TerryMcK

I replaced mine with 2 fully threaded M10 x 75 long stainless steel hex bolts as I found that my cable harness would catch on the rear Skywatcher adjuster. I adjust the bolts with a 17mm combination spanner which is kept on the mount legs with a rare earth magnet. I ground the ends of each bolt to a dome as per the originals At my latitude of 53 degrees north the length of bolt is ideal and doesn't protrude too far. No more fouling of cables. Not at all difficult to adjust either.

When we do get longer spells in the UK a lot of people complain they need sleep 😆 I used to be like that but now leave the scheduler to do operate the gear while I'm tucked up in bed.

I agree with Kirkster. Observing/imaging nights are few and far between in some areas of the UK so you have to make the most of it. The longest recent spell of imaging I've had was about 12 nights September 2020 (in the period from 13/09/2020 to 27/09/2020). Some nights in that period were poor the rest were great. However it has been poor ever since. I think there was one Saturday night in October so far that has been ok but I wasn't imaging that night. Frustrating for sure but deterred? No chance.

I run Astroberry on the PI4 which is located local to the mount/telescope. It runs the INDI drivers for the gear. It is connected via a gigabit ethernet connection to my main network. I then run EKOS/KStars on a PC or MAC connecting to the PI4 in EKOS remote mode. I have set it to send the pictures both to the PI and the PC. EDIT I've just timed it and a download of a 40MB file from PI to the PC are 0.5 seconds using SFTP.

+1 for ETGuuds and Lindy. Both available from Amazon. However I recommend keeping your cables as short as possible feeding into a powered USB3 hub actually on the mount or pier. Then use a single USB3 repeater cable to feed to your computer if it is remote from the scope. You won’t experience any drops that way.

No idea as the manual on the SW site for updating the firmware says and shows plug 12v into the controller. Mine does not have a 2.1mm socket on the controller. It looks like the manual is out of date. Unless you are having issues I would leave it alone as the firmware only seems to update connection to the GPS module and fix some minor bugs.

I agree entirely with Padraic. A mount like the HEQ5Pro (belt modded if possible) would be a great match for the Espirit 80 and would be well within its imaging load capacity.

Yes it does but if you plan to point in the other direction the IDAS also does a stirling job.

I have the Altair triband and find it is reasonably good both with DSLR and dedicated Astrophotography OSC camera especially in Ha. However it does have issues with OIII band and I find it a touch too wide in bandwidth. It covers the HII band in the same green spectrum. The quadband is for less light polluted skies and may be good for you. I’m in Bortle 7/8 hence the tribander. My favourite filter for OSC or DSLR is without doubt the IDAS D2 which blocks out LED lights as well as traditional light pollution but lets through most of the RGB. It produces far better pictures than the Altair Tribander. However use the Ha from the Altair as a lum layer with the RGB from the IDAS and it really makes images pop. However I also do mono and have Ha, OIII and SII filters in the armoury. UK skies are not ideal for mono due to the multiple filter exposures required, unreliable cloudy skies, rain etc. but when the skies are on form mono is superb.

It increments up by 1 whenever someone likes one of your posts or comments. It's a count of how popular your comments are.

I know what he is talking about Hadyn. I have the scope upside down so the rack is on the top. The focuslock screw does not foul anything then. I also have an autofocuser fitted to mine and that uses the screw hole previously used for the focuslock to secure the bracket to the scope.

I’ve never needed any spacers to enable my WO ZS73 scope to balance when using a DSLR or a dedicated astronomy camera. I’m not sure what you have heard.

As soon as the ZWO ASI120MM mini came in stock at FLO I thought for about 10 seconds "do I really need another one?" - You are darn right you do. My 2nd guide camera came 2 days after I ordered it. Thanks FLO.

No not UK specific but the answers you got were from a UK perspective and what goes here might not be right in the US

In the UK we have different regulations pertaining to purchases/returns etc. which are bound in law. I’m guessing by your handle and wording that you are not in the UK so may be subject to different purchasing regulations. Best to check your rights with regards to returning items in your country which may be different than the UK. That said I agree with Steve, Dave and John

I also have the ZS73 with the adjustable field flattener and wouldn't consider anything else. As JimJam say they are in stock on FLO and are a doddle to install/setup.

I've been playing around with Affinity Photo and it is very similar to Photoshop but cost me £23.99 back in June. I'm not sure how much it is now. This is the first time I've played with it and the results are very encouraging. Same data as above with APP doing the initial registration and integration. These are the results from Affinity Photo.

Another ZWO ASI120MM mini. So I don’t have to swap the original from guide scope1 to guide scope2 and vice versa.

Great work Mark. I'd never noticed that black part before and your imaging/processing has really brought it out. Did you use the 115 for the image? Leave the image as it is BTW.

I had difficulty installing version 0.20.00 when it was originally released and had to reinstall version 0.19.x on one PC. The good news is version 0.20.3 installs and runs great. Thanks for a fantastic program Alexander.

Masked is the way to go. Dylan O’donnell did a video a few years ago showing how he approaches it. Have a look on his YouTube channel for the video. I think it was something like a beginners guide.

Here is my effort. Processed in PixInsight first of all Channel Combination RGB-HOO Then NBRGB Combination adding SII into B Channel ABE ColorCalibration Multiscale Linear Transform Histogram Transform Curves Transform Local HistogramEQ Invert SCNR red .36 Invert StarMask SCNR to remove green on star mask Invert StarMask SCNR to remove more green on star mask Invert StarMask Pixelmath to add the two images together Finished off with Photoshop Minor level balance Reduce stars 3 times Invert image to colour replace/reduce some of the blue rings around stars Invert image right way around again Sharpen

It depends how much it is, whether it is available worldwide and the support network.I had never heard of Radian before watching the video. The WO Redcat is higher on my list.

This is proving to be very difficult data to process for me. Those pesky stars are very dominant. I hope to post my attempt soon.

I've just bought the SpyderX Pro and calibrated the two monitors I use for processing. They both have the same colour profile and are (apparently) accurate. Dead easy to do and it took 2 minutes per monitor. The software recommends you check once a month. Hopefully now the pictures I produce should be consistent for others.