CaptainShiznit

I'm pretty sure we have LED street lights. How can I be sure? Is it just a case of them being yellow or white?

Hi guys, New to imaging in general and I'm after a good LP filter for my terrible Bortle 8 skies. I also have a street lamp right behind my back garden lighting up the alley way and some of my small garden. I've read the filters tutorial and it mentions the following 3 popular filters: Astronomik CLS Hutech IDAS Baader Neodymium I've taken this to mean the following ones on FLO so please correct me if I've found the wrong ones: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomik-filters/astronomik-cls-ccd-filter.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/idas-filters/idas-d1-light-pollution-suppression-filter.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-filters/baader-neodymium-filter.html My current setup is a Canon 600D (unmodified), SW130PDS, HEQ5 Pro. My questions, as well as making sure I'm looking at the right filters, are: Which would offer the best performance for my situation? Which version of said filters would be preferable (i.e. clip filter or 2")? Will the differences I see be worth the cost? Cheers for any help

I did consider that. Wasn't sure if it was a better idea to double down on the first battery purchase or cut losses and upgrade.

First time imaging with it last night using BackyardEOS and it did last about 2 hours. I might try a mains extension and a dry box for home as it did get a bit damp. Thanks.

Cheers, if that's that case I'll probably just look into getting a leisure battery or something. I'm bound to want to power more stuff soon enough.

Hey guys, So I have the SW 7Ah PowerTank, currently only powering my HEQ5. I'm now looking for a way to power my laptop. I've mentioned this before but I'm clueless with electrics. Is it possible to power it with my PowerTank, even if just for a few hours before draining the tank? If so, what would I need to do it? Picture attached of the laptops power brick. Cheers

I have no idea if it's national, regional or some quirky thing I've only heard a handful of times but you've stumbled close to what is slang for £6. An ill octopus (sick squid).

Geeklee, thanks for that awesome reply, you answered pretty much everything. I know that was a vague question about software but that's all I needed to know really. Just with never having done it before and being new to the hobby in general, there's so many programs people recommend, I just wanted what was required first so I could go from there. Thanks again!

Just in case anyone has the same question and finds this thread, the grub screws in the astro essentials T ring are size M1.5

Okay so I might be bordering on taking on too much too quickly, as I'm very new to the hobby, but I tend to go all in on these kind of things. That being said, I have some questions about auto guiding. I got myself a used QHY5 and guide scope. It came with the RJ11 cable and I borrowed the USB cable from my printer. I have my laptop at the ready but it has no serial port but plenty of USBs. Is this the only other cable I need to get it all connected up, bypass the handset and control with stellarium? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html Would that then look like, guide camera to computer via the camera's USB (printer style one) and mount to computer via the above cable? Or does the camera need to connect to the auto guide port on the mount via RJ11 too? I also seem to have gotten lost in a sea of required programs and drivers. I understand there's a preference factor with a lot of them but if someone could break down exactly what I need to install and what does what, that would be awesome 😅 I also want to polar align using the guide camera. Is this as simple as pointing the mount roughly North and following the procedure in SharpCap once everything is up and running? Really appreciate any help.

Thanks guys. I've already picked up a big set on Amazon on their way today. Great minds

Thanks, I didn't think of doing that. Always learning.

I dug out some old accessories and found my cheap x3 Barlow lens so I had a little try looking at Venus after sunset tonight. It was out of focus range and I wanted to ask why, for when I buy a new and better Barlow sometime soon. I could see the light from Venus out of focus in the shape of the primary mirror with the secondary mirror's shadow on it and couldn't focus far enough. I don't really understand the mechanics of focusing yet so if anyone had any links or explanations, I'd be grateful. I was using a 20mm Plossl > 3x Barlow > 1.25" to 2" tube > 130 PDS. Thanks

I see, I was wondering why they were separate. The problem I have now is the grub screws that hold the inner ring inside the main T ring are loose and the tightest I can get them with my smallest screwdriver still allows the internal ring to move. They look like Allan key types so I'll have to find a small key to tighten them up.

