MarsG76

It should be ok... I use a DSLR with a filter wheel on a SCT and its fine...

the DSLR sensor is further back in the body comparing to the ASI1600, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Probably comparable back focal length to a DSLR without a filter wheel and others have achieved focus with a DSLR on a 130SLT.

Thanks for sharing.. great observatory.

Awesome post... a mag 6 sky, now that something to behold... maybe one day.

1 hour ago, Lowjiber said:

Very nice, Charl.  Thanks for taking the time to share them.

Here's a few from 2017 that I liked...

 

Awesome HII solar piccies, you guys are Solar masters.

6 hours ago, xtreemchaos said:

Heres a few of mine to get us started.

2017 was a big year for me, I got my quark in feb and have had a great time using it, it was a real eye opener.

hope you all had a great year, my score was 222 imaging days.

thanks for looking. clear skys, charl.

1-4-17.

2-4-17

22-4-17

23-5-17

1-6-17

9-7-17

12-7-17

9-10-17

25-10-17

I seam to of lost the date for this one.

Fantastic images.... I don't know what more impressive.. those images or the fact that you had 222 imaging day in the year... that is an astounding statistic. well done.

8 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Ooo, just found this ... I did not know about the 12-month rule ...

[These are UK rules, don't know about elsewhere]

Similar consumer laws in Australia...

1 hour ago, LightBucket said:

It isnt those bolts that bend, it’s the ALT adjustment ones....  those AZ  ones work fine

In that case that's worse than I thought... definitely get the £65 upgrade if that fixes the problem and comes with a tougher ALT bolt... I'd be [removed word] too... 

SKYWATCHER... how disappointing!!

Would putting something like teflon tape between the mount and the head stop your bolts from bending. The removed friction would allow your mount to glide easier over the tripod, take the force off the bolts and perhaps stop the bending of the bolts.

I added some and in my case, it allows me to precisely fine PA adjust my mount in azimuth.

20 minutes ago, derekf said:

No I'm a buyer that expects the things i buy to work as they should.

As you should get what you paid for... I'm sure you're protected by consumer law... obviously the bolts are not functioning as intended.

13 minutes ago, derekf said:

I've also Emailed Skywatcher directly complaining about the bolts

I'm curious whether they respond...

What are those bolts made of? Plastic?

That's rubbish..... what happened to attention to detail and high quality products.... this is why I hold on to older equipment until it literally dies... seems like it was built better back then, built to last and now the quality level dropped to rock bottom.. sounds like the manufacturer is saying "as long as it last the warranty period, and not much longer, it's all good, come get another one" ... repeat business keep you in business. Return it, demand the postage to be covered and send a message I say... THE STUFF AIN'T CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!

35 minutes ago, LightBucket said:

Can’t believe they had done a belt mod on the mount, and left the same crappy adjustment bolts in, that’s unbelieveable.. ?

Exactly

I found that using different time exposures is necessary to get more depth in your final stack.

I use Nebulosity 3.3 to stack my captures and regularly capture ISO 400, 800 and 1600 for the same image, and when stacking it has absolutely no visible detrimental effects, so I don't think it matters if your setting are different, including gain, and/or it might also depend on the program used for stacking.

1 minute ago, bendiddley said:

I can see some marks, could be scratches or could be glue residue. Any ideas how I can remove the primary to inspect it and clean?

On regular SCTs the back end is held in place with screws, you'd simply remove those screws and remove the whole back end allowing access to the mirror... mind you tho it might be different with muskatov designs. 

I see that the question and solution have been delivered, but how is the primary mirror after the ring hit it?

To me it looks like peak level clipping... definitely post processing issue.

Oh BTW, I love the build up description to seeing the horsey... 

8 hours ago, John said:

previous attempts this was the fence that I'd fallen at (Horsehead - get it ??!!

Well done, talk about luck.... the one thing I crave to see live, and with a 12", makes me want to get out with my 14 right now..... Congrats.... 

and PS, I get it....

Makes me want to pull out my collection, what will bring back some child hood memories.....

On 11/24/2017 at 09:30, Moonshane said:

Here's a widefield view of my bookshelves 

Phoaaa... A Library

... thats a astronomical collection....

On 19 November 2016 at 13:12, moise212 said:

Imagine you are doing the flip manually and imagine that the situation shown in the drawing describes a scope with a magnification of 1, but the scope is tilted away from the dovetail clamp (as described before by @Stub Mandrel).

First you rotate around the RA axis 180 deg. Then you rotate around the Dec axis as shown. The coloured stars are then away from the center.

What you need to do in the case described to center to the same FOV is to rotate the scope around the RA axis counterclockwise and around the Dec axis ... can't compute at this hour how you have to alter - add or subtract to the degrees number, but there's an arrow for that.

Does this make sense to anyone? Maybe I can explain better when I'm awake.

Yes!!! Exactly my assumption

Without putting pen to paper to verify my theory, I think that  even though the telescope flips 180 degrees the scope is on the other side of the RA rotational center and with the DEC having to tilt up to recenter the object, you'll find that the RA bar flip is not exactly 180 degrees with DEC compensating to center the object. 

Think of your finger at arms length and looking at it with alternating eyes, ignoring the fact that one of your eyes would be upside down.. When you alternate your eyes the finger shifts, and the amount you need to pan your head to bring the finger back into the same spot in reference to what's behind it is the angle shift in a meridian flip.

Of course the angle of the camera and a spherical sky creates a tilted angle that's more than a angle tilt that is  left to right.

The one and only eclipse that I have seen was in Cairns, so I basically flew up the day before, slept in the rental car and the following morning setup for the eclipse before it happened... that was my budget procedure.... that made it more financially viable since it was in the same country and not too far away from home... that said tho.. it is a event that is worth spending some extras money on...

There will be a eclipse in Sydney in July 2028... so if you can't get accommodation or tickets for the 2019/2020 eclipse, perhaps plan for the Sydney event.

Thats exactly what it is, it's too far back from the focuser....

The image of Andromeda looks awesome... the split diffraction spikes are very strange indeed... Obviously it is caused by the spider vines. First thing I would do is check to make sure then they're all flat toward the mirror and not twisting at all... any twist will refract light in a strange unpredictable way, especially in long exposures.

Nice and compact... looks great.