Adam J

Yes as Olly said colour on one side of a star can imply an off center element in an ED design although it's not common to see that in a doublet. The notch is likely from a over tight adjustment screw or lens spacer in the light path.

It's the focus tube pushing back into the light path a common issue when imaging with the PDS range.

I purchased a second hand heq5 pro about three years back for £450. I sold it this year when I upgraded to a AZ EQ6GT. Maybe I am guilty for making a profit on a used item? It's second hand value changed allot in three years but i still sold it for significantly less than new and at least I did not try and market it as a deluxe model or something equally silly lol. I am ok with people asking more but take issue with people playing the market and certainly if they are asking more than the new price.

To be honest with you I am very happy to say that I don't think a single retailer has to my knowledge taken advantage of the situation and increased prices. Let's face it they could have done. So every cloud has a silver lining. As you say it would have been a brave person to make that choice. I don't really think anyone has done this on a mass scale, just think some are taking the p on a case by case basis.

Hi looks good to me, maybe just a LP gradient that could be removed as you say. Gradient exterminator is a good PS plugin. What scope did you use? Adam

Yet its only a few weeks old apparently.

First of all Scalping = the practice of buying an item / number of items at shelf price and then selling them at an inflated price / above retail price in order to make a profit. This is usually done when the availability of an Item is very low and specifically involves the "scalper" buying that item / items with the sole intention of selling it on at an inflated cost. This practice in itself often leads to further unavailability of the item being sold. During Covid-19 there has been a number of occasions when I have been looking for second hand items only to have them offered to me at higher than the normal retail value as displayed on sites such as FLO. Often with the owner claiming that they have only had it for days / weeks and are selling due to a change in direction, never having opened it. So...why did you not return it under distance selling regulations? I was starting to get annoyed by this and then I recently saw this add on Astro buy Sell. For referance a Az GTI is currently £215 new from FLO... https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=167393 Am I seeing things or is this actually going on? Supply and demand is a thing I guess. Adam

Hardly a like for like comparison.

Yeah an it would have to be a poor fpl53 design before it was outperformed by a fpl51 scope. In practice I have never seen it happen.

Askar FMA180 or ACL200 are good options. Adam

Would love to see a table of results for the scopes you tested.

It's almost the same as fpl53 not quite as good in terms of dispersion. But overall I would say it's better glass as it is harder and easier to grind resulting in better figure on average and a high performance lens. Having said that though I am not overly in Impressed with the optical report they show it's got a significant central zone showing.

This is my worry across the board at the moment for all astro equipment there is a great temptation to cut corners to increase production when demand is high. Adam

It's talking longer because signal to noise has improved so I fail to see how it's a bad thing.

No 1.25 inch mounted and 31mm are not the same size as the 31mm is all filter but in 1.25 inch the filter mount is measured not the clear apperture which is 26mm at best. Once mounted even the 31mm filters are 29mm at best due to the ridge they sit on inside the wheel. You will need 36mm filters I am sorry to say.

Depends on the sensor and the F-ratio of the scope. Not all 4/3 sensors are exactly the same size. So the ASI1600mm pro works ok down to F4 with 1.25 inch filters but the ASI294mm pro is likely to only work down to F5 with 1.25 inch filters as its a little bigger. Any faster than those and you are looking at 31mm unmounted. Adam

I think your colour balance is shifted towards the green and needs addressing. But you can clearly see that the 533 is pulling in much more signal. Adam

So are you willing to trade the other advantages for slightly better CA?

You can get 36mm unmounted filters.

I think possibly because there is a read noise hit to running it in that mode but we will see.

It is an interesting design with two ED elements, its very hard to say what they might be, could be two different types as per the FLO scopes even, but as you say seems more likely to be a cheaper ED glass. Correction is not perfect but F4.5 is very fast for a refractor after all and CA at that speed is still quite good considering the cost. Great image and just think where it could be taken with 4x that intergration and this with not filters fitted at all. Need to get my portable rig together! Good to see that the focuser mount is working well for you. Adam

Maybe a reflection within the corrector. Have seen it before with a TS branded corrector, its possible you have a missing coating. In the smaller stars its like a reflection of the out of focue airy disk overlayed on the star. Adam

yes I would probably go with that too. Adam

Push this to the operator of the site. Looks too odd with the re-used images.

What is it you are thinking of imaging?