Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

ThomasLondon

Members
  • Posts

    33
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

10 Good

Profile Information

  • Interests
    Astronomy, Astrophysics, Mathematics
  • Location
    London, UK

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. It is a fairly big blob close to the North horizon, and the only one with a tail. Last night even my kids found it with naked eye, even in the outskirts of London (well, they saw where the telescope was pointing). Take SkySafari, check the position of the comet relative to Ursa Major and the pole star, at about 11PM find a spot with reasonably free view to the North horizon, and if you even find some small binoculars it's actually hard to miss.
  2. I recently used a swab for cleaning a dslr sensor and the respective fluid, worked great without removing the mirror. Best Tom
  3. Hi, I would like a bit of TLC for my Celestron Nexstar 9.25 Evolution - cleaning it properly, some dust on the corrector, ensuring it's collimated correctly, and I am also not quite sure whether the Vixen bar at the side might be lose - it seems to move a bit when adjusting the scope. Does anybody know who can do this - preferably in the London area, given it's not a device you just put into a little box and post it somewhere - and what it is likely to cost? Any advice? All the Best Tom
  4. I have the pro version - but Point and Track does not seem to work for me, it follows the sun in az, but not in alt. Maybe I am making a mistake? If anything is grayed out or does not react - most functions d not work unless your last telescope movement was up and right. Did you try that? Best Thomas
  5. You do not adjust non-adjustable solar finders. You point the telescope to the sun, then you mark the position of the sun on the screen with a sharpie (plastic finder) or a pencil (SolFinder). The only adjustable ones I know are Televue SolSearchers.
  6. I love my AZ GTi - but it has one really annoying habit: If I roughly point it to the object I want to observe, switch it on and start alignment, it slews to the point it thinks the object is... what nonsense! Is there any way I can tell the mount that the telescope is already pointing the right direction? I would find that much more natural to point the telescope to the star, instead of having to point it North first. The app would just need one more button "Start alignment in direction of first object" (or sth similar). Am I doing anything wrong, or is this just the way the app is working? Best Thomas
  7. Pragmatically: Wait for some time for a 2nd hand one to come up here or on Astrobuysell - they are 50 - 75 pounds. Looks unlikely that the parts and work are cheaper.
  8. I just had a marvelous early morning view of the new active region. You can see a fairly high plasma bridge near the sunspot. If weather permits in London, may become an interesting weekend...
  9. You are going to face two challenges: - Focusing the sun properly without any surface detail (aka sun spots) is extremely difficult. I would be surprised if you would even get close enough to focus to see the difference between a tuned and an untuned etalon. - The wonderful helical focuser of the cheaper Lunts does not help. Wait for a sunspot, then focus that, and tune the etalon.
  10. Hi, I just got a Skywatcher AZ GTI, which is great - but comes with no manual worth the name. In any case, most of the functionality sits in the app, which has an online help which is both well-hidden and requires you to leave whatever you are doing. Is there any reasonable overview of the mount, the app, how it works together, how to connect a hand controller? For example, although I activated solar observing (having to add two numbers to switch it on is the most obscure user interface I ever came across), and still cannot find the sun as an alignment target. And when I align to a target the mount slews somewhere else. It can't be my job as a user to figure out the idiosyncracies of the UI by trial and error, can it? Best Thomas
  11. OK, let's start with - what do you want to achieve? You mentioned you want to study astrophysics - that is great, but has nothing to do with buying an amateur telescope. Assuming you are about to start a university course: Observational data is important, but that won't happen from your back garden or with a small telescope. In fact, a friend of mine with a PhD in Astrophysics once mentioned that she had done a lot of observation with the largest telescopes of the world, but never for her own research. In any case - if you are going to do actual research, your university will have the facilities or provide you with access to them. If you would research into distributional properties of galaxies you would probably tap into existing data such as the SPSS. If you want to observe to keep the link between theory and the "real world", that is great - but then the same questions apply as with any amateur astronomer. Unless you can mount it outside permanently, you need to be able to set it up quickly. If you are living anywhere close to street lights you will want to be able to travel to a dark sky site - you will see more in a dark place with a 6 inch scope than in a light-polluted place with an 11 inch instrument. I have a 9.25 inch and a 6 inch SCT, plus a 102mm refractor and a 50mm H alpha scope - the solar scope is used most (given weather in the UK), then the 6". For me, the 9.25" is at the edge of what I am physically able to set up on my own.
  12. Thanks, that makes sense. Looks like there is always a niece for this size of telescope. Best Thomas
  13. Good point. Even in a perfect night as today it simply isn't dark enough. Only doubt: A triplet would also work for daytime observing - a doublet won't. Any view why not to buy a triplet over a doublet? Would the Tak be better than a triplet? I never considered taking off the focuser. Without the focuser and the dust cap (which then would slide over the tube) the Startraveller would be less than 30cm. Appears precarious, but may be worth a try. Another question, if I may ask: From your signature, you also have an Equinox 80 - how does that fit into your line-up/ what do you use that for?
  14. So does the SkyWatcher handset at least "play nicely" with the app? If I connect the Celestron handset while connecting to the mount via WiFi the whole system gets completely confused - the app does not seem to know of the changes I make via handset buttons, and the handset does not pick up the time and date set by the app. It all is a complete mess-up. Can't imagine how an intelligent human being comes up with sth like that.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.