Just an additional comment. I found that the pier, mount and scope are slow to warm up in the mornings and the cold surface would flash over with condensation. I found a polymer based resistor sensor which underwent a significant output change during the transition from dry to wet. I linked this signal into an alarm which warned me that the pier was wet so go turn on the dehumidifier. If this is of interest I will see if I can locate the supplier and post here.

I

The Lascar EL2 temperature and Humidity data logger is a excellent unit and they come up often on Ebay for around £25 (ish)

It can be programmed to give visual alarms if whatever limits you choose and the battery life is around 2 years.

Lascar EL-USB-2-LCD Relative Humidity and Temperature Data Logger

Its easy to take all this for granted..........What a difference from imaging in the 1980's!

We only had one night available to have a go and we learned a lot that night. Lack of ISS pass overs since then put us on hold.

Will try again when its favourable to do so

Having had a go at capturing the ISS I know just how hard it is so well done

There were a number of factors at play. When the shuttle engines start they bend the booster tube over as they are still held by the ground restraints. When the boosters light and the restraints are released the bending moment is released into the booster tubes and they flex back and forth during the early stages of lift off. The sealing rings, being stiffened by the cold allowed hot gasses to blow by the joint. The flex was around 0.3 htz as I recall and was confirmed by film which showed the puffs of smoke emerging at this frequency.

All this was known and small breaches of the joints were reported on earlier flights.  Mr Feynman at the time of the hearings was very ill with bowl cancer and had not long to live I guess there was a political element at play somewhere.

Like all accidents there are many factors which come together and remove just one and they become near misses instead of tragedies

I see now that where solid boosters are used they are always in line with the liquid fuel engines so the flex in the tubes is avoided

The contact fingers on USB cables tend to relax over time so my guess is that a new cable might fix it. The lower screen shot  reminds me of a cable snag I had while doing a meridian flip which resulted in one of the USB 3.0 connections at the cable connector end being broken.

The polar scope cover has two forward pegs that go into slots in the battery holders. Remove the polar scope cover first then take the top cover screw out.

Lift the cover up from the rear rotating it as you lift to release the cover locating pegs. When the batteries are installed in the holders reverse the process.

Money in itself has no real value. The value is in the things you buy. Now who was it that said that?

For me it depends on what you are looking at. Seeing Saturn for the first time through an eyepiece and trying to compare that experience to a galaxy which is a faint grey smudge in the eyepiece to having lots of detail on a screen is difficult. Both are good.

I would say though taking everything into account the Laptop screen wins.

I used to have S@N and AN via subscription but now only have AN. Its just the better of the two magazines if you can only run to one.

set up the EQ6-r on the garden with whatever scope you need extra?

If some is good, more is better and too much is just about right.

I just watched a program on particle entanglement so I guess you are conducting research into this phe👽nomena

But if it works..........who cares!

Also gonna need a bigger aperture, right chief?

2 hours ago, ED Splitter said:

successor to the star adventurer

I guess you are referring to the GTI version with full goto. The second batch of mounts look to be available soon with the USA already reporting deliveries.

The problem is that its such a popular mount that once suppliers have filled the firm orders there is little if any free stock to put on the shelf.

A great combination. And if you can master plate solving finding objects is not to difficult.

They lower the amount of Chromium to reduce cost and improve its machinability. Hence the term stainless not stain free

Its a Sony chipped mono camera as supplied in the UKMON kit

Just looked through last nights captures and this fireball was recorded after midnight. Moon is the source of the reflections. Attached is a stack of all the captures from last night

If your subs are good then all is well.........👍

Tomato and I have booked.

These are the ones I have

2015 NUC5i3RYH

2015 NUC5i5RYH

2017 NUC5i5MYHE

2014 NUCD54250WYKH

The first number is the year of manufacture. One of them I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 16gb. All have win 10 pro.

Consider used NUC's. I3 or I5 with 128gb and 8 gb ram. Windows 10 pro lets you use remote desktop. And they run quite happily on 12 volts. I have several and I paid around £100 each.

00:24 plus or minus 16 hours according to one website💥

I have sensors inside my fibreglass dome which warn me when condensation is starting to form and there is a definite pattern to it.

In the summer there is no condensation. In the cooler months what happens is that the pier, mount and scope cool down in line with the uninsulated walls but the walls warm up in the morning warming the air. The metal of the pier and mount are slow to warm up so condensation forms on these parts.

If the observatory has been open during the night then condensation forms on the inside of the walls probably due to the heat held in the substantial concrete base heating the air. On really cold nights frost will form on the inside which then melts in the morning.

I could see that insulation would reduce internal condensation but I use a dehumidifier to dry out the inside during the cooler months.

One thing with the EQ8 is that it is shipped in a large flight box which is on wheels. Once the mount is on the pier its what to do with the flight box. Its too good to scrap and has a limited resale so you will need to find somewhere to store it.