Oldfort

Looks good from Shetland at 23.30. https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/cliff-cam-3/

The work was done by Steve Collingwood, then at Telescope House but he now spends his time building and installing observatories (Pulsar).

I think a hard knock could have done this. I had a 10" SCT which took a tumble, due to me not tightening the tripod legs enough. On one side of focus, the image was elongated vertically and the other side of focus the image was elongated horizontally. I don't know wht the fix was because I took it back to the retailer (when they had an after sales service) but it was sorted out quickly and cheaply.

There's the Borg 107FL. The objective is in the large unit at the top.

I agree. It's a bit sludgy, but I got bored fiddling around.

This is my first proper go at the sun with the Starvue solar filter on a Canon 600mm f11 lens. I've done a bit of post processing, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I took about 40 raw images, using a AZ-EQ5 in alt-az mode, and I'm wondering whether stacking them is worth the effort.

I've used GWR before without problem. Accu.co.uk also do M4 alluminium bolts, but the shortest they do is 10mm. I'm not sure that mixing aluminium and stainless steel would be a big problem in your case, as there isn't going to be much force applied, and anyway you can get anti-galling compound (often called anti-seize compound).

Having been tempted by this thread, I bought a StarVue solar filter. Here it is on a Canon RF600mm f11 lens (with reducing ring as well). Here's a sample I took yesterday.

Avocette, Thanks. I don't know how I missed this.

I have had my AZ EQ5 for 6 or 7 years, and until recently it has performed well enough for my needs – visual only, alt-az mode. In the last month it has developed an annoying degree of slop, first in the dec axis, and now in the azimuth. My guess is that it needs re greasing of the bearings and gears. This is not something I want to do myself. So I have 2 questions: 1. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good company/person to do a service, preferably within reasonable driving distance of Greenwich? 2. Alternatively, is there a simplified process I could go through, given that I’m not looking for perfection being visual only. Widescreen Centre, from whom I bought the mount, were unable to help, and suggested DarkFrame. However they have had very mixed reviews and so I am wary of using them.

Here are the next few I took moving into the red: I think the last one shows Hα

I took mine with an Lhires III. It was a long time ago, but I think I used a Canon 5D Mk2. I don't remember what resolution grating I used, but I was pleased with the result.

Does this help?

Welcome to Greenwich. Although the sky is bortle 8, it has many other attractions.

I have tried star hopping from London skies, and gave it a really good go a few years back. I couldn't do it and bought a goto scope, which has been great. I did however learn that not all finders are created equal, and some of the cheaper ones performed better than the more expensive ones (the Skywatcher evo 50mm being an exception). I didn't have the benefit of having learnt the craft under dark skies, and I hope your experience is better than mine. But having said that an alt/az goto or push to doesn't take much time to set up.