Mark Hardaker

Welcome Alex. I started my passionate interest in astrophotography only in Jan 2021, so not quite a year yet. But friends at my local astronomy club in Fordingbridge has been fantastic in their support and friendship and I've come on in leaps and bounds. I have a 12-inch Meade LX200 connected to my two Canon DLSRs and have made some excellent images (though I say it myself) of DSOs. Next up, move to pure astro cameras, once the $$$ allow. Best wishes from Verwood, Dorset.

Welcome back to astronomy. I suspect that many of us had the same journey: initial interest in our childhood and teens, then "life gets in the way"! I retired in 2018 and rekindled my love of astronomy, which to press had been entirely visual. Since then, I have purchased a 12-inch Meade LX200 and got myself a Canon 6D DSLR. That set up has its limits, but I'm confident that I will continue to improve my results and spend a lot more money on this wonderful hobby. Wishing you all the best Mark (ex-West Yorkshire, now in Dorset)

The forum seems to have no problem with the word GIMP though, which has other meanings then the one we know! Big improvement in the image, by the way. Did you get some flats and biases in there yet? Some of our local astro soc members helped me understand and shoot some flats and the difference was immediate and enormous. I also tried some bias frames (easy to shoot) but the difference wasn't as great as adding some flats into my DSS stacks. Good luck!

Hi again Nick. Do you have similar lists for close doubles for each month? I found your list for March most useful. Best wishes from Dark Sky Dorset! Mark

Thanks for this list, Nick. I'm working through it with my 12-inch Made LX200. Last night I easily split OΣ 215 in my Hyperflex zoom eyepiece at x113 but very nice at x338. Last night's winner was Σ 1555 in Leo, beautifully split with my Meade MA 6mm at x507, as well as in the zoom at 9mm, (X338). It helps that the two stars are very similar in brightness and colour.

Isn't this M101, not M51 though? Great image though.

This works for the downloaded version but not the online version. Any idea how to flip the view on the web version?

I know that this thread is a decade old now, but I wonder if anyone here has a spare TAL-2 drive assembly available, or know where I can get one? I have recently acquired a(nother) TAL-2 6-inch Newt serial number 0004! It's in good working order, apart from the drive motor isn't working. To be more accurate, the motor is turned but the gearbox isn't turning the final output drive. I can see that the last cog has been turned in to moulding and has broken. I will try to repair it if possible but I suspect it's getting a bit brittle and long in the tooth. Does anyone has one spare or know where I could get one? Cheer Mark

Hi there knowledgable people. I am trying to find a solution to a balancing problem with my TAL-2 eq mount. As I’m adding more weight to the scope, I need to move the counterweight further up/down the dec axis, but can I do it? Can I hellaslike!! Before I bought the telescope, the mount had been outside I suspect, and I cannot move the counterweight at all. Does anyone know how to do this? See pictures One end of the shaft screws into the dec axis with a collar; the other end looks like it should detach from the weight with a similar collar, but no amount of twisting, turning, spraying with WD40 etc. will free it up. Can someone tell me if this is the correct approach? Even then, I still can’t understand how the weight would slide up and down the rest of the shaft. How is it fixed and locked in any particular position? Any help with this would be most welcome. If someone who knows would like to contact me, via FaceTime or similar to show me how it works, i would be most grateful. Mark

Well thanks for your comments. I’m fairly new to the Lounge and haven’t figured what’s where yet. I searched the net for info on my trusty JKMH and the thread by NAZARI appeared! Just goes to show that what you say online will never ever go away, it seems! Thanks for your thoughts Cheers

Naz, could you please scan and send me any of the documentation you have for your JKMH? I would really appreciate something to sit alongside mine, bought and first used by me (according to my astronomy log book, on 11 Aug 1967.