Space Oddities

Yes, I need to test this once I receive the other toothed gear. But so far it seems pretty tight and doesn't seem to be too much backlash... Let's see, it's my first focus motor, so I'm not very familiar with this technology yet! I feel like a caveman discovering the joy of having a zippo... The timing belt might indeed be a cheap way to adapt this kit to the Samyang. I've found a seller on Amazon Germany that provides custom size belts, so that would be perfect. There is room to adjust the bracket's position laterally, which is perfect to adjust the tension of the belt, or distance from the toothed gear to the toothed ring.

This might be of interest if you want to use ZWO's EAF with the Samyang. Really nice mounting system! I will give it a try with a timing belt instead of the toothed gear. This way I could share this system between the RedCat and the Samyang, while having only 3 screws to remove.

And here it is with the Samyang 135mm

I have received the kit yesterday. Really happy with it so far! It is very well thought and made, the print quality seems pretty good I need to test the focus, but for this I'll need to carefully place the ring. Only half of the focus ring has teeth, therefore it needs to be placed in a certain position. The only drawbacks that I have found, is that you cannot open the RedCat's tube ring with the kit mounted. Also, you cannot screw the dew shield in a retracted position anymore, due to the toothed ring. But it still fits my storage box, so not a big deal! A good surprise is that it's almost a perfect fit as well for the Samyang 135mm lens! Since the lens can use the RedCat's tube ring, I had to test it. The toothed ring almost fits, but it's very tight and I'm not sure the screws would work. Probably 1-2mm more diameter for the toothed ring would be perfect. The rest of the components can remain the same. I'm still waiting on a replacement gear from the seller, apparently the one I received is a bit too tight. I'll test the motor once I have this replacement unit, so I can compare both gears and see which one works best. Here are a few pictures!

I just had a look at these mounts, they're very impressive... I'm sure the T4000 could also carry the Hubble telescope! I'm afraid to look at the price...

Hello Stargazers! Someone on Facebook shared this 3D printed mounting system for the William Optics RedCat 51. It is designed specifically for ZWO's EAF motor. You can also add 2 accessories, like a guide scope or an ASIAIR, with a compatible finder shoe (the 'cat handle' from WO can be used). Since this is a quite a popular combo, I thought I would share! I purchased one recently and I am still expecting its delivery. The cost was about 50€. It is now for sale at Astroshop.eu, but maybe @FLO would be interested as well for the UK market? The print seems to be very good quality and durable. Lauri, the seller, has been very responsive and helpful. I'll try to post my first impression as soon as I receive the kit. Here are a few pictures from his website. It really looks like a compact and sleek solution to mount everything together. The DeepSkyDad version is very popular among RedCat users, but it is 2x more expensive and I don't like the fact that the focuser is below the scope, I fear it makes balancing on smaller mounts more complex. I also wonder if the kit could be adapted to the Samyang 135mm. Since the ring from the RedCat can be used with the Samyang, perhaps the only thing needed for this kit to work, is a slightly different focusing ring. Anyway, that's on my list of things to test!

