M40

Hello Vinnie and welcome to the site. Those first views and pictures are always special, ask away with any questions. All the best.

Definately haven't got enough life or clear skies to look at everything in eaa 🤣 

5 minutes ago, Richard N said:

Thanks! I'm using an 80mm ED (SVBony 503. Altair Astro Mono camera (290M). I would hasten to add that I'm not an astrophotographer so my only criteria for images is that they are "good enough for me". I look at things because they are interesting to me - not necessarily visually appealing.

With you there, exactly why I like eeva.

You have given me a few challenges with your list, it took me a while to find "andromeda's parachute" but I cant find bocl2164. Is it known as anything else?

Just added ngc4656 to my target list 👍 together with ngc4631 which is right next door to it. Out of interest, what telescope and camera did you use as I do like looking to see what has been achieved with what. All the best.

I did a quick search on the site for a 400P and it gave a few results, give it a go then drop a pm to the user. May help as there dont seem to be many out there. All the best. 

Hello goodnight1 and welcome to the site. 

The sponsor of the site, First Light Optics has a beginner telescopes guide together with a range of beginner telescopes, it would be well worth having a look just to find out what's out there. Have a good look through the reviews. They do ship to America but whether that would be cost effective is another matter. 

Personally I would go with one of the tabletop dobsonians, easy to use and best bang for bucks. All the best and let us know what you choose.

5 hours ago, Kilohertz said:

Well holy shxt was I ever wrong! In the last 4 months I have spent $4000, I have had exactly 2 nights of image capture,

🤣 thanks for brightening up yet another very dull and damp day.

My current percentage has got to be 99% thinking about it and 1% doing it. I try to think about ways to speed up the setup to gain an advantage over the weather, but putting it into practice is another thing. All the best 

Unless I am missing something, your site info is wrong for the Isle of Man. 

Just thinking outside the box, do you have somewhere that your mount could stay outside permanently? If so, you could look at a diy pier for the heq5 rather than a tripod. All the best. 

Hello Peanutcol and welcome to the site. I can't quite see from pictures but is the rod something that could be replaced with a piece of studding and an angle bracket? All the best and I hope you find the rod.

Hello Rich and welcome to the site.

Hello Alex and welcome to the site 

5 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

what size rings are those please 

They are orion optics rings, here's the linky...

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/product/cnc-cradles-222mm-dia-to-fit-celestron-180mm-mak/

Not cheap plus my ones were not a tight fit so I put a thick belt of material plus draft excluder between ring and ota which worked perfectly. 

It is a bit of a task to fit them as the existing dove tail is fixed by loose nut and bolts but it can be done without affecting the collimation of the skymax. The corrector plate is held in place by three screws and it goes back in exactly the same position. Neil H and myself flocked the tube at the same time, that will affect the collimation but it is straight forward.

There are two topics in the diy astronomer section, one by Neil on the collimation and another by me on the handle/flocking. Neither Neil nor myself found a good source on the flocking/collimation of the skymax180. Captain Scarlet has done an excellent post on reverse engineering the Skymax180, again in diy astronomer so if you choose to do the handle, it would be well worth a read. All the best.

Fully loaded the 180 is 11.00kgs. This includes a losmandy bar. The skymax sits nicely on an heq5.

6 hours ago, WiltsStarGazer said:

If you at home, could you not put both into station mode and connect up to both via your home wifi and just switch between the two apps?

Thanks for the idea, I know of it, but I have not looked at station mode at all, well worth a look.

I use the sm125 on an heq5 and it is a great mount for that telescope. I also have an sm85, similar to your sm90 and the two are very simliar weights. I don't do imaging as such, I stick with eeva, so I can't offer anything in that respect plus as I've not had the 125 very long I am still playing but I've noticed a couple things that would be of interest to you. The sm125 is very long so your mount needs to be very stable to avoid vibration. The sm125 will enable to image the smaller galaxies which is the reason I got it. As Clarkey mentioned, there is a customer return due to a blemish on the carbon fibre pattern which won't affect it's performance.

Just a comparison for you.....

