Pixies

Mars is rapidly approaching opposition at the beginning of December, after that it will quickly diminish in size and won't be back again for 2 years. There - that's an excuse!

Hi, The little old ST80 sits on a tripod in the corner of the kitchen, ready to be rolled-out as my quick grab-and-go. Perhaps I don't look after it as much as its big Japanese brothers - upstairs in the study in carry cases with their desiccant bags. And so I've just noticed 2 small patches of mould on the objective. I've just removed the objective cell and it's resting in the sunshine outside, trying to halt any further growth. As it's an ST80, it's quite straightforward to disassemble the objectives. I was planning on blackening the edges anyway. So what do SGLers recommend for cleaning the mould off? A google search comes back with lots of different methods/products. I have Baader Wonder Fluid but can pop round the corner to the chemist for anything more exotic. Thanks

Just back in. Once the seeing settled, I could make out the same as @IB20 observed. A North polar cap showing white - not quite the tight white dot as I saw 2 years ago, but a much larger area. Not many albedo features visible on the surface except for a darker band running across the south (Mare Sirenum, I think), and 'beneath' that a wide area of whiteness across and surrounding the south polar region. Using the Vixen A105M and 6mm SLV

You can also get a polar 'hood' which is a cloud of sublimated ice above the pole. Currently it's approaching winter in the south, so there's also mists and frosts there. The north polar cap will start to shrink now too, as it comes into summer. See: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/how-to-observe-mars/ I've been observing Mars tonight but the heat rising above local roofs is causing poor seeing and I can't make out much. Hopefully I'll see more as Mars rises and temps settle.

Yep - that'll be the game-changer. Even just a simple RDF will help get you on the starting star, then use the visual finder to star-hop to the target. Do you have a RACI finder, or is it a straight one? With a dob, the former makes it a lot easier on your brain/neck/back!

Sorry, yes. This was with live stacking

A few months ago, I found myself the owner of a SW AZ-GTi mount. It was almost by acident, after seeing someone want to swap one with for a AZ5 mount which I had mostly unused. I put the old ST-80 on it and enjoyed mucking about with GoTo for the first time. I have tracking EQ mounts (a Vixen SP and a newer Vixen AP) but only use them for visual. Anyway, I've always fancied a shot at some EEVA. My back garden is a Bortle5/6 I guess, so although visual works mostly, there are plenty of faint fuzzies I can't normally see unless I go somewhere darker. On a good night, I can JUST make out M33 with averted vision. So a few weeks ago I came into some extra cash and splashed out on a ZWO ASI585MC - after watching a few posts in other threads, plus Chris' you tube channel. I've also been watching @PeterC65's progress. Hope that doesn't sound like stalking! So last night was my first proper attempt. I had tried a few times to get used to Sharpcap, focussing, live stacking etc. but had never really tried to get a reasonable image before. The equipment I was using: ST-80 ZWO ASI585MC AZ-GTi (ALt-Az mode) Baader semi-apo filter Sky Safari Sharpcap 4 Pro I followed a few YouTube vids for guidance on Sensor Analysis and the Smart Histogram. Using a dark area of sky near the zenith I got the following recommendations, setting 15 secs as the max exposure : Unity Gain: Gain 300, exposure: 3.4s Max Dynamic Range: Gain 256, exposure 15s. I haven't done anything with darks or flats yet, and there are some colourful hot pixels. Images saved from SharpCap 'as it appeared' with basic stretching ============ M33 (Max Dynamic Range: Gain 256, exposure 15s.) and with (Unity Gain: Gain 300, exposure: 3.4s) but I tried a little processing in GIMP on the resultant FITs file for the latter: Not the best target for an Alt-Az near the zenith, all that field rotation! M1 (messing about with gain 300 and exposure 3.0s): and finally M37 (Gain 260, exp 4.0s) What did I learn? Well, at the moment it's a lot less relaxing than visual! Hopefully that will lessen as I get used to things. Alt-Az really restricts things as far as noise goes, with the limited exposure. Plus, it's much harder to find things with such a small sensor! It really requires very good alignment! I'll look to convert the mount to EQ in time, but can anyone recommend different approaches to Alt-Az that might help? Any comments or suggestions very welcome.

Made my stomach turn just reading that. I'm glad it sounds like you are on the way to some kind of replacement. Still, such nice scopes are hard to find.

