Crispy5573

Hi I've just received an Astrodevices filter drawer and a tilt corrector for my RASA 8. These are 3D printed with carbon fibre re-enforcing. I believe they are no longer in production but there are a few left if you search. The drawer was designed (like yours) specifically for the RASA 8. Although they are out of production if you go to their website they have the drawings of the individual parts. I thought it may help with your project or give you an idea or two to develop yours further. Having said that you're making a great job of it so far. Well done.

It's a JTW Trident 75. Very like a Mesu friction drive .

Thought you might like to see what you've helped me fix.

Thanks Stuart that worked. After freezing for an hour I've come in smiling. The boxes have different serial numbers on the tabs but it would be better probably to name them after the scope they are controlling. All I need now is some clear sky, any advice on how to get that Thanks again much appreciated.

Yes the unity software does show both boxes, I'll try that with the gear icon thanks Stuart.

Hi all, I have a dual rig set up in my observatory which is controlled using NINA. I have 2 Pegasus PPB advance units (one for each scope for power distribution and USB 3 connectivity). If I power them both up and start NINA when I attempt to connect it fails and tells me to choose one. The problem is there is nowhere to actually choose. In the dropdown I see PPB advance but only one instance. I know I need to open two instances of NINA to get this to work properly. Just wondering if anyone has had the same problem and how they got around it.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm used to CMOS cameras and usually stack with darks (from dark library) flats and dark flats. In the SX manual it seems to be very much against Darks saying they can actually increase noise, particularly on subs of less than 10 mins, It does say flats and bias frames are sort of optional. Nothing about dark flats. It mentions using the SX software suite having filters to basically do what I'm used to doing with calibration frames and Pixinsight or PS. I think I'll start with an mixture of your advice and the manual and use bias, flats and dark flats then see how it turns out but I agree flats are a must particularly as I just bought a 31" monitor for the observatory wall to double up as a flat panel lol. My RC has secondary focusing and the stepper motor/gearbox sticks out of the end of the tube so I can't put a flat panel over it as I've done before but I have a flexible cover to do dark flats, it was either sky flats or the monitor. Thanks again everyone and any further advice/help is always much appreciated Ron

Hi Steve. It says darks are a definite no and can be detrimental for exposures under 10 mins and flats are only useful if you have dust motes on the sensor window in which case you should just clean it. Ron

Hi all, I've just bought a Starlight Express SVXRM-25C and quite out of character for me I read the manual. I've never used a CCD camera before just a couple of ZWO CMOS and a DRLR and I was surprised at the recommendation that you do not appear to need any calibration frames. Any experienced CCD folks out there can give me a few pointers please ? Also do I have to use the Starlight Express app for imaging and processing ? Sorry this all might sound like I'm a bit dumb but in this case I probably am

Thank you whipdry I'll take a look at that

The one I'm looking at is a Mk1 and the guy who's selling it say's as it's ascom the ASI Air should work with it but I've asked on Astronomy sites all over the world and no-one has come back to me saying they have even tried it. Sitech , Lucas Mesu and ZWO haven't answered but I suppose as I won't be buying from them their customers must take priority. The brief instruction manual I have seen reminds me of when I started and was using an EQMOD Vixen Polaris. Not exactly plug and play 🙂

Thanks Dan I have seen something about balancing by checking with a volt/amp meter until there is zero load. It seems like a bit of a fuss but I only change scopes a few times a year so once it's done apart from a quick check that should be it for a while.

Hi All, I'm considering buying a Mesu Mk1 with sitech 2 controller and have been reading as much as I can find in various forums, joining groups etc. The main concern I have which is making me hold back is how to balance the mount. Something else I would like to find out is if it is possible to control it using the ASI Air ? Has anyone even tried it ? Can anyone point me in the direction of a user manual ? At the moment I am using an iOptron CEM40-EC (which is for sale btw 😉) and the Air in my observatory. All I need to do is decide what I want to capture, balance if I change scopes do a few test subs then set the auto run going and come back in the house nice and warm then just check my tablet every so often. I really don't fancy going back to sitting out most of the night babysitting. I know the Mesu is a superb piece of kit which would allow me to use larger telescopes and have them tracking as close to perfect as can be done. Sorry for the ramble any advice gratefully received.

