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KP82

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  1. Last time I read the specs of the EQ5 Pro the RA teeth was 180. Or maybe SW have updated the info to 144 and the previous specs was wrong. Servo is fine. Even the Losmandy G11 uses servo motors albeit higher quality ones I suppose. But for a budget mount I'd prefer stepper over servo tbh.
  2. Looks like a mechanically downgraded EQ5 (based on its RA/DEC teeth number & servo motor spec) with a dual position counterweight bar and built-in wifi. Honestly ppl are better off with the regular EQ5 + the new shorter extension pier or HEQ5 if higher payload required.
  3. There was going to be one on the 18th Mar at Sacrewell Farm, but it got cancelled. There will be another one hosted by Burghley House between 22nd and 23rd Mar: https://burghley.co.uk/events/stargazing-evenings-at-burghley-house-artemis-footsteps-on-the-moon-2. But the tickets have been sold out.
  4. In your case larger apertures alone would offer limited improvement for visual observation of DSOs. You will need some visual narrowband filters (UHC or better OIII). Your current mak makes getting larger exit pupil difficult but you need a decent size exit pupil for the filters to work at their best. So a fast 10" f/5 dob will be a good option. However these filters can only help you with certain type of targets mainly nebulae. Galaxies will be difficult to see. Star hopping with a dob should be no different from your Skymax 127 assuming it's also mounted on an Alt-AZ.
  5. Have you updated the mount firmware to the latest version? The earlier versions had 3 modes (WiFi w/ ExploreStar app, WiFi ASCOM & Serial) and if the mount was set to the mode other than WiFi w/ ExploreStar, you wouldn't be able to control it with the app. If that's the case, you will need to connect to the mount via USB and change the mode (or better update the firmware) with the ES desktop software. More info can be found here: https://espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN/topics
  6. The Powerbox has a built-in FTDI chip and connects to the PC in a similar way to a mount. You will need to find the correct COM port in the device manager before trying to control it with the software.
  7. If I were to get a Tak, the primary objective wouldn't be for its superior optical quality (the difference is only marginal compared to the other 4" f/7 fpl53 like others have said) but its portability. If you were thinking of mounting a 4" apo on the AZ mini, the FC100DC would probably be the only valid option that's currently available. One of the reasons you get so many suggestions on Tak in any refractor discussions is that it IS the only premium APO brand which you can easily buy off the shelf (relatively speaking). The others such as AP, TEC, LZOS and CFF are basically either locked behind a long waiting list/time or obtainable by luck through used markets.
  8. IMX477 with 180mm FL produces 2deg x 1.5deg fov. So the index files required are substantially bigger. However with the correct details passed to the astrometry.net solver it is still very fast. The 1.55um pixel size produces a resolution of 1.78 arcsec/px which is a little too much but the Pi HQ camera is OSC so binning doesn't work unfortunately. The function of measuring the offset automatically sounds really neat. I had to write a script to produce a live feed of the camera with a crosshair overlay in the centre and display it on a webpage for alignment with the main scope.
  9. I believe you're right. Stellarsolver could be making too many assumptions on data in its shortcut such as fov and resolution. Anyway Ekos plate solves with astrometry.net very quickly (2 - 3 secs) and accurately, so I can't be bothered to fix the stellarsolver on my RPi.
  10. The standard H17 database does cover the fov of an IMX477 with 180mm focal length (SW 50mm finder). It could be at its limit which may explain why astap was unreliable (I might give the H18 database a try). astrometry.net with the correct databases downloaded have been working beautifully. The astrometry.net database files are huge for smaller fovs. Maybe that's why it was slow on your PC assuming it was a fairly old PC you were using? The PA module in Ekos. The internal stellarsolver presumably shares the same database with astrometry.net. If astrometry.net can solve the pictures taken by IMX477 + 180mm FL, I don't understand why stellarsolver can't.
  11. It always fails to solve no matter what settings I change to. Could be something to do with how Kstars/Ekos are compiled in astroberry or how the internal solver handles the FITS data from the RPi HQ camera. I don't have this issue when using kstars downloaded from the official ubuntu INDI repo "mutlaqja/ppa" on my NUC with QHY or ZWO cameras when imaging.
  12. This setup is strictly for visual only. When imaging I use a more traditional guiding setup (Evoguide 50ED + 120MM) connected to a NUC running ubuntu. For visual the RPi uses Kstars/Ekos for plate solving (astrometry.net which I find to be more reliable than astap). It's connected to my phone running SkySafari Pro. Because SkySafari does not provide a way to trigger the plate solve nor do I want to switch between it and VNC (cumbersome plus it ruins my dark adaptation), I use the button. Once pressed Ekos will plate solve and then auto align the mount. And since the finder is already aligned with the main scope, whatever it points to will also appear in the eyepiece of the main scope. The correction process gets displayed on the SkySafari (very useful). Differential flexure is not an issue at all here because there is no continuous exposure involved. The RPi HQ camera (IMX477) is pretty decent for the task. The gain is set to 4.0 and exposure to 2.0 sec in Ekos. So far this seems to be optimal. The combo is also used for precise PA. It takes less than 5 mins (in VNC) and improves the RA tracking significantly.
  13. RPi4B (astroberry), RPi HQ camera mounted to a 50mm SW finder and a USB power pack are all you need. This is exactly what I've been using for nearly 2 years. I wrote a couple of python scripts to allow plate-solving with a simple button press and alignment between the finder and the main scope.
  14. ED80 + HEQ5 + 533MC Pro for hassle free (relatively speaking) start of AP or 130PDS + HEQ5 + 294MC Pro if you don't mind learning collimation of a newt Both are for wide field DSO imaging. Like others have said the most important part is the mount. You may also want to grab a 30 - 50mm guidescope with a 120MM for guiding.
  15. I've got the WO short handle on my 80EDT. The end M6 holes are exactly 120mm apart. IMHO for any short (< f/8) sub 4 inch scopes, there aren't any benefit with losmandy dovetails compared to vixen.
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