The WO latitude wedge is very well made, definitely a worthy upgrade over the iOptron one. It's very solid, smooth... Also quite heavy at almost 1 kg. Note that there are 2 versions, high and low latitude. However, they're essentially the same and you can convert one version to another, by unscrewing and moving one piece. The only thing is that the printed latitude scale won't work, but honestly, I never look at the scale, so that's a very minor issue. Is it worth getting? I'm not sure. It's a great piece of equipment and I don't regret my purchase, but it's also pricey. I would say it ultimately depends on what kind of setup you plan to put on it. If it's on the heavy side (like 3 kg for the scope and camera, with a mount and 1-2 kg counterweights), then I'd say yes. If it's not too heavy, perhaps it's overkill and the Sky-Watcher wedge will be enough. Regarding the ASIAIR, I've been using the V1 and now the Pro. I simply love it! I would say it is for your if: you have or plan to have ZWO equipment (cameras, filter wheel, motor...) or compatible DSLR (Canon, Nikon mainly) you want a simple and intuitive interface, easy to learn and use, that you can setup in a few minutes you don't care about having control over every possible setting, nor having all the bells and whistles you need something portable, to use with a tablet or your smartphone, instead of dragging a laptop you don't mind paying £289! I don't regret my purchase at all. I'm a mobile astrophotographer, and I need something that works out of the box, is simple to use and gives me the basic functions. Plate solving, polar alignment, guiding, focusing aid, imaging sequences... That's all I need, and the ASIAIR Pro does it all very well. And it can also power your camera, mount and dew heaters. They also improve it every now and then, for instance recently they introduced the multi-star guiding function (it uses PHD2) and it seems to work very well. It's starting to be a very mature platform. They really listen to their customers when it comes to new features. Regarding plate solving: it's mostly relevant if you have a go-to mount. It's extremely simple to use: you take a picture, and once it's done, you click "Plate solve". The ASIAIR will analyse the stars, know where it's pointing at and tell the mount. Now, when you slew to an object, it will be dead center. And if it's not, there's an option to automatically perform a plate solving after each go-to, and realign the mount so that the target is in the center. It's really just about pushing a button! Guiding relies on a software called PHD2, that is extremely simple. PHD means "push here dummy" ZWO made it even more simple: Basically, the 2 arrows on the right means "start shooting". The guide camera will shoot frames continuously, and transmit the image on your screen, in some kind of live view. You can specify the exposure length at the bottom right corner (usually 1-2 seconds). Once you see what the guide cam sees, you need to click that crosshair icon on the right, which is basically "start guiding". The ASIAIR will select a star (or multiple stars) by itself, and then start the calibration sequence. It's automatic and takes 1-2 minutes. Once it's done, you'll see the green lines on the screen indicating you're guiding. You can stop/pause it by clicking the stop button. Check out the official documentation, it's well made: https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/manuals/ASIAIR_User_Manual.pdf This blog also has great explanations and how-to's: https://eastwindastro.blogspot.com/ Hope that helps

The L-eXtreme is very narrow, I believe ~7nm on both OIII and Ha. I'm afraid guiding is mandatory with this filter if you really want to see anything and have round stars. If you're on a budget, there are alternatives that are less narrow and therefore less effective against light pollution. The L-eNhance is one of them, or the more classic CLS-CCD filters. I think an autoguiding system is a good investment to maximize the # of keepers and be able to do narrowband. Between light pollution from the city and the Moon, narrowband can be a life saver You can also use the guide camera to make your polar alignment very precise, which helps achieving longer subs. Check out the classifieds section of this forum, as well as sites like AstroBuySell. There are often guide cameras for sell, like this QHY. ZWO, QHY, Altair make good guide cameras that don't cost an arm. As for the guide scope, there are some very cheap options (or here) today that work just fine, especially if you have a lightweight and widefield setup. Hope that helps!

Glad I could inspire you Maybe I should become their influencer to earn a few bucks... 😅

I made a payload test yesterday (all I can do now due to weather...) with the rubber feet instead of the spikes, and was pleased by the stability. It seems rock solid! Of course I have a rather light setup: 3.3 kg for the OTA, camera and accessories; 4 kg for the mount, latitude base and counterweights. So less than 8 kg in total, for a tripod that can carry almost 4 times as much. I realized (almost the hard way) that although the adjustment bowl is very practical, you shouldn't try to loosen it with your gear mounted After all it's carrying 7-8 kg, so you need to be careful smart! I also found out that the little arm holding my iPad can be tightened more firmly using a hex key. That proved to be useful and much more stable than tightening it by hand. Overall this tripod is extremely stable and well made, I'm very pleased

Nice! How stable did you find this model?

