AstroMuni

HTH 🙂

The setting circles can be used to help set the home position of the scope, but beyond that their use is only if you have a manual mount and use the RA/DEC circles to actually help point the scope. I have written an FAQ for the newer reticle that you may find useful...

There are clubs in Reading and Basingstoke, so in your neck of the woods 🙂

Besides the ones you mentioned there is one other parameter - direction of polar axis. You are theoretically close to achieving alignment if the Polar axis as shown in a diagram in post above is close to the true Pole. With these parameters the mount should be able to get close to objects. But as we are looking at these objects with high magnifications the field of view (FOV)is quite narrow and this needs to be more precise. Otherwise what tends to happen is that the object is close by but not visible in the eyepiece 😞 Once the object is in our FOV, then comes the business of tracking this object as it moves across the sky...If the mount is not properly aligned, as the mount attempts to follow this path, it slowly but surely becomes out of sync with the object. If you are a visual observer you could gently nudge the scope to bring it back into view. But if you are attempting astrophotography over several minutes/hours, this becomes harder to achieve and you start seeing smear marks on the output. HTH in your understanding of this issue 🙂

Most folk who use laptops to control Skywatcher type mounts use ASCOM drivers as they give better control. You can even use game controllers instead of arrow keys! Could you let us know which mount you have?

Could you take pictures like synchronicity has done and share here. That would help us. EDIT: Last but not the least, did you try a Factory Reset?

One thing I did notice when I first started using my EQ5. In the Home position, the bolts holding the scope need to be on the left hand side! Otherwise it slews off in opposite direction. HTH 🙂

@merlin100 If you are facing the street with all those streetlights then a screen between your scope and the lights might do the trick. This would somewhat restrict your ability to view objects closer to the horizon but otherwise would work ! An old tent also may do the trick 🙂

I very much doubt that would have happened considering you just moved it around manually whilst the motors were running. As long as you didnt hear a crunching noise of the gears then you should be good 🙂 I am a newbie as well, and given the wonderful weather we have here, I have taken to trying out different aspects of my mount within the confines of my home aided by an app like Skysafari. This way I can rehearse alignment (even of Vega 😉 ) by holding the phone against the base of the scope and check the tracking (after 10-15mins) to see if its more or less in the right area.

That looks like a decent scope especially to be picked up at a thrift shop. Wish ours would stock such items 🙂

And I go on to say ... I wish I had the light pollution levels of their time 😉

Dont think a light shroud would greatly enhance your view especially if street light is directly ahead. A light pollution filter may help (see https://astrobackyard.com/light-pollution-filters/) but a simpler way is to find a better spot for your scope.

This suggests that your viewing conditions are poor (probably due to light pollution). Using the 25mm you should atleast be able to see an oblong star and the moons of Jupiter. But good to hear that you saw beautiful views of the moon 🙂

Also take a look at Astroboot.co.uk. You may get lucky and bag a second hand one! 🙂

I am in the Northern hemisphere and I have to set these knobs to the left hand side and the scope pointing towards North Pole. So I am guessing you will need to do the same but pointing towards the South pole.

Looks great @johninderby Is there some kind of a bracket that prevents the rockers from slipping off the mount base (sideways)? Did the rockers come with your previous mount? or were they DIY

Having read your posts I am trying to figure out what your problem is. Feel free to correct me. Where are you trying to view from? Inside your house, through a window or out in the clear? How bad is the light pollution in your area (i.e. are you in the middle of a busy city) Using the Barlow + 20mm: 1. Have you tried this in daytime to view a distant object? 2. Are you able to achieve focus when viewing the moon?

I dont think thats quite true. But happy to be corrected 🙂 The exit pupil can be calculated as Focal length of eyepiece/ Focal ratio of scope. So assuming it was an F5 scope in first instance that would have given the 20mm an exit pupil of 4mm (20/5). But adding the 3x Barlow would effectively make it a F15 scope and the exit pupil would be 20/15=1.3mm

Is there a reason you havent suggested a Dobs?

🤣 and that too in summer!

Thats odd. It suggests you are seeing stars, not the fuzzy blobs. Here is a good way to start - get hold of a pair of binoculars; even an inexpensive one thats 7x50 or 10x50 will do. Look for these objects with it. That will give you the confidence on where to look and what to look for Edit: Looks like you have a 9x50 finderscope. So that should show it. If its easier, take it off the scope and search the sky in the area of interest.

Looking good @marcopolo A question...What is the reason for keeping this piece separate?

Lovely pics and considering they are taken on a phone, even more so 🙂

Just to be clear about the term collimation, this would only show that the secondary mirror is aligned. Its a good place to start and can be done during daylight using a collimation cap. To get proper collimation you would need to use a high magnification (the guide is around 25x per inch of aperture) so with a 130 (5 inch) you would need around 125x. Then you need to slightly defocus to get airy disk patterns. At low magnification you will not see these.

You might be able to see Andromeda galaxy M31. Read this https://garyseronik.com/a-beginners-guide-to-collimation/