markclaire50

If it's like my gti az mount, the mount creates its own WiFi network. My phone always shows my Internet as disconnected as soon as my phone recognises the Mount's signal and I connect to it.

Try disconnecting from your main WiFi signal. Sometimes that has out powered my mount WiFi signal. Usually it works without doing that, but was the iy way I got it working on one occasion.

Went out today to see where polaris was according to my reliable app for live sky finding. I reckon I might just be able to see it above the roof top at one point on my patio but not the other about four foot away. But, I reckon that if I know it is just out of sight I can get a pretty good fix on it. Enough for AP? That remains to be seen. But maybe I will be OK and won't need to buy a new laptop just to do drift alignment. Mark

Thanks Andy I hope I have sufficient intelligence for all this! ? Not to mention the strength to carry the whole setup down the garden. I was looking at the end of my garden at the the paved area and thinking how long it would take before I fell backwards into the flowerbed! There is a 4 inch high wooden separator to stop soil going onto paved area. Perfect to forget in the dark! ?

Hi Alex Thank you for this very useful method! Mark

Thanks Atreta That would be interesting if you have time. Mark

Thanks Geoff. I have the skymax 127. Nice scope but I'm suffering from a dose of feverali aperturis and having thoughts about 180maks, C9.25 and C11s on an heq5. I can't make my mind up. I hear great things about the 180. I hear C9.25 is a special scope, BUT C11 aperture wins?? If I really believed C11 would outgun the other two, I'd consider a secondhand one. Ever considered upgrading to one of these? Thanks Mark

Hi. Thanks for your reply. I can only see polaris at the end of my garden but then can't image Southerly objects because next door neighbours trees are in the way too much. To image Southerly objects I need the other ways. It sounds like skywatcher latest software can do this, if I ensure the scope is pointed in roughly the right declination towards polaris. Do you agree?

Thanks! I will read that thread. Mark

Thanks James. I'm beginning to think limiting myself to North West and East may be best. Do you know the distance that tripod legs on heq5 are when fully spread? Another alternative is the az eq mount skywatcher sell. I'd be able to do both visual and AP. Who knows, I could even stick it in the car. Perhaps reason to join astronomy club. They may have a dark site. ??

Just checked the panther mount cost. I think I'll get a couple. ???? Dreaming...... ?

Hi, have you found a solution?

Thank you. Yes, I have some serious thinking to do on this. I get the distinct feeling that somehow I need to go down being able to PA with polaris, if at all possible. If only my house wasn't in the way. ?

Thanks. Digging any type of hole would require consultation with a higher power? But I had wondered if there may be something I could do along those lines.

I am in the very embryonic stage of planning to do AP and I haven't got an eq mount yet. The PLAN is currently to buy an heq5 with rowan belt. BUT, the flattest places in my relatively small back garden are on the patio with house directly blocking North or end of garden where I can see polaris BUT trees behind me would block a swathe of Southerly sky?. So, either way I'm stuffed. The lawn in between these two areas, is of course sloped! Not something I'd like to put a tripod and scope on. This means that effectively I can't do both polar alignment with polar alignment scope AND do AP on many Southerly objects. Even in the middle of the lawn, I suspect the tree would block too much. Only on the patio is South reasonably OK. Although I can't see anything north of past WSW or ENE. I don't want to be limited to alt az photography, but this is a problem. I've heard of drift methods and computer methods and some mounts having automated systems, etc etc. So, any suggestions on this? Am I beyond help? ? If I pay a large sum of money for an eq mount (which I intend to place an 80mm ed on, but also an 180mak for visual/planetary AP) I'D like it to track properly. I know this isn't essential for the planetary AP, but is for fainter dso. Please help Thanks Mark

Hi Geoff I've just posted about this scope, but now I see it has been discussed before. What is your opinion of it? Worth getting? How has it performed on different targets and under what light conditions ( dark sky?) Thanks Mark

