AstroNebulee

3 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

New chair for the revamped obsy arrived today, lol. Not quite what I expected when I opened the box, lol. 

Comes with a free cat aswell 😂

On 09/06/2020 at 20:14, Knighter said:

Hi I don’t think you can stack photos with an iPhone but I did struggle getting the full moon Image to focus I’m wondering if it’s because it’s so bright even with a moon filter and the phone struggled I did use an app called slow shutter specifically designed for night photos plus I can actually take the photo by using the same app on my iwatch so I don’t have to touch the scope at all which minimises any shake 

You should be able to use pipp software https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/to convert the video files to tiff, ser or avi output I think and then stack in autostackket3 software https://www.autostakkert.com/

9 hours ago, Sunshine said:

That sweet little 127 Mak will make short work of planets and the moon, enjoy that!.

Hi sunshine 

Yes I can't wait to use it in earnest and enjoy the planets and moon, its been in my wishlist for a while and has great reviews 

Hi and welcome from North Cornwall, clear skies 

On 30/07/2020 at 20:26, Sparkles63 said:

Oh no! The telescope I wanted from them is out of stock until October 🥺 *sigh*

It's worth shopping around and searching all astro and optical retailers for your scope, emailing and ringing to check stock, you never know someone may have 1 left in stock, but generally at the moment, especially skywatcher are out of stock and the synta factory that makes skywatcher are on reduced staff and trying their best to meet demand as the lockdown has seen a huge spike in telescope sales, I managed to find my skymax 127 after many phone calls and emails as skywatcher weren't going to replenish UK stock until mid to late August according to Optical Vision Ltd (most UK retailers supplier), hopefully you'll find your new scope soon and glad you've joined this amazing wealth of knowledge and help here in SGL. Clear skies 

16 minutes ago, laudropb said:

The green and black tribe continues to grow. Having got the 5 and 18.2 mm delites I was so impressed with their performance I decided to add the 11 mm to my set.

That's a great set of ep 

13 hours ago, Dogmaticdrongo said:

Just tipping my hat to say Hi, still wet behind the ears but enjoying the ride and unboxing shiny new gear lol. 
 

Looking forward to picking all your brains.... watch this space!

Cheers Dog

Greetings from North Cornwall here, you'll find every one on here so helpful, knowledgeable and kind, helped me many a time and only got into this hobby seriously in April, clear skies 

1 hour ago, Dantooine said:

Very sweet. Planets are well positioned for that baby. 

Yes can't wait to use it, she sure us sweet, chuffing clouded over here, curse of the new scope, typical as clear as a bell last two nights, but skies will clear again in the future. 

This little peach was delivered today, happy times, just need the clouds to do one as I didn't order clouds with it 😉😁 , it will compliment my explorer 150p nicely on my eq3-2 mount 

21 hours ago, jonathan said:

Mine requires 6v so anything that can provide 6v and probably 1A minimum should be fine (add up the volts provided by the batteries).  As for plugs and sockets, the power goes into the hand controller (on my one anyway) so I think a standard fit 5mm or so round DC power plug, tip positive (be sure to check this for yourself!). You could probably use one of those generic wall socket power supplies, however if you're outside in the winter be sure to have adequate waterproofing on any mains extensions, dew is your enemy.

I run mine from a small 6v lead acid battery, lasts a long time and is much easier to handle and charge than a bunch of D cells in that fiddly battery holder (looks like something from 1960s Star Trek).  Only caveat is that I had to make my own connectors and leads, and buy a battery charger that does 6v lead acid batteries.

Hi guys 

Thank you for your replies, I have ordered a generic wall plug charger that does variable voltages and different connectors to hopefully fit alright as I think the socket is centre positive but could be wrong, will have to see about lashing a lead up from USB if needed, plenty of those laying around here and I'm not adverse to some soldering. 

