cheddar-man

When I mentioned Haddon Hill I meant going up onto the highest point of the Hill, not Wimbleball reservoir, which as has been said, is locked off and also in quite a deep hollow. It's not a long walk from the car park and from the top you have almost 100% clear horizon, free from anything. All I need is a break in this terrible weather!!

Very simply, is an ND1000 filter suitable (safe) for photographing the sun? Thanks

Ah, OK. Not relevant to the "0". Polaris always in same place regardless of graticule orientation. Thinking about it, as the mount rotates so the eyepiece/graticule will also rotate but Polaris won't.

Thanks Chefgage, understood as: Doesn't matter what the orientation of the graticule is, one should alway adjust the mount to put Polaris position relative to "0". By the way, I think you have a typo in your statement "So if the app shows Polaris say at the 9 o'clock position then that's where it needs to be, i.e. to the middle right. Regardless of where the clock face is rotated to." 9 o'clock is middle LEFT, not middle right 😁😁 In your pictorial example Polaris is at 01:50 😎

Many thanks Chefgage. The only thing is that the graticule will not always be aligned "0" at the top, or will it? Does that matter, or do you just put Polaris relative to the "0"?

Hi folks. I have a Skywatcher Star Adventurer and think I'm getting on all right but just want to make sure of the correct procedure for polar alignment. Should I always start with the Date Graduation Circle, Time Graduation Circle and Time Meridian Indicator aligned as shown on pages 22/23 of the manual ie: Align October 31st to "0" on the Time Graduation Circle. Release clutch and rotate the eyepiece/mount to align Time Meridian indicator to "0" on the Time Meridian Circle. Lock eyepiece/mount. This should put the graticule "0" at the top. Then I go through the actual alignment, I use a laser through the scope to pinpoint the star and it works a treat! Then move mount to put Polaris where indicated by the Polar Scope Align App on my phone. Turn on the mount.

There are some (old) floodlights at the Wimbleball dam but never seen them on. Apart from the I'm not aware of any light source. The nearest village, about twenty houses, is Bury, well over the hill.

Umm, not looking good for the Orionids meteors tonight😩

I believe it just comes under Exmoor national park but in the car park (free) there are National Tryst donation boxes?

Mine in Culmstock isn't that great but useable😎 not that I have a clue what any of that means🙄 Being well East of Exeter I'm thinking of a trip up to Haddon Hill, overlooking Wimbleball Lake. Often walk up there and it's beautiful, complete with car park. So what is all this telling me folks??

Nor did I Nigella. I'm in East Devon, near the Somerset border in Culmstock😎 This is my "normal" photography so Astro is quite a challenge!

Thanks gilesco, I'll have a look 😁

Paulisageek - for what it's worth......... I'm an 82 year old living in Devon, and have always been a keen, wildlife photographer but the other month I lay on my back in the garden and watched the Pereids meteors streak overhead and got to thinking about photographing them. Accordingly my family bought me a Sky Watchers Star Adventurer kit a very reasonably priced starter tracker, onto which I can attach my regular cameras Sony Mirrorless, and photograph the heavens. I am now hooked on the hobby - my first attempt - the popular beginners galaxy, Andromeda....... From my very recent experience as a complete newbie, if you're looking at photography, you will need: A sturdy tripod and preferably a method to anchor it firmly to the ground. A lens/scope heater to prevent dew forming on the lens during our cool nights! An intervalometer unless the mount you get has one built in - for taking multiple, long exposures. A red torch and possibly a green laser to help align the mount.

About 500mm on my Sony RX10Miv I seem to remember. Didn't keep all the originals once the processing was completed. The most difficult thing was first locating the Galaxy at wide angle and then slowly zooming in maintaining focus as with the RX10 as you zoom in the focus changes and it wasn't always possible to see something to focus on. I'm learning!

Thanks JeremyS, that's what I was hoping for. Bits for the heater will be here tomorrow so hopefully it'll sort out the fogging issue. I'm making it a 3watt heater for my 72mm lens so should be adequate. If it's not I'll just up-rate it😎