fifeskies

Yes you can

Click settings in bottom box on left , stacking parameters , then set folder under the "output" tab

24 minutes ago, Capt Slog said:

a decent 25mm would seem a good choice.

My first decent scope was the 200 version of your 150 , My very first upgrade eyepiece was an X-Cel 25mm. (2nd hand on Facebook)

It was a chalk and cheese moment , the stock 20mm I got with the scope was the better of the 2 supplied but the difference with the X-Cel 25mm was a "Wow" moment.

First thing I saw in it was the Pleiades, and it was so much clearer and with so many more stars that I had seen in the cluster before, and of course a much wider view of the sky.

I am sure the BST 25mm would be just as good a choice (tho not used one).

It is the eyepiece you will always use first to find where you are , even if you need to swap to higher power once on target.

You have a reasonable telescope with the 150 / 750 , and Bortle 5 is still better than a lot of the country.

Try M31 as it doesn't seem to be on your list (use a low power eyepiece not high magnification on this one).

The big planets (Jupiter and Saturn) are both poorly placed just now but once they return your scope will give nice views of them. 

You would probably benefit from upgrading the stock supplied eyepieces if that is what you are using. They get you started but don't allow the scope to perform to its best capability.

BST Starguiders and Celestron X-Cel are both lower cost but good upgrades and both are common second hand , (on here or other astro site).

You will get much better (wider) field of view and improved contrast which are going to allow you to spot DSO far easier.

For unguided mounts the wider field of view is a big help to find your target. Also consider a Telrad as it is a good match for a scope of this size and can save a lot of time trying to find targets. (Stellarium has a handy Telrad targetting app under oculars).

This will help to get a clear view of the Leo triplet which is well within the capability of your telescope as long as they are not sitting in a bright part of the sky (above a city for example).

It would help us to advise you if we knew what telescope and which eyepiece you were using.

Also how dark is your viewing site , is it in a city or in dark countryside

M1 is a very small target , many other Messier targets are easier to see.

Yes , for a modified camera you would need the CLS CCD Filter , not the basic CLS.

The CCD version has additional IR blocking , but beyond the region that we want to retain, so its not simply replacing the IR filter the camera had originally.

In particular it passes the Ha region, only filtering beyond the frequency that is useful. This should help with star bloat.

That said star bloat is probably needing a star mask in post processing.

The bright star Alnitak is always a difficult part of getting the Horsehead balanced right.

It is a quarter of the area.

1/2 width x 1/2 height is equal to 1/4 the area

4290 x 2856 is 12M (approx)

2145 x 1428 is  3M   (approx)

the matrix is not linear GRBG , but forms as squares , alternate rows being GRGRGRGR and BGBGBGBG

I use the ZWO 290mm mini to align in Sharpcap pro but with an ST80

(ST80 brings out more faint stars but also has a more restricted view.)

With the wider field from a (short) 50mm finder I would think it should be fine.

Some nights are not as good as others for clarity.

It could be that there was some thin high cloud or the jet stream was particularly turbulent overhead which was making the seeing a bit mushy and that was the reason you were not getting pin sharp focus.

Give it another go on a clear crisp night and check what you get.

(Yeah like we get lots of those in the UK 🤪).

You are also going to higher magnification with the 8mm eyepiece so it will start to show up poorer seeing more than the lower powers.

That all said collimation is always worth checking as it can be the reason you are losing sharpness.

Seeing quality can be checked here (set for your own home location)

Astronomical seeing Edinburgh - meteoblue

and here for an easy jet stream visual

Jetstream Forecast - Jetstream Map Updated Four Times Daily - Netweather.tv

Telescopius is also useful, move the hour slider across to see how seeing varies during the night

Weather Forecast for Cupar (telescopius.com)

6 minutes ago, recceranger said:

I forgot about Dark Star! 

But you put "2001" in first place , so all is forgiven. 😎

What 😱 

No-one has put "Dark Star" on their list, how can that be.

who can forget the beach ball alien  

and the talking "Thermostellar Bomb" with the existential crisis

At least "Forbidden Planet" made a list, as did "Silent Running"

More recently I think "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" is a worthy contender (by Luc Besson of 5th Element fame)

1 minute ago, Orange Smartie said:

Thanks both.  @fifeskies, you don't have an issue with moisture causing mildew or fungus?

Pete

Not inside my dry shed no.

I would not leave it covered for months on end however.

Also if it has got some dew dampness on it from use at night , wait for it to dry again before you cover it.

The "umbrella covers" are very loose fit and don't seal totally , in fact if it is still on the mount you cant do the zip up fully due to the pier/tripod, so is partly ventilated.

I tend to let it breathe by only loosely pulling the drawstring round it.

I use my ROR shed at non astronomy times as a workshop so it gets some heating in there from time to time.

Keep my Newtonian in an unheated ROR (ie converted shed).

I recommend using a basic cover to keep dust and insects out.

Those intended for patio umbrellas are cheap and work fine for a scope inside a shed. They are zipped halfway so makes putting them over much easier and you can leave the finder in place. The drawstring at the base means you can close them round the scope once it has been fitted over it.

Hopefully the fault has not reached the motherboard.

If the output side of the adapter (ie low voltage cable and the "aviation" style 2 pole connector) remain undamaged they can be cut from the damaged supply.

These could then be used with any suitable bench type supply BUT be very careful about polarity.

