Simon Dunsmore

Hi Folks, I currently have my Canon EOS 60d being moded (H alpha). Can I ask if I'm going to need any filters for dso work? If so I would appreciate your suggestions. Thanks for your help Simon

Hi, thanks for your reply. Do you use it with the 130pds?

Fair play 🤣😂 Just how bad was it??

Hi Peter, Thanks for your help. I'm a little confused though. I saw this camera for sale second hand and looking at the specs it's selling point is its sensitivity to IR light. So why would one either want this or filter out IR? Sorry if its a silly question! Simon

Hi Folks, Just for fun, lets say i had a 250 dob OTA and a Heq5 pro mount, would this be a happy or at least tolerant marriage? I actually do have these, but usually use a 130PDS on the mount. I was just looking at the two scopes sitting side by side wondering. Thoughts? Cheers Simon

Howdy Folks, As the winter drags on and clouds continue to be the only thing I can see through my telescope, my thoughts have been wandering to warmer (and hopefully clearer) days. I've been considering having a pop at planetary imaging with my Skywatcher 130PDS (mount HEQ5 Pro). Looking for suggestions as to which ZWO (I have an AISIAIR Pro and want it to be compatible) camera would be my best option. My budget is pretty low so I was considering the ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera. I am aware that there are a few others such as (ZWO ASI 224MC USB 3.0 Colour Camera) in my price range of £200 ish but not sure if the difference is worth it. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Simon

Hi Folks, I finally received my ASIAIR Pro and whilst I'm waiting for the clouds to clear got to thinking about warmer days and consequently the prospect of imaging the planets, Would anyone have any experience with planetary imaging using the AISAIR Pro? My kit: Skywatcher 130PDS HEQ5-Pro Goto mount Camera (presently) a Canon 60D but will be looking to purchase a ZWO planetary camera for this purpose ZWO AISAIR Pro Thanks for your input Simon

Hi, Thanks for your reply. With DSOs I generally use my Canon 60d but I also have a ZWO 120 mono that I use for guiding. I was considering using the ZWO to try my hand at imaging the planets without spending too much money. I recently received £150 in birthday gifts so not a fortune to spend.

Hi Folks, Quick question, I own a Heq5 Pro with a Skywatcher 130pds and love it for astrophotography of DSOs. I was hoping that this year (if the clouds clear by then) to do a cheeky bit of planetary imaging but don't want to spend a fortune on another ota. I see quite a few Celestron powerseeker 114eqs for sale at silly money (£50) I was wondering if this would work? I would obviously ditch the mount and use the Heq5? Any thoughts or perhaps other ideas on a sub £100 used ota for planetary imaging? Thanks Simon

Hi and welcome, This is a great place to find help. Enjoy the journey, it's all part of the fun! Simon

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply. Do you know if there is any way of boosting the WiFi signal? Quick question, how do you find the ZWO asiair pro? Good, bad indifferent? I was hoping having all the functions in one system would make things a little simpler. Thanks again Simon

Hi, Hoping for some help from the collective brain. Not being overly techy, I'm a bit baffled as to what tablet to buy that would work well with the ZWO asiair pro. I'm considering the one below as it's just about the cheapest on Amazon with 4gb of ram (which I believe is the minimum???) Not too sure about the WiFi 2.3 or 5 not sure what that means??? Thanks for your help Simon Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 10.3 Inch FHD Tablet – (Octa-Core 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, Android Pie)

Hi, Thanks so much for reply. Really helpful! Never plate solved so that element is New to me. I have a Skywatcher 130pds. Finder scope shoe is taken up with my guidescope, so would need to attach it to the tube rings. Can I ask how you attached it to your rig?

Hi Jem, Thanks for your reply. Really appreciate your time in writing all that. Just one question, I was planning on using my Canon 60d dslr with this. I know that for the guide cam you need a ZWO camera. Have you used a dslr with it? Thanks again Simon

Hi People, I'm considering streamlining my set up, losing my QHY polemaster and laptop and treating myself to a ZWO Asiair pro. I just have a couple of questions that I would like to pose to the corporate astro brain that is Stargazers Lounge. 1. Does the unit need wifi access to work, if so what do you do when out in the sticks? 2. Just how easy is it to use? And how does the polar alignment compare to the Polemaster? 3. I was considering the Eagle Core but this would still involve a laptop to control the mount + polemaster plus a mobile etc 4. Any general feedback on the ZWO would be appreciated. Thanks for your help Simon

Hi Heather, That's really helpful, thanks for your time and effort on this. I just need a clear night to test it out 😁. Good idea on deleting the images. Will do once I've set up Stellarium. Thanks again and stay safe Simon

OK so I answered my own stupid question. Durrrr The screenshot below shows the options for my location. Can I ask which format I use?

Heather, Thanks for that link, looking at my gps coordinates and what I have entered in Stellarium, I need to amend things. My GPS coordinates 51.0881474 Lat 1.1256632 Long Therefore am I right in thinking these should be entered as: 51 5 17.3 1 7 32.4 The only problem is that the website list them both as N. 🤔

Hi thanks, I'll take a good look at this. Let's try again with the screen shot 😁

Hi, Really appreciate the collective brain power on this. I found one discrepancy. I had entered the lat and long in decimal format thinking that the degree and minute format would update automatically. I've attached a screenshot of the coordinates, where do I find the + and - Also still not sure about polaris needing to be in the eyepiece when stellarium is showing the telescope rectical on polaris. Thanks again folks

Hi Heather, thanks for your reply. Yep, I used the coordinate from the GPS on my phone.

Hi Folks, So, after spending the last couple of cloudy weekends setting up my mount to work with Stellarium, I finally got a break in the clouds last night and decided to try it for real. Everything seemed to work well apart from the accuracy. The scope slewed to near the target but not to it. I realigned the star into the eyepiece and used ctrl 3 to sync it with stellarium several times but still not accurate. Before I started I used a polemaster to polar align. I was wondering, when Stellarium starts up it shows the scope centred on polaris, but actually it's the mount that is centred and not the scope. Does this mean that once I'm polar aligned that I need to put polaris in the eyepiece before using stellarium or are my inaccuracies down to something else or both? Thanks for your help Simon

Thanks so much for all your help. I'm going to do some more reading and research. Stay safe Simon

Hi, Sorted. Seems like I was missing the EQMOD driver for the Heq5 mount. Installed and now working! Cheers all

Hi Folks, Can someone please help before I rip out what little hair I have left!!! I have had ASCOM, EQMOD and Stellarium working on my old laptop connected directly to my Heq5 pro mount. I recently hgot another laptop as my old one was on the way out. Installed everything as before but ASCOM does not detect mount nor does stellarium scope. I'm using Windows 10. Thanks for your help Simon