Thanks for the help. I've been in touch with FLO who were very helpful as usual. When I first got my scope, I fixed my camera to the 1.25" eyepiece tube that comes apart in my picture above. When I went to actually use the scope, I found the camera didn't fit and thought I was going mad. The inner ring of the T ring had detached and stayed inside the eyepiece tube (which was the first thing FLO advised I check). I now need to find a tiny allan key to tighten the inner ring back into place!

So I have this T ring: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/t-rings.html Someone on one of my earlier posts said that I didn't require an adapter for this. At first I thought he was right and it fit into one of the eyepiece tubes that came with my 130PDS but it doesn't. So I bought this 2" adapter: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/flo_2-inch_T_adapter.html While this fits into my 2" eyepiece, the T ring is too large. What have I missed? T-ring and adapter: VID_20200117_132629_LS.mp4 1.25" and 2" eyepiece tubes: 1.25" eyepiece tube separates into 2 parts (at first I thought this was how I was meant to connect it but the thread isn't right)

Last night was the first clear (ish) night since buying my gear and I was able to have my first attempt at astrophotography. The hobby is insanely intimidating from the outside and I came here a few weeks ago for help and advice. From picking my gear to setting it up, the community here has gone above and beyond to help me, so I just wanted to express my gratitude as I was over the moon (pun) with my first attempts. I did get a bit of advice that may have been wrong, which was that I didn't need a T-adapter, but it turns out I did (I'm fairly sure anyway), so while that is on order, these pics were taken with the Google Pixel 3XL on astrophotography mode with the following gear: SW130PDS / 20mm SW Super Plossl EP, SW HEQ5 Pro and a cheap phone adapter. The edited versions are my first attempts at rudimentary post processing using Gimp. Clear skies!

Yes! I get it now, thank you so much for creating my click moment. What I was thinking while reading this, and before this, was: If I rotate the RA (and the reticule), the red cross won't move, it'll stay centered, because it's a circle obviously. Now it's just clicked that because it started in the wrong position, the alt-az corrections to get Polaris in the (in)correct position will have shifted the view in the scope slightly to the right (of the celestial pole) in your example. Am I on the right track with this now? Thanks again

I really appreciate your thorough posts so thanks for that. I'm a visual learner so maybe I need someone to show it to me in person so I can ask questions as it's happening, because I still don't really see the difference that the original one time calibration is having. I'll take your word for it because I do want accuracy for imaging but I still can't get my head around why it matters what orientation the polar scope begins at when polar aligning 😂 My train of thought, if that helps you understand my confusion, is that I'm thinking of the end result: from either a) performing the calibration and then polar alignment b) just performing polar alignment as both being the exact same result: I read my polar alignment app to see the current position of Polaris within the circle, rotate my RA to match it (either from the starting position achieved from calibration of from a random position if not calibrated) and then use alt-az controls to align Polaris. What am I not seeing?

I might be a bit late to this so apologies but I'm still confused as to the point of the first steps in this. I've seen the videos on YouTube where he describes some similar method of 'calibration' but still fail to see why. More so, my question is, what is lost by skipping this and simply finding out the current position of Polaris within the circle, rotating your RA axis so the bubble in the polar scope matches the intended position, and then aligning Polaris into the bubble with alt-az controls? I just can't get my head around what is actually happening in the prior steps.

Is this the setting on the handset that tells you to pick a star, tries to point at it then you correct it, then repeat a couple times? I thought this was a fine tuning routine and not an alternative to the polar scope stuff. Can you just point your mount North and do this?

I think I'll definitely make a camera like that my next purchase as I would like to add guiding as well as try planetary stuff. Cheers!

Just had a go of this on my laptop and it appears to be working. Will give this a try on the next clear night 😃

Great stuff, cheers I'll definitely try this!

I have a DSLR already. I was asking about webcams regarding their use with SharpCap for polar alignment