Moonshed

Hi Graeme, Yes the old SCT is a bit on the heavy side! I hope your radiotherapy was successful, they have come a long way in cancer treatment these days. I was diagnosed in 2009 when it had already spread out over my body, I was living in Spain at the time. They told me I had 6 months to live and sent me home to finish my radiotherapy as an outpatient. After a year I was well enough for us to move back to the UK where I am still treated by Norfolk & Norwich hospital. I am doing pretty well apart from crippling fatigue that can go on for days. However, I do have good days and that’s when I get my scope out. I enjoyed a few years of astrophotography, what a steep learning curve that was, but astrophotography was hard work and at times even stressful so I am glad to return to visual observing, one of the great simple pleasures of life. You just can’t beat getting eyeball to eyepiece! All the best Keith

Thanks, the electric pet bed sounds a great idea, alternatively I could maybe get some heating tape and wind it around the scope. I will have to look into it and thanks for the idea.

I have not done any worthwhile observing or astrophotography for the last two years due to health problems but now I’m back. In recent years I have been concentrating on astrophotography but I have decided to take a break from that, it can be stressful and tiring at times, so many things can, and often do, go wrong. I am though very pleased with my collection of images of deep sky objects. Observing however is so relaxing, I had almost forgotten the pure joy of simply star gazing, marvelling at the beauty of objects such as the Pleiades and the Perseus double cluster. Glad to be back where I first started many years ago, looking at the stars and planets.

Thanks for the info. The link looks interesting and the covers on sale look ideal for my purpose, I will look into more but think they will do the trick. Thanks again.

I have a garden shed that I use exclusively for storing my scope and all the gear. I only have to lift it out onto the concrete pad and place the tripod legs in the small holes in order for it to be good enough PA for visual observing. For astrophotography I of course have to PA, using the PoleMaster. What I want to know is if it is possible to cover the scope with some suitable material that would keep it dry, security is not a problem. It would be so helpful if I could do this as I am 77 years old and have Advanced Prostate Cancer that leaves me very tired and weak. It would save me having to lift it out, even stripped down I find it heavy, re-attaching everything and doing all the set up procedures. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Back in 2016 I purchased the above EP for £100 but was disappointed with it because I was unable to bring it into focus, I put it in the kit with the others and left it there gathering dust. In 2020 I purchased a ZWO camera so I could image Mars and at the same time also bought a flip mirror box. It only occurred to me tonight that if I used the flip mirror box, with a diagonal, I may be able to bring the EP into focus and observe in a comfortable position. it worked incredibly well! After using my Bahtinov mask to focus on Betelgeuse I moved down to the Orion Nebula. OMG! I have never seen it in so much detail through an EP, and such a good FOV. To think I wasted all those years because I never gave it enough thought, but I’m a happy bunny now!

@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 with a trace of a Scottish accent for even better effect, and you will realise why! Happy days!

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 ironing board and switched on the steam iron. I like to place a vest over the scope and stretch it tightly into place with a length of string around the tube and I think it important to remove any heavy creases as they could conceivably create shadows. It was while I was at the ironing board trying to iron creases out of one side of the vest, while at the same time trying not to introduce creases on the opposite side (this process is close to perpetual motion) that the thought popped into my head that when I embarked on the new and exciting hobby of astronomy all those years ago I could never have foreseen that one day it would involve ironing vests. Life is so full of surprises.

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 looking at a Meade Crosshair Optical Finder 8 x 21mm for £30 on eBay, it looks like it will be good for the job and at that price I can’t really go far wrong. Ideally though I would like my 12.4 mm with a reticle because I like it’s wide fov and the large diameter eye lens. Could you please advise me on the reticle eyepiece you are using and how satisfied you are with it. Thanks.

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 those conspiracy theory nutters banging on about it all being a huge hoax I would like to take my rocket and have it blast off from the launch pad and go right up their (complete this sentence to make a well known phrase or saying).

@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 and it was fixed, now tracking nicely. Thanks a lot for pointing me in the right direction!

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 ends well, the power adapter works a treat and it is such a joy to know that never again will I pick up my camera only to find the battery is dead and also that it will never again die during an imaging run. Happy Days!

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 😄

Last night it was tracking just fine, tonight it won’t track at all. It does slew perfectly okay using the hand controller. Lately I have not been bothering with doing a two star alignment and using the GOTO, not necessary for finding Mars, so instead I run through the different modes until I get to the tracking rate and then select Sidereal, it works fine, used it lots of times when the target is obvious and I used it again last night. So that’s what I did tonight, skipped the two star star alignment, started up the tracking and used the hand controller buttons to slew it over to Orion. I settled on Betelgeuse for finding the focus with the Bahtinov, that’s when I noticed it kept moving out of frame. Can anyone suggest what could be wrong? The mount is the one in my signature. I will have a look at it again tomorrow in the daylight but couldn’t find any loose connections tonight. What a bummer! Beautiful clear night, could easily see M42 with the naked eye. Typical! Any help greatly appreciated.

The sky looked great last night, I could see Orion just beginning to clear the trees, right then, here we go! Laptop fired up, lift scope outside, dew heater switched on, dew/light shield on, Canon attached to camera via extender, scope balanced, PoleMaster connected - used - disconnected with perfect pa, APT on screen, camera connected , Live View on screen, mount drives on, Bahtinov mask on for focus, pick bright star, focus achieved, mask off, slew over to Orion, centre just below Alnitak to include Horsehead, centre on screen....... .......And Canon battery dies. Sob! Sob! Sob! Hang on, bring out the ZWO that you got for Mars, that’s supposed to be able to take nebulae as well, and now is the time to find out. Remove dead Canon, remove extender, screw in visual back, plug in Flip Mirror, fit eyepiece, plug in Barlow, plug in ZWO, balance scope, pa should still be good enough, open APT, connect ZWO to laptop, fit Bahtinov mask, focus on bright star, remove mask, open FireCapture, slew over to Orion...what? Where’s Orion gone? Oh no! Fog! I don’t believe it, how cruel can life be? Sob! Sob! Sob! Draw curtain around lonely broken man standing at the bottom of the garden on heavily frosted ground in the pitch black of night, going numb with cold, head bowed and clutching dead Canon. What can we learn from this tale of woe? We can order a replacement Canon AC power adapter, toss the battery, and never again have it die on you during an imaging session. For those readers who may have been affected by this story there is a helpline number out there somewhere.

Determination, patience, endurance, optimism, disappointment, recovery, hope, belief in the impossible, a sense of wonder.

I second Tiny Clanger on the care needed on the use of lasers, I wouldn’t dream of using one to point all over the sky, and not overlooking the dangers at ground level either. I would suggest that the OP uses one of the star chart apps to help recognise Polaris, it’s a lot easier than you may think and dead easy to find with the naked eye, and use that as your guide. If after that you continue to find it problematic then ease your pain and buy a PoleMaster, I know they are not cheap and I resisted at first, but after I had purchased one it became one of the best astro investments I have made. Good luck, hope it all works out for you.