lenscap

Hi. Are you overtightening the DEC clutch? It just needs to pinched just enough to engage the drive. Overtightening can make the slow-mo stiff. Try this first. Not exactly. Those two bolts & the two below them are clamps. The small grub screw is the adjustment. To loosen the worm, slightly loosen the 4 clamp bolts then turn the grub screw no more than 1/4 turn clockwise & retighten the clamps. Repeat till it turns freely. When properly adjusted you should be able to turn the DEC worm shaft with finger & thumb without the slow-mo knob.

In the couple of years that I've had my 200p (which is on an old, originally manual, EQ3-2 ) I've searched for galaxies from time to time , without success. (apart from the core of M31). Maybe my Bortle 8 skies are just too bright, but a recent thread about hunting galaxies in light-polluted skies has prompted me to have another try. My usual observing spot, the patio, would be brightly moonlit - no good. So I set up on the lawn where I would be shaded from the Moon by a big Sycamore, now in full leaf. I regularly curse this tree when my targets slip behind it, but tonight it would help with dark adaptation & prevent reflections. Went outside at 11pm (not yet astro-dark) and did a very rough polar alignment, just putting the mount more or less level with the North leg pointed in the direction of Polaris. Onstep offered me a choice of 10 alignment stars. I could only see 2 of them between the trees, but 2 is enough. I aligned on Arcturus & Izar, opened Skysafari 6 and did a Goto to Dubhe in UMajor, centered & synched. Here goes; click on M81/Goto. There were no dim fuzzies visible in the Finder but the star pattern matched Skysafari, so I'm in the right place. Looked in the 32mm Plossl (x31). There's a small faint fuzzy blob near the centre of the field! It's definitely not a star! Checked & double-checked the eyepiece star-field against Skysafari. It's M81 ! I increased the power. A 10mm Plossl (x100) seemed to hit the sweet spot. It darkened the sky. I could see a brighter core surrounded by a fainter " halo ". It wasn't circular, more oblong. This must be the elliptical part of the galaxy. I couldn't see the spiral arms. Higher powers made the image too faint & shapeless. So I've bagged M81, a Galaxy, 12 million LY away, in unsuitable conditions from a Bortle 8 site. A Result ! Can't wait for a moonless night to try and spot the spiral arms of M81 & maybe glimpse it's companion M82.

Anthony, I believe that you have Bortle 8 skies. It may not be possible to see galaxies from your location with your kit. (Apart from part of the central core of M31) There are many open clusters, globular clusters, hundreds of double & multiple stars, and some nebulae that you can observe. For galaxies you may have to visit a darker site, once you have built some observing experience. Don't give up!

This image would be considered auspicious in China, "The Land of the Red Dragon."

OK so when you press W it is the RA motor which is moving the scope to the W (but still pointing N) which seems correct. And, if I understand you correctly, when you press S it is the DEC motor which rotates the scope away from the NCP so both motors seem to be working. After polar aligning & putting the scope in the Home position have you attempted a 2 or 3 star alignment and if so does the scope slew correctly to the alignment stars?

I don't understand this. If you start with the scope in the Home position, (weights down, scope pointed at the NCP), and only the DEC motor moves the scope will end up pointing anywhere but North?

Yes, absolutely. I looked at M31 several times before I saw it because what was seeable was much smaller & dimmer than I expected. Lots of open clusters , a dozen globulars, half a dozen planetary nebulae plus M42 of course. The only galaxy I have seen from home is the central core of M31 but I'm still trying for M82. If your skies are better than Bortle 8 you may have better luck.

Although I don't have direct glare from streetlights etc I suffer from Bortle 8 city skyglow. M3 is virtually invisible in my 9X50 Finder. To spot it, once I am sure I am pointed at the right place & have dark adapted eyes, I have to scan the Finder FOV by averted vision. At some point I will get the impression that there is something there. I centre this directly-invisible "something" & a small, dim smudge, M3, is visible in a low-power eyepiece. Increasing the magnification makes it more interesting, but not spectacular. I have never managed to see M81/82 from my backyard in my 200p , never mind in the Finder. Keep trying.

You can of course guide your EQ3-2 through the ST-4 port on the Enhanced Dual-Axis Drive Kit with a suitable interface as explained by Cornelius Varley, but you cannot control the mount directly through ASCOM.

There is no Ascom driver for the EQ3-2 enhanced dual-axis kit because it has a "dumb" controller which has no communications facility. If you are into DIY you could build an Onstep or AstroEQ controller, with new stepper motors,which would give your mount a full GoTo capability for about a third of the cost of the EQ3-2 GoTo upgrade kit. https://groups.io/g/onstep/wiki/home https://www.astroeq.co.uk/tutorials.php (While it is possible to use the existing motors the maximum slewing speed would be painfully slow.)