12 hours ago, GasGiant said:

What sort of WiFi range are people experiencing?

On the subject of wifi, here's something I've noticed. The last two times when the clouds gave me a break, I had both the seestar and a telescope with an asiair working. Both times I first set the asiair to work using a tablet and then got the seestar working with the phone. They were about 5m apart. Both times in order to connect to the seestar, I had to reboot the phone, the app just did not want to connect. The phone could see the seestar wifi network. Once connected, all good, but if I moved past the asiair,  the phone disconnected and so I had to reboot again when standing next to the seestar. Not a massive big deal just a tad irritating. Clearly the asiair blows the socks off the seestar wifi.

Just to add, this is not something I plan to do again. I found myself extremely busy doing this and being as how I just enjoy having the time to just look up or look at the image build up, it's going to be one or the other not both.....unless there is an easy way I've missed 🤔

1 hour ago, Beardy30 said:

Hi , I’ve decided to potentially take the plunge with a Seestar S50 but I’ve been reading some mixed reviews of their longevity in terms of enjoyment and uses - what’s everyone’s view of these  ? Are they worth a purchase or are they just a novelty with money better spent on a “proper” scope 

No single telescope does everything. It is my only wide field telescope and has given me images that I just did not expect to ever get. I can't see me running out of suitable targets anytime soon. Value for money? The equivalent is a goto altaz mount, widefield triplet telescope, auto focus, filter, zwo asi462mc camera, asiair and dew heater. Novelty? If you have a widefield setup and enjoy processing I can see it having limited appeal, but from my perspective, processing is not for me so I consider the seestar to be an excellent device. All the best.

Whilst it would be something to think it may happen in our life time, I won't be stuck to the youtube video. What I did find interesting was that we do not know it's size or even how far away it is, it could be anywhere from 400 - 650 light years away. 

9 hours ago, craig34220 said:

I have a Celestron  F 6.3 focal reducer screwed into the back of the OTA , and no moon filter

Try it without the focal reducer or the barlow, just use the 20mm and the diagonal, make the optical chain as simple as possible at this stage. If you cant get focus using just these, there is something else going on. 

You don't need an expensive moon filter, you can always upgrade later if you want.

It's a strange thing to say, but the closer you get to focus the object gets smaller in the eyepiece. So pointing at the moon or a bright star, go end to end and as you approach focus you will see the object get smaller, if you pass focus the object will start to get larger. This gives you an idea of how close you are. As Elp and Peter has said, the focuser is a multi turn thing. I have a similar telescope from a different brand and I have about 30 turns end to end. 

Something that has just jumped into the brain is that in your telescope, the moon is going to be very very bright, do you have a moon filter? If not try and find a bright star to focus with. 

Helllo Craig and welcome to the site. Couple of questions for you, as Peter said, have you tried cranking the focus knob from end to end to see what happens? Start by using the weakest eyepiece you have which is the one with the highest number, your 20mm. Is your telescope new or a used device?

11 hours ago, borgs said:

Hi,

I'm about to purchase a Seestar S50. Interested to know how you got on with using the clear focusing filter as a protector and if you are still using it. 

Cheers.

Hello borgs and welcome to the site.

I've used it a few times now and it doesn’t affect the image at all, so in that respect it works well but it is a costly thing. As Cosmic Geof mentioned the seestar does have an integral dew heater and used in conjunction with one of these you probably don't need anything else.....

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bahtinov-focus-masks/astro-essentials-seestar-s50-dew-shield-lens-hood.html

The clear glass filter is one of those comfort factor accessories that is likely unnecessary, but now I've got it, I will be using it. Hope it helps.

Just going to throw a couple out there, the skywatcher 200mm quattro and the stellamira 125. Both give a similar fov but the quattro is an f4 light bucket and the sm125 is an f7.8 lightweight instrument. I've seen what has been achieved in the eeva forum with the quattro and I have just scratched the surface with the sm125 but I have high hopes for it. Significant difference in weight between the two which should also be considered. 

6 hours ago, BagenAstro said:

M42 Starless

Phenomenal 👌