Clear skies 

Hi

I know the Skywatcher single axis motor for the eq3-2 is battery powered but I see you can plug in dc power to it, does anyone know which dc power adapter I can use it with please, as prefer to run off mains electric rather than batteries 

Hi

I know this image is over processed and not sharp but as it was crop the image enlarged itself. I captured this last night on my skywatcher explorer 150p and svbony 105 x2 barlow and with sharp cap, font know why it was captured in b/w, will have to check the settings in sharpcap. The gain was at 70/100 and histogram was knocking 65,its the best I've managed so far and can at least make out the two gas caps on either pole this time. I'll have to play around with sharpcap more as only second time using it and first time with the 150p. I've read that I have to debayer the avi file in pipp first so that the colour comes through then use my stacking programme but don't know the pattern to use for my camera.

Hi

I know this image is over processed and not sharp but as it was crop the image enlarged itself. I captured this last night on my skywatcher explorer 150p and svbony 105 x2 barlow and with sharp cap, font know why it was captured in b/w, will have to check the settings in sharpcap. The gain was at 70/100 and histogram was knocking 65,its the best I've managed so far and can at least make out the two gas caps on either pole this time. I'll have to play around with sharpcap more as only second time using it and first time with the 150p. I've read that I have to debayer the avi file in pipp first so that the colour comes through then use my stacking programme but don't know the pattern to use for my camera. Here are my settings for this particular capture

[SVBONY SV105]

Resolution=640x480

FPS=30.00

Colour Space=MJPG

Output Format=AVI files (*.avi)

Frame Rate Limit=Maximum

Exposure=15.6ms

Timestamp Frames=Off

Brightness=4

Contrast=19

Hue=5

Saturation=0

Sharpness=8

Gamma=163

White Balance=6500

Gain=70

Banding Threshold=35

Banding Suppression=0

Apply Flat=None

Subtract Dark=None

#Black Point

Display Black Point=0

#MidTone Point

Display MidTone Point=0.5

On 25/07/2020 at 12:59, carastro said:

I am not a beginner, but was asked today for advice from some beginners.  

We sat socially distanced in the garden and I lent them a planisphere, and we talked through what their preferences would be.

It was decided that they did NOT want a Reflector as didn't want the collimation part. 

Something simple to set up and not more than about £300 (possibly a little over.

They only want to do visual.

So I have suggested a Cassegrain on an Alt/Az mount preferably one that can be operated manually if they don't have access to power (or  don't have time for GOTO) but they would like the option of using as GOTO as well.

I have found a couple on scopes on FLO which I have messaged them about:#

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-102-synscan-az-goto.html  

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/sky-watcher-skymax-102-az-gti.html

Just wondered whether any-ne had any more ideas.

Thanks

Carole 

 

 

 

Hopefully they can get the skywatcher scopes as most skywatchers are out of stock at the moment, I ordered a skywatcher skymax 127 ota recently and probably won't be in stock until mid August as skywa factory in China is struggling to kerp up and on reduced staff atm. They will be rewarded by thus fantastic hobby/fascination/compulsion 😁

8 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

If you are using the Astromaster 130 then 32mm would give you an exit pupil of 32/5 = 6.5mm. So depending on your age this may or may not suit the entrance pupil of your eye. Ideally the exit pupil should not be more than your entrance pupil to optimise the amount of light gathered. As we age our ability to dilate the pupil diminishes 😞

I plumped for a 32mm ep and it provides a good fov and eye relief. 

12 hours ago, JOC said:

Is that because you have a limited view in some directions.  I was awake at 11pm the other night and they were both hanging nobly in the sky somewhere around S-SW if I had a scope out I would have had a lovely view from our grass verge.

This was back in May this year and the planets have now changed position slightly, I have a limited view of of just after east to nearly south, its elevated, so the angle to Jupiter and Saturn isn't that much, if I was lower down the planets would be higher but difficult to get lower 

On 05/07/2020 at 11:19, DeathWarpedUp said:

Also buy a cheap "moon & sky glow neodymium filter (not to be confused with a moon filter) off a certain auction site, usually around a tenner for a 1.25. Some people say they can help with the views on jupiter.

The important thing with both of them is to spend time just watching, allowing eyes to adjust and having your   eye/ body as comfortable as you can so you can concentrate.

