hadyn42

Hi Steorra.

Have you had a look at this ZWO page?

Link:  https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/best-back-focus-length-solutions-55mm.html

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

1 hour ago, Budgie1 said:

The back spacing is from the rear of the last lens in your image train, in your case the flattener/reducer, to the camera sensor.

So you have 12.5mm from the sensor to the front of the red casing on the camera + 21mm spacer + 16.5mm spacer = 50mm

You may be able to get it to focus on a planet like this but if you go for a wider field target then you may see stars distorted away from the centre of the frame. Ideally you need another 5mm spacer to get to that 55mm back focus from the flattener/reducer.

If you don't want to use the flattener/reducer then take that off and use the 1.25" nose piece adaptor (which should be included with the camera) on the front of the camera and push that into the ED80 1.25" eye piece holder and you should be able to focus like that.

Hi Martin

Thank you very much indeed for the information. I have ordered the 5mm spacer, I must say its very confusing for an old chap like me to grasp the 12,5mm spacing from the sensor you mentioned as I thought was only 6.5mm in my mind. Thanks again.

Kindest regards,

Hadyn.  - IOM

Hello Guys.

I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.

I cannot seem to get me head around getting my ASI 224mc camera to focus regarding the  information of using 55mm of spacing required. I have had to use the two spacers (21mm+16,5mm)  connected to the camera and then to the ED80 0.85x focal reducer/ flattener and in turn they are connected to the telescope. I have been reading about 55mm back space  needed etc, but the only way I can  actually get the telescope to  focus on planets etc, is  to have to use the two spaces shown in the picture and of course the flattener.  If anyone can help me please, I would really appreciate it?  Please have a look at the attached picture......

Kindest regards, 

Hadyn - Isle of Man

Hello Guys

I am think of buying a pair of binoculars, it will be either a pair of 22x85mm  or a pair of 25x100mm binoculars, the total weight being about  between 5kg to 6 kilograms.

I have been looking at making a suitable sized Parallelogram mount to be able to view the night skies comfortably and without experiencing the neck and back pains and at my age I need all the help I can get guys please? Been looking around on the astronomy forums and there are plenty of pictures and advice about mounts, but no actual plans with sizes mentioned etc.   

I plan to make the mount of 50mm x 25mm rectangular  aluminum tubing for the two main arms and somewhere around 80mm square aluminum tubing for the arms to attach to the tripod etc.  Can anyone supply me with some drawing's / plans with sizes mentioned and any other recommended  materials that I can use please as I am hoping to start this project of towards the end of next week.

Thanking you all in advance.

Kindest regards,

Hadyn - Isle of Man

11 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

I’ve never needed any spacers to enable my WO ZS73 scope to balance when using a DSLR or a dedicated astronomy camera. I’m not sure what you have heard. 

Hello Terry

Thank you for letting me know that you didn't need any spacers for your telescope. I plan to use my Canon 600D with the twin battery pack attached to my camera, so I was a bit worried about balance etc. Here is a part review from a chap regarding his WO ZS73, I just copied and pasted his remark below. plus I have seen a few other comments about that there is a need to use spacers etc. His is the chaps post - When using a dslr, no declination balance can be achieved, because de dovetail cannot move further back because of the focuslock screw (need a secondary dovetailbar or spacerblocks for the scoperings). 

I will be setting up my telescope indoors today with the flattener, and dslr and will give you a shout on how I get on.

Thanks again for your comments!

Kind regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hello Guys

I have just bought a WO ZS73 refractor and just asking what you guys use a a spacer etc to mount the telescope on top of the supplied Vixen plate to give it more height to enable to  balance a DLSR  when it is attached to the telescope?  I have heard that  when trying to get a good balance the telescope etc it will hit the focuser knob without the extra height?

I used the spacers what was recommended to me, but it looks like an amateurish / heath robinson effort and looks very untidy to say the least.

I will attach a picture to give you an example on what I mean. 

Please can someone give me an idea on what else I can use?

Kind regards,

Hadyn - Isle of Man

Hello Avocette

Thank you very much indeed  for the Youtube video link, very useful indeed! 

I watched the video a couple of times and as you mentioned there there is no missing washer. It looks as f if could be a poor grease problem or a bad construction issue. Will let you know when I get back my mount from FLO on how it works.

