RosalinaandLuma

Yup plastic things, oh so this might be there the weirdness comes from ? The steel ones you use, are they standard metric thread or is this a hunt for some meade own brand threading that some third party in the back shed makes for the 10 people on the globe that might want them ? Do the steel ones solve your issue?

I have a Meade LX 10, and literally everytime I take it out the finderscope is WAY out of aligment. So basically impossible at night to align, so just need to muddle around. It's aligment is via three rear and three forward screws. Is there anyway to keep it aliged during storage - just roughtly so I can tweak on a night. Is there any add on I can purschase that might help?

Thanks, Don't I need PIPP to correctly align for AS!3 to get to work ? Ya current project is 20 stills of the moon to stack, that are all a little shifted around - tried it on PIPP on my windows laptop but it just woulnt work (not a fast machine), and then video of Jup/Saturn/Moon/Mars

So, I have an 8'SCT and a ZWO 120, while I can get the basic images fine, im missing the next step - using flats/darks/etc and software. My main issue is my PC is Linux only (work reasons), I''ve tried to get PIPP working in Wine but no joy. Looked into other software like Siril(?) but I start reading and end up more confused, Registax doesn't seem to get recent updates? Basically looking for a gentle intro, but that allows me to grow and in Linux :)

Hi, Would like to have an all sky camera, ideally something that runs on low power and I can remotely view the sky day or night - ideally be able to track con trails during day or meteors at night via software? I looked up all sky cameras but could not understand how they were close to €1000 for just the camera. Is there a budget DIY route for what I have in mind?

So, I'm still very new with my Celestron AVX mount. I took it out, used my phone to tell me north and aligned the tripod peg that way, the ground was pretty level. This was my back garden so I took solar system align and just used Jupiter. Seemed to work fine, I then Slew to Mars (my imaging target), it didn't centre it great. Anyways used the hand controller and centred and started to image with Sharpecap and my ZWO asi 120. My question is this, during the capture the Mars was driting a bit and I would make small adjustments using the hand controller, say every 30sec. I assumed that when I used autostackert later I would just ditch the bad frames from the movement - does this manual hand controller tracking really hurt the image quality ? I've yet to use my AVX on a great night, so Im literally clueless as to how good it tracking can be, should I expect to actually keep a planet in the center of the frame for 5min without any manual interaction? Btw my AVX aligment is all the two star system I don't have a polar scope. Attacehd is what I got, taken from city center backyard, 2x barlow, 8 inch, and loads of wobble/heat haze when looking in the eye peice and massive wavelet processing

Thanks, so for me Arcturus was behind a tree, Deneb was not on the list as the first star (was there are star two). I was stuck using Vega, the downside being me on my knees squinting to get the finder and eyepeice (bad preparation i know). The finder scope is becoming an issue for me in that, I align it once and the next night its off again. Fiddling those screws drives me nuts. Sorry rant over Will have to google plate solving.

Yup, basically would have been lost without the AR phone app, never used a Telrad. My usual method is glasses on, both eyes open one in the finder one looking at the sky and line them and hope

So, just got a celestron AVX mount, and using it with my 8inch Meade LX10. Where I am the weather has been kinda crappy of late and its summer. But last night, it was kinda clear. I went out to try an alignment, but kinda embarrassed to admit that finding any alignment star from the list was a huge issue. I could see Altair, nope that was not on the list for the first star, similar again and again. Vega worked, but an awful angle. Is there any easy to see stars that people recommend, kinda overwhelmed when I scroll in the list.

I have just purchased this for my Meade LX 10, and about to start 'surgery' tonight

ahh yes, better

Hi Promised to update, @Stu Wilson @andrew s So using the clear skies and earth global wind map, I picked my night and seemed to get lucky (well for Ireland), also got my Bahtinov mask (first time using) and got the following for Mars, still a little blurry. How does it look ? I tried Jupiter also, but still is a blurry mess, perhaps was too low down in the sky (about 1 hr from setting) mars14_1.bmp

Thanks @Stu Wilson So I have my stock Meade LX 10 and always felt the focus knob seemed to change position for perfect focus when looking at a tree in day light. So I have sent away for EZ focus upgrade kit that uses thrust bearings instead of nylon washers, they claim it gives a smoother performance with less back lash, worth a shot for $40. Will update.

From what I have above, both images and that raw video is it possible to tell if I am fighting focus or weather ?

Hi , So I have tried some planet imaging with my Meade 8 inch LX 10, coupled with a ZWO ASI 120 colour camera, video as an AVI with PIPP/Autostack/Registax wavelets, and this is my results (im new to this, and basically followed a youtube guide). Weather where I was: Clear, 14km/hr wind, and 75-80% humidity. To my eye the planets looks as if I was seeing them at the bottom of a pond, shimmering. What I want to ask is the following: Am I out of focus, I find it almost impossible to judge focus on the camera view on the laptop everything looks a little smudgy always. Am I just fighting bad weather ? Am I just poor at using the software ? (also uploaded a sample of the mars video, after running in video editing since the file was almost 1gb) jup.bmp mars.bmp sat.bmp untitled.webm

I didn't focus at all, literally pointed at mars, stuck the camera on and gave it a go - very bad weather recently, don't get alot of free / good nights so just was anxious to try something. Also my telescope doesn't have any fancy guiding, manual polar align (meh at best) and a motor thats it, so I can't really slew to anything. I need to point, find it with my eye, know the rough adjustment on the focus knob and go from there. Wish I could slew to the thing I wanted. Meade LX 10, 8 inch btw

So headed out last night to image mars, my first go with my ZWO ASI 120 colour camera. I live in a city, but the sky was very clear. Observing via the eyepeice Mars was very blurry, constantly shifting/flicking around detail was hard to make out. Tried my camera and got the following (with minimal processing). Was it just air thermal issues? or My inability to use the camera correctly ? The telescope seems aligned and collimated, and works fine for other things, was a little disappointing Mars was so hard to image.

Hi, Getting into imaging the planets again after many years. So for context I used to use an old webcam pointed down the eyepeice and got decent pics of Mars (could make out different sides weeks apart ). I now have a Meade LX 10, 8 inch and I have a Nikon DSLR. My most recent attempt was using the Nikon via T ring to the scope (prime I believe), for the moon this gives a nice pic - way lower magnification than what I see in eyepeice, for Jupiter and Saturn I just get a white blob at best a brown smudge - rubbish compared to what i see in my eyepiece. So wanted to up my game, emailed a shop and was recommended the ZWO 120 colour USB 3 and a Barlow (either x2 or x3). I did some research and now am a little confused and would like some clarification: The ZWO hooks up the scope thru the barrel, in this config will I not just see the same blob/smudge again since there is no more magnification compared to when I used my DSLR - how does the ZWO preform any better ? By using the Barlow (a vixen x2 or Explore sci x3 ) I assume this goes between the ZWO and the scope and does increase my magnification two/three times ? Is this not a very small advantage compared to my eyepiece (26mm) ? I know from reading, the ZWO will help, I guess I am just having trouble understanding how the ZWO thru the scope (prime) might be similar/better to what I can see with my eye in my 26mm eyepiece. Does anything get close to what I see in the eyepiece, without going super expensive/awkward mounting. I know I just need an optics lesson, but also looking for assurance that the above purchase while expensive I can afford it, will be worth it, compared to fiddling of buying a webcam blue tacked to the eyepiece.