swag72

Hi and welcome back!!!

Just out of interest Gina - Is there a problem with your EQ8 as to why you are trying to avoid guiding?

The summer is such a lovely time for Cygnus ..... There's enough to keep you busy at all focal lengths. I'd personally look at the 400mm focal length and the Esprit....... You could line up the Esprit and ST80's and get NB on the ST80's and luminance on the Esprit - All on the EQ8. But I guess with so many choices I guess I'd be considering which one you feel would be more productive in terms of least time lost in setup and trouble shooting. You want to be up and running and gathering the maximum amount of data with mimimal fuss...... which of the rigs would give you this? How about starting simple and just running the Esprit with the new ASI1600 (or the 460 if the ASI1600 gives any connectivity problems ) Sure there's a lot to be said for getting loads of data, but if it's been a while and you are feeling in the slightest bit daunted with more than one setup running at once... then just concentrate on one scope (the easiest) and one camera (the easiest!) Start small and simple - there's some lovely mono Ha in Cygnus - then adjust things when you feel it's the right time.

You can always get the Mesu made so that it splits into two parts - I think it costs an extra 200 euros or so. That is an option you can specify when ordering.... That may make it easier to box up and keep safe the two smaller and lighter parts.

I think this is an excellent idea and I applaud FLO for coming up with it. Would I pay extra for peace of mind that the scope had been checked by Es and was given an OK rating? You bet I would. What a great USP @FLO Is this something you would consider doing for any scope that you sell if the buyer is willing to pay for the cost to ensure peace of mind?

I'm sure there's a few of us watching this with interest...... What rubber you will use for example.

Hi Paul and welcome to SGL - this is a great place to be, lots of helpful folks and masses of information. Look forward to seeing you around

If you are new to astro imaging can I suggest that you just stop for a moment before spending a penny and take a deep breath. Get hold of the book Making Every Photon Count from the book section of the FLO website..... read it once.... twice..... thrice..... then stop and think again. Do you know then what you need and more importantly why? If not, go back and read it again Astro imaging is all about the mount ...... mount ..... mount ..... Did I say that imaging is all about the mount? Get that right and life becomes easier, not easy by any means! But a short focal length refractor coupled with a decent mount is the easiest way to start off and to start gathering data and learning about what it all entails. Hope that helps

Here's a selection from 2015 - I did add up all of the imaging time on this and it is 277 hours. A combination of cameras (Sony chip and kodak chip) and a couple of scopes (FSQ85, RC8 and ODK10) You can see a larger res version on my website

I have learnt over time that full moon nights are for sitting on the sofa and spending time on something else. I use a mono camera with 3nm Ha filters and these struggle massively with the moon....... But I appreciate that clear nights often seem to coincide with that damn big blobby thing.... so what does one do?

Collimation of these RC's is interesting, not least because if you ask 4 different people about how they collimate them and how easy they are you get 4 different answers. I spoke with John at length about this prior to getting my RC and in the end, like him I used a cheshire eye piece and that was that!! No fancy lasers etc. But when you look on the net there's a lot of expensive ways to collimate. If I can manage it then anyone can.

These are great scopes for sure and John is an example to us all

Not sure how an auto focuser routine such as one that SGP uses will work if one should focus on the corners.

I like my FSQ85 and I would not change it. But here's me being totally honest ......... Would I buy a new one today? I doubt it. I've heard too many people having issues on the forum and had too many conversations with folks ........ It really does seem like pot luck as to whether you get a decent scope that is worth the best part of £4000 when everything is added in. Now the WO Star 71 does seem interesting and I know that they have not been without issue either. But at under £1000 I would accept this more readily than with a £4000 Tak. Are you going to see a £3000 increase in image quality between the WO and FSQ85? I don't know if it's QC issues with Takahashi these days or whether unfairly I have only heard of the bad ones when there are thousands of great ones out there. That's just my opinion as a very happy Tak owner

If there's any thought that it may be a focuser tilt issue, then how about a test run of focusing at zenith? That way all of the weight will be pulling the focuser directly downwards and not to one side or another.

I used to use an OAG with a 2.5m SCT at f10 ............. never failed to get a guide star.... although they could be a little dim!! I'm a great one for experimenting and not following published theories etc ............. Give it a go. I bet you get a guide star at f7.5 every time.

I think that it's fair to say that once you start spending more money you begin to see less and less of a difference. I've often seen it quoted that you're now paying a few thousand ££'s more for a very small increase in quality. The ED80 is a good scope and is excellent value for money. I wouldn't expect to see a huge difference in quality between that and a Tak. ..... Just my opinion

I hope you get to the bottom of this issue soon Steve - Battling myself and it really is soul destroying......... Good luck

Hi and welcome to SGL - Looks like you have your answer already Look forward to seeing you around

An auto focuser has revolutionised my imaging for sure and if there was one thing I had to get rid of, I'm not sure what it would be, but it wouldn't be the auto focuser! So while I have zero idea of what causes my focus shift (be it carbon v's metal tube) this nifty piece of equipment makes it a non starter issue from the off I knew that every sub would be well focused...... not something I could say before I used it.

I agree with Olly here - The 1.6m focal length of the 8" was nice and I always felt that it was a massive shame to reduce it down to a little over 1m...... a pretty useless in between focal length in my opinion. Now what would be nice would be a nice big 12" RC reduced down ............ a nice focal length at a nice speed as well......... win / win!!!!!

I had an AT8 carbon fibre - It was a great scope and sat on my Avalon Linear Fast reverse without difficulty. It did have the Feathertouch focuser fitted and I have to say that this was a sublime focuser that made life much easier. I did find that it lost focus quite significantly with temperature changes and so this led me to automating the focus otherwise I was having to throw half of my data away. I didn't bother using the focal reducer (the CCD67T is the general recommendation with these scopes) as I wanted the longer focal length, and I didn't want to mess about with spacing. Whatever you do, make sure that you get the extension tubes with the scope - These are essential to achieve focus and are extremely and stupidly expensive to buy separately. This is a great scope in all of it's clones and I would totally recommend it.

I like my SQM gadget - It's interesting to just sit there and measure the sky reading

That is something special and has absolutely set a new bar in astrophotography - Well done to you both.