Adam J

I think you might be confusing a few different concepts here. The screen is not getting brighter with gain its the image that the screen is displaying that is getting brighter, gain is just acting within the CMOS chip to cause lower electron charge levels on the pixels to be converted into larger digital values. In doing this you reduce dynamic range but because of there the gain is acting in the digitization process and because of something called quantization noise higher gain also results in lower read noise. Exposure (assuming you mean exposure length as opposed to digitally lightening the image) is going to make the entire image brighter because even the background of the image is going to be at an non zero level even when you think it is just empty space, this being as a result of light pollution and natural sky glow. If its exposure in terms of digital processing then its just a linear stretch to the 16bit image causing every pixel to be presented at a higher value. The only thing that will effect the brightness of one part of the image more than another is a none linear stretch, also known as a curves adjustment. I think when you say Edge Lit you are talking about the brightness on the right hand side of the IMX174 sensor in your camera, this is nothing to do with the screen it is cause by something called amp glow and it affects many CMOS type sensors. SO this is normal and to removed this you need to used dark frame subtraction. If you search the forum for dark frame subtraction or look in the sharp cap user guide you will find what you need. Hope this helps. Adam

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=159741 £750

Got to disagree, the 8300 is on its way out simply on the basis that they have stopped making it. Having said that though I think that if you have 800 pounds to spend then a used 8300 is certainly a good idea though. ATIK said that they have spairs to cover maintenance etc in stock but that they will soon stop selling the 383l+ cameras in the near future.

Yes more bloated stars in lum. Blue / Purple halos if you don't refocus between filters and sometime even if you do. If its mostly imaging and some observation go with the esprit. If its the other way around then the TS due to greater aperture.

Moon light make an adapter to allow their refactor focuser to attach to the ES102/714. Right here on their web page. I am sure that someone like FLO could order one in for you if you dont want to order from the states directly. https://focuser.com/products.php Adam

If your imaging anything at all then you will want a triplet so I would discard the 140mm doublet.

Probably was sufficient, it's a bit of a long shot anyway.

If that is correct then you could easily test it as the resistance across the capacitor would just be 270R would it not?

Did you try slewing at max rate without the belts attached? If so that definitively removes a mechanical issue as the cause. Adam

small items are fine, stuff that can be posted, but face to face collection of larger items is not ok.

Those are surface mounted, difficult to replace normally you would need a hot air rework station. There is such a thing as a capacitance meter but even that would not help much as if they are blown you can't measure them.

That is an ok price, I sold one for £1000 recently but they have not been making very good second hand prices. £900 is typical at the moment, so that is maybe £100 less than the norm. The other thing to consider is a ASI183mm pro at about the same price but new. It will mostly depend on your focal length and subject matter though. Adam

I would say that is fine but I would expect it to be cheaper than a camera with a perfect sensor. If not then they come up quite often so do to feel like you need to go for one with an issue. Adam

I basically image almost exclusively. I use a esprit 100, 550mm focal length. Could those in the know recommend me a budget friendly eyepiece (<£150) to observe comet atlas should it become as bright as hoped in late April? Ideally from a UK retailer such as FLO or RVO. Cheers, Adam

Get something with a 290 mono and use the short exposure method. 2000x5s subs.

You should always have the tube rotates so that the imaging train is pointed down, so when in the home position its pointing down towards the counter weight bar. But to be honest the EQ5 is your limiting factor a HEQ5 pro is most likely what you want to be using if you want to go much more than 90seconds. But I would have thought that 60 second exposures at high gain would be sufficient with that sensor to get some nice images so long as you are getting a large number of them, 200 or so. Adam

That is about what I would expect. I assume that's the focal length of the guide scope. What camera do you have currently is it still the asi178mm?

Problem is that star quality in a final image is subjective in terms of what is acceptable. No need to say sorry.

So you mean the in focus images of the stars look fine or the star tests of real stars look fine? There is a chance of additional glint from the artificial star. In both cases I would disagree, I see the stars as tear drop shaped or perhaps with a flat on the bottom right side. The star tests would seem to indicate a degree of astigmatism with a slight bulge to the top left of the ring. I would also say that the outer ring is not evenly illuminated. Having said all that though I have very little experience in this so hopefully someone with experience of refactor star tesing can comment. Adam

not bad you just need some flats and it would be very good.

Well from my perspective if they have 500 sold items then they must be a good seller as if they had sold so many dodgy items they would have been banned long ago.

removed

I agree these are supposed to be great, the price for 3nm is competitive with the Astrodon 3nm alternatives but I was a little disheartened to see that the 5nm versions are literally only £20 less than the 3nm.

Nothing to say it would not do well for imaging. Clearly don't make it as a dob though attach a dove tail. As you say though you would need to have the inclination. Adam

Well you could take the optics out of a 130PDS and then make your own "tube" out of high quality ply wood. That would leave you with a flat surface to mount any focuser you want to mount to it. https://hantsastro.org.uk/resources/telescope/index.php Adam