michaelmorris

Hi Roger. Just pop in anytime.

Thanks for the advice. I've decided to give SharpCap another chance, so I spludged out £10 on a 1 year licence and I'll give it another go.

The speed of sound is approx. 343 m/s. Average sized meteors are typically seen at an altitude of approx. 70 to 100 km, meaning any sound delay would be at least 70,000/343 = 204 seconds. For there to be even a 10 second delay between seeing an object in the sky and hearing it it would have to have an altitude of no more than 3430 metres (around 10,000 feet). There is a really interesting phenomena where the brain fills in information it expects to receive, even if it isn't real. We all do it all the time.

With low quality indistinct wobbly pictures and a somewhat vague description it is impossible to draw any sensible conclusion as to what your friend saw or thinks he/she saw.

Agreed. The William Optics finder guider bracket sold by FLO is my back up. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/william-optics-finder-bracket.html

Another vote for the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas. Cracking little atlas.

I thought I would give it a try. At under £12 it seems worth a punt.

Startech stuff is pretty good and from my experience mainly reliable. I have two 7 port Startech powered hubs, one USB 3 and the other USB 2. The USB 2 hub seems to be more reliable at providing power to things when the system is heavily loaded. With the USB 3 hub I can occasionally get things like the guide camera dropping out.

I'm having to put together a new finder/guider set up for my imaging rig. I've got a 9 x 50 finder and camera and will be getting the relevant adaptor for mounting the camera on the finder next month. The last thing I will need is some tube rings to mount it in. My previous set up used a very nice 2nd hand Televue mounting bracket, but at >£100 new this is way beyond my budget Ideas/recommendations please? Thanks

I'm booked on 352 on the Red field from the Wednesday through to the Sunday, but I might stay longer if the weather is good. I'll have a tent this year rather than the motorhome. I'm planning on bringing my ZWO 294MC Pro camera on my trusty 80ED for imaging on my new-to-me AZ EQ6 GT mount. I probably also bring my Astro-modified Canon 1100D to use on my iOptron Skytracker mount for some wide field targets.

What scope/camera combination are you using with SharpCap?

I've tried using SharpCap for polar alignment before using my Lodestar x2 and a 90 x 50 finder/guider. It did work sometimes, but if there was even thin high cloud it difficulty finding enough stars.

A recent house move has meant that I've had to give up my beloved observatory. For the foreseeable future I'm going to be back to setting my gear for imaging in the back garden from scratch every evening that is clear. To cut down on set up time I was looking at ways to make it quick and easy to get polar aligned. The new iOptron iPolar looks like a versatile, quick and accurate method of polar alignment, that's £90 cheaper than a QHY Polemaster. I will be using two mounts - a new-to-me AZEQ6 GT and an iOptron Skytracker portable mount. So here are my questions. How easy to use and accurate is the iPolar in use? Has anyone got experience of using one with the original Skytracker? Thanks.

PM sent

Thanks James Those look like the babies. Now what size will I need?

I've just bought a 2nd hand AZ EQ6 GT mount. The tripod was without a spreader plate or spreader plate retaining nut. As a protemps measure I've used the spreader and bolt from my HEQ5 Pro tripod. I now need to get replacement spreader and retaining nut to replace the ones taken from the HEQ5. I know that I can a replacement spreader from various retailers. But where would I get a retaining nut?

I've just bought a 2nd hand AZ EQ6 GT mount. One of shakedown items is to check the alignment of the polarscope. It seems very well aligned. When I set it on a distant tree branch and then rotate the RA axis though 180 degrees, the error is about the same as width between two of the three tracks of the central alignment circle (It's the new style polarscope reticle). I know from past experience with polarscope reticle alignment on my HEQ5Pro that even a very small movement of one of the grub screws can result in a large deflection of the reticle. I will be using the mountn for visual observing and guided DSO imaging, subs of up to 15-20 minutes for narrow band imaging. Given the small size of the existing reticle alignment error, do you think it is likely to worth the effort of trying to dial out that last bit of error?

Sadly I've no longer got an observatory and my future observing is going to involve setting up my imaging rig outside away from my new house. So, I'm going to need a battery pack capable of running an equatorial mount, two dew bands, a cooled camera, and a powered usb hub for an whole night. Inexpensive, relatively portable suggestions please.

I reckon on a good observing chair adding the equivalent of around 20% extra aperture to the view.

Given how this interweb thingy seems to becoming quite popular with young people, you could also mention the plethora of newsgroups, forums (fora?), facebook groups and the like that they can 'surf'.

This thread might be of use

Thanks for sharing. I think this is very much a case of - Today the school orchestra played Richard Strauss - Richard Strauss lost!

The 2019 quiz is now finished and ready to go. So make sure that you pack your best quizzing trousers and start genning up on all those obscure astro-facts.

Due to a recent house move, I no longer have an observatory and there is little prospect of a replacement in the next couple of years. As a result my beloved EQ8 mount is going to have to be replaced with something a bit lighter. I presently use an HEQ5 Pro as my star party mount and it works great with my 80ED. However, I want something a bit more beefy for mounting my C9.25, so I was thinking of trading them both in and buying an EQ6. I would definitely want a belt driven system. But which to go for (budget is a real issue.)? As I see it I have three choices: Rowan Engineering modded NEQ6 - cheap, and reasonably good availability of good secondhand examples for >£750 AZ-EQ6 GT Pro GEQ - better alt adjustment, belt driven (2nd hand around £900 with low availability) EQ6-R - as above, carrying handle but surprisingly the heaviest of the three (never seen one 2nd hand but would guess people will ask around £800?) What are your thoughts?

I thought it was a great programme too.