I think @Franklin has one, too?

yes - but there are 2 versions of the firmware. The plain old AZ one, where you have the scope on the left side, and the dual AZ/EQ - where you need to have the scope on the right, even in Alt-Az mode. Your symptoms sound like using the dual-use firmware in Alt-Az mode but with the scope on the wrong side.

The latest version is 3.40. But does it say whether it's the Alt-AZ or the Alt-AZ/EQ version that's installed on your mount? I'm not sure if the loader program can differentiate, though. On the Synscan pro app, when you connect, do you get options to use Alt-AZ or EQ mode?

Hi HEN, Welcome to SGL (LOL - 'Hi Hen' sounds a bit patronising in Scotland!)

@SzabiB - Quick pic of your setup? Have you updated the firmware at all? Or at least checked the installed version? Is it AZ only or AZ/EQ? You can use this to check the version (using Windows) "Windows program: Motor Controller Firmware Loader - WiFi, Version 1.80": http://skywatcher.com/download/software/motor-control-firmware/#:~:text=Windows program%3A Motor Controller Firmware Loader - WiFi%2C Version 1.80

Wow - that sounds great. I was flying low over Edinburgh last week, coming in to land at the airport. The view of the city was strikingly different from previous flights (over a few years ago). The LED lamps are well directed downwards and the city is obviously darker - the roads are lit but the lamps do not show at all from above. It was quite weird. It did make those awful huge electronic advertising billboards stand out though!

A firmware update from 339 to 340 fixed it. Phew! It's also fixed the issue I had with the flashing red LED - which before just flashed steadily whatever the status.

I don't think so. It's the az movement that happens immediately after the two alt presses: it's far too 'intentional' and repeatable. I'm going to check if there's a recent firmware update.

Really, REALLY, odd things happening with the mount tonight. I haven't use it for a few months, so it's been standing in the corner of the kitchen switched off. So I've tried this with both batteries and external power. The issue shows itself when I'm doing an alignment. I've tried 1 star, 2 star and north-level alignment but the same thing happens when I do the first adjustment after it's slewed to the first alignment star. I have the slew speed at 9 (fastest). I hit 'up' on the app and it moves up a fraction but quite slowly (say speed 5-ish) I try again and it does the same but also turns on the az axis too! I'll try down and it still goes up a little. All this at a slower speed. If I keep trying, it'll suddenly jump at the fast slew speed but in a couple of steps, as if it's trying to catch up with itself. I can't really get beyond this point. If I cancel the alignment, and try to move the scope, it won't respond. Having said all that, suddenly it's working better! However when I goto a target and it asks me to manually centre the target, it starts to do the same thing again! Any ideas anyone? This has ruined my night for sure!

Hi Stardaze. Haven't seen you about for a while!

Thanks. just checked the Baader Semi-APO and it filters UV/IR, so that'll do with my achromatic refractor.

Does the ASI585MC camera need an IR cut filter?

I'm wanting to start dipping my toes into EEVA with SharpCap and live-stacking, and so have just purchased a new ASI585MC camera. I've been doing some test runs in daylight using my old ST80 and find I need some additional extension to get focus. I can put the camera with 1.25" adapter into the diagonal and just get focus (inwards) but it looks awfully unstable. I've tried using a 40cm T2 extender directly attached to the visual back but that's not long enough. I had this lying around in a box of nick-nacks in my Astro man-drawer: Now, I can get more T2 extension and reach focus that way. But it's lacking any way to rotate the camera without unscrewing, plus there's nowhere to place a filter ( I'd want to use a Baader Semi-APO at least). I think there are various attachments to allow a rotator and insert a filter in the chain, but at some expense. Another option is this (from FLO): Which would attach to the camera using the T2 thread allow me to insert it into the scope's visual back using the 1.25" barrel - which can also take a 1.25" filter. However, I'm not sure if having the small filter at that distance would cause vignetting? The final and simplest option would be the more prosaic 1.25" extenders and use the 1.25" adapter on the camera (with the filter), but I can't find any long enough. Any suggestions? I guess this is all bread-and-butter to you AP bods, but it's all new to me, Cheers.

Dipping my toes in a little EEA/EEVA (or whatever it's called). Don't panic, visual is my first love.... (queue John Miles)

More FLO packing peanuts for me too. Hidden beneath:

My 8" Bresser dob fits along the back seat of my VW Up. For those in the states - this is not a big car, you can't even get 3 adults in the back seat: However, the base needs to go in the passenger seat unless you break it down.

There is a similar discussion to this (washed out Jupiter) in the most recent edition of the Actual Astronomy podcast.