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.

On 14/10/2020 at 18:52, MrZuiko said:

Hi and welcome to SGL........I too have had a life long interest in photography and astronomy after reading books at school...I'm now 52.

I use Nikon DSLR's with some fast prime lenses.....can I ask at focal length was this amazing picture taken? I ask because I now have the Omegon LX2 and want to get out as much as I can e.g would like to put my 300mm f4ED Nikkor and try some 20-30 second exposures and then stack them.I won't be taking anything longer than 20-30 secs as I don't think the LX2 will track that well because of the payload having said that I will be only 5oz's over the 2kg /4.4lb weight limit.Although there's a fella on facebook an Italian called Stefano Moschini who takes amazing DSO photo's using the LX2 and long lenses!

Next available clear sky I'm out there tracking Andromeda down!

Clear skies and keep safe all.

Ash.

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😎

Lovely clear night last night so thought I'd have a go at photographing the Milky Way with my Sky Watcher Star Adventurer and Sony RX10Miv camera.

Two hours later and more than 120 images completely wasted thanks to the heavy dew! Everything was soaking! Wiped it all off and just let it dry naturally over night, luckily all seems to work!

I am making a dedicated heater for the front of my lens (can't afford the Taylor-made ones) but how do you protect your equipment without compromising the mount movement?

Last night, before the dew and clouds scuppered my efforts, I think I managed to capture one of the Draconids meteors as it streaked overhead. Milky Way to the left.

Would someone please confirm that this is in fact one!

Thanks JayS_CT for coming back to me. Your wire does bypass on the the ballast resistors therefore putting more voltage to the LED but as it's only fed by a 3v battery should survive!

I went a slightly different way, putting the wire from the LED +ve to the casing on the reverse side off the PCB, easier to get access, and I soldered it to the earth strip that runs round the outer edge of the PCB.

Unfortunately for the past week there have been no stars, unless you count the liquid ones that keep falling from the sky😩

Thanks Geof. Must admit I couldn't believe it as it "appeared" during the processing! Now I'm even more hooked 😁

I'm an 82yo long time amateur wildlife photographer who has been hooked on the heavens since I witnessed the Perseids meteor shower the other month.

I picked up a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer mount and am learning how too use it - not impressed with the illuminator but I have found a remedy for that on this forum 😁

I've watched loads of Youtube and read copious copy and am amazed at my first attempt last week with Andromeda.................

I'm using a Sony RX10Miv camera on the mount and this is the result of just 20 X 30sec Lights at ISO1600 f4 (note the tech language already 😎) and 10 Darks  & Biases processed in SiriL with a bit of touch-up in Photos (Mac-Book pro.)

Good day everybody and thank you for letting me join the forum.

Im an 82 year old git and have been an amateur wildlife photographer for decades but just got into this astrophotography having been awed by the Perseids meteor display the other month.

I have bought a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer pro package and have already had some success with it but would like to find out what firmware version it has. I have read a lot for Windows but not Mac OS. Are there only a couple of firmware versions out there?

A bit of help would be appreciated.

Appreciate this is an old post but just got into astrophotography and just found this thread.

I did PM you JayS_CT 

Looking at your pictures and looking inside my illuminator, I think you have put a much bigger (brighter) LED in there.

What is it please?