adyj1

Talking about ports, I found a really simple program on source forge that will pop up a notification when you plug a USB device in in and say what com port it is on. It is quite old (2016),but in my experience has worked a treat in Windows 10. 

Serial Port Notifier

No more scrabbling around in device manager trying to work it out 👍 

8 minutes ago, BrendanC said:

If that's like this, then I've been recommended this and have already bought it, so fingers crossed: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-parfocal-rings.html

The parfocal ring will slide over the nose of the coma corrector and will 'shorten' the amount of the CC that gets inserted into the draw tube. As long as this doesn't leave the CC too short/unstable to hang the rest of the imaging train on, you should be ok.

The extension tube method lengthens the draw tube and so the length of the nose of the CC is unaffected. 

HTH

Ady

Edit: the click lock method also extends the draw tube, and as @bottletopburlysays, are an excellent addition if you have room in your imaging train - they self-centre and grip like **** 😉 

2 hours ago, PhilPassmore said:

Each socket is supplied with 12v on one pin, 5v on nother, and a commonground. This allows any five or 12 volt device to be wired into the matching plug, so it picks up the required voltage, regardless of the socket they are plugged into.

I like this idea - very nice 🙂

@Sarek, Hi and welcome. 

As you have already learned, there are no shortage of options to suit any budget - and budget is the absolute limiting factor... 

Can you afford to spend big on a 'proper' mount? The EQ6 is better than the HEQ5 and the HEQ5 is better than the eq5. None of them are 'portable'*, but the better they are the heavier they are. You will want to spend money on other astro essentials, so I wouldn't recommend blowing the whole budget on the mount. Will you be imaging from the back garden, or do you need to travel to get a clear sky? 

I was finance-bound when I started and got all my kit second-hand and mainly from this week group: DSLR (eventually modded by cheap astrophotography), EQ5 (motorised, and eventually diy modded to goto), and 150pds. I've supplemented it with diy auto-focuser, dew control, imaging pc and filters, but these upgrades took quite a long time because of finances. The 'big upgrade' I decided to plump for when I did come into a bit of money was a dedicated cooled astrocamera (ASI533MC Pro). Still imaging on my eq5 and not regretting it 😉 

So the tldr; is that recommendations need to reflect your budget and desire/ability to add funds... 

Ady

Edit: *Oops - by 'not portable', I mean that you'd want to carry for any distance - they can all be unloaded from the back of a car and carried somewhere close... 

Got this from the wife;

I'm fairly sure she's after a new pair of shoes 😂 

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

8 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Just to confirm, by “run off” shed I mean a small shed or box on wheels, rather than a sliding roof observatory ….. just in case I am using the wrong terminology! 

 

... or if I'm not paying attention 😉 

Would you have such a thing running on rails, or some sort of castor arrangement.?

I've no practical experience of this kind of scope cover, so I will sit at the back and watch. 😁 

What do you have in mind as 'low profile run-off shed'? What size floor plan? Something high enough to stand in? 

9 hours ago, tompato said:

Yes it's the astro essentials one which I think is f4 and 30mm so 120mm focal length

I have both and was about to say the Astro Essentials one is 32mm and so 128mm f/l, but I had a quick check on @FLO before posting and the description  now says it is 30mm. Something is afoot, as the product code is listed as "ae_32mm_guide_scope" - hmmm... 🔎

There probably is that much difference between the two to worry about. 

1 hour ago, tompato said:

the 120 stands for 120mm focus distance (I think?

It is the guide scope focal length you need, which isn't anything to do with the camera. Mind you, if you have the ZWO mini guide scope, then by complete coincidence that has 120mm focal length. 😁 👍 

1 hour ago, herne said:

My Skywatcher wedge (all Skywatcher wedges?) have their scales inverted for some unknown reason.  So for my 51 degree north location my wedge is set to 39 degrees on the scale ie., 90 - 51 = 39.

It was designed to be used with the Star Adventurer, which aligns in a different axis.

1 hour ago, herne said:

So for my 51 degree north location my wedge is set to 39 degrees on the scale ie., 90 - 51 = 39.

The actual setting will depend on how accurately you have leveled the tripod, for a start. Given that and the low accuracy of the scale itself, it is probably best just used a rough guide to start the PA process rather than expecting to be bang on.  

8 hours ago, Crist Rigotti said:

Do I have to use the Synscan APP first to set the mount to EQ mode, then set home position and do a 2 star alignment before going to the ASIAIR Plus?

Apart from polar alignment, you need to stick to one controller, or start again with alignment if you switch controllers (think of it like a reboot of Windows 😉) 

5 hours ago, fortytwo said:

I will take a look at Sky Safari for that purpose, do you think it would be better than Stellarium?

