Rusted

Some constructive thoughts: All-aluminium ladders can safely live out of doors for decades. Security permitting: Padlock and big chain? Cycle U-lock to screw in, ground anchor? What about a hinged and latched, top panel just above the door? Might need some extra reinforcement above. Removable threshold bar? Slot in, then sliding door bolts on either side to fix in place. Ground ramp: Ply and supporting batten[s.] Beveled where it meets the ground. For easy sack truck or trolley roll-on, roll-off access. I just cut a couple of wedges from 2x6 inside and out of the foot bar. Fixed with screws. But it's still a bit of a bump. An outside ramp up to floor level would be much better. Dob base lives on a two wheeled trolley with leveling blocks? Removable, wheelbarrow style handles, sliding in brackets or "eye-bolts," on either side of the dob base. The wheels mounted on the sides of the base. For adequate ground clearance but big and wide enough enough to easily to roll and park. Putting wheels underneath a Dob base is silly. It also narrows the track. With potential toppling problems.

I don't care what they say. I still think curved spider vanes would have been better.

I'm glad you saw my comments as constructive. When ImPPG was recommended I was completely lost. No idea where to start. Horrendous results! Tears of anguish! ImPPG works well even with default settings. Just drag the wiggly line in the box. I usually keep the first cursor on the bottom line. "Brightness" cursor on the top line. Less is indeed more. I process "live" while I capture using a 27" monitor in the shade of the dome. They say that practice makes perfect. I badly needed the practice to gain enough experience. So I capture and process continuously. Usually at less than half minute intervals. Often from early morning to sunset if the sun is out and the seeing is worthwhile. SharpCap, AS!3, ImPPG, PhotoFiltre. Then post the better results on my blog. Or on the solar forums if they aren't too awful. Most solar imagers don't get as many active hours in a month as I do in a day. It was really the only way I was ever going to progress to any degree of proficiency at my age. The GPCs on the nose I owe to Sir Peter Drew. Some Barlow nose-pieces can be used the same way. Screw thread permitting. Skywatcher Barlow noses work according to Peter. I never had one to play with. I mostly use a 2x WO Barlow nose piece. Or a 1.6x TS GPC if the seeing is poor. 2.6x only if the seeing is great. 150mm f/10 iStar H-a refractor. With a 1.25x Baader GPC permanently on the back of the PST etalon. Peter is also responsible for sending me down the H-alpha [PST modification] rabbit hole.

Image No2 is by far the best IMO. Both smaller images show over-sharpening. IMO. The "surface texture" is unrealistically uniform. IMO. It is an easy mistake to make and I used to do it a lot. You keep pushing because it looks more "exciting." The step up in scale between the pairs of images is too much. IMO. Here I am judging your images as harshly as I would my own. Flattery will not bring you the progress you desire. I made the same mistakes when I first imaged in H-a. Somebody on a forum told me I was overcooking the sharpening. It hurt! So I learned to be far more subtle in ImPPG. To aim only for realism. I use inexpensive T-S binoviewer GPCs [singly] as Barlows on the nose of my ASI174. Now I match the GPC/Barlow power to the seeing conditions. They act as much weaker Barlows on the camera nose than they would on a binoviewer. Simply because they are much closer to focus. I have only extremely rarely been able to use a 2x Shorty Barlow. In ImPPG I use 1.3 [default] L-R Deconvolution. With 2.6 Sigma and 1.3 Amount when I can. It is extremely rare that I can go any higher. In winter, with a low sun, I sometimes reduce L-R-C to only 1. These settings are only intended as guide. A starting point based on my own system. 150/10 PST mod.

Stunning images!

There is really no need to use the slow motion knob for belt drive. The little "Skywatcher" 12V DC gearbox motor can drive the coarse adjustment knob. Do NOT use the "Skywatcher" control paddle. The cheap contacts on the buttons die rapidly. Feed the motor with a proper 12V DC supply via a DC controller. Here is an image of the motor on the Starlight FT3.5" on my 180mm refractor with the massive 2" Lacerta wedge attached. I use the HitecAstro DC focus controller dozens of times per imaging session. The coarse knob on the other end of the focuser shaft can easily be used for coarse, manual adjustment. As already stated it is not a stepper motor but can be adjusted [on screen] to a microscopic crawl. I like the way the little motor can be wrapped around the focuser to make a highly compact set-up. Many of the [very expensive] commercial systems put the motors right out on the end of the focuser shaft. Where it can easily catch on the scenery, cables or clothes. It is not my intention to hijack the OP's thread. I am merely offering valid options which have worked for me.

Belt drive? Toothed timing belts run nicely on textured focusing knobs. You can often move the motor into a less obstructive situation. The advantage of belt drive is that you can overcome the friction to use manual coarse focusing. Though you do lose position with stepper motors.

I was imaging all evening with my 6" f/10 iStar until the moon went soft after 9pm. Strange because it had reached 57.5° altitude and was well clear of any buildings. Only the slightest hint of a halo. So not even thin, high cloud to blame. Captured four Plato craterlets earlier with averted imagination.

