M40

Not jealous 😜 first time I saw the milky way was during a holiday in mid Wales.

2 hours ago, badhex said:

This is approximately the setup, although I've replaced the tripod with a Gitzo (still the same size). This has the AZ-GTi in the top right compartment, but it can just be swapped out for the mount zero. 

Absolutely spot on 👌

We just landed back from a place called Cawston, Norfolk and a very solid Bortle 4 plus clouds which was a bit of a trial run for late September when we visit the wilds of mid Scotland which is a solid Bortle 2. Nearest town is 6 miles away.

My plan is a simple: Tripod, azgti wifi plus wedge, EOS100D, synscan handset, battery pack and fingers crossed for at least one clear night. This time I forgot the level, usb extension lead and head torch 🤦‍♂️ doh.

On 04/08/2022 at 07:00, CKP said:

Now I need to learn how to use the camera and start doing some EAA.

Can I suggest that initially you just use ASIstudio that came with your camera? Once you get into it, asilive becomes easier. 

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 kids are fascinating, one grandchild - nothing, another just cannot get enough of the night sky. Point out a few satellites or the space station and you will soon know. All the best.

I have been thinking along the same lines and have recently ordered one of these as they allow fine tuning in DEC. 

Still waiting for the postman, give me a few days and I shall let you know how it gets on.

Hello Mr T and welcome to the site 👍 You have some great kit and a bit of a learning curve in front of you. If I might suggest, before you buy any further stuff, have a good play with what you have as you will find the mount will throw up a few challenges when you first get into it, like setting the home position, polar aligning etc and the synscan handset can be interesting.

When I first got my mount, which is very similar to yours, I ended up with it pointing everywhere except where it should be so expect a few challenges; ask plenty of questions, there are some very clever people on here that are only to willing to help. Enjoy

I use a skymax180 on an heq5, the skymax is a similar weight to the esprit 100 and once you have added all the other stuff on, I would say it will work but you are right on the limits. I don't use the skymax for imaging other than single shots so cannot comment on star shapes etc but I do know that using a lighter telescope plus the add on's, the goto and tracking seems, IMO, to be far more accurate. 

Hello Cakedestroyer and welcome to the site 👍 

Yes is my answer. I bought a 100D a few years ago and its adds nicely to the kit. Used with it's own lens it can provide great pictures as shown above plus at a later date by adding adapters you can bolt it one way or another to a telescope to provide a different field of view. Very cost effective extras can be sourced such as an intervalometer or dummy batteries. 

Hello SkyblockCEO and welcome to the site 👍

It's always a challenge when you have a tight budget so have a good read of the above and don't be too concerned about collimation, there are many on here that can offer advice and help.

If I could put something out there for you to think about. Have you thought about binoculas or a spotting scope? Both can provide excellent views of the moon and planets and both can be found at very good prices. There are sections within the site on equipment and observing with binoculas, have a look and see if it helps.

Let us know how you get on.

Cider - yep, but Strawberry and lime????? 😜 that's almost like having a savoury pancake 😱

+1 for the Baader Zoom. Cannot compare it to any other as it has been the only zoom I have bought but it is now central to the kit. Out of interest, I have never used the paired 2.25x barlow that I bought at the same time, so dependent upon budget you can always get that later if you want. 

36 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

The only thing I didn't care for on it was the positive  stops at each power setting, but that is just me.

I rather like the click stop arrangement, let's me know whats going on without looking away from the eyepiece. 

Another aspect of the Baader range which no doubt adds to the cost is the ability to put adapters on the eyepiece allowing afocal or eyepiece projection with a dslr camera. 

9 hours ago, Adreneline said:

I have to say I am wondering whether I should build a small enclosure - how do you find the Telegizmo? (The 'management' wishes they came in different colours - like sage green).

I have a cunning plan in place and it involves Willow Green  

I've found that the TG cover works really well but I rather like the look of the pier and mount, so rather than put a box around the whole, I am going to try a partially see through enclosure, no idea if it will work but given a little bit of time ....... 😜

Why Willow green? It's the closest I could find to Disney's "Go away Green". Apparently it makes structures invisible, let's find out

Excellent 👌 

I place a plastic builders bucket over the top of the mount before chucking on the TG cover. This provides an airgap between cover and mount and allows circulation. Seems to work a treat and has stopped the mount adapter from sweating.