You just need to choose your poison - skysafari is what I would use when planning a viewing session as I have my FOV overlaid on the star map to show what targets fit. Whatever you normally us should work, or even the FOV tools on astronomy.tools website will work to show the difference that sensor and pixel size have on your FOV. 

2 hours ago, fortytwo said:

I am assuming that I will need additions to the imaging chain to achieve focus when compared to the DSLR and wonder if that will make a difference to the FOV?

The FOV is determined by your sensor size rather than distance to achieve focus (it is the same telescope with the same focal length after all). 

I went with a 533mc pro and the smaller sensor meant a smaller FOV than with my dslr. I plugged the sensor details into Sky Safari to see what FOV I would get whilst deliberating the purchase.. 

1 hour ago, Roog said:

Its good enough for my purpose

I think you are playing it down too much - it is a well-engineered solution that does *exactly* what you need, cossetting your precious Dob from any hazardous jolts as it is gently lowered to the launchpad with little effort from yourself.

I think you should be very proud - I bet there's more than one envious observer reading this thread...

Thanks for posting the vid, btw - I've watched it more than once   

24 minutes ago, Roog said:

Thank you , but it really is a very dull watch! But in order that others can suffer, do you have any ideas as to how this could be posted?

I recently managed to post a 48mb video of my automated RORO shed roof (zzzzzz) - how big is your file? 

Looks great - I'd like to see the video.

44 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

No, don’t assume I know anything much about affinity. I just use it to occasionally tweak terrestrial photos. I use PI for all my astrophotography.  The other day I did actually become aware that stacking was possible  on affinity because I noticed a video on how to do it. Is it any good? 

I'm pleased with Affinity. I followed a few of James Ritson's Youtube videos and downloaded his macros (he's a product expert for Affinity Photo) and also use his macros.

I don't expect it comes close to the power of PI, but it does for me. 

5 hours ago, Rodd said:

I like widefield too--but I would need to upgrade my camera to a full fame (of medium format) to really do them justice.

There's always better kit 😉 

Some inspiring pictures in there - I particularly liked some of the widefield ones (they feel more achievable 😉 )

Ady

Just used it. Thanks Chris. 

Ady

I've been keeping quiet about this as I had every confidence that I'd come a cropper somewhere along the build process and it wouldn't work, but on Thursday night I had my first fully automated session in my new observatory - set Nina up and then headed out on a works do. The roof opened, the sky stayed clear, m81 was imaged, and in the morning the roof was closed... Hurrah! 

Inspired by some great builds on SGL, I'd been thinking about it for a while and  took the plunge when the planets aligned for me: a bonus from work, a birthday, and a pergola that nearly blew over in the wind so had to be taken down which provided free treated timber. 

Managed to get the necessary permission to squeeze it into the bottom of the garden, behind the bushes 😁 (as long as I hide it behind trellis when I'm done) 

It's going to take a while to write the whole build up (particularly as my middle name is procrastination), but here are the big ticket items and some pics. (I warn you now, this build makes Heath Robinson look like high-end quality) 

8x4 metal shed for £215 (cheap, and feels it) 

Gate opener for £101

8 Roof wheels £50

all from Amazon

Before:

During:

After:

A vid:

It's a bit tight inside, but I reckon I can get two piers in there as my biggest scope is a 150pds...😂 

More to follow. 

I think it is called the 'aberration inspector' on the Imaging tab (has a grid of 9 squares in the icon. Here I'm trying without success to get the wrong Atair field flattener/reducer to work with my AA66ED-R.

The other AP apps may well have something similar. 

The diagrams on the ZWO website are surprisingly helpful and tell you exactly what you need;

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/best-back-focus-length-solutions-55mm.html

NIINA has an option in the 'image' tab to show a 3x3 crop mosaic which shows you a magnified view of all four corners that I have found useful when checking backspace...

Ady

14 hours ago, OK Apricot said:

Hello ladies and gents, happy easter! 

And a Happy Easter to you too! 

Biggest question of all is what's your budget - and with previous experience of astronomy - what are your aspirations? 

The 'don't buy twice' argument applies if you have the budget to support it, and the 'start off simple' applies if you don't. 

Many start off with a dslr because of budget, and if this applies to you it is a very reasonable place to start. 

PS - I can't see you 'needing' a rotator as you can usually do this manually.

7 hours ago, adyj1 said:

I have a 150PDS and have used a skywatcher 0.9x coma corrector with a Canon DSLR (modded and unmodded) for a few years without complaint.

I have had a  reflection from very very bright stars if they are in the centre of the FOV, though (alnitak as an example) - but I was only taking that as an alignment shot and it has never troubled me through my normal dso imaging (the horsehead and flame was fine)