Clarkey

If you make it to Shap I would recommend fish and chips from Shap Chippy.

I think accusing the moon of light pollution is a bit harsh!🤣

38 minutes ago, JamesF said:

You'll still be "those newcomers" for the next twenty years though

Try Cumbria. Outsider for 3 generations!

Seriously though, I am currently on holiday in Pembrokeshire and for the first time in years I can see Andromeda with the naked eye. Anyone with 'proper' dark skies makes me jealous.

7 hours ago, powerlord said:

I was deranged long before I started AP ! - I fly in the sky with a frecking lawnmower engine and fan strapped to my back for example 🤪

Ok fair point. You are well past AP fever.

To be honest true dark skies are getting rare even in the lakes. Swindale / Wet Sleddale is a good shout. Alternately head towards the Howgills - less tourists and dark. If I want really dark skies I head to kielder.

I have used my 200p to mess about with a bit of AP on the HEQ5, but as others have said it is really pushing the mount. A 150PDS would be better suited.

With regards to the finder being used as a guider, I have used mine (with an ED80) to guide and I found it fine. Focus is a bit of a faff, but once set it can pretty well be left alone.

I'm just glad its not just me falling down the AP wormhole. Start of sane and solvent - finish broke and slightly deranged!

Great choice as a starting mount. I suspect you will need to tweak it a bit from new to remove excess backlash - I did with both my SW mounts. Providing you keep the loading reasonable it is very capable performs for the money.

5 hours ago, Rustang said:

I'm surprised you get vignetting with with the ASI 1600

It's not bad, but you can see it on the flats. Easily calibrated out though.

As powerlord has said you probably need an extension to compensate for the lack of a diagonal. The other think to do is to try focusing in the day on a distant object, you will then know roughly the right position to focus.

Just come across this thread.

FWIW I use an ED80 with the 0.85 FF/ reducer with an ASI1600 which has a 22mm diagonal (so similar). Even with the 31mm unmounted filters I do get some vignetting so I suspect you may get some with the 1.25's. It is claimed that the 31mm versions are good down to F2 - but I am not convinced. What is the distance from the sensor to the filters on the QHY camera? As you are using a different reducer the image size may be smaller, but the Altair does state 38mm clear aperture so it should be enough.

There is a post about it here:

16 hours ago, Ed the Fox said:

Would the GPS unit negate all of that?

In most cases the location data is saved once entered so the GPS module is only really an advantage if you regularly move site.

17 hours ago, Ed the Fox said:

. For those who have this scope, did the polar scope need any adjustment out of the box or was it spot on?

I suspect you will need to adjust. Mine was close but not quite right.

As others have said, maybe a little colourful. However, for such a short time imaging I think you should be really pleased with the result. Now you have the data you can re-process as many times as you like until you are happy with the final result. I often reprocess multiple times.

As a relative beginner myself I appreciate the learning curve you need to go through. I would not be afraid of posting on the Deep Sky forum rather than beginners - I have posted some much worse images on here. It is always worth getting the feedback of some expert imagers.

On 26/07/2021 at 14:43, Doversole said:

What is your experience in terms of collimation? What would be an easy tool that that someone with no collimation experience could use without screwing everything up? I initially bought the TS tool for RC telescopes but FLO advised this tool couldn't be used on the StellaLyra RC8....

I purchased the TS tool for collimating my RC8 before it was highlighted that is 'did not work' with the 8" Stella Lyra. However, what I would say is that is does make it easier. The collimation on mine was quite a bit out when I got it so I have had to re-collimate. Although the mirrors were reasonably aligned, the alignment with the focuser was quite a way out. I am still struggling to get it spot on - as everyone suggests RC's are a pain to collimate. I have used the TS tool to align the secondary (as per the standard instructions) and also to check that the focuser remains aligned once the extension pieces have been added. As I now know the secondary is correct it makes aligning the primary mirror easier as at least you have a point of reference to work with. I then can carry out a star test to get the primary adjusted correctly as per the DSI method.