Hey everyone! I figured it was time for a new tripod. My cheap Neewer carbon fiber tripod has served me well, but I felt it was not stable enough. While looking on Amazon, I found the tripods from an unknown brand called Artcise (apparently sometimes advertised as 'Innorel' too). The reviews were very good for all models, so I decided to give it a go. I went for the HS80C tripod unit, that costs 280€. The specs are impressive: Carbon fiber legs (10 layers), in 4 sections One of the legs unscrews and can be used as a monopod Legs diameter vary from 25mm to 35mm 30kg payload (!) About 2kg in weight 161cm in height, fully deployed (I'm about 1.76m tall and the base of the tripod is roughly where my eyes are!) Feet are made of rubber, and can be unscrewed and replaced by the included metallic spikes Comes with 2 bases, that support the ballhead: one is fixed, and one is adjustable, so you can level your ballhead No central column, but a triple hook made of metal, that also serves as a locking screw for the bases A 3/8" hole at the base of the tripod, allows you to fix accessories. This model comes with a 'magic arm' and a smartphone holder. Everything, including accessories, is made of metal and seem very solid You can add a central column too (sold separately) Here are some pictures What's in the box: The bag is pretty nice, and fits both the tripod itself and the William Optics polar wedge (it's a bit tight, but it fits). The bag has an inner pocket where you can store some tools. That's where I put the magic arm and the tablet holder. The bag can be carried from the top handle, side handles or with the strap. Here is the tripod unit and the wedge. You can unscrew the rubber feet and replace them with metallic spikes. They seem very solid! Now the interesting part! I selected this tripod because you have the choice between 2 bases, both made of solid aluminium and with 3/8" connection: A fixed one (grey) An adjustable one (black), if you want to level the tripod precisely and easily They're both lockable by turning the triple hook below. Really ingenuous design. The adjustable base is very smooth to adjust, and as you can see on the picture, you have a lot of room to adjust the angle! I'll probably use that one to level my mount precisely The adjustable base can also be rotated freely in azimuth. The fixed base cannot rotate freely, due to the use of 3 notches to lock it in place. But that still gives you 3 possible positions. There's also a little bubble level, it seems to match the one on my WO wedge. Always nice to have, but a dedicated bubble level might be more precise. Another thing I liked is the possibility to screw something to the base, that has a 3/8" threaded hole. It's perfect for my iPad mini while setting up the ASIAIR. During the polar alignment or focusing routines, it is so much easier to have the iPad close and visible, while having your hands free to make adjustments to the mount or the scope. The tripod comes with a 'magic arm', that's really well made and seems to support the weight of the iPad Mini + the metal holder pretty well. It vibrates a bit, but I can live with that! They also give you a smartphone holder. I'm not sure if it's useful, but it can be nice if you want to use it as a remote control on a small Wi-Fi go-to mount, like the az-gti! And here is the tripod unit with my AZ-GTi! Overall, I'm really impressed by the quality of the tripod. For the price, and given the specs, it's excellent. I'll have to test the stability in the field, but it's definitely an improvement compared to my Neewer tripod. I'm pretty sure it will handle my setup very well. It ticked all the boxes I had: Leveling base for easy and precise leveling, and adjustment of the azimuth Hook to suspend my bag & accessories, and improve stability Possibility to mount my iPad mini on the side, or another accessory Nice carry bag, that fits both the tripod and the WO wedge Quite light but with a high payload Very sturdy and solid construction Reasonably priced (279€!) This brands also sells other models that can carry a bit more weight (35 or 40kg!). They're all very similar, but what I liked with this one is the accessories it comes with, and the fact that it remains easily transportable. My scopes are rather small (RedCat or 72mm refractors), and they usually both fit in a backpack, together with the camera, battery, filters, red light, etc. The backpack could potentially even carry the tripod, so that's perfect for traveling. I'll try to continue this thread after the tripod's first light!

