AdeKing

The Starwave Classic 102 f/11 on my Vixen GPD2 whilst packing up tonight. This setup performed brilliantly tonight both in terms of accuracy using the Synscan App over wi-fi and stability. Very pleasing though too brief a session due to it being a work night.

Thanks for the details @Stephenstargazer I've added one to my Wex wish list. Looking at the internal dimensions, it looks like my Uni 18 will fit in complete with the 8" iOptron pillar attached, which is a good thing as it's a right pain to separate the two. Roll on next PayDay. Ade

That does look like a relatively compact setup. I'm hoping for the same when I eventually click Buy. I have a Uni 18 that I will use initially and am I'm pleased to hear that you're happy with it on the Uni 28, which is the same, just taller. I also intend to keep an EQ on a pillar mount in the garden for the time being but hope to eventually leave the AZ100 semi-permanently mounted on a Tri-Pier in the garden and dust detach it when I want to observe remotely when I'll use the Uni 18. That is a nice looking bag for the UNI 28, can I ask where you sourced it as I am looking for something like that for my Uni 18. Ade

Good to hear that the iOptron Tri-Pier is nice and solid. I've been deliberating between a Planet and a Tri-Pier for my setup. I've already got a Uni 18 configured for an AZ Pro so have ordered an adaptor so that I can attach the AZ100 when I finally click buy. However, although I desperately want a Planet, because I intend to leave the AZ100 permanently setup in the garden I'll eventually get a Tri-Pier as I don't think I could bring myself to leave a beautiful Planet tripod set up permanently outside even if it was protected.

I do the same as John, 2" Nosepiece on the scope side and 1.25" on the eyepiece side but Baader do sell the basic 32mm prism diagonal complete with 1.25" nosepiece and 1.25" helical focusing eyepiece holder as well as the bare prism John linked to above. https://www.baader-planetarium.co.uk/shop/baader-t-2-90-zenith-prism-diagonal-with-32mm-prism-t-2-part-14/

Yeah, not sure that I can get a grip on that fact yet Dave. 🤣

The nice DPD guy dropped off a couple of Oklop carry bags of one for my ED120 and the other for my Altair 102 f/11. As I find that I use the size and bulk of the flight cases for these two OTAs as an excuse for not using them, I thought I'd get padded carry cases to reduce the bulk and remove the chance to use that particular excuse. Sadly, the bag for the 102 f/11 is a bit tight with the CNC tube rings attached and looks like it probably won't accommodate a handle even with the slimmer and lighter Skywatcher 102mm tube rings, but I haven't tried it yet so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Apart from the slightly tight dimensions I'm very happy with the quality and think they'll do what I wanted them to do.

I tried for this on 19th March but wasn't 100% sure I'd seen it using an 80mm scope. However, tonight I put out the 8" Dob and hunted down M52 then used the chart in @davhei post above to confirm that I'd actually seen it. Very pleased to say that I definitely saw it tonight and am now pretty confident that I also saw it back in March. Pleased to have seen this, thanks to @JeremyS for the heads up and to everyone else for the helpful pointers in this thread. Ade

Ah, I see your dilemma, good luck with making your decision. I've decided to go for the Nexus DSC and encoders as at some point I'll get encoders fitted to the Dob

In my case too much chance of me forgetting to out the filter on so am playing it safe.

A solar finder such as the Televue SolSearcher makes getting the sun in the FOV simple enough and easily repeatable. When the motors are available my understanding is that the simplest mode with track after the mount is pushed to a target, though Derek did say that they would need to add an option in for selecting the correct tracking rate. Hope this helps.

After selling loads of stuff I'm rapidly approaching the point where I can finally order an AZ100 and am getting excited. It's taken me a while but the effort it's taken to raise funds will mean that I appreciate it more. I've been deliberating what tripod to use/buy for a while. But as I already have a Uni18 with an iOptron top plate and pillar extension that I use for my AZ Pro I am thinking that I'll get an iOptron Tri-Pier adaptor for an EQ5/EQ6 so I can use the AZ100 on it rather than spending ££££ on a New Planet tripod which was the original plan. Now I've made the tripod decision I'm considerably closer to my target than I thought so will probably place my order in May/June. I'll be going for the mount, encoders, Nexus DSC and a dual saddle setup and can't wait. Very much looking forward to becoming a member of the AZ100 owners club.