As you can probably guess I got the AZEQ5 GT as its a much lighter mount to carry my  SW 130PDS and SW ED80 telescopes on that using my HEQ5Pro mount, as I am at that certain age and would like to continue with the hobby.

Best regards,

Hadyn - Isle of Man

Hi Alex.

Thank you for posting this.  I hope you don't mind me asking you a question please?

Not long ago I bought a new AZEQ5GT  mount  and I find when using the mount in AZ mode, I found that I can push the mount without any effort with one finger even after tightening up the clutch at various stages of tightness, did you find that happened to your mount at all please? I have sent aback my mount to the guys at FLO to have a look at it.  I did think that there could be a large washer missing between clutch knob! I will try to attach a picture of my clutch knob in place, I have backed off the knob just for the photograph and put a red arrow pointing to where I think that a big washer should be?

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hello Guys

Thank you all for your help and comments!

Starwatcher2001:  Its my next big project to work on, but I don;t think I will ask the guys on here any for help etc, ha, ha.

Keep well and stay safe you guys!

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

25 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Yes there are. Do mean for a newtonian oa mak etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homyl-Newtonian-Reflective-Telescope-Multi-coated-Black/dp/B07G6HYKRN/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=erecting+eyepiece+adapter&qid=1599305161&sr=8-5

 

There are such things as erecting eyepieces as well. How good they are is another question. 🙀

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skywatcher-SKY-WATCHER-10MM-ERECTING-EYEPIECE/dp/B00AWITDNA/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=erecting+eyepiece&qid=1599304963&s=electronics&sr=1-4

Hi John.

Thank you for coming back to me, with the link. The info I require is for a friend of mine who wants to use his birthday present he got from his wife ages ago for viewing the planets etc above us and also for wildlife viewing and of course he likes to see  the animals etc the right way up, ha, ha.

The telescope he has got is a Newtonian / Relector and its has a 6" aperture.

Kind regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hello Guys

Can anyone please tell me is there such a thing as an "erecting eyepiece adapter"  that can be used on a reflecting telescope to allow wildlife viewing etc please?

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

17 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

Hi Steve

Yes thats what I'm asking.

Cheers

Steve

Hello Guys

You can buy one of these:  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/primaluce-lab-az-eq5-plus-puck-adapter-plate.html

Also you can buy an ADM Dual saddle or a PrimuLeuce Dual saddle:  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/primaluce-lab-plus-big-dovetail-clamp-for-vixen-losmandy.html#about_this_product

Adm dual saddle:  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/adm-dual-saddle-upgrade-for-heq5-neq6-avx-zeq-ioptron.html

Regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Very good sketch indeed Kerry.

I agree with John regarding viewing the Comet through binoculars!  Its a pity the weather forecast for viewing next week isn't looking too good for us islanders over here!

Take care...

Best regards,   Hadyn - IOM

5 hours ago, kerrylewis said:

Simply beautiful. I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing. 

Got up before 2.00 in the hope of catching it against a darker sky than the other day. After some clambering around the garden I scanned the horizon above distant trees and realised that I could actually see the tail above the trees while the head was still hidden. After years of waiting for a comet that actually looked like a comet with real  tail here I was seeing just the tail! 
 

After  a while the bright head also cleared the trees to give a stunning sight through the Canon binoculars. Also no argument now whether it was naked eye or not as it hovered about the trees.

A picture book sight through the binoculars- a long arcing and graceful tail curving upwards and so bright near the head. It almost gave the impression of being on fire. 

I didn’t try to take photos, just drank in the view. A sight of a lifetime.

Dragged myself away as the sky lightened and took away a little of the tail’s beauty 

Hello Kerry. 

So glad you got to see the Comet and you didn't need scaffolding to view it!  I headed out at 1,30am this morning to meet up with my friend Mark to view Neowise and I must say it was very clear and bright indeed. I took a couple of pictures on my old Canon 600D at around 2.40am before heading back home and the clouds were surrounding the Comet, but still naked eye visible.

Take care, Best regards, Hadyn

A very informative and interesting talk by Gary.  Looking forward to it being posted up on Youtube so that I can start and stop the video on how to maybe image and process the Sun using my Lunt 50mm.