Thanks Nicolas, I've had quite a bit of advice and several different techniques have been shown to me. I'm planning on using bits of different methods ( some good advice in your thread thanks) to suit the equipment I already have. If this fails I intend to take it to someone who knows how to correct this properly. Ron

Thanks Steve I'll let you know if I find a solution. Ron

Apparently not even the person it was sent to! I get the message "you do not have permission to view this"

Thanks David, All I need to know now is how to get to the Drobox and possibly a phone number/email address for Es Reid. The link to the comments doesn't work for some reason. Ron

Thanks for your reply newbie alert. I'm not too bothered about the focal length but from all I've read the spacing on an RC is critical. I don't know what it should be or how to measure it.

Hi all, I bought a second hand 8" TS Optics RC (GSO) and I have tried everything I have found here and elswhere about these scopes then finally took it to RVO (my local astronomy store). They checked it out for me and said it seemed fine and the collimation was almost perfect so they tweaked it a little for me. The problem I have is it won't get to a sharp focus and when I do a plate solve the focal length comes up at 1785 ! These scopes are meant to be around 1600-1625 and everyone says the distance between the mirrors is critical. I believe is you close the distance between the mirrors it will increase the focal length at a ratio of about 10 to1 (1mm closer gives 10mm more focal length) If something has happened to this scope before I bought it then somehow the mirrors are about 16mm too close together ! Just to make matters worse I bought a Feathertouch focuser and M90 connection ring, 2 M90 extension rings and a focuser tilt plate for it. Anyone had a similar experience or able to offer advice please I'm ready for donating it to the local dump.

I don't have any guiding stats to show but those figures are as good as I have had with my EQ6-R Pro. I had my first AP session with the mount and I couldn't work out how to guide with the PHd2 (you're right there is a LOT to learn) so I just let it track and fire away. There are some elongated stars in the bottom right corner but I think that was more down to a cheap T mount to my 600D. Apart from that I didn't do much right lol. Wrong target for the Willam GT81 (M81 - M82), no guiding, no idea how to process and probably a few more things but at the time I was really pleased with myself for getting a pic of a DSO. Yes I know truly awful lol But that was May this year and I think I have learned a bit. This is from last month : You have a very good starting platform Gary. Nice scope , mount, camera and the ASIair Pro helps a lot. If you get your settings right with the EQStar it could open up a new obsession for you, I know it did for me. What are you planning to use for guiding ? Cheers Ron

Wrong placement

Sorry Mark the emails appear to have ceased again??? Yes I will be lucky imaging and as you (and Mr Peach ) say the normal limits are irrelevant and long focal length / small sensor is (according to chaps like Mr.Peach) the way to go and let the software sort it out. I spoke to someone at Telview today and he told me just to focus with an eyepiece (no powermate ) then replace the eyepiece with the powermate and camera and you shouldn't be far away as the 4x is parfocal . Pin sharp focus isn't going to happen and the main thing to keep an eye on is exposure and video length to avoid saturation and blurring.

Thanks for the replies guys. As I said it is for planetary imaging and I checked the astronomy tools CCD calculator and yes it does lead to over sampling but to quote astronomy tools "This combination leads to over-sampling. Will require a good mount and careful guiding. OK for high magnification solar, lunar or planetary imaging ". I also asked 365 for advice before I bougt it and was told that with their 8"SCT they used a 3x PM for Saturn and Jupiter and a 5x PM for mars so the 4x would be a good compromise. I will use this combination and work it out I was just hoping someone may have use something similar and could point me in the right direction. Sorry Badger no pics yet I'm just doing day time testing. The good thing is I appear to have plenty of time to test according to the weather forecast lol . The collimation is very good.

Hi all, I bought a 4x2" powermate and I am attempting to use it for planetary photography with a Meade LX10 8" ZWO filter wheel and ASI290MM USB3 camera. My original set up was simply slot the powermate into my baader click lock attach the teleview T adaptor and use T2 extension tubes and the filter wheel to get 56mm spacing between the T adaptor and the camera sensor. I could only get a very soft focus with this set up. I was then led to believe I needed to move the Powermate back from the scope so the front element was at the standard back focus ( 109mm is the figure someone here said they were quoted by Meade ) so I bought a Celestron SCT to T2 adaptor, Baader T2 2" click lock and a Baader 29 - 46 T2 Vari Lock and got to 109mm but can't achieