teoria_del_big_bang

You must remember to take her out now and again ? Steve

Nice. Now you just need some sun ? Steve

If that is a first I would be very proud of that image. Nice work I am just about to start using narrowband / RGB for the first time soon (weather permitting) after starting out with a DSLR. If I can manage anything half as good I will be very happy. Steve

Fantastic image, so much detail in there it is hard to know where to look first. Steve

Look forward to seeing the results, hope all goes well. Steve

I was really wanting some items for this weekend as I had planned a full strip down of my mount and replace bearings and do the Rowan belt modification. I ordered the items from FLO and when I had not had an email to say the items had been shipped contacted FLO by email. A response within the hour explained one item was out of stock as their supplier had let them down. Anyway to cut to the chase when I explained I really needed the items for weekend and the out of stock item was not important they had the rest of the items on their way next day delivery (DPD). DPD had the items to my doorstep, despite the snow, by 10:00 am Friday morning. So thanks to FLO & DPD for the great service. Now where are my allen keys? Steve

Thanks for all the help and other advice (much appreciated). I am pretty confident now I have the correct bearings and will order today. All in all cost me about £56 for good quality bearings. I think that is a small price to pay. I have some "SuperLube" for the roller bearings and anything else that needs it, the others bearings are greased for life and sealed so should be okay Will be ordering all but the smaller ones for the worm shaft from www.bearingsrus.co.uk as they were far cheaper than others I found, postage was extra but under £2, and still SKF and Timken for the tapered rollers. The smaller ones for some reason were cheaper from simplybearings.co.uk and free postage. The Rowan belt mod will be ordered from FLO of course. Good point @vlaiv but I hope to at least get a pier built this year if not a small obsy (usually my plans for the year take several though so not holding my breath ? ) Hopefully then I have a good platform for imaging, pity I can't fix the weather in the UK so easily ? Steve

Without spending too much more is there anything else I should be attending to to improve the mount? Steve

With the recent poor viewing I have decided to strip down my HEQ5 pro mount and upgrade the bearings and add the Rowan belt modification. From threads I have looked at on this forum and also looking at the Astrobaby guide I think I need the following bearings, I know many on here have already upgraded the bearings so thought I would just check they are correct before ordering. I have ordered rubber seals in order to prevent moisture ingress. Now I know these tend to make them run slightly tighter than metal seals but they do not run at speed so though they would be better. Any thoughts? Steve

Yes thanks for that Steve

Also you can pick 2nd hand DSLRs pretty cheap especially the body only sales if you only want it for astro and using it with your scope. A good spec astro camera still seems to command a fair hefty price. I think that personally I would have not bothered with DSLR and jumped straight in and bought a dedicated camera but I just couldn't afford (still can't but saving ? ) but it is a real cheap way of getting into astrophotography. And even if you pay out to get it modified usually you can get a reasonable amount back when you sell it on so really costs very little in the end. Steve

I shouldn't think so. You should be able to get it all set up on the moon right now to road test it so no issues in the little darkness we get at this time of year. Steve

Looks nice there and blue skies above - that's not natural in this hobby. I can see dark clouds over Ripon ⚡ for the next 3 weeks whilst the rest of the UK basks in glorious sunshine and clear night skies ☀️. Well that is the norm when new equipment arrives. But I really hope that it is not the case for you (mostly because I am just a stones throw away). In all seriousness good luck with the new purchase. Steve

Welcome Lorenzo, Don't know if you used a translator for that post but if not I would say nothing wrong with your English. Anyway I am fairly new to both Astronomy and this forum but enjoying both. I think you will find this forum very friendly and hope it helps uyou to get out and about and use your very nice equipment. Steve