Try ImPPG instead of Registax. It's free and has a magical ability to bring out fine detail. Some use both.

How long before you can rent time on telescopes in low earth orbit?

Does that mean that you can't use Remote Desktop? Or some similar [more sophisticate] means of controlling or upgrading the distant electronics? I am sure many believe the JWST will provide pretty pictures ten times sharper than the HST. Since the JWST works in the infra red it has the resolution of a very expensive 8" SCT.

That reads as if your were personally responsible for holding back military progress.

Turn that spade around on the back wall and you're good to go. I made a 16" F/5 mirror once. Brought the PVC tube home to build The Big Dob. It wouldn't stand upright in the shed! More seriously: Aperture envy raises serious manual and psychological hurdles to more frequent use. Will the larger instrument be as much fun once the novelty wears off? Will it still seem quite so attractive when it is freezing cold out there and Netflix beckons?

Who are you calling trash? The Borg would probably upgrade it. 👾

Added some images as the seeing improves slightly 2x GPC and 2.6x GPC.

150/10 iStar H-alpha objective ZWOASI174MM with 2x GPC on the nose. Most of the images were captured with the solar D-ERF still in place. Removed it and then found I was several frames short of a set. Probably about 18 frames by the time I had most of the moon. Posting this full size. 7.8MP. I'll resize it if it proves to be too big and fluffy. I should have mentioned clicking for the big picture.

I'd suggest you are off-band for H-alpha. [Tuning.] Or, the optics might be dewed from the cold. [Warm up] Or, the blocking filter is cloudy. Perhaps all, or some of the above. I have no experience with commercial H-alpha scopes. Only my own PST mods.

What a great set of images!

If JWST developed a serious problem it could officially commandeer the L2's invalid parking spot. Provided, of course, an ICE people carrier hasn't already double parked across two bays.

A "tame" gardener/tree surgeon to cut down all the unkempt hedges to my east and south. A crane: To lift my latest and bigger, home made dome to replace the last one. A decent, larger aperture, H-alpha etalon to replace my [very] secondhand PST etalon. A much larger aperture, H-alpha, Lunt blocking filter. A proper, Goto drive box, which actually works. To replace my AWR/ASCOM crap. Which hasn't managed a single Goto in three whole years from new.

Or not. Annual, minor iterations of styling have pushed phone prices beyond £1k. Yet they are mostly manufactured in PRC, or thereabouts, at suppressed wages relative to the West.

Two three four thoughts: Crookes Radiometer and a worm wheel reduction, Goto drive. and, I'll never believe another science fiction film which shows the craft bathed in light while traveling between the stars. Do rockets roar in the silence of a space vacuum? Now what was the question again?

I don't believe any of this nonsense about tensioning 5 fly sheets. It is hard enough to erect a tent on a sandy camping site. Are we supposed to believe they tensioned that lot using sky pegs? .

A nice, fat, down-filled jacket is your friend against the cold. I gathered a few together from charity shops years ago. It can cost hundreds to buy a proper, mountain climbing jacket. Back then I was only paying about a £fiver equivalent. Hand washed in the bath with proper down cleaner. Add a pair of salopettes for a whole day imaging in the cold. Kamik fur lined boots over thick, wool farmer's socks. A warm head adds greatly to your comfort. I like the GripGrab "Aviator" medieval cap under a fleece or trapper hat. Adjust to comfort levels. Double thickness, fleece gloves, with finger tips cut off, for the keyboard. With two jackets layered I was good down to -23C one night. Only for about five minutes. Before the eyepiece froze over from the moisture in my eye. I had already taught myself to always breath away from the 'scope. The main problem in winter is iron hard PVC cables. Particularly off an extension cable reel. I had a giant yellow "coil spring" running right across the lawn for a week after one hard frost. It only collapsed for safe handling after a thaw.

75, not out. Still building telescopes, mountings and observatories. I have a 4.3m [14'] GRP dome nearing completion in my usual parking spot. Almost ready to be lifted up onto my second floor, solo-self-built observatory. You can't imagine how much has changed since I built my first telescope at 14. From 60mm 1/2 diopter spectacle lens back in the 1950s. Simple, single eye lenses. I still have them in plastic tubs of stuff collected over a lifetime. No more Exchange & Mart and long out-of-date books in the library. The annual request, by post, for never-changing, printed catalogues. They might as well have been selling Lambos rather than telescopes. I made my own mirrors. lenses, mountings and telescopes. Simply because I couldn't afford commercial offerings. The Internet changed literally everything, but slowly at first. Abusenet, serial bullying and trolling by text only. Some real experts and probably some pros. NO moderation! Then Yahoo Groups serial posting. No parallel threading. SGL is a pleasant change from everything which went before. Friendly, with excellent image handling. It is still magical to be able to post seconds after capturing and processing a live image. Wide range of expertise. Tolerant of newbies. Enthusiastic atmosphere. Fun! I admire the subtle moderation here. Very unlike CN! Imaging the sun has become my main passion in the last few years. Much more fun than sitting in the cold and dark: Though I was imaging the sun at -6C the other day. Never learn! I am hugely lucky to remain fit enough to continue my lifetime obsession.