Rusted

Would it be non-PC to suggest a few might benefit from a one/way ticket? Alternatively Mr B could make a few more bob by bunging corpses straight into The Sun. [Aka: The Nearest Star not the tabloid newspaper of the same name.] Speed up the old "We are Stardust," sort of thing. Should go down well with wealthy hippies. Make a nice change from taking your butler to <cough> "Burning Man."

My finder has a finder. 90mm f/11 Vixen 90M with original Vixen finder. Nice. Now what was the question again?

Bare feet and crocodile fishing seems like an unfortunate combination. We'll just have to hope you don't catch one..

I'm looking for alternatives to polyester and glassing my slightly leaky wooden dome. The paint has not adhered well to the primer and the birch ply is blackening on the inside. I'm presently looking at solvent welding green PVC tarpaulin gores over the plywood dome. Car wrapping film? Taping the seams. Or ageing too quickly to even care any more. I suppose there's always Yoga or meditation: Ohhmmm.

If size really matters: A dewshield is not strictly necessary except to protect against dew on the front of the lens. If the dewshield is sliding and retractable then you can ignore the following: The problem is protecting the lens if the dewshield is absent. Lens caps of all sorts might be available in particular size which avoids having the original dewshield. Binoculars? Failing that, find a length of tube the same size as the dewshield and make a much shorter one. I'd be looking at plumbing plastic pipe, aluminium tube or even a tough plastic bottle which once contained household products or foods. My entire life seems to have been spent trying to find alternatives to foolishly expensive, commercial products. Charity shops have aluminium ornaments and lamps, stainless steel tubular things. The weirdest stuff imaginable if it works for your project. Just be careful not to force anything into place. Cloth or electrical tape can offer protection and ensure a snug, sliding fit. Fix the tape inside the donor material. Not on the telescope.

While I do have a larger lathe the ridiculous cost of international postage would make a complete mockery of any savings from DIY. Besides, the very low price of plastic pulleys online means you rarely need to get involved in any lathe work. I usually make such things from three flat disks and simply bolt then together into a sandwich. Birch ply is a favourite material and lasts well. A jig saw or router set no limits on disk diameter. Sand the disk's circumferences smooth if you like them to look a bit posh. Scrap metal aluminium is another possibility if you have the tools to work it. Power woodworking tools will cut aluminium with the correct metal cutting blades. A messy job but leaves your mark for alien archaeologists to ponder such strange human activities after THE RESET.

While the despots can continue to rule the world, riding on the backs of coal, oil and gas the human race is heading for the big Reset button. Every technological civilisation must inevitably reach the thermal barrier. Or change how it is governed, by whom and for whom. Nation states no longer have any meaning once the global population crashes. Geographical borders are mere, historical anachronisms fought over by deranged "entitled" sociopaths since the dawn of man. We have too dominant a greed gene and it will be the death of us all. As in: "Thrice woah!" F.H.

Given the "donor" who made most of his money from local taxpayers paying open ended license fees. These were for regular Windup <cough> upgrades to machines run by local government for public service. So, there is a choice between paying BIG a regular license fee to be in a lit strip on Earth. Or making do with constant darkness and overhead advertising 24x7 without the option of Adblock. No doubt there will be option to eat or not to eat [at all.] Depending if the local fields can get enough light without paying a license fee to BIG. BIG will then move into cereal production, on his eclipsing mask, to feed the hungry via a constant license fee. He will call this "philanthropy." So he can claim back 150% in unpaid taxes plus interest.

Thanks. The green is from the Baader Solar Continuum filter added to the eyepiece or camera. I decided to leave the green colour unchanged because the subject matter is in white light. [Rather than red for H-alpha] The filter helps to bring out the contrast in surface detail and is much more relaxing on the eye while observing the [Filtered] sun in white light. WARNING: I should add that I use a fixed protective filter system ND3 + single polarizing + UV/IR blocker in my 2" Lacerta Solar [Herschel] Prism. The Baader Solar Continuum filter cannot be used as a solar filter on its own. Nor can a solar prism be used on its own. The solar prism must be ALWAYS be used with a strong Neutral Density filter. ND3. The single polariser is rotated to make the image brightness more comfortable but offers very little protection on its own. These additional filters are housed in the base of the prism's rotatable eyepiece holder.

That's easy for you to say.. You know this is an English language forum, don't you?

