DaveL59

If you do decide to look at the RA motor here's the options: Clockwork drive kit: Sky-Watcher RA Motor Drive & Multi-Speed Handset for EQ-2 | First Light Optics Skywatcher RA Motor Drive For EQ2 With Multi Speed Handset - Rother Valley Optics Ltd and the basic RA motor RA Single Speed Motor Drive for EQ-2 | First Light Optics Note that they only motorize one axis (RA) so the control box on the forst option doesn't get you remote control of up/down/left/right 😉

not sure what a 360 is in terms of the mirror but the mount and scope look exactly like my SW130EQ2? Any chance of a pic of the info sticker, usually under or near the focuser? Polar aligning for visual you only need to be roughly right and that mount won't have a polar scope anyway so that's the best you can achieve. Worth considering getting the clockwork drive or RA motor for it so you can leave the scope to follow the target once you have it in the eyepiece, much more relaxed operationally 🙂 Plenty of vids on youtube on how to use an EQ so worth a watch of a few and have a play in daylight to see how it works

I've only messed about a little with mine and at the time was on an untracked mount so harder to keep things in view. The Logitech C270 is apparently pretty good and supported in sharpcap too and gives a 720P image size but isn't a CCD sensor like the old SPC tho still quite sensitive. Is yours mod'd for long exposure, the one I have is a standard one.

the problem with the webcam is the small sensor on that one is only VGA (640x480 pixels) so any image would be small on a 1080P screen and will pixellate if you enlarge it. I found using the SPC900 on the moon in my LT70AZ which is f10 that you could only get a part of the moon in the view, since you are effectively cropping what the scope sees much like using a shorter FL eyepiece. Can't say what your scope would give as I don't have any short FL ones but give it a try and see how it shows.

just don't doze off, you'll wake up finding it's hog-tied you 😄

thinks maybe the BBQ is a better idea 😉

Know what you mean. I do have a spreadsheet that I keep which lists all the optical gear I've accumulated over the past several years, Scopes, binos and camera. The various totals are shocking and sadly a lot was over the past 5 years, sometimes acquired as a "for something to do" while between jobs. Still it also provides a list of serial numbers and potential re-sale value which may be useful in the event of theft or to my future estate 😉

Thanks Ross, I'm sure you'll find a good pair with patience 🙂 As I mentioned it can seem easy to adjust some, but as WJC points out it is also easy to get it wrong. The first pair I sorted didn't have those handy tilt screws, I had to make shims with tin foil to tilt those prisms. A long and frustrating trial and error tho I did get there and they hold perfectly since the overhaul. Some of the Swift porros and other unibody designs of that type are easier as Tony said, roof aren't quite so. Thing is some you adjust the collimation using offset rings in the objective rather than prism tilt so its harder to advise when not knowing the specific bino and also the person's potential skills, no offence meant there. Add in that most of us don't have the training and test kit that Bill has so the best we can hope for is to get it aligned enough to work for us and perhaps reasonably OK for some others, aligned as opposed to collimated. If you do buy new and find they aren't quite right, don't fiddle, just send them back for replacement. Always best if you can to test them before you buy but not always possible of course. When testing I try to relax my eyes and be looking directly ahead rather than concentrat on the images presented as you'll naturally force the sides to merge. You could try looking through and have one side covered, then quickly uncover that side and see if the image initially jumps before merging. I do recall seeing reports of those Bressers like the ones you were interested in in Aldi/Lidl where some opened several boxes to find a pair that were aligned before buying, so either poor QC or they went out of alignment during shipping/shelf stacking. To me that says that even if they give a good view today, they're a pair that are likely to go out of alignment at some stage during use. Same can be said of some Celesteron and other large binos, can't recall the model but one series was said to go out of alignment if you simply looked at them 😉

so far it looks like a go Artemis: Nasa Moon mission gets go ahead to launch - BBC News fingers crossed then 🙂 Wonder if there's any more news on Virgin's cosmic girl that's due to be launching some satellites from Cornwall early September?