Perhaps this can help you? The 2nd post mentions Orion 216mm tube rings, but I haven't been able to find them online... But that's a start Ah, found them, but out of stock obviously... Perhaps you can try here: https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/ACCESSORIES/tuberingsa.html

That's an excellent picture! You captured lots of details, especially considering the fact your used an Alt-Az mount. Well done! Perhaps you can use the temperature tool (I think there's one in Filter > Camera Raw, but I'm not sure that's the right menu name) to adjust the warmth of the image. It looks very orange on my screen, but decreasing the temperature should bring our the blue tones of the galaxy. That might be due to the white balanced used by your camera. You might also be able to slightly realign the R, G and B channels in the curve window (CTRL+M, I believe), the blue channel might be slightly misaligned with the R and G, which creates this yellowish tint.

I found this old funny picture where I compared a 9mm lens to a 1300mm scope on an APS-C camera

Great image Adam! I love the very detailed spiral arms, as well as the tiny galaxies visible here and there. I also wish I'd taken it!

I realise I never posted the final edit. Here it is! Still a lot to learn in PixInsight, but I'm happy with how it turned out, for a stock camera! This sensor is really something Here is about 1.5 hours of data, without any dark!

Far from perfect, but definitely my favourite pictures of the Moon, because it was the first time I saw and photographed a lunar eclipse For once the weather was cooperating. What a nice show, I'll never forget! The Moon became visible during the peak of the eclipse, so only I had the opportunity to record the 2nd half of the eclipse. This was taken in July 2018 from Munich, with a Fujifilm X-T1, Canon 300mm f/4L and 1.4x extender. I'm not sure how many frames were stacked, but what I'm sure of, is that this folder takes a lot of space on my hard drive

Glad I could help Yes that's definitely an additional learning curve, in a hobby that already has many. Which might not be what you're after. If some day you still want to go this route though, then of all options above, and given your constraints, I'd recommend looking into the ASIAIR. It's by far the simplest to setup and to use, and is very beginner friendly. Also, this little computer has the size of a pack of cigarettes, and doesn't look like a computer at all, so very inconspicuous. You can control the it with just your phone when you're setting it up, but after that, it's doing its thing and doesn't need you or your phone nearby at all

As vlaiv said, I'd recommend investing in a guide scope and camera. I've been in your situation, and guiding really helped eliminate the periodic error from my pictures, and drastically increased the # of keepers in your images. Other factors like a passing cloud, a plane or a satellite, wind... are nuisances that we already have to deal with, so it's comforting to know that at least the nuisance of PE can be corrected. Since I started guiding, I keep 90-100% of my subs, and they all have pinpoint stars. When I didn't guide, this is what I had on some of my images: A guide scope & camera is an investment, I'd say £200 minimum if you buy new. It also complicates the logistics, since you need to learn a new software, that's one more thing to setup in the field, and you need a computer of some sort. However, that's a worthy investment every astrophotographers makes at some point. Not necessarily to increase the exposure time, but at the very least to increase the % of keepers and thus make your time outside really worth it. Especially in cold winter nights. With the Z61, a small 30mm guide scope like this one or this one will work just fine. Perhaps with the C8 you would be better off with a 50-60mm guide scope, since the C8 has more focal length and will be more demanding for the HEQ5. I never owned a C8, so I'll let more experienced users share their thoughts. Altair has some nice bundles, like this one. FLO also offers some guide cam/scope bundles, but most are out of stock right now. Of course, as you said, you'd need a computer of some sort to handle the autoguiding... You have a few options, with different levels of complexity & cost: Use a laptop. If you don't have one, you don't need an expensive or a recent one. Autoguiding isn't very ressource intensive, so any cheap laptop should work just fine. That's the cheapest option, and if you're on a budget, buying it used and dedicating it for astro is a route many people take, and used laptops are very easy to find. Use a standalone guider. They're like a guide camera and computer combo, therefore they can be very pricey, but they work autonomously and without any computer. The MGEN version 3 from Lacerta is one, the version 2 is cheaper I think and can be found used. The drawback of these, apart from the steep price, is that you can only do guiding with them. With a normal computer, you can also have other functions, like imaging sequences, plate solving, polar alignment help, etc. So the features per £ ratio is the lowest. Use a mini computer that you control wirelessly via a phone, a tablet or another computer. There are different options out there: The ASIAIR from ZWO is one option (I'm using it since a few years, and love it), you just need your phone or an Android/iOS device to control it. It is very simple to use, very smooth, really makes setting up your mount and guiding a breeze. You can guide, focus, polar align and control your mount and camera. However it only works with Canon/Nikon DSLRs and ZWO cameras. And that's £290 to invest on top of a guide scope & camera. The 1st version of the ASIAIR (non PRO) can sometimes be found in the classifieds for about £100. It still has great value IMO! Similar options include Stellarmate ( and Astroberry (a little Raspberry Pi computer, controlled via network by another computer/tablet), they're cheaper than the ASIAIR (Astroberry is even free, you just need to buy a Raspberry Pi computer, which costs around £50) and non bound to a specific brand of cameras, but they don't have a dedicated iOS/Android app like the ASIAIR. Also you need to install the OS and in the case of Astroberry, buy and assemble all the hardware yourself. Still, nice options if you're not afraid of the technical part. Mini computers, like the NUC series from Intel. Older models are quite cheap, you can also find them used very easily. They're great, because you can run Windows on them and install any software, so that's the most flexible option. But like other options, you'll need a tablet or another computer So, I'm afraid this is the true cost of having nice, round stars on most of your pictures Astrophotography is a world of compromises, and definitely not a cheap hobby. On the positive side, investing in a guide camera also brings 2 extras: With autoguiding, you gain access to narrowband imaging, with long exposures. This is a great way to ignore your light polluted sky or image during a full moon. This gives you access to some dim emission nebulae, that would be difficult to image otherwise. Guiding cameras are also the perfect tool to do planetary imaging, especially if you already own a C8. This would give you access to the other half of astrophotography, without any additional investment to make. And imaging planets is really fun! Hope that helps!