I'm a martyr to trees by 6.30. <sniff>

I hope you realise that the moment you connect the Rain Detector the entire world will become drought ridden and bring an end to synchronized swimming as we know it? Or something like that. I have been putting off connecting my wireless rain gauge to my Ventus weather station for very similar reasons. Good Luck! Great Uncle Noah and the All-Sparks Synchronized Swimming Team

Just a heads up after some hands-on practice: The 27" screen makes imaging far easier. I could have used a 24" but was glad for the extra acreage of the 27" at my normal viewing distance. The bigger screen can be split down into separate areas with different input signals if you like. Huge image scale makes focusing an absolute doddle. Either manually, at arm's length, or motor focuser. You would not believe how tiny a change in focuser drawtube position alters the critical sharpness. I was never aware of this on the 15.6" screen! In retrospect: Most of the focusing was complete guesswork. You can examine the seeing conditions directly on the live image on the monitor before and during capture. This raises an interest point about visual observation and choosing your moments of clarity. Here you can see those moments directly on the screen. Or not, if there aren't any. A bigger screen is highly recommended if you are still struggling with a small laptop screen for your imaging. The 2560 x 1440 resolution allows content enlargement to suit your personal taste. FireCapture was legible from the first attempt compared with my frustrating trials with 4k on the smaller 15.6" laptop screen. I have attached a couple of digital snaps I took of the screen yesterday to show the sheer scale of things. BTW: The sun was far more evenly lit on the screen but the digital camera couldn't cope. The seeing for Jupiter was the worst ever but it was huge! Thanks to those who responded.

I was bored with looking for something which just isn't there. So I captured some white light surface detail. 1000 frames at 25 FPS in SharpCap. Very windy, image shaking at times, with obvious limb 'boiling.' One image is via my 180mm f/12 R35 iStar with 2" Lacerta solar prism. 2160mm f/l. The other is with my 90mm f/11 Vixen with very old and worn out Baader Solar foil. 1000mm f/l Both captured with my ZWO120MC fitted with 1.25" Solar Continuum in SharpCap and processed heavily in Registax6. Both resized to 800 pixels in PhotoFiltre for forum use. People do ask about visible surface detail in white light. I can usually see fine surface detail in the 90mm long before it shows up clearly in the 180mm. Edit: I added a brightened 90mm image Just thought this would make an interesting comparison. 🤓

Sorry, wrong time of year, Madam. You can't be doing spring cleaning out of season! God knows I've tried and it just doesn't work. Jobsworth

What an interesting idea! You could use a suitable target to confirm the true amplification factor of the forward positioning of your Barlow. A tiled roof, with and without the Barlow, would be the easiest method. Assuming, of course, that you can reach focus without the Barlow. Failing that, count roof tiles with the Barlow in the conventional position and then in your forward "advanced" position. Suitably distant, equally spaced, fence posts would work too. Use the same eyepiece each time and see how many of your chosen "units" can just fit across the full field of view. Try it with the Barlow in each position. Normal [close to the eyepiece] position and "advanced." Then you will know the extra amplification factor and can make up a list of your real powers.

Brain food. We call it "Organic Muesli" because we're posh.

Thanks for the explanations. Regarding "distant" wireless reception: I have just moved my laptop from the far North side to the East side of the pier to make room for a monitor and "proper" keyboard. My wireless reception has just shot up from weak and completely unreliable to 100Mbps up and down! No other change except moving the closed laptop about 60cm or 2' to the SE onto a new desk extension. My massive mounting and three OTA's must have been shielding the signal to the laptop. It might be worth experimenting if such a simple change can provide all the wireless reception you need. My indoor router is on the first floor. As is the dome at about 15m away to the north. I've heard that being on the same level as the router can aid reception.

Forgive my total ignorance but does this unit act as a simple "aerial" for improved local reception of your own wireless router signal? Or does it re-transmit your own internet wireless signal to a potentially much wider audience? Could just anybody in the neighborhood tap into my "free WiFi broadcasting service" as a result? Having seen my 60m distant neighbour's Chromecast and STB as the result of a new TV, initial set-up scan, it seems there is a potentially serious, privacy and bandwidth issue.

What about evaporative camera cooling? Throw in a bit of Venturi effect for extra velocity. Moistened felt muff wrapped tightly around the sides, back and front of the ZWO camera body. All contained in a simple, concentric duct/tank formed by a cylindrical outer tube. Add a ring baffle at the front to maintain a tightly wrapped, high velocity airflow throughout. Fan on the back blowing forwards. To exit at the front of the camera around the drawtube through a ring baffle. The narrow annulus completely encasing the camera body should ensure some cooling over ambient. Having the fan sucking should work too due to the tightly constrained air volume. Spray bottle to damp the felt between captures? Pop the tank back on. Add a temperature sensor, sit back and chill. Hours of fun!

I doubt much direct sun can reach a little ZWO on the back of a larger tracking telescope. Point taken on the filtering. If the image was "warm" it would hurt our eyes doing visual.

Interesting. Now I'm wondering whether my "ripple masking" in SharpCap is caused by camera heating. I leave my telescopes tracking the sun for hours sometimes. Including the PST 6" H-a mod fitted with the 120MC. It might be a good idea to have rod operated, objective lens covers. I can't usually reach the objectives in summer.

Thanks. I have a 2" single polariser I can borrow from my Lacerta Herschel prism. Might be worth a try. Nothing ventured.. Just need some sun! With occasional cloudbursts I don't plan to water cool the telescopes.

Fascinating. Thanks. I imagined it was an optical artifact. What about polarization? Would that help? Or hinder?

Well done! We have very disturbed or cloudy weather over here. BTW: What is the "thick crust" you see on the limb in H-alpha images?