stevie1980

Gotcha..I used to have the 8" SW PDS with the heq5 if I remember and couldn't do a decent polar align as couldnt see polaris from my observation point (on my tiny back garden).so now im using (going to be using i should say) the alt az for planetary and try eventually to do some quick astro/p with lots or short time exposures probably something like ie 200x10sec exposures..im not expecting an amazing image by any means, but just enough to make me want to by another eq mount and another 200pds and then travel to use it under darker skies and being able to see polaris to get a good p align... felt sick selling my 8" eq set up aswel but I got my hair off not being able to p align and it was only a matter of time before I stuck the OTA into somebody lol pardon the expression.. Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

Hi there and thanks for the reply. Yes im aware of the prime focus issue and thats a bit of a pain. I know the mirror can be moved forward slightly to get better advantage for prime focus/ for astro p. But I'm not touching the mirror so if I want to do a bit of astrophotography (which I will be doing sooner or later) then ill just buy a 102 refractor from SW or the 72 ed and put that on the discovery mount...thankyou very much for yr input. Ive decided to get the SW P150i. I assume I can still get a good focus on planets using a barlow though?

Hello guys n ladies .. something has been bugging me recently regarding barlows. I've seen quite a few people using 2 - x2 barlows stacked and dslr attached for planetary imaging. Is there any reason why this is? Wouldn't a single x4 barlow just give same results.. I'm assuming either it gives better results than a x4 on its own, or the owner of 2 x2 barlows just don't want to spend extra £s/$s on a single x4 or don't want to buy a x4 because he has 2 x2s.... I'm assuming extra weight and stability would be more of an issue especially if using an alt az mount (which i have) Cheers Steve.

Hi peeps. I'm choosing a new scope and I have 2 in mind. A nexstar 5se Or The SW star discovery p150i goto. Which one in yr own opinions would be better for planetary imaging. The 150SW SD doesn't come with control as its wifi. Hmmmm 🤔😬

Ahh brilliant thankyou very much, just need a serial to usb adaptor now before I can make the update.

I did just that.started with a 40mm and ended it on a 10mm thankyiu for replies

Hi guys. I recently purchased a mount and synscan control. When switched on its saying version 3.37,I want to update it to the latest version via synscan firmware loader. I have the v 3 control. Can anyone tell me the latest version that I can put onto my v3 control. Many thanks Steve

My window opens upwards and the bottom frame when opened would get in the way so ill have to keep it closed

What an absolute belting idea. Would never have thought of that lol.silly me..cheers ,much appreciated 👍

Hi you might of heard this before but how can I go about aligning my finder scope to the main scope without having to point it at a,stationary object a mile away, the reason I ask is because I have rather high fencing around my garden and have nothing to align to apart from a few house roof 50 ft away. With mt old scope I aligned with the moon but when it came to looking at distant stars it was way off. Any good tips please. The scope is to heavy for carting around to the nearest field,plus being in lockdown I dont think the constabulary will like seeing me in a field. Many thanks guys n ladies Steve

Hi there. I have a dslr which is currently being modded and I aslo have an opticstar px35c (never used) the asi kept on crashing my laptop. I've used registax before a few times.not sure about autostakkart and the other ones. I'm hopefully getting my tax back soon (fingers crossed) it's a decent amount so I might just throw caution to the wind and buy a ed80 or 120 and a good solid eq mount. I might be single after this .. I'd be sorry to see her go.. 😉 Thankyou for reply and helping me out.

Yes I used to own a asi but it kept freezing my laptop.im only using a usb 2.0 laptop at the mo.and I panic bought a opticstar px35c which I imagine is not up there with the ZWO.i havnt tried it yet as Jupiter isnt showing it presence until gone 3am and I'm usually inspecting my eyelids at that time. My profile pic has a pic of jupiter done with asi120mc a few year back with the classic 6" SW dob push to.many many headaches trying to get just a 10sec vid of J. but i pulled it off.by no means a fantastic pic but the GRS is clearly there. You know I've NEVER seen Saturn yet visually through EP or imaging grrrr. I have quite a few barlows (not the cheap ones) but not overly expensive from £60 to £140. I have a range of x2s x2.5 and 2x 3s.. never amounted to much when I used a dslr for J always looked very grainy.

That came from the shop owner/worker that I bought it from.he said planetary and Luna will be ok but AP forget it as it wont track as good as it would on a eq mount. Ilk stick with what I got for now.do the best with the tools I have n wait n look for a ed to pop up n a decent solid mount to go with it.

I'll take a look. Thankyou

They look amazing. Would my f12 flextube be ok for AP if I close the scope down thus shortening the F length. Or am I still being barmy?

Very nice... and maybe I'll just have to open my wallet a little more. I tried getting bodes the other day but with my SW flex 200 goto didnt get anything but a few stars.then again I was doing 10sec exps using my samsung s9 lol.still waiting for my camera to come bk from the mod shop... I jumped straight in at the deep end thinking this scope I have would be brill at AP how wrong was I?

Yes I know the mount on a small budget isnt going to be any good even if I added more weight to it to hold it steady. I'll take yr advice onboard thankyou.

Hey guys. I'm wondering what sort of scope I can buy for AP I only have a budget of £350 because I've just bought a 200p flexitube goto for £800 and I've been told its rubbish for AP grrrrr. Any recommendations as to a budget scope for AP and must be able to hold a DSLR without any drop or going south on me List of a few scopes that I've looked at. 102 skymax 102 sky travel refractor az 102 sky travel as GTI. All goto. Please help as I want to purchase today Many thanks Steve

Yeah I had my adapter on scope last night with the s9 pushed up to a 25MM SP (standard that came with the scope)

Yes I originally sent cheapastrophotography a email and no reply after three days.so another kind fella on here gave me the link to astonomiser and he received my cam yesterday.

Brill thankyou, as soon as I get my camera back I'll have a look. Hopefully get it back by friday.. Will I be able to see it with my s9? I've heard of some fair to good results coming from a mobile phone and 30 x20 sec exps.? My god I love this hobby.theres nothing that comes close imo

Hi Yes he said that I will retain focus to I and also has the option to have a baadar filter fitted I'm assuming thsts to retain daytime photography. I've just had the filter removal was quite cheap compared to other sites I've looked on. Also bought a LP FILTER aswel to hopefully cut some of the street lighting out.

Roughly when will I be able to see andromeda and orion nebula again? Or any DSO,S that will show me that the dslr is working? Thankyou

I'm loving it. Just want to do some DSO when I get my 450d back from being modded.but I'm told theres nothing to see here at the mo regarding nebulas or galaxy that I can do a few exps with. I'm still very much new to astronomy. Cheers. Steve

Well just set it up about 2 hours ago.nothing much to look at apart from the moon. Got a couple of shots.nothing amazing by any means but its tracking.was just slightly out.had to centre it.thanks for your help.amazing bunch of people.