Oh that won't stop them! https://petapixel.com/2019/04/11/the-mystery-of-the-fly-in-the-2100-weathersealed-lens/

I love my AZ-GTi I bought it initially with a 4" Maksutov to do planetary imaging and get started with observing. It works really well, and tracking is good too when setup properly (but that's true for any mount). Photographers always say that the best camera is the one you have with you. This little mount can be taken anywhere, you just need a backpack and you're good to go. I often bring it over at friends or family with my Maksutov, to show them the planets. I once set it up in just 3 minutes, one of my friends wanted to take a peak at Jupiter before leaving! It can handle anything below the 5kg payload limit, so your 127 Mak should be fine. I believe Sky-Watcher even sells these 2 as a bundle, so it's safe to say the Mak 127 is officially supported. Of course a solid tripod and potentially a counterweight, might be necessary as you get closer to the 5kg limit, especially at extreme magnification, where the tiniest movement is visible. Now it has replaced my iOptron SkyGuider pro as an EQ mount too. The Go-To alone makes star trackers look like prehistoric tools in comparison, while having the same form factor, price and payload. And it's really nice to have a mount that does both EQ and Alt-AZ, in such a small package and for such a low price! It has its quirks of course, and some folks seem to have received bad copies and have problems with tracking. But you're covered if you purchase it from a reputable source anyway, and I wonder to what extent the problems are really the mount's fault, or human error. The mount can be capricious sometimes, but once you learned its language, it's great

I think this UHC is mainly for visual use, so I'd be surprised if it blocked IR. It might be a bit far-fetched, but perhaps you can test it yourself. TV remotes use IR light to control the TV, at around 900-950nm I think. I noticed some years ago that my smartphone's camera could see a light going on and off when my dad was using the remote So if the filter doesn't block IR, you should be able to see a light when pressing a button on your TV remote control. If you don't, then the filter most likely blocks IR. Provided of course you have a TV, and your camera is sensitive to these wavelengths

And what a first! I love the colors. This sensor is really something, all pictures I've seen so far are incredible.

It's not possible with the DSLR version. Most 1.4x teleconverters protrude inside the lens, but the Samyang doesn't have enough space in the back.