fifeskies

Difficult to cater for both big (wide) emmision nebula and majority of (small) galaxies with the one instrument. A good small refractor is the best solution for the nebulae, something around 400mm F5. A longer refractor around 800mm with a 2x barlow can work for galaxy but gets very slow doubling the F ratio (typically F7 or so going to F14) SCT or RC seem to be the preferred galaxy hunters. I would second avoiding the big Newtonian for AP , I have a large Newtonian which is an excellent visual scope but struggles with camera attached due to its size and weight when guiding or catching the breeze.

This 5v converter is a form of switch mode power supply so is working at something around 15Khz to 40Khz. Perhaps the ripple on the line (or harmonic rfi from this) is causing interference and upsetting the RPi. Aah Tomatobro has just replied as I was writing ... the capacitors will help suppress any ripple and suppress interference If that does not work a linear voltage regulator might be a better solution, much less efficient as it is dumping excess voltage as heat , but it does not have the same problems as switch mode sometimes have.

Our bigger scopes were all moved overseas to better skies. The 2.5 metre (98 inch) Issac Newton Telescope used to be at Herstmonceux but is now in LaPalma in the Canary Islands at altitude.

Oooh... since you "dished" out a rebuke 🧐, I can confirm that a visit to Jodrell Bank is also a fantastic day out. I visited on a wet day Easter 2019

There are 3 original domes still with optical scopes in use at the observatory. The large 38" JGT dome and the double domes of the Napier building next to it. (upper right in aerial photo below). The domes of the Napier house two Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes with one being a 10″ and the other 16″ aperture. Photo shows the 10 inch in its dome. A recent third small Pulsar dome has been added onto the flat roof of the Napier along with the 2 original main domes. The dome that once held the double telescope (left in aerial photo below) is now an exhibition/art space. The double aperture 40-cm Twin telescope was dismantled in the late 1990s. The photo below shows a giant Neon spectrum laid out with fabric strips. The main building dome (the Scott-Lang building) contained a 50-cm reflecting telescope with a spectrograph (currently not in use). On open nights several small optical telescopes are normally placed out on the flat roof of the Napier building for visitors to observe with. There are two 8 inch Meades and several smaller units including a Meade ETX80 refractor.

The James Gregory Telescope , St Andrews Previously (before Covid) this was open to visitors on 2 open days a year as well as once a month during winter evenings. Hopefully these opportunities will return in time. It is worth the visit to see this wonderful telescope. The mirror is 38 inch , the Schmitt corrector 37 inch and it operates stopped down as a 35inch. I recently discovered some fascinating historical film had been posted showing the construction of the mount/dome and the fabrication of the mirror. Dome construction James Gregory Telescope - YouTube Mirror assembly for James Gregory Telescope - YouTube more information about the James Gregory Telescope (JGT) and its history can be found here JGT – Observatory (st-andrews.ac.uk) for those into the finer details there is a great "manual" for the scope JGT_manual.pdf (st-andrews.ac.uk) The photos of the telescope below were taken on the last open night in Dec 2019

A great little book written by an 8yo astronomy fan. Nice photos and some of Aston's own drawings. Only £5 and worth every penny. Very easy read for children. The Solar System by Aston Smith | First Light Optics

You should be fine with the moon and planets. The exact multiplication factor will vary by your particular setup. If you image with it and take a star field snap , platesolving for the stars will tell you the exact focal distance the telescope has been converted to, from this you can find out the factor by dividing the new distance by the scopes native focal distance. Or you can use Stellarium and tweak the lens settings to match the view you get, so then read of the factor. While a DSLR wont be able to get as close as 10mm , dedicated astronomy cameras have a much smaller face to sensor distance, some are down at 6.5mm , this is why spacers are required often to match the image train to backfocus recommendations. The charts cover such a big range so they cover all the camera types out there.

Not much point mowing if you were to do it longly 😉

Other than imaging bright planets , trying to image with a f25 system will be very difficult. This makes targets very dim. For planets, video capture then stacking works ok. Trying to guide at an effective 3250mm will need a highly tuned mount to get anything like a stable image for still photos.

I used a stainless steel bolt , cut it down to the correct height with angle grinder disc (ie remove the hex head) , after test fitting it and marking the height. Get one that is part threaded so the "pin" part is just flat sided not with a thread. Again fit and check where it grounds out , mark the sides where you need a flat edge then remove and grind a flat edge to it. Finally to make it easy to fit and remove I used a thin disc to cut a screwdriver slot across the headless bolt. Cleaned up the sharp edges , and voila done. Only a few pence for the bolt , ok maybe £1 for stainless , and a short bit of diy.

Thanks to Andy for my new treasure. William Optics GT81 Mk4 with 0.8 matched reducer. Need that sky to clear now.

Yes fully 2 way I use this to remote control my mount , my guide camera and my main camera from the end of the Cat5 cable. Nice and comfortable away in the warm out of the damp and cold. At the remote control position I can see the guide camera output in PHD2 guiding software from the guider on the mount and the main camera exposures download to my remote SSD hard drive. I use APT to control the main camera remotely setting ISO exposure time , and run sequences etc. As soon as each sub exposure completes the image downloads to display on APT and saves to the folder on my SSD hard drive. Takes only a few seconds to download my 18 Megapixel frames. I can select targets, slew to them, plate-solve and begin imaging without setting foot up the garden to my ROR observatory. (I do have to go up to open the roof and power it all on, have not got that under remote control yet 😎)

Strongly recommend this. (USB over cat 5/6 , up to 50m) Its what I use and it works flawlessly. Daisy chaining USB just gives more places for things to go wrong (damp in connections) and for accidental disconnections as USB does not latch together. Available Amazon but got mine 2nd hand , they pop up now and then. StarTech.com 4-Port USB 2.0 Extender - 165ft USB Over: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

hope these help

There are extra thin low profile "T" adapters that can help you gain enough space to fit in a filter drawer. They claim to only need about 1mm rather than the usual 11mm or so.

Been looking for a 2 inch 2 x Powermate for a long time. Thanks to Mark

Polaris is NOT the North Celestial Pole. It is near to it but over 24hours makes a small circle around the actual pole. When correctly polar aligned Polaris should not be in the centre of your view, you can use several apps to show you what "hour angle" the position of Polaris should be at for any location and time.

GIMP (free software) can also be used to align the colours again. Your filter is removing the yellow/green component (as most City Light you are Suppressing, ie skyglow, is in the yellow/green part of the spectrum) Depending on target it can also be good to convert to a mono (Black and White) image.

BST starguiders are the best at this price point BST StarGuider | First Light Optics

I use a single supply for everything , just fuse every section when using a big supply. Those bare skeleton supplies will need to be built into a suitable external box however.

An LED stop light intended for a car (so runs on 12v also happy on 13.8v which is a fully charged battery voltage) , being LED uses very little power but is very bright on axis. Nice and cheap from a well known auction site , or any car parts shop like Halfords. You get the small rectangular screw on type that are intended for DIY trailer board lighting.

Strongly suspect this is just Sirius. Sirius is a very very bright star and is usually quite low down in the sky. Turbulance in the sky makes the star "twinkle" and Sirius is very well known for twinkling through the colour spectrum. The star confuses the autofocus in many cameras so you get a fuzzy out of focus blob , but this actually helps you see the colour flashes better.

Amazon sell many varieties of distilled water (sold for use with steam irons for the most part)

+1 for adding a highly visible light to the power supply output I have done the exact same thing but luckily caught it before any damage was done. A short run of low voltage cable to a red light is the way to go , just make sure it is away from the telescopes and ideally visible from afar. I can see my "power on" indicator from down the garden.