cjroberts792

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all, May the skies be kind and clear. New Year means new Laptop and new camera. Still relative new to this buisness, but need help again, finally got my new laptop and i have now downloaded the drivers for it and ASICAP from the ZWO website, although there is a manual for the camera there as well, it dont really tell you how to use it and what all the icons mean on the software, does anyone know of an idiots guide to help me start imaging with it, and what everthing means cos i have absolutely no idea and i wanna get out there soon as and start imaging, ( as im extreamly jelous of my 15 yr old cousin whos banging out DS images left, right and centre, and they look amazing,(although he has a lot better camera-Hypercam 183 and skywatcher 80 ED APro- i think- but hes imaging from Southend-on-Sea, and i will be imaging from a little village in the middle of nowhere in Germany, so i would like to think that i might get some decent images if i ever find out how to use it. so, I appreciate any help, Chris Skywatcher 200 pds, HEQ5, ASI290mc.

Cheers guys, I'll take on the advice when i get the scope out again.

Hi Tomatobro, thanks for getting back to me. I have calibrated the polar scope, and i get the clockface, but once i have setup the handset do i then move Polaris to the given HH:MM that the handset displays, and as for the barlow, good idea i will try during the day, thanks for your help

Hello All, I'm back again with some more questions ready for your expert advice, So, i'm gonna bore you with how i setup and then hopefully you will correct me with what i am doing wrong. But i will say this that after i have setup and use the goto function to find objects, they are near as dammit in the middle of the EP. So, i setup level, polar align - 1 - Polaris at 6 o'clock position in polar scope, i then turn RA 180 and Polaris nearly stays on the line( I figure this is okay just for viewing) 2 - setup home pos. 3 - Balance scope 4 - then i go through initialising the handset (all good so far i hope) now is where i'm a bit stumped 5 - once finished with the handset, it comes up with "place Polaris in scope HH:MM"....do i then go back to polar scope and place Polaris at the time given on the circle? so far i have just left this bit and then gone on to star alignment, after doing this and centring the objects in EP, i then chose an object to view and it is still off centre a wee bit - is that to do with point 5.? So, thats that bit out of the way, next..... Barlow Lens... simply why when i use my Barlow lens i cant see nothing but the secondary mirror and support arms, i tried a number of EP's with it and on a number of objects, now , i'm not a complete idiot ( although i can see some raised eyebrows out there ) but surely there's not too much to a Barlow..big end with the lens goes in big hole and EP's go in smaller end..? Jupiter and Saturn were just a big bright blob with the secondary mirror in the middle, Andromeda Galaxy was just black couldn't even see any blurry stars My Setup HEQ5, 200mm Skywatcher PDS, starguider 2" 2xED Barlow with 1.25" Ad, Variuos BST starguider EP 25mm - 5mm Once again I thank you all for taking the time out to help me and give me advice. ( at the moment , i think i'm getting the hang of it....... But wait till xmas when i get my new laptop and try and setup my camera, i just know i will be on here constantly......

Hello All, firstly thanks for all your help on my previous questions and thanks in advance for clearing things up for me here. So, i brought a load of eyepieces the other day, BST Starguider ED in sizes 25,15,12 and 5mm. Already had a 28mm that came with the scope and i brought a 9mm Sky-Watcher UWA Planetary EP. I was out the other night having a look at Jupiter and as i was going though the EP's, Jupiter became just a big blob when i got down to the 9 and 5mm, Is this normal? Obviously i did try to focus but coulnd't get Jupiter looking as good as with the 12mm. I did also try with the Barlow ( i think - 3 inch tube that goes between the Ep and focuser). what size lenses are best for planets and whats best for DSO like Andromeda Galaxy and Pleiades. My setup is SKY WATCHER 200pds on HEQ5 Cheers for taking timeout for helping me. Newbie chris