DBushell1

I took this back in 2014 with my Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ using a modified Philips SPC900 and stacked in registax.

I also took Jupiter and Mars in the months that followed.  Might have another crack at them soon not its cold and clear.

ISS and the Boeing Starliner Prototype about to dock last night on it's second pass over the UK at 11.08pm. Not as good as the other ISS photos, but this was taken handheld with a Canon 1100D, 300mm lens. 1/1000 and ISO 3200 F5.6, no scope involved. Thats a challenge for another day.

19 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Should have a 12V power adaptor.

Thanks 🙂

27 minutes ago, Spaced Out said:

 

Just 1 power lead in does all (for the mount that is !), I used standard mains power supply with my outdoor garden plug set up. Got my HEQ5 2nd hand so not sure what it actually comes with new.

Thanks for the info!

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Deliveries from China have been shot to hell by Covid, so most importers are working on long lead times.

They are generally rather frustrated as demand for hobby equipment is booming...

 

Makes sense, but a shame, was hoping 10 days! But it would give me time to figure things out with the other equipment.  

In terms of power for the HEQ5 does it come with a regular power lead? I have a normal UK mains socket in the garden that might prove useful, but I can't see mention of how it gets it's power for the goto stuff? 

1 hour ago, Spaced Out said:

HUGE !!...... If you let it go that way. I vowed to always be sensible and never do that.......... It didn't work !

Just saw that delivery for an HEQ5 Pro is 40-60 working days! Crikey! Is that a normal lead time, or is it just a result of Covid.....?

27 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

as per EP, - yep, will fit as PDS has an adapter for them.

And you are very right, - It is a BlackHole for your earnings!

Just keep in mind, for the flat field (stars without coma in the corners) you will also need coma corrector for PDS (actually, for all newtonians) and it will cost around £140 and there are few options to go for... Like Baader MPCC Mk3 or GPU and etc, 

Skywatcher has the standard one for PDS, which is also 0.9 Focal reducer, - works... but... you may end up shortening focusers tube as 0.9 F reduction forces to move the focuser almost full IN to get focus for imaging, and the drawtube casts shadow on the mirror... it makes some brighter stars in shape of letter D or similar.

if drawtube is shortened by 10mm, - images are perfect, but... you will not be able to use EP for visual, as focus position is much further for EP and drawtube may/will fall off from the internal rollers.

Thanks for the tips 😀 

3 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

If you target for the new one, - buy it from astro shops...

At least you will have a proper support and warranty. 

Prices will be more or less the same.

Ebay, - for cheaper toys only 

Yeah was thinking about getting it from FLO.  Will my old 1.25" eye pieces work with it's 2" focuser? I guess there's adapters for that?! 

The images in this thread are simply awesome, I've got lots to learn, but at least I'll start with a little experience with DSS and my DSLR having imaged Neowise recently, Pleides and the Orion Nebula most winters, along with Andromeda 😀 - it's amazing what you can do with just a DSLR and tripod.

I do realise though, that astronomy is also a money pit! 🤣 

Thanks for the advice, will look into the HEQ5, I see new it's getting on for £800, not many about on Ebay, but part of me thinks new might be best since I know whats happened to it previously!

Have been thinking about switching from my old Astromaster 130 to the SW 130PDS.  Have done a fair amount of planetary imaging in the past with a webcam, but would like to try my hand at Deep Sky imaging using my unmodded Canon 1100D DSLR.

I understand that in order to get the most out of it, you need a good mount, one that is future proof in terms of adding larger aperture scopes to it, however, I see that FLO are selling the 130PDS with a Goto EQ3 mount - is this a sufficient mount for adding the 1100D and potentially one day a guide scope?   Does that mount have connections to plug into a laptop for use with Stellarium?