Thank you to Gary, Daz and Grant for running the show....

Best regards, Hadyn  - IOM

Hello Guys

Just going to mention that was a notice on here a couple of days ago mentioning that there are a faulty batch of WO Flatteners out there.

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Well done Kerry, he who dares wins!

Take care,

Best regards,

Hadyn🪐

Very entertaining talk indeed, my wife and I watched it together and she was well chuffed at the presentation  as well.  Very good  music and video too. Thanks to Pete and of course Daz and Grant for running the show! 

We have been to see the stage show of "War of the World" twice on the bigger island, fantastic music and great technology! 

Best regards, Christina and Hadyn - Isle of Man.

1 hour ago, philj said:

How loose is it?

The glass needs to expand and contract so a bit of movement is needed.

There is a danger of pinching the objective by overtightening so beware.

Hi Philj

When I hold the telescope vertical with focuser end towards the ground and give the scope a sharp shake up and down I can hear the clunking of glass.

As I mentioned, I think I will wait until late evening and try when its much cooler outside, does that sound like a good idea please/

Kind regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hello Guys

Thank you all for your answers.

I think I will leave it well alone guys for the moment and check it again under cooler conditions!

Kind regards,

Hadyn = IOM

Hello Guys

I hope all of you out there are keeping safe and well.

Please can someone help if possible?

Today I removed the standard focuser on my ED80 and before fitting the new one I thought I would just giving the telescope tube a bit of a wipe down to remove any dirt etc on the outside. When I was turning the telescope around on my worktop I noticed a small rattle coming from front end of the tube. Bearing in mind that there were no fittings attached to the scope at the time. I really do think that the lens/lenses were loose and it did sound like glass on glass etc.

Can anyone tell me is there a away to tighten the lens / lenses and if  so are there are any tools out there that I could use, also can you include a link to them and of course can this job be done without having to send my telescope away please?

Kind regards,

Hadyn - IOM

2 hours ago, kerrylewis said:

I have an Ioptron AZ Pro mount which has worked flawlessly since I bought it. However it is now not picking up GPS and the handset shows GPS ON but does not switch to GPS OK. The date and time are therefore wrong (it defaults to a 2013 date) and therefore it does not find objects correctly.

I initially thought that I was too close to buildings perhaps but I have tried other locations in the garden without success.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Kerry 

Hello Kerry

Sorry to hear you are having a problem with your mount. Lets hope you get it fixed soon.

Just had a quick look around on some astro sites and found that there have been a few problems with Ioptron mounts and their GPS system.

Here is a link you could check out:  https://www.theskysearchers.com/viewtopic.php?t=6059

Take care and best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

6 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Had my 200p Skywatcher Dob for all of 2-3 weeks and I was slightly struggling with the straight 9x50 finder scope. Despite still being relatively supple at the grand age of 40, it wasn't comfortable locating objects that were slightly higher in the sky or in busier areas. 

So the decision to aid my object location was right angled finder scope, rigel quikfinder or telrad. After reading the odd comparison review thread (again on this site, becoming quite invaluable!) I decided to purchase the telrad from FLO.

After a very easy alignment and installation with the foam tape (yes I went in straight away 😬), I can honestly say it's made finding objects incredibly easy, coupled with skysafari+ it's taking me seconds to locate stuff, I'm delighted.  I rarely use the finder scope now but like the aesthetics so will keep it; I may replace it with a RACI if my back goes...

 

Hello IB20

You will find the telerad is a great finder for your dob and  whats more its good for star hopping!  You may want to consider getting a  4" riser that fits onto your Telrad which does save you bending over even more to view your targets.  Have fun and clear skies......

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM

Hello All and of course Derek.

Christina will be giving Lesley a call tomorrow regarding GSP Autumn 2020., they seem to been in touch a fair bit via Facebook. Thanks for reminder in the Zoom thread  thingy tonight Derek!

Take care and stay well and safe and hope to see you all in the Autumn!

Best regards,

Christina and Hadyn - IOM

Thank you Grant for the information. Very much looking forward to looking in tonight!

I do hope that you are keeping well?

Best regards,

Hadyn - IOM