for aperture. For EAA imaging of deep-sky objects I generally use a 102mm f5 refractor rather than an 8" SCT. With this scope, many galaxies fit onto the FOV of an ASI224MC planetary camera. If you have the budget to consider buying a large sensor camera, why not rethink and instead look at getting a small refractor, GoTo mount, and a camera that matches your requirements? I'm sure that you will find a GoTo mount that can work with plate-solve is far less annoying than trying to aim the big Dobsonian. Most deep-sky imagers start with a guided camera or a small refractor, rather than jumping in at the deep end with a big Newtonian (and even then they'd put it on a proper GoTo equatorial guided mount.) As a first step, I suggest you try imaging some deep-space object, e.g. a 10th mag planetary nebula or a galaxy, with your existing gear and see how much of a pain it is.

It is not essential to find the instruction manual or identify the precise model. As others have pointed out, this is a Dobsonian mounted Newtonian telescope - a relatively low-tech device, and when fitted out with standard eyepieces and a standard optical finder can be used in a standard way. Of course, if any bits are missing you may need our advice for sourcing replacements.

You do not explain what you are trying to image with this camera, or with what telescope. Here is a helpful review: SVBONY SV105 Review (Is It Any Good?) (telescopeguides.com) It is a common feature of such cameras that the effective field of view is very small even if you select in the capture software to use the full chip. This camera is intended for planetary imaging, where the full area of the chip is not required, except for the Moon. There is nothing you can do to 'zoom out' other than use an optical 'focal reducer' (q.v.) You do not have to use the AstroDMx software. The review recommends Sharpcap.

I had that problem a while ago and after some investigation (different cameras, etc) figured out the cause, which IIRC was that in Sharpcap's right-hand panel, I had set 'Debayer preview' to one of the four-letter options instead of 'On'.

There is nothing on Google about this telescope. If you want an answer, post some pictures of the telescope and its mount.

The recommended f-ratio for planetary imaging with a scope depends on the pixel size in the camera. This is often overlooked. With a pixel size of 2.9um (as in the ASI462MC, for instance), this will match a f10 SCT, depending on whose advice you are following. The ASI290mm and the ASI462mm are quite similar except for some details of the performance. In practice I found that the ASI462 worked well with my f10 203mm SCT without a Barlow lens and adding a Barlow conferred no benefit. New and more advanced cameras are introduced frequently. (The ASI462MC is already discontinued.)

Opinions may vary, but I think this is a combination to be avoided. I had an 8" Newtonian on a manual EQ5 for a while. I already had a smaller scope on a GoTo mount, and I found the 8" Newt/EQ5 to be almost unusable. It worked well when I could find anything with it, which proved remarkably difficult. The eyepiece got into awkward positions, including potentially over seven feet off the ground with the tripod fully extended. I soon disposed of the tube, and bought an 8" SCT on a GoTo mount, where the eyepiece remained in a convenient position, and I could find things... I kept the mount and later upgraded it to a Synscan GoTo. I don't think the "buy once" theory works in practice, as one's astro interests develop and change.

Alas, NGC1360 is too low to be accessed from my back garden, and is now at its greatest altitude in twilight.