A Procedure for Collimating Ritchey-Chrétien and Other Cassegrain Telescopes (deepskyinstruments.com)

This has got me 95% there. I have a balanced image and the stars are OK across an APS-C size sensor. The very edges are not perfect yet which is affecting the OAG, but I think this may in part be down to the FL being slightly different to advertised. I intend to get a Ronchi grating to check this.

There is some more useful information here.

I hope this helps.

In terms of DSLR or Astro camera, for me the main advantage of the dedicated camera is the ability to create a darks library and the reduction in noise. I use a modified 600D which is OK but it does give a lot more noise and is pretty bad for banding. You could start by getting your camera modified for the autumn winter nebulae.

At the end of the day I think it boils down to cost. Yes, a cooled camera with generally get better results, but it is a slippery slope (that I have been sliding down for too long already). How much better is really down to expectations and what you feel is acceptable. Would I go back to a DSLR - no, but I am always trying to improve my images and am a perfectionist. (Not that my images are perfect - but that is the unachievable goal).

Think of the benefits. September / October the darker skies are at much more sociable times😁

I have used headlights on the M6 about 6 miles away for my RC8 and this along with a Reego (for the secondary only) gets pretty close. It still needs a star test to get the final result.

I should add I am still trying to get the collimation 'perfect' on my RC8. I am getting pretty close but the star shape in the OAG are not good enough yet.

Firstly, welcome to SGL.

There will be lots of opinions on a good starter scope, but I would say that a Newtonian like this is not a bad start. Be aware that a new 130M is only 259 pounds new, so depending on the extras it may not be such a good buy.

Other options would be a used dobsonian or a small acromat like an ST80. The other alternative would be start of with a decent pair of binoculars to learn your way around the sky.

If you do a search on first scopes there is lots of advice here to help with your decision making.

Forgot to add....

Already sold my soul for the first lot of kit! I'm in 'soul debt'

Why limit it to your own kidneys? I have two kids with spares! That should buy at least 2 decent scopes....

As stated above, banding with the Canon DSLR's is common. Certainly mine has that problem. The only thing I would say looking at this image is the banding looks a bit 'different'. Whether it is a fault I'm not sure - the regularity almost looks like it might be electrical noise. Do you download the images or are they saved on the camera? Also, how is the camera powered - battery or dummy battery?

On 22/07/2021 at 11:57, Lee_P said:

Just a shame it's expensive!

Blimey. 'Astrophotography' and 'expensive' - you don't hear that much🤣

If anyone finds and AP stuff that is cheap please let me know. I'll buy it on principle😁

I have now spent the last two nights outside trying to finish the collimation on the RC8. Reego got it pretty close, but the star test was still a bit uneven. I have been using the DSI method which has been recommended from a number of sources, but despite 5 hours of adjustment I still cannot get it quite right. As it is not dark enough for imaging at least I do not feel I am wasting precious clear skies.

A Procedure for Collimating Ritchey-Chrétien and Other Cassegrain Telescopes (deepskyinstruments.com)

I can get the central area spot on by the primary adjustments, but the perimeter stars are slightly mis-shaped but balanced across the image. (All the outer stars are pointing slightly towards the edge of the image, as per image 3 on page 16 of the procedure). Does this mean I need to move the secondary mirror inwards slightly to extend the FL? I have increased the FL slightly, but I do not want to go too far in case I am doing the wrong thing.

Just to add - the star shapes in the OAG are poor which I would assume would also be linked to the collimation.

Any guidance greatly appreciated.

As Wim says it could be stiction or binding. On my HEQ5 there was a very fine line on the worm gear float between removing backlash and getting binding. Even a quarter turn on the adjusting screw can make all the difference.

To be honest I have never used the RC8 on the HEQ5 - I use the AZ-EQ6 for it. I think the total weight of the scope, camera and other kit would be too much for the HEQ5. I think the RC8 ships at 11Kg which is the limit for AP on the HEQ5.