An inline fuse is also a good idea to protect the mount , this can be added to the cable as also shown below.

Something like the Maplin supply shown below. (no longer manufactured).

Astronomik sell a mass produced EOS clip in to 2in holder, I have not used one of these myself so cant comment on how well it actually works.

My CT10L from OOUK with a high quality 1/10 wave mirror is a perfectly good performer. This is purely based on using it and not down to any detailed scientific testing.

That article is 7 years old and refers to a protracted process through various court procedures so I assume the purchase was probably 10 years ago at least.

It is also for a 24 inch mirror , hardly a mainstream product.

I have used the Baader cleaning kit (wonder fluid and microfibre cloth) to clean such marks off my objectives.

Make sure there is nothing on the cloth (I keep mine in a resealable pouch), and spray some fluid on the cloth not the lens , then polish gently until the fluid evaporates away, seems to remove them easily.

The Evostar 72 has only a 420mm focal length and would not usually be fitted with an OAG, but you possibly could do.

They are nice wide imaging scopes for DSLR use  (I use my 600D on an 80mm ED).

the ZWO 120 will work well as a guide camera (I use its brother the ZWO 290)

Any small guider/finder will allow you to get good images on your EQ5 pro , I use a 2nd hand ST80 but there are smaller options that will be fine. You will probably need some extension rings to get the guide camera to focus if its not a dedicated guidescope.

SVbony do a range of cheap but good quality guidescopes.

This can piggyback on the Evostar , the guider does not need to exactly align with the main scope so adjustment rings are not a must have , though I fitted them to my ST80.

You would end up with something similar to the photo below.

Planets will show significant Chromatic Aberration  (CA) in the basic Evostar telescope.

A smaller aperture ED DS-Pro is by far the better option, CA is significantly reduced and the rainbow effect is all but removed.

Below is Venus in the basic Evostar 150 (I used to own one) , it was better suited to DSO where the far less bright targets did not suffer the same CA issues.

1 hour ago, Mamm7215 said:

 I have to ask, what’s the 2nd indentation for.  It gets halfway out or so and the first lock holes set. Then you pull it out a bit for to fully extend it, why the 1st set of indents, is it to reduce the focal range?

I suspect that one of the indents is to allow use with a camera that needs more backfocus than you need with an eyepiece , but I have not used one of these so can't be certain about that.

If it is only halfway though that sounds like its probably more than this would need.

The ED120 is 900mm focal length , the ED80 is 600mm , so there is not a lot of gain in the step up as regards narrower field of view with the same camera.

The ED120 is a fine scope however

Use the simulation capabilities of the below link to see what you will get with a given scope and a given camera to make your decision.

astronomy.tools

use the imaging mode and choose your target and camera to try a set of telescopes to see what you would be best to go for.

Are you planning to use a computer to control the mount?

APT the free software , can make running exposures much easier. (works very well with my EOS)

You will need the correct adapter cable for mount to computer (I don't think one is included with the kit).

How big is the error in the pointing accuracy. (full moon is 30 seconds wide)?

If it is a relatively small error , it may be down to using the J2000 co-ordinate system , while clearly in the sky you are setting to the current co-ordinates.

When you click on a target Stellarium will give both sets in the object description. (if they are both selected in the options)

A small offset may be showing the difference between the two.

(I think there is a setting somewhere to choose which co-ordinate system Stellarium uses)

Also you should be able to align the mount axis and the telescope axis by small adjustments to the mounting screws at the dovetail, loosen and nudge then retighten. Better quality dovetails have less wiggle error.

8 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

Thanks again for the input! My only worry with using the 80ed without a focal reducer, is that it would be too slow, especially as I won't be guiding to begin with. 

You can select plenty bright targets to get used to the whole process, where the slower scope wont be such a problem.

Orion Nebula , Pleiades , M31 Andromeda , North America Nebula , all should be good starter targets., as well as some globular clusters , and don't forget some Lunar imaging as well.

Also recommend the free APT software and DSS to stack lots of shorter exposures and so get long "integrated" times.

Free and there are plenty good tutorials on using them , also free GIMP for stretching the final results to bring out the DSO targets.

I did start with the advantage of the Faster Equinox version of the ED80 and bought it 2nd hand with the 0.8 TV reducer/flattener in the pack , so it was a lucky find for my first imaging scope.

15 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

Thanks for that, I've seen a few people use the altair ff/fr also. Am I right on assuming that any field flattener will work as long as it matches the specs of the scope?

The TV one suits any scope of 400-600 according to the box , but I had seen it recommended may times for the ED80.

It is 0.8 so gives a big advantage reducing my Equinox version of the Skywatcher ED80 to 400mm (from its 500mm native) and speeds it up to F5.

Just see what other's think of any reducer you consider.

Don't worry about a reducer at first , you may get some edge coma but when starting out there is a lot to learn before worrying about all the bells and whistles. You can get some nice images (and can crop if you think the edge is bad).

Another ED80 pic below , North America Nebula , also from my unguided days and only 90 sec exposure time.

Its nice and bright so you don't need as long as with the fainter targets

3 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

 

What field flattener due you use with the 80ed? The main thing that's putting me off is the skywatcher ff/fr is about £180, 

I bought my Televue reducer flattener second hand (TRF-2008) , they come up fairly often and was a fair bit less than the dedicated one new.