Moonshed

@nubs292 Hello, are you still there?

Are you using a hand held remote for taking the picture, such as an intervalometer, because if so set a delay of 1 or 2 seconds before taking the picture, this will allow time for any shaking created by the mirror to have died down. Are you sure that it is the mirror creating the blurred image? How certain are you that the focus was correct? Are you focusing the image using only the camera screen or are you connecting to a laptop and viewing it using one of the popular free apps, such as SharpCap? It would help if you gave details of all the equipment you were using. Thanks.

It must be great having such a wonderful achievement to look back on with such pride.

When something has been bothering you for ****** years and along comes someone who explains in a few seconds exactly what it is you have been doing wrong for all that time, two conflicting emotions arise. One, anger, Oh for Pete’s sake why on earth didn’t I think of that because it’s so ******obvious! And Two, pleasure, Thank goodness I know how to do it properly now. Thanks, ex-army guy!

That reminds me. Years ago I took a one week intensive course on how to fly gliders, a hobby I immediately fell in love with. There was only four of us on the course and one night we heard that the local was holding a quiz night so off we went. As is the custom it was necessary to make up a name for your team, one of our guys, I think originally from Norfolk, suggested “Norfolk and chance” I should add this all took place in Scotland, some 10 miles north of Edinburgh. When the results were read out and our team name mentioned everyone broke out into howls of laughter. Say it aloud, and wi

I checked the weather this morning from my back door, the most local and reliable weather information system in this part of Norfolk, and was pleased to see it was a fairly bright and cloud free sky, if I chose my spot carefully. I quickly decided this would be a good time for taking some Flat frames, to complement the Dark frames already completed on the night the images were taken. So I set up everything and nipped back indoors to get a white vest that is used on cold winter nights to keep me warm and also for making Flat frames. Unfortunately it had become badly creased so I set up the iron

Give my eyepieces and corrector plate a good, careful clean and give my scope and mount some much needed TLC. That way when the clear skies return I’m ready and waiting and I can guarantee that throughout the entire imaging and observing session absolutely nothing will go wrong, ever.

Have you considered purchasing stabilised binoculars? Yes, they do cost more but because the image is held very steady with no wobble you can see a lot more compared to regulars bins, meaning you can use smaller, thus lighter ones. Weight does become an issue as I am sure you are aware. The other advantage is there is no need to lug a tripod around. I have had the same pair of stabilised bins for around 25 years now and I love using them while the telescope is busy. Something to think about anyway.

Many thanks for your recommendation of the Meade 4000 illuminated reticle 9mm. I can see that it is a good eyepiece that would perform well but to be honest with you it’s not really ideal for me. I do not need the eyepiece illuminated so I am paying for something I wouldn’t use and the other problem I have with it is the small diameter eye lens, I find it difficult to work with them, perhaps because I wear specs and have terrible astigmatism. Regardless of that I do appreciate you taking the trouble to make a recommendation, so thank you for that.

Hi Neil, I have a Telrad that I find great for doing the two star alignment process and also for locating easy to find targets that don’t require use of the GOTO and therefore no two star alignment. I also use a flip mirror when imaging planets with my ZWO and for that of course I require an eyepiece, but the one I use isn’t ideal. The eyepiece is a 12.4 mm which gives a nice wide fov thereby making locating a planet very easy, but it can prove problematic getting it centred accurately enough to see it on screen, I need a reticle eyepiece, but don’t need it illuminated. I am currently loo

You have made an excellent job of constructing and painting that Saturn V, well done! Takes a lot of patience taking on a job that size. I made a much smaller one a couple of years ago when I was stuck indoors for a few weeks and decided to give it a go, never tried model making before this. I had no idea just how fiddly painting the LEM would be, not to mention all those decals to stick on all over the Saturn. Anyway I loved doing it and the hours and days flew by. My model is only about 28” high but like yours it all comes apart just like the real thing. I have to add that when I hear

@jonathan Glad to report that looking at the menu tree I noticed that under “Setup”, that I scrolled through to find the setting for switching tracking on, there is also another menu among the many titled “Target” that gives two options 1) Terrestrial 2) Astronomical. How obvious could it be? A quick trip to the “moonshed” and I switched on the hand controller and checked the settings, and guess what? Yep, while messing around slewing and one thing and another I had very cleverly managed to change the setting to Terrestrial, thereby switching the tracking off. A simple press of the button an

As a footnote to my tale of woe I can add that my Canon AC Power Adapter arrived this morning. I got it from a company called digi-Quick, they quoted the best price, which was only £14.99 with free delivery, and considering I only ordered it on Friday and it’s Monday today that’s pretty good too. I read that somebody had to drill a small hole into their battery holder to take the cable through but I was very relieved to find that the Canon has a small soft flap that enables the cable to fit snugly through. I really didn’t want to start drilling holes into my DSLR! So all’s well that

Thank you for your advice. I have the manual and it does have a menu tree so I will carefully go through it. I think it possible that after working my way through the different settings in the menu to get to where I could switch on the tracking, it may be possible that because I left it there that while I was using the slew buttons I accidentally turned off tracking. I will have a run through and see what I can find. Thanks again.

I haven’t seen it, not my thing, but I’m sure the grandchildren can tell me all about it, they have square eyes