If the moons out, expect the moons glow to make seeing worse on everything except the moon itself. Also if you plan to observe the moon, do it last as it has a habit of screwing your viewing up in other targets for the rest of the night due to its brightness

Hi

I have now bought a svbony sky glow filter which has helped a little in showing the 2 main bands on Jupiter a bit and have an 80a blue filter on order as they says its the Swiss army knife if filters and may help but realise that Jupiter is still to low down at the moment, I'm using my new skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2 now and can definitely see a difference even using a 3x barlow, have taken done videos on sharpcap last night so will process them now the clouds are rolling in the next few nights

I mainly use clear outside and met office, I think the BBC one is far from accurate 

The 2 delivery drivers and postman  brought this to me today my new skywatcher explorer 150p eq3-2,a Cheshire colimater and lens pen, all in all a very good day, got the scope set up now and keep everything crossed for clear skies here in Cornwall 

7 hours ago, John said:

The Astromaster 130 uses a parabolic primary mirror. F/5 is too fast for a spherical mirror to produce acceptable results.

For a spherical mirror to produce decent images it has to be F/7 - F8. The Skywatcher Explorer 130 I believe does use a spherical mirror but that is F/6.92. I think the Astromaster uses the same mirror set that is use in scopes such as the Heritage 130 and the Skywatcher Explorer 130P.

I've observed with a couple of Astromaster 130's and they can produce very good views. The finder scope was the weakest link with the scope.

I hope you are happy with your new scope though.

 

Hi John

Thank you for your advice and help, i will definitely love my new scope when o]it arrives, after some good advice of going for the 150p as the 200p was way to big for my purpose in a first floor flat and the weight, so 150p will sit nicely and as stated 30% more light gathering than the 130eq and hopefully the 150p has a centre marked primary mirror, mount arriving on tuesday so hopefully ota arrives then and cloudy skies will ensue after some clear skies forecast for this weekend here in cornwall, this will be my last upgrade for a while now until i move or saved up enough for a better mount, clear skies everyone :) 

11 minutes ago, miguel87 said:

The images dont look great but depends how they were taken? If I just put my phone camera up to an eyepiece for example I wouldnt expect much more than this.

Hope you enjoy the new telescope 😁

Yes these are photos with the smartphone using a nexyz phone adapter 

6 minutes ago, John said:

If the scope was in collimation and what you were seeing though the eyepiece was consistently no better than those images I would say that something is amiss with the scope. My 60mm refractor gives better images than that.

Secondary offset is a normal feature of newtonians with focal ratios of F/6 and faster.

 

I have collimated the best I can with my laser, I have a Cheshire hopefully coming on Monday so will give it a check then, but as pixies said earlier could be a spherical mirror rather than parabolic even though it says parabolic 

28 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Hi,

There are reports that the later Astromaster 130eq scopes have a spherical primary mirror, rather than a parabolic one. Could it be spherical aberration that is causing these poor images?

It may well be that it's a spherical primary rather than parabolic and it's a new astromaster 130eq so not sure but you could be right pixies. 

11 hours ago, Pixies said:

Also, you can use "Mire de Collimation" to check for concentricity of the elements in you image: 

Hi pixies 

That's a great idea and pice of software, I'll definitely look at that and use it 

On 16/07/2020 at 19:54, miguel87 said:

A boost of more than 30% light gathering if you step up from 130mm to 150mm, so it's pretty considerable.

My personal thoughts would be to invest in eyepieces first. I have never used the astro essential plossly but there design and price suggest they are fairly modest. I have been amazed at the difference using a £50 eyepiece over a £20 one. Especially at short focal lengths which is what you want for planetary and lunar detail. I would buy good quality 6 and 9mm eyepieces.

✌

 

I've plumped for it and ordered the skywatcher 150p with eq3 mount as it's at the top of my budget for now and can always upgrade the mount later and get goto aswell, this has been funded by the sale of my astromaster 130eq (and xbox which I've not used in ages) now someone else will get the pleasure of astronomy and a wonderful hobby, thank you for your advice, the astronomy bug has well and truly bitten deep