si717

3 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Using Ripon in N. Yorkshire, your coordinates will be similar to 001 31 W, 54 08 N. All the numbers should be entered into the handset in that format and order including all the leading zeros. Time zone is +000, DST is on, the date format is mm/yy/yyyy, If you cant get SynscanInit to connect check that you have location enabled on your phone.

hi yes i was using those coordinates and time and date settings the scope surely shouldnt be going east instead of west anyway

i know a little time and date difference wont help but iam sure i am getting it all correct

i shall try again today but i doubt any change thanks

3 minutes ago, Robindonne said:

Im not sure but there is always some confusion about the date input.   Not the input like you used to.   And its a shame that the synscan doesn’t have a loop from 1-12 months in it.  You can easily switch months and days without noticing.  And then your whole setup is messed up

ive  tried the dates either way around and no change still slews in the wrong direction ,if i turned the scopeto the south and not the north

it would possibly get close to its target i have little faith in it working

i tried for 5 hours lastnight with all different sollutions to end up with the same problem

and first clear night in weeks lost due to it but thanks

hi and thanks iam inputing the data correctly polar aligning right i have owned telescopes in the past

iam not a complete newb just been a few years since i last used

iam using a brandnew skywatcher battery pack fully charged

i would understand if it went sort of in the correct direction of the star but to the complete opisite side of the sky is confusing and frustrating

i have also tried -00.00 hours and +00.00 hours also daylight savings ive tried on and off

none of which is making any difference iam stumped and ive tried downloading synscaninit but it wont connect to gps

it just gets locked in that part so of no use

so yes iam a little confused and in alot of doubt about the mount its brand new making more upsetting ,but thanks all for replys

hi thanks all i was polar aligned iam setting up as instructed ,yet on all attempts the scopes slewing to allign in the wrong direction ,ive updated the firmware just now still the same ive tried getting it to slew to the moon and its telling me its not above the horizon  yet and its clearly in the sky and i will have a look at synscaninit not heard of that all new to me but never seen anything like this before ? confused with it thanks for your replys

Hi all as title ive got a new EQ5 pro trying to get aligned  a single star is impossible

im setting align a simple star arcturus in the west

and the mounts slewing of into the east complete oposite direction

now am i over looking something simple here im startig out from home position aligned on polaris

and well im frustrated hope someone could offer some idea thanks

hi all so iam getting my kit together

i will be using a skywatcher 130pds ,i have the Badddar coma corrector

cameras i have the canon 450d with IR cut filter removed

and ive a canon 650d unmoddified

i was wondering will there be any filters i require or filters i may want to use imaging with these cameras

many thanks

thanks for the warm welcome all 👍

thanks all for the advise i will get it setup and take a look before anything

there always seems to be something haha

and dithering between frames sounds another thing to look into

but thankyou

6 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

Welcome to the dark side!
Once you get all, - check youtube, - it has nice vids about collimation, just one mistake (on all videos), they offer to adjust secondary (the small mirror), - I strongly suggest do not touch any bolts of the secondary at the start as it is quite sensitive and difficult to adjust...

To collimate the primary (large mirror) is very easy and you can be confident, - you will not ruin anything.

as per Baader CC, - most likely you will not need to shorten the Focuser's drawtube as it has no Focal Length reduction as Skywatcher's cc has (which is 0.9 reducer).

Bias,  - you can take any time, as these the shortest exposure Darks, 1/4000sec, done at the same ISO as Lights, you can build library and re-use Master Bias (stacked version) in the future.

Darks, - currently is quite a big tendency to use Dither strongly instead of Dark (Dither every sub or every second sub). Dither is slight shift of the target between subs, - it usually done via Astro imaging software like APT, SGP and etc (some even able to it manually...... O_o )

Of course try procedure with Darks also, - in ideal they should be taken even at the same temperature as Lights, - it will not be possible with Canon, so try least to get the temperature close (and of course, the rest of the settings like ISO, exposure - have to be the same as Lights).

Flats, - depends on software you will use, APT has ant option for Canon Flats, - easy as 123. If no software is used, - it is quite a poem to write about it.....

Keep in mind, - Flats is not only for vignette reduction , but Mainly to remove dust shadows from images (you cannot avoid them completely... dust will pop out from time to time in different places), so if you moved any toy one your optical train (for example camera... or reducer or Light Pollution filter and etc), - you will not be able to produce Flats which will match your Lighs, as optics will shift and dust shadows on Flats will not match their location on the Light images.

Thankyou for your in depth guide this is very helpfull

im unsure as to shorten the draw tube would that be shorten the inner end or the outer end and by how much

so i take it i wont reach focus ? i was advised the baddar cc was a good one to have by the retailer ?

thing being its a new tube so to start cutting straight away i wasnt wanting to do but if its going to require it

then i suppose it has too be done are there any guides on this job available or here on the site 

will it involve removing all the focuser housing ?

i can try and get this matter sorted while i get my order in on my mount

many thanks for your help

hi all and another newcomer to the 130 club,i have spent some time reading this thread ,or alot of it and made the purchase of a 130pds

my thoughts or questions would be will it perform out of the box

or collimate straight away ive ordered a collimator

ive ordered the baddar coma corrector to go with it

and a dslr adaptor anything else i will need a mount ofcourse im looking into buying the skywatcher eq5 pro ?

i dont want to start modding the tube straight away 😂

anyway my main question was how are you guys going about taking your Dark Bios and flat files ?

i intend using a dslr i have a canon 650d unmodified and a 450d modified for imaging

so i was wondering do you take these frames on the same night or on cloudy nights when nothing else to do ?

is that possible and how about flat files how would one acheive that any advice really helpfull and im looking forward to getting going with the new scope thanks and a really nice thread and read on this scope some amazing pictures too  👍

16 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

The EQ5 will be great for your scope, the GoTo is good and it will track well for AP. However if you can afford it, you may want to consider the HEQ5 just to future proof yourself. If you decide to upgrade to a heavier scope in the future the EQ5 will not cut it, you’ll be saving money in the long run 

Thanks jiggy my main concern was would it track aswell as the EQ3 as ive seen people get by with those

with good results and ive just spotted the eq5 so

i wasnt sure if the EQ5  was on the same basis as the eq3 the motors look different but the legs look sturdy

and as regards upping my scope size i think if i ever did change scope it would be to a small refractor

i think if i got a big scope that would only be for planets and happy to manually track

your post gives me hope to get going again soon i just didnt want to rush and purchase thanks for the post

hi all im returning back to astronamy after some years away

i have just ordered a PDS 130 scope i have already been reading up and seems a good start

but im stuck on the mount i nearly bought the EQ3 pro synscan goto to get started and upgrade the legs

but ive realised its as cheap to buy a Sky-Watcher EQ5 PRO Go-To Astronomy Mount

would that be the better option for light photography if possible just i notice everyone goes with the HEQ5

so im getting a bit confused will i be able to get going with the Sky-Watcher EQ5 PRO Go-To Astronomy Mount

funds i dont really have to buy a HEQ5 anyone with experience of the eq5 would be nice

any help appreiciated as im looking to buy and hopefully get started soon thanks

would just like to say hi to all

here looking for advice and to read up thanks