I've been thinking about this.....

Not sure if it can used somehow between your flagpoles

On 28/06/2022 at 15:18, jjohnson3803 said:

Yarrr.

If you're from Somerset, it's pronounced Yarrp 😜

Hope it's worked 🤞 good luck with the weather, it's been throwing it down on and off all day here.

Welcome to the site 👍

It could be that what you are seeing are the starlink satellites. I find them a good guide as to how clear the night sky is, the more you can see, the clearer the sky. If you can see the satellites, you should be able to see a fair amount of stuff with your binoculars, have a look at the section under equipment - Discussions Binoculars. Enjoy

On 27/06/2022 at 15:59, abmwinnoch said:

Hi, does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to dry out the reusable tiny sachets that come with this dessicant cap? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-dual-fit-desiccant-cap-red.html

I'm sure that radiators are fine in the winter but now that they are off for the summer, I've tried everything from heating them gently on an induction hob, to leaving them out in the sunlight! Nothing turns those green crystals orange again fast enough to over come the speed they obsorb moisture from the air!

At best I see condensation forming inside the plastic cover, but it doesn't seem to escape fast enough. Any sensible suggestions? Thanks

I left a green pack on the router for about 2 days with a constant background heat from the device. No change, so I binned them. When I get close to running out, my cunning plan is to buy some more

Hello A7RLevi and welcome to the site 👍

Hello DR and welcome to the site 👍

A great build and fantastic effort 👌

Excellent 👌 keep us up to speed. One other thing I do is that I found, on only one occasion I might add but it was enough, that the pier adapter was sweating. I now chuck a builders bucket over the mount to create an air gap between TG cover and mount and it has cleared that little challenge up perfectly.

Well this is my first on any group of galaxies, not a patch on you boys but I am well pleased. 

ARP286. This was 8 x 30 seconds with an ASI290MM using stellamira 85mm, asi studio, uv/ir cut filter. No processing, no darks, flats or bias frames (I really must learn how to do that)

Things can only get better

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

 I think I would want to leave my scope and camera setup, and ideally not have to polar align or star align each time, as these are the time consuming and ‘awkward’ bits that I want to try and eliminate for EAA! Fortunately EAA only uses short exposures of five to thirty seconds so super-accurate polar alignment is not required. I guess live plate solving could eliminate the star alignment aspect. And thinking about it, many people use altaz mounts for EAA, so polar alignment not required either. Perhaps they are options…..

The downside of pier plus soft cover is children in the garden - my 7 year old sometimes invites friends round and footballs start flying! 

My first thoughts were to leave the telescope in place but as I swap telescopes and I had a few concerns over moisture I changed tack and just started thinking about a permanent cover for the mount and pier only. I also spent a few pennies on the ioptron-ipolar, this was a good decision on my part as it made polar alignment very easy particularly with the mount staying in position.

Never tried plate solving, but it is on the list. 

All the best 

What you could do is start with a pier plus a local power supply in an adjacent weatherproof enclosure, that's where I am at the moment. I leave the mount in place with a TG365 cover; I also have cables installed between the power supply and a smaller enclosure mounted very close to the pier, this enables me to just open the smaller enclosure, pull out the wiring and connect to mount and camera to suit. With the laptop local to the pier the time from uncovering the mount, polar align, star align, pick on a couple of doubles to make sure all is lining up well then to the first galaxy all sorted in about an hour. Strip down followed by cup of tea about 10 minutes. 

You could follow on with a roll on/off roof at a later date, the pier saves lumping the heavy stuff around so all you have to think on is choosing and sticking the telescope on.

I currently have a very simple software setup and I must admit that I am not one for multiple targets, I just try my best on a single target. 

My thoughts are to make the most of limited opportunities by making life as simple as possible. 

My future plan is to create a removeable enclosure for the mount only and continue to install the telescope on the night, I do enjoy the setting up and getting it all ready, after that my next step is to have the laptop in the warm, I already have the cable in place for that.

Hope it gives you food for thought.