Mognet

It might have also been a case of the business not being viable long term even if the technology is good https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/05/no-one-should-be-surprised-virgin-orbit-failed-it-had-a-terrible-business-plan/

Ebon Upton is saying that the Raspberry Pi will be available again soon https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/raspberry-pi-ceo-supply-should-be-unconstrained-in-second-half-of-2023/

That's true, it is a lot more expensive! If you will only be using the mount in EQ mode then there's the EQ6-R Pro which isn't quite as expensive and will carry up to 20kg. Looks to be quite heavy though https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p9392_SkyWatcher-EQ6-R-PRO-Synscan-Equatorial-GoTo-Mount.html

I suspect the C11 might be a bit close to the weight limit of the AZ-EQ5. Looking at them on FLO the AZ-EQ5 handles up to 15kg, and the C11 weighs 12.5kg plus whatever is needed for imaging, guiding, etc. I'd be tempted to go with something stronger https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optical-tube-assemblies/celestron-c11-xlt-optical-tube-assembly-cge-losmandy.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-az-eq5-gt-geq-alt-az-mount.html#

First light on my WO ZS73, not quite in action here but cooling down ready

It's guaranteed clear when you have other priorities

A couple of recent articles on the problems professional astronomers are facing now https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/radio-interference-from-satellites-is-threatening-astronomy/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/03/hubble_satellite_interference/

I didn't get the field flattener, but might need it in future. I'd emailed FLO to ask about it and Alex wasn't sure with this camera. I'm using it with the ZWO ASI585 which has a small sensor so we're adopting a try it and see approach. The stars in the corners might be ok, or they might not. If they're not then I'll get one. With larger sensors the flattener probably would be required

An update to this thread. Bought the ZWO ASI585 a couple of months ago. This week I finally decided on an imaging scope, and went for a William Optics ZS73 It wasn't on my shortlist but it had also been thought about. I'm impressed with the build quality and a quick test on nearby stuff says it's good. Just need some clear skies now for a proper first light with it

I've only felt unsafe once while out. Went up to a local and out of the way dark site one night to find someone had parked a mobile home there. Looked like they had set up to stay for a while too. Hung around for ten minutes not seeing or hearing any movement, but decided not to stay as I wasn't comfortable. The site is too far out of the way at the end of a country road for anyone to just turn up randomly

That happened here yesterday. And I've seen it happen three days in a row recently too, so this is definitely one of the Laws of Astronomy

Sounds familiar. Set up to take images Sunday night and next door neighbour turned his spare room light on. I walked indoors to get some food while waiting for him to turn it off and two minutes later the skies lit up with the aurora. Only found out from checking the sky camera later Then to top it all, I went back out once he'd turned his light off having left my kit powered up. Did the polar alignment, picked a target, set an imaging run going, and then the battery went flat. I discovered that an hour later after taking only one blurry image So I think I'll add to the laws: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But if you can fix things as they happen, then everything will go wrong! If there's any short lived significant astronomical event on a clear night, it'll happen when you're looking the other way

Rechecked my all sky recording from last night, and I think the earliest I can see it is 21:26 As is typical the time that it happened was when I was indoors eating and waiting for my neighbour to turn his upstairs lights out

Caught it on my all sky camera. A moving red patch in the north-northwest for a few minutes from 21:43. Possibly some green afterwards. Images are not good enough to share thanks to local light pollution, but can definitely see it moving in the video version

When I got mine there was a bit of a problem with the order with the Dynamo going to unavailable while waiting for another part of the order to come in. In our email exchange Chris at FLO said that they were end of line, so there's not likely to be any more, which is a shame as they seem good. Apart from the odd duff one though

Not seen any problems with mine yet, although due to cloudy skies it's only on its second charge. I have noticed that it takes a lot longer than the quoted 6-7 hours for a full charge. It's something like 12 hours with mine

Does it name the files that it's missing? It might be something simple like needing the Microsoft C++ Redistributable

That's a great result

Microsoft ICE can still be downloaded from Archive.org. There's a couple of links to the 32 and 64 bit versions from here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/252274/how-to-download-image-composite-editor-2-0 Haven't tested this download version as I kept the download file from last time I got it from MS

When the local lights were being switched to LEDs I noticed a big drop in the quality of the southern view. I rarely see anything below 45 degress in that direction now apart from planets. Locally it seemed to improve a bit from the changes to the light spill The view south. Southend off to the left and Basildon off to the right The view east, same settings, same night, same spot

First light on mine last night. Being new to dedicated astro cameras and Astroberry it was more about experimentation than good images. It's a definite step up from my DSLR, even if I don't know what I'm doing yet! Image is 65 frames of 8.7 seconds at gain 400. Probably far from the right settings, but I had a few issues with driving Astroberry via the tablet. Rough processing with DSS and Gimp Currently using a Nikkor 35mm 1.8G camera lens while debating what scope to get to go with it Light pollution also by me. I'd left the conservatory light on so I could see where Keeva the kitten was in the garden

Watched from the back bedroom window so I could see over the houses, but no sign of it from here. Probably lost in the haze or just too distant.

The v3 Raspberry Pi camera has just been announced, which needs libcamera instead of raspistill. I have a v3 camera on order so I can investigate and update the code as required. I knew raspistill was being deprecated so it's time to fix things Also currently investigating a slowdown in capture that's led to images being skipped on the Pi Zero when previously they had been fine. It possibly stems from copying the videos using the cp command, but has happened on new cards a week after initial install

My thinking had been towards a scope rather than the Samyang lens as I might also want to use it for widefield viewing at some point, but I could use the couple of pairs of binoculars here that are waiting refurb/repair instead Speed is a bit of an issue here too. I'm in a Bortle 5 area, but also have to deal with neighbours lights, so sometimes have limited opportunity I'd noticed that where there was feedback it was all positive. The SM 66mm doesn't have any reviews yet though

I needed a lightweight counterweight so I could do some widefields with my existing camera kit while I procrastinated over buying something dedicated, so after a rummage through my cupboard I came up with an idea to use a couple of small baked bean tins and a 3D printed holder as they would come in around the same weight as the camera and lens The design might not be quite right yet, but at least it's among my saner ideas! 🤪 I designed it in Fusion360, and I'll share the files if anyone wants them