Stu

Great pictures, what could go wrong with such an expert helper?

Had to look up what an UBEC is! Handy little device

How on earth did he get that through the letterbox?? Great scope, enjoy!

Be great to see some first light reports with some of your new kit Richard.

That’s one blessing, Tak don’t do RACI finders..... (as far as I’m aware!)

There is some strange effect with dual speed focusers in that, even when I use the 1:1 knob, the fact that it is also turning the 10:1 knob stabilises the movement and makes it more accurate. The 10:1 does just allow to to gently tweak focus with minimal disturbance to the scope and to get perfect focus. Really important for everything but solar especially for me. Some of the single speeds I have used have been pretty darn good still. The Televue focusers are so buttery smooth with no slip at all. For those I just added a micro focuser because the basic R & P was so good. The Vixen 150ED has a very nice AP single speed focuser on it originally. I replaced it mainly so I could get a motor focuser (Steeltrack and Steeldrive) which helped keep vibrations down. I think my preference is FT, Steeltrack (DiamondTrack now) then Moonlite, but they are all more than up to the job. FTs for larger scopes get fearsomely expensive so I have generally opted for the other two in these circumstances.

They are pretty amazing, got mine for a reasonable price ‘as new’ on the bay. Focuser? FT all the way for me I’m afraid.

It was indeed a mighty Gitzo, GT5542LS to be precise . Rated at 40kg load. I had been fairly sure it was the C8 Edge but have checked back through photos and you are correct, C925. Bit of a crazy setup

I used to have a set of these including the barlow when I first started out. I had no idea that they were any good at the time and sold them on for far too little. Should have kept them really. Very nice eyepieces.

What are hole spacings on there? Will it fit the SkyTee without modding? You will certainly be prepared for when the TEC200 arrives

I raised this issue on the SkySafari forum and I believe it is on their list of things to address ie single device use for iOS. They are a small team though and can only do so much at once. I think the SkySafari guys, quite rightly, feel that Skywatcher should have talked to them first!

Very nice! Lunar X and C showing there nicely. How does the single point align work, starting from North and Level?

Many thanks @ZBOYD, I didn’t know that!

Hi, These are the instructions I recieved. if obvious backlash can be sensed when shaking the mount, it means there is problem with the spring part on the worm and gear where is supposed to eliminate the backlash. Please open the black plastic cover, and then move worm base A where there is a spring, by hand. At this moment, the worm base A can be moved freely. And when the hand is off, the worm base A will be pulled by the spring to the gear. Basically you loosen the screw holding the worm in place, adjust the position and then retighten. This is very easy, but you need to check the movement through the whole range in case it binds anywhere, in which case you need to back off a little and perhaps accept a little backlash somewhere. Hope that helps.

I don’t disagree, but mine was quite loose when I got it. Tightening up made a big difference. If yours is solid then the problem obviously lies elsewhere.

@MatthewPeter1993 as mentioned, please start a new thread for each image in order for them to be considered. They must have been taken between the dates for the competition. Thanks!

Yep

Are these any good Steve? I used some on a 10” cell which has still to see first light but they seem to be up to the job. https://www.365astronomy.com/Farpoint-12-LightBridge-Spring-Only-Primary-Upgrade-Kit.html

They must think all their Christmasses have come at once!

Just popped out this evening to see the Lunar X and V. The TAL Alkor ‘Light thimble’ was used at x33, initially and both features showed very clearly even at that low mag. At x88 and even x133 the views were very nice indeed, amazing given the tiny aperture. Anyway here are some pictures of the scope doing its thing.

Have you checked the backlash on either axis? If it is loose the tracking/gotos will be inaccurate. Mine works very well and there is not so much difference between solar and sidereal

Have you tried the options in Settings > Accessibility > Display Accomodations? In there you can set the display to red (or any colour) and this applies to everything, even if you exit the app. You can also reduce the white point right down. These two combined really help reduce impact on night vision. Note that it still helps with visibility of menus to put SS in night mode.

If you’ve always been interested in astronomy, then that is likely to be something that continues with you for life. I have been doing this for about 18 years now, and try not to consider it as something I have to do x times a month or week. That spoils the enjoyment for me, and would make me feel frustrated. I have a young family, busy job and just try to fit Astronomy around that. It is highly annoying when you have a free night, have the energy to observe but the clouds spoil the show, but I’ve had enough amazing nights to make it all worth while. Spring and Autumn observing can be some of the best, and I don’t subscribe to the ‘pack it in over summer’ idea, there is always solar or some twilight double star observing, or the moon!

That’s only cos the scope is too pretty to photograph it wearing a dew shield I do use a heated AstroZap when it is likely to be a problem. Often just the shield itself is enough to keep the dew off. The AZ-804 model is the best fit, I asked them directly before purchasing.

Yep, exit pupil is the same for 10x50 as 8x40 at 5mm so many objects will just appear smaller but surface brightness will be the same. The 10x50 would go a smidge deeper in terms of stars due to higher mag but plenty to see with 8x40, with the benefit of a wider field of view.