spikkyboy

Hi all. The Mrs has authorised purchase of a William optics binoviewer. Bit sad as I just missed one for sale yesterday on here. Anyway if anyone spots a bargain or a black friday discount code please let me know. TIA David

I do Polar align and use pole master. I got a perfect circle around the star. I did a simple 2 start alignment. Then when I select Jupiter I was perfectly aligned but 2 inches too low. I recentered on the planet and my next target was off as well. Frustrating at best. I have a star sense and that doesn't work either. As soon as I set it running it charges off for a look at the trees in my garden. Every time.

Hi, does anybody know of or at least think that its high time that we were blessed with a self aligning EQ mount? I have a HEQ5PRO mount and really struggle with alignment. The slightest amount out of level before you start and the object you goto is 2 inches higher than the field of view. Not even getting started on being down on my knees looking for Polaris. I bought the Polestar alignment camera and this does help but HEY if there are any mount designers or perhaps a rep from Sky Watcher reading this come on its 2022. Thoughts please ........GO!

Hi all. Just bought a used 250 SynScan dob with the three flex tube bars. 1 question. When setting up you loosen the 3 wing nuts and slide the top part of the scope up. Pictures in manual show full extension all the way to the end. My question is why are there 2 detent stops? This indicates that you could stop at the first detent and shorten the focal length thus changing the F ratio of the scope? Is this correct. Does anybody have experience of that and what benefit would there be in doing this. Thanks

welcome, and how are the Phlegraean Fields? Ive been watching some you tube videos this week since La Palma and see that Vesuvius was not the main event and there's actually a huge super volcano on the other side of the Bay of Naples. Scary stuff.

wow, what is that?

So, last night was a lovely clear evening. I fired up the Celestron CPC925. WOW! I had the best views of Saturn ever. With a 30mm eyepiece and x2 Barlow. Previous views were an orange blob with a disc around it. This time I can see grey blue in the rings and rings within the rings so probably as good a visual as I will ever get. I attach my Neximage directly to the rear of the scope using a 2" adaptor. Using the supplied icap software the camera is recognised and connected. No image just a full hazy screen. Twiddle focus backwards and forwards, nothing. Suddenly right at the end of travel I notice a full screen sun spot type image. No more focus travel. Luckily the adaptor is a fairly long tube and by loosening the screw I can eek bit more out of it by moving the camera further up in the adaptor. We have some kind of focus. I see Saturn, and either some of it moons or nearby stars. They are in pretty good shape but the main planet is just a big white over exposed blob. Tried a number of different filters but it did not improve. My question is which setting must I alter to stop this over exposure? It seems I am almost there and am finally getting everything to work. Just one final hurdle. (he hopes) Any input would be most welcome and as always thanks in advance.

Hi, all. I bought a used SXV-H9C one shot colour camera at a good price. It came with the add on guider and all the cables and power supply but no software. I Googled it and found drivers which installed fine and it is recognised in Sharpcap Pro. I note from the original adverts that it came with a driver and software suite on a CD. Does anybody know where I can download that or perhaps own a copy that they could duplicate for me and post if I pay them ? I found some stuff on Starlight website but what was downloaded crashed with fatal error on win7. Should I just stick to Sharpcap? I printed out the 32 page manual but it is 90 percent describing use of the camera with the original software so no help at all. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I bought an old Starlight Xpress SXV-H9C from ENS optical Birmingham. Came with Guide camera and all the cables. I googled and found and installed drivers and it works fine on Sharpcap and on a dark frame no dead pixels. I note that this camera was originally shipped with a software CD. Does anybody know where I can get or download a copy of this software? Maybe you have the same camera and would copy me a disc if I paid? Cant wait to get my first images. Thanks For reading. David

Thanks Peter, I have noticed in some of the videos that the camera is connected directly to the telescope. I have the adaptor into the diagonal. I will try again without it. Maybe the region hitting the tiny sensor via the diagonal is losing my target?

It is the NexImage burst camera. I googled use and set up and found a video (yes it was attached to my telescope). User in video had same problem, only white or black screen. His laptop was old and unable to process the image. I use a very old windows 7 laptop so this could possibly be my problem. I was considering a new one anyway so will try that.

Hi all, does anybody use one of these? I installed the icap software but when i plug the camera in just shows light or dark, no image. Tried it last night on jupiter thinking it needed a further away target. Nothing. if i wave it at my desk lamp the screen goes white then black when i move it away so its doing something. Any ideas anybody? is there a better software program to run it on? Thanks

Hi all, I have been looking at getting a cooled pro colour camera for some time. I have a sky watcher 80 Esprit so hoping to dodge and rgb and just get some one shot colour pictures with minimal after processing. Im narrowed down to the choice between ZWO ASI183MC and ASI533MC very similar in specs but not sure I understand what the differences will mean when used with the Esprit. I would appreciate any thoughts of a more experienced imager before I dump £900 into the wrong camera. Thanks in advance. David

is focus good? I also have the 200p, it is supplied with an extension tube. This must be used to get correct back focus on eye piece, removed all you get is blur. Yes to rotating the OTA. a little odd after alignment but ok if careful.

One further question, If front leg faces to N how essential are the other two legs? I have drawn lines out on my patio and an accurate East to West line. My theory is if every thing is set right and i plonk my tripod onto the same 3 marks I must be almost polar aligned at the start? Then just small adjustment needed. I had it all working fine and now disaster so I can't figure out what's changed. The Polemaster has had me adjust the altitude to get Polaris into the setting circle so could be that? On the scale its still in the region of 51 degrees, maybe half degree plus or minus? Not a very accurately marked scale.