Gogleddgazer

Hi JP and welcome to the astro back hole! You'll find no end of helpful advice and guidance here which will hopefully keep you headed in the right direction towards some even more exciting and rewarding views. Enjoy the oddessey! J

Thank you all for your inputs. I am investigating options to get the refractor serviced, RVO have the facilities and I have also tried to raise Es Reid who has come up in a number of threads/fora as something of a refractor fettling/collimation guru. Fingers crossed. Once it is sorted the next question will be how to keep the tube dry with all the imaging gear attached in a ROR obsy!

On checking over my rig today I've discovered some fungal growth on the inner parts of the main objective cell in my APO triplet. Suggestions from the SGL HIVE-mind for short term amelioration measures and perhaps more crucially recommendations/contact details for UK-based technicians who can disassemble, clean and re-collimate the OTA. I am pretty practical but don't believe that I have the wherewithal to do a proper job on my own. Thanks in advance. J

Thanks for the replies chaps, the first 2 suggestions I had already discovered while researching how to get to a solution that would work with my existing equipment, while the third is but one of many options I could pursue by purchasing an alternative focus motor setup. Cheers J

Hi Folks, I wonder if anyone can advise. I have a Celestron focus motor for SCT that for the most part is controlled via computer as part of an imaging set up. However, on occassions I want to do visual only work, but don't want to be tied to a laptop/PC interface. I know that the focus motor can be driven using a Celestron handset via celestron mounts, but I have neither - my mount is a Skywatcher. Is anyone aware of an alternate focus motor controller (like Hitecasto perhaps or the ZWO one) that will succsessfully drive the Celestron focusser directly? I can't be the first to have run into this problem, but there seems a paucity of information about how to do this. Thanks in anticipation J

Hello to the SGL hive mind.... I have recently acquired a C9.25, 0.63 reducer and associated celestron OAG. All the research I have done to date flags the 174MM mini as the guide cam of choice due to the big sensor taking advantage of the bigger prism star field - it also (of course) carries a hefty price tag. Currently I am making do with an Altair GPcam3 290c which is a horrible compromise on many fronts, but has worked moderately well to date as I get to grips with longer FL AP guiding with an OAG. There seem few alternate choices that fit the form factor of the 174MM which seems necessary to achieve focus (I can't get "hockey puck" form cameras close enough to get focus when the reducer is in place). Given the "ZWO proce premium" I deliberately stepped away from their ecosystem and so am not restricted by ASI air related requirements. 290M sensor cameras might be an obvious choice, but the QHY 5III 200 has caught my eye as a potentially viable alternative. However there seems a paucity of real world commentary about it as a guide camera in all the usual fora. Has anyone here got any experience of using it. I would welcome their views. Similarly I am open to all suggestions as how best to optimise my set up without breaking the bank and going down the 174MM mini route. Thanks in anticipation J

Since moving across to NINA I always warm my camera as per Ady's post above. Simple enough to do while closing up/derigging other elements so doesn't add time to any imaging session. To my mind it makes sense to do such things gradually and under control. Whether that is better or worse than simply switching it off and allowing things to equalise naturally I am not sure, although I would imagine that the latter has a less even sensor temperature curve than when gradually reducing cooling.

Thanks Olly, high praise indeed coming from you - I think I got lucky with the seeing and a host of other things besides. Looks like I need to spend more time honing and refining my processing skills! Something for the many many cloudy nights here in N Wales. 😄

Yes it is low on the horizon where i am, only about 25° above at it's highest at the moment

I have been wrestling with AP with very mixed results for about 12 months and so was inordinately excited to make out the shadowy outline of the pillars of creation in the subs on my first attempt at M16 earlier this week. Being colour blind adds a further degree of complexity to my processing efforts beyond those everyone struggles with. Despite all that, I am here to learn so would welcome any input my fellow SGLers can offer to help me improve things. TS Photoline 130 APO, full spectrum molded Canon 70d, astronomik UHC and L2 ir/uv filters 70x120s guided subs (dithered every 3), plus darks, flats and bias frames Stacked in DSS, processed in GIMP Cheers J

Makes perfect sense, and really useful food for thought to add to my current mix. Looking at your cardinal points my obsy alignment wrt North is very similar to yours, albeit the long axis runs about 30 degrees west of North. I'll have to consider whether staggering them either side of the centre line reaps any real benefits for the more northern one.

What a great thread and comprehensive documentation of your build. Thanks for taking the time to put it together. It is proving really valuable for me as i am couple of months behind you but working towards a similar 2 pier roll off roof observstory. I am intrigued to know more about how you settled on pier placements and what led you to seemingly offset one from the centreline, or is that just an optical illusion from a couple of your photos?

Great description and now added to my list of things to hunt down. The composite is a really good way to communicate the relative scales of these doubles. Thanks for taking the time to put it together. J

I got some of these recently and they are (imho) excellent, particularly given their flexibility wrt connection options John

Thanks Vlalv, time for me to get into the technical maths and understand the things you talk about better so I can make a more informed decision. Every day is a school day! At least your post gives me some steers to do more targeted research, so thanks for taking the time to reply.