Clarkey

I would agree with ventilation. I have a small shower vent fan running 24/7 in my observatory. After very frosty or damp sessions I put a dehumidifier on for a few hours just to dry everything out. (If you do get a dehumidifier, it needs to be a dessicant one. Compressor types do not work in the cold).

As long as you use ZWO only😃 I agree it is easier than PC / laptop / mini PC, but you are tied to ZWO. For the £1000 I saved on the RisingCam IMX571 I could buy a new scope. I also have Sesto Senso focusers..

Ok, no problem. I was a bit late to see the original post. Let's hope the cable sorts out your comms issues.

@WolfieGlos I have a couple of active USB 3 cables in the cupboard which are not used. For the price of postage you are welcome to have one. If it does not work you have only lost a few quid. If you want to try PM me. I used to use them pre- observatory. This with a 12v powered hub rarely if ever gave me trouble.

I would suggest an SSD. It is a doddle to do on the Mele PCs. Once your session is complete transfer the images. I use remote desktop, but there are other options.

The 290 is a relatively small sensor so the exact back-focus distance is unlikely to be critical. The stars do look round which suggests it's about right.

If it was my first image I would be delighted. Well done!

Oh well, worth a try.

I think the built-in heaters are fairly poor. I have a built-in heater on my IMX571 (RisingCam) and this always had dew even when it was on. I did the same as you and added the extra ZWO heater. No issues since. It was exceptionally humid last night.

Believe me, you will not find a bigger cynic. However, I have tried processing binned and unbinned data and I have seen a benefit of getting something nearer an optimal sampling rate. Admittedly the seeing here is far from good normally, so I probably have a fair bit of room for maneuver.

Ok. I will accept your much better understanding of the subject. At least I can still see a benefit in binning😄

Is this not binning? It might not be every frame or sub, but the same effect.

It should be added that you can always adjust your pixel scale by binning. With my RC8 I image at the native FL but bin2 or bin3 to give about 1 or 1.5" per pixel. So oversampling can be rectified with the current small pixel CMOS cameras.

Hi, and welcome. I don't have an iphone so I am not certain, but my two thoughts are: 1. The sensor on the phone is too small to cover the entire moon 2. The phone sensor is not perfectly centred over the eyepiece Have you tried taking photo's during the day to see if you can get better results?

The other thing to consider is the full moon. It will make faint targets difficult. Also, if you live somewhere with lots of light pollution it will have the same effect. I live in Bortle 5 - 6 and really need to go to a dark site for visual astronomy.

I tried the Starsense app with the A32 tonight and it worked flawlessly. However, during the alignment it would not focus on infinity. I had to go into the normal camera app and focus to infinity there, then when reopening Starsense it would focus for alignment. Seems a bit odd it does not automatically focus to infinity - but at least I know. I try the original Moto 50 and try the same trick to see if it works.

@vlaiv - I would be happy to buy and forward on at cost. I think you can be trusted😆 I assume this one: SVBONY SV191 Telescope Eyepiece 9-27mm Zoom lens 1.25inch Super-Wide Angle FMC 714559019061 | eBay I am guessing it would be about £10 to send from here to Serbia.

You do not say whether this is motorised or goto - if it is not, then that would be the first step. You can modify the EQ5 quite easily. In terms of scope, either a small newtonian or a small refractor - you can pick up both quite cheaply on Astro Buy and Sell or on the SGL pages. If you have a camera already (DSLR or mirrorless), you can use this. If not, you can pick them up fairly cheaply second hand. Whether you can do all of this for £450 is debatable - it depends on what you want to achieve. As @Ratlet says, you could use standard camera lenses. You can pick up older prime focus lenses very cheaply on Fleabay. I got a couple for about £20 each. If you go widefield you won't need to worry about guiding.

Yes, but I normally align in daylight. I have tried aligning at night but quite often I cannot even see any stars. I have a Galaxy A32 for work - I'm going to try that. Looking at all of the comments about the Starsense explorer app, it does seem hit and miss as to whether it actually works. I think Celestron are being a bit dishonest in their claims regarding compatibility. Yes, the software might work - but whether it can actually plate solve is another matter.

I have had occasional issues with the OIII filter and halos - but not like this. I had halos on every bright star which made it such a pain. I use the same filters with a multitude of other scopes without any serious issues. I doubt the issue was with the CC itself as it was a SW aplanatic which generally has a good write up. I actually bought it because the Baader MPCC did not give me good enough stars. By the way - that is a cracking looking scope you have 'made'. If I had the time, it would be something along those lines I would be looking at.

No - I found them tricky to find. I ended up getting the power cable with a female end and a usb c female to male adaptor. A lot of the cables are 'intelligent' and won't work.

I was not really suggesting it was down to the newtonian (other than the fast optics). The reflection was between the coma corrector and the filter as far as I could tell. It was just another reason why I gave up on the scope - ever mounting costs. I think a newtonian design that is intended for imaging is not a bad proposition - hence my comment about looking at the Sharpstar hyperbolics. I actually got some good images from it - and pretty quickly. However, I spent a lot of time in processing removing halos. Eventually, I just decided it was too much work and I would look at other options. If I had the OSC camera at the time it may have changed my mind, as the filter reflections would no longer be a problem.

I can't comment on the Quattro specifically, but I did get a 6" f4 TS Photon - mainly for the speed. However, by the time I had brought a new focuser and decent coma corrector it ended up costing me near to £1000. Also, I got horrendous reflections from the OIII and Ha filter and which were a nightmare to remove. See below for the worse version - this is Ha only. (I could have brought new filters but this would have added another £1000). I ended up selling the extra's and now have a redundant f4 scope. I guess the buy cheap, buy twice is correct in this case. For now, I have gone back to refractors and the RC8. I would like a RASA when funds permit (or possibly the F2.8 Sharpstar) - but that may be a while.

I assume this is the 3nm version - I am looking at these myself. What was the old filter?

My phone refuses to work at all with the Starsense app, despite being on the 'approved' list. Not sure if it focus or anything else. It has never plate solved, just keeps saying it is unable to locate it's position. Looking at the screen I cannot see any stars. Shame as it is the only reason I bought it. I certainly did not need an 80mm achro. Unfortunately, I modded the mount to work on a standard finder bracket so I can't even return it....