Thats why I made the effort upon seeing your post Stu. I don't think I'm getting much more in the way of clear sky for a while

I managed to get a rushed look at lunchtime though the seeing was terrible. I could see the new and unclassified region but try as I might seeing wasn't good enough to pick up the other two areas (and before you say it no, the sun wasn't behind the netball hoop and net in our neighbours garden). 😂

@Alan White uses the same Nexus DSC handset sold with the AZ100 but has an encoder set and fitting kit specific to his OO UK 10" Newtonian, a great system but not exactly cheap. Cheaper options for that system are the Nexus or Nexus II controllers that don't have a handset and use SkySafari on a smartphone to select targets and see where the scope is pointing. Omegon also do a cheaper DSC system that @johninderby linked to the other day but I can't find it at the moment.

Don't forget "Pretty Deep Maps" by @Martin Meredith hosted here: https://zenodo.org/record/3522809#.X-2M41OnzN4

Congrats on picking up a used bargain, though I have to confess to being a bit green with envy here .

I have both the SW AZ Gti and the iOptron AZ Pro mounts as well as a selection of manual and goto Alt AZ and EQ Mounts and I love both the AZ GTi and AZ Pro mounts. I have had issues with connecting the SW AZ Gti to SkySafari on my Huawei P20 (which I hate), but I believe that this to be a phone specific issue to do with aggressive power saving settings, as I have no problems connecting the same mount to SkySafari using an old iPhone 6 and have had fewer issues since I've found where the Huawei power saving settings are hidden away and have turned them off for the Synscan App and SkySafari. The AZ Pro on the other hand has worked faultlessly with SkySafari over WiFi since I got it and I love it. As with all Alt AZ GoTo mounts the AZ Pro needs to be carefully levelled and balanced, but last night the AZ Pro put every single target I threw at it near the centre of the FOV of a 24mm eyepiece after completing its auto alignment routine and centring the mount chosen alignment star in the FOV. I was jumping all over the sky last night so did not restrict viewing to the area of the alignment star and had no problems whatsoever. However, like all mounts it does struggle when the battery starts to run low so remembering to recharge it is important. The software buttons on the Synscan App and on SkySafari are a bit of a pain, but I add some of these to the glass screen protector on my phone to give me tactile buttons that I can find and press without needing to keep looking at the screen. These are non-permanent and easily removed with a fingernail and retained on the original backing paper for future use. Hope this helps, Ade

I was luck enough to see it from my back garden in Poole last night. Was just recording observations of the Double Cluster in SkySafari when a bright flash caught my eye. First thought it was the local hoons letting off fireworks but no associated noise. I thought it was heading NNE with clear fragmentation and a visible trail and quite slow, in meteor terms anyway. Orange in colour and seemed to disappear somewhere in Cepheus for me but I couldn't see very many stars low down to the north thanks to LP and the full moon. Time was about 21:54UT according to my frantically scribbled notes.

I've used them with my Maxbrights and it can be a bit of a faff if you are swapping eyepieces every five minutes, but if you're swapping only occasionally then its not too bad. The material is fairly flexible so easy enough to pull over the end of small eyepieces in the binoviewers.

I have had one for a while, as recommended by @BinocularSky. Very effective at cutting out extraneous light indeed. Ade

There was a tatty Telepod with a metal tripod for sale on ENS recently that I toyed with the idea of purchasing, but opinions suggested it was best with small diameter short tube scopes and I decided that it wouldn't offer anything that my existing Manfrotto 393 head didn't already do. Interesting to hear that you found the heavier duty Gibraltar mount underwhelming too @John. I have often pondered over the usefulness of these types of mounts for scopes.

That tabletop dob mount looks a pretty good match for the Equinox 80 Martin. How do you find it in use? I've been thinking about one for the ZS66 for a while.

Thanks for the tip John, I'll bear that in mind if I ever get around to using it. 🤞

A new-to-me Manfrotto 405 geared 3-way head after some minor Dremel surgery to convert it to a 2-way head a la @johninderby. I've been after one of these for a while and managed to pick this one up off MPB.com. In really nice condition and looked pretty much unused. Hoping to get a chance to use it soon. The altitude sticker on the side is looking worse for wear since I removed it to convert it to 2-way but it is easily replaced though expensive at £8 per sticker plus P&P.