I assume the 3 grub screws also locate into the groove so as to keep the focuser part attached? Wonder if there's any form of threadlock or wax to keep the grub screws in place? You could perhaps try a drop of black sealing wax into each grub screw hole once you have them set to the right place which may limit their ability to turn. Some of the miniature japanese binos used that idea to hold the prism screws and maybe give a better all-back finish to the body. Alternatively there is low strength threadlock (Sealey do one) that might be OK for these, tho I can't confirm that as I've yet to use it on any grub screws myself. What size/type of grub screws are used?

there goes your dark adapted vision tho, neighbours might enjoy the light show tho 😄 I'd throw in a laden jar capacitor to tide over the bumps in demand too

So if there really was a big bang and as a result all of the stars etc and us formed but its still expanding, then as per a regular explosion, won't at some stage when the energy pushing outward runs out it'd all (well some/most) collapse back toward the originating centre. So we could've have saved $10bn and just waited a while longer and all those interesting bits will be a lot closer for us to observe... 😉

hmm got me thinking tho, microwave... but then again that could get a bit "warm" if you stand in the wrong place 😉

can't comment on those but I did get my daughter something similar years ago from Maplin, along with gloves since she is/was a gardener working outdoors in winter. Back then tho it was rechargable batteries tho I also get her one of those bulk 100 battery deals to keep her going. She thought it was great, as you note, less bulk so easier to move around. Wonder if these use carbon heating elements as they'd be thinner and perhaps more durable.

Perhaps worth mentioning too that something like the short Travelscope 70 is a fast refractor, not ideally suited to higher mag and less forgiving on eyepiece design. A slower refractor (longer) is more easy to match eyepieces for and also likely to give less chromatic aberration as well as capable of higher magnification than the shorter tube versions. Sure you can get very good short tube scopes, price multiplies upward tho... update - should have said but was typing fast before rushing away to the dentist... easier as in on the bank balance especially

Would be a bit like looking thru binos in reverse, the image would be tiny if perfectly formed. At least looking thru from the back/camera/film end you'd get a lot of eye relief, given the lens to film plane is around 43mm generally. Actually I'll correct that having pulled my 50mm F1.7 out to check. Looking in from the camera end you get a larger image. In reverse is about 1:1 or whatever macro-scaling the specific lens is capable of. In fact photographers do mount lenses in reverse for macro work which I'd forgotten for a moment when I first posted 🙂

brilliant bit of economy buying, easy enough to add some pluck foam too if you need it. Would chuck in a couple silica gel sachets tho to keep those little tendrils that like optical glass away 😉

ahh the ubiquitous Barn Door or BM setup that the base sits on? AKA the dob toppler 😉 several similar project in the DIY section IIRC.

hmmm not sure I'd want to pull 10A (120W) across a sliding contact tho it'll be a lot less most of the time I guess. Thing is as dew forms you may also find you get contact resistance issues tho a smear on each ring of dielectric grease (or vasoline) would help as well as preventing oxidation. You'd want to make the sliding contact a similar width to the ring to maximise the contact area. You might either make or buy something like: S7171-45R Harwin, SMT SPRING CONTACT, 4MM | Farnell

Ahh the simplest and cheapest ideas are so often the best, nice one! 🙂 I was tempted to suggest the lazy susan idea but carrying the battery rather than using it as slip rings but decided that wasn't a great idea either.

From the source of everything we seek of course, Amazon 🙂 Available in many widths and no reason you couldn't wrap it over itself to improve wear resistance, esp if you buy the type that has conductive adhesive (usually called dual-side conductive or similar). 20 M Copper Foil Tape with Dual Conductive Strong Adhesive Copper Foil Tape for Guitar and EMI Shielding,Soldering,Electrical Repairs(30mm (W) x 20m (L)) : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools I guess you could even use it to fashion the wiper parts, using the copper tape to make the contact to the ring, tho a thin copper strip that's bent to suit would probably be better. How much current is this likely to be trying to draw across the foil/wiper as that may be an issue if there's not enough surface area/contact pressure?

That's very interesting, plenty older M42 lenses about that can be had for peanuts, tho some may be best avoided, the Meyer-Optik Domiplan 50mm f2.8 for example. Its a dinky little lens but this one you need to centre the rear element cell using 3 set screws to get best image, tho they are often very cheap, possibly why. Also not great in infinity focus as the one I have just doesn't quite get there. Many of these older M42's may be manual/pre-set aperture which makes them even simpler to use, no aperture pin to poke you in the eye 😉 I'd considered Ali for objectives when I was looking for a replacement for the vintage 3-inch scope but they didn't have anything in the 76/1000mm range, certainly a good low-cost source if they perform well optically.

went for a quick smoke a few mins ago and was very surprised to see Saturn already over the rooftops and looking very bright, a bit twinkly tho, hmm. A few seconds and I realised it was moving towards me, bloomin jet with its main beams on. Man I must be getting old and doddery already!

no harm to try that out during the day and just accept stars it offers, then at the end hit Esc and see if it lets you select targets and swings to them. At least then you've good light to see by to check stuff, much less frustrating than trying at night 🙂

ahh so that's why my phone keeps pulling my trousers down when I've charged it and pop it into my pocket, always wondered about that 😉