Hi John I have also been theorising that the glow of the nebulosity might be combining with other factors to tip the scales against me. On my very first outing with both my 80mm and 127mak, I found Rigel B an easy target, i.e. I knew it was a double but didn't know where rigel b was, but the 80mm picked it out, and I confirmed it was the right place later. I was very pleased when I saw it for the first time with the 80ed with my baader zoom ( a superb piece of kit, I have found). Every time I've looked at rigel I can clearly see its companion in both scopes. Not tried the 4th member of sigma orion is yet. But it's on my list now. ? It seems to me from what you say, that I need to keep trying at 150x in the mak. Beyond that I do start to get some star bloating though, but the sky also gets darker which might help. When I first got the mak, I looked at sirius and went out of focus in both directions to check collimation. I saw a perfect set of symmetrical concentric circles. Very pleased as I believe that means it is well collimated: being secondhand, I was slightly apprehensive. Perhaps I will use the 10mm BCO again, w/wo the 1.5x gso barlow to get 150 and 225x mags and keep looking. Do you think a filter to cut out the nebulosity might help? Thanks Mark

There seems to be a very large variation on this. I noticed this when looking at Internet reports from different forums, which seem to reflect both yours and Olly's experiences. I think it's confusing to newbies like me. ? I can only conclude that differences in location is responsible? I've seen reports of people seeing the stars in very light polluted areas, and others failing in dark skies. AND vice versa! With the same type of scope too?! I have read above average successes with 4-5 inch fracs though! Perhaps my 127mm can do it, but not if seeing is against me. I've tried on three separate nights at mags ranging from 65 to over 250, with baader zoom (with and without baader barlow in place) , an altair wave 6mm and a bco 10mm (after reading your good report on this eyepiece). All failed. As a side note the 10mm bco was wonderful on the moon with the mak! Very Sharp and contrasty! Do you think the fracs design is giving them the edge over the mak, at the similar apertures? Refractors are renowned for their ability to split stars. Did I mention my first scope I bought was a secondhand sw 80mm ed? I tried seeing the E and f with that, a few days ago using 25-187x with baader w/wo zoom. Again, despite staring for ages at exactly the right place, I detected no sign of either star at any part of that mag range. The a-d stars were pin sharp, apart from above 150x. Plus, the night before, I had seen a mag 10.8 star in same fov as iwamoto, so I know I should see the mag 10.3 e star. But in reality I couldn't. For the record, I never detected iwamoto. Thank Mark

Thanks John. I've not given up with the mak, but I'm not sure it'll pick out the F star, looking at Olly's post above! ??

Hi John. Perhaps I should also say my purchase of the mak secondhand at £160 seemed too good to miss, and I don't regret it. I guess that the higher the potential cost, the more analysis I feel I need to do. But I'd like to feel the next scope would the last. But seeing members collections on this forum, I fear it may not be.... ??

Yes, and like many members, I'd like a scope with more aperture, as I think the 127mm mak is restrictive compared to 8-9 inch aperture. I certainly feel this is so on objects I have tried to see recently. Hence I am now researching, as many amateurs do, for the best upgrade, within my financial means, to facilitate this. I don't want, nor can afford to, make a mistake in such upgrade. In my experience, taking an average of people's experiences often gives the most accurate idea of the correct decision, which is why I'm gathering as much information as possible. Did you go through a similar process of consideration before upgrading to your Vx12? ?

Hi John. No scope decision will be made by me without a very thorough analysis of many peoples experiences on objects in the categories I'm interested in. In the end the decision would be based on balance of probability based on members comments, review articles, theory and any other factors like portability and likelihood of actually getting the scope out and using it. ?

Very interesting. Seems like different people can and others can't with this scope. I'm particularly interested in your opinion because I live not far from Radcliffe so I assume my seeing conditions would be similar. What do you think about chances of getting a lemon if bought secondhand? Would you advise new? Very useful info. Thanks! ? Mark

Hi Do you have any problems with seeing the E and F stars in the trapezium using your C9.25? Cheers Mark

Hi. Next question ? Do you think that a 200p would compliment a C9.25? By compliment, I don't mean that the 200p would be congratulating the C9.25 for a superb night's viewing. ? With similar apertures, resolution and light gathering will be similar, but viewing experience is what I'm interested in. Thanks Mark