Hi Ash, I made a similar p-mount using mostly oak. All my pivots were M6 bolts sitting in threaded holes tapped in the oak using a modified M6 bolt as the tap. This gives a tighter fit than metal nuts. The tapped thread acts like a Nylock, so its easy to adjust the friction which then stays put without spring washers. My L-bracket that holds the bino is metal & I used a CD as a "bearing" to stop the metal scoring the oak. Again the pivot bolt fits a tapped wooden hole.

Hi Steven, and welcome to SGL. The ISS is regularly visible from your location but there were no passes on April 25th. There are so many naked-eye-visible satellites up there that it would be unusual to look at the sky for say, 10 minutes without seeing at least one. Have a look at this website; https://www.heavens-above.com/ You can use it to predict passes for the ISS & hundreds of other satellites. Clear skies!

Well done the Daily Mail ! (Never thought I'd say that. ? ). Today's edition includes a two page spread on Guernsey astronomer Jean Dean who had an image selected for NASA APOD. Stunning images. Might bring some new recruits to to the hobby. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6955327/Guernsey-woman-Jean-Dean-wins-NASA-Astronomy-Picture-Day-prize-Rosette-Nebula.html

That's not just an eyepatch, it's a NASA eyepatch, so it probably cost the American taxpayer about $50,000. ?

With only half an hour of full darkness before moonrise I had a look for Pallas with the 200p F/5. Found it with the GoTo, and then confirmed the position with an easy star-hop from Arcturus to Muphrid to e Boo. With a 32mm Plossl (x31) Pallas had a hint of yellow to my eye, but so small I could not claim to see a disc. It is tiny. An apparent size of 0.4" is one tenth of Mars at the moment , or less than half that of Europa. Tried higher powers to resolve a disc but the seeing was terrible. Probably all the day's unseasonable heat was adding to the turbulence. I am still amazed that such a small object (3 times the size of Wales) 250 million km away, can be seen at all through a light-polluted backyard scope.

Well done Kronos for spotting 2 "dim fuzzies" from a light polluted location. I have so far failed to bag M81 or M82 from my light polluted backyard with an 8" F/5 Newt. I am encouraged by your result, so I'll keep trying.

What type of power supply are you using? Could you substitute an alternative to see if the problem persists?

I assume you are setting the axis of the mount using the two latitude bolts & the 0-90 degree scale on the side of the casting. Worth double checking, this scale is easy to mis-read, could easily be a couple of degrees out. How many degrees is the error? (Estimate , little finger = 1 deg, fist = 10 deg). Is it RA or DEC or a mixture? Is the error repeatable? Repeatable errors point to settings. Completely random errors indicate power supply problems.

How about an auto heater fan. Similar environment, and they come with a heat exchanger attached?

Auto-engine electric cooling fans have to operate for years in wet conditions , they run on 12V & might be scavenged from a scrapyard for next to nothing.

Once your scope is polar aligned select Polaris in Stellarium and then synch by pressing Ctrl+3.

When I motorised my 20 year old EQ3-2 the motors were stalling so I stripped it down an removed the Synta gunk which had congealed to solid in places. After much research I got a spray tube of "WD40 Specialist High Performance White Lithium Grease" of the sort which is much recommended. In my judgement this is much to thin for the tiny contact surfaces in worm drives. So instead I used some general purpose lithium grease that has been in my garage for about 20 years. Probably the same stuff you have used. This is much thicker than the spray stuff but does not have the grab or the stiction of the Synta grease. It works great, no stalling and I'm sure it will protect the worm drives. Personally I don't believe that only the most exotic & expensive grease will do the job. A mount is not an onerous application compared the the very high loads in automotive applications etc. Just my opinion.

Am I missing something. The scope is 10" F/5.5 , focal length approx 55" = 1400mm so a 4mm EP gives X350.

Since the electric forces that hold atoms & molecules apart are many orders of magnitude stronger than gravity, say doubling the gravity is unlikely to make much difference to the shape or density of the combined lump. Now if one piece was massively bigger than th other, different story.

Presumably each lump had been sufficiently compressed by it's own gravity to develop enough compressive/shear strength to resist further gravitational deformation prior to the collision. When the lumps met the extra gravity might have been enough to hold them together but not enough to squash them into a sphere bearing in mind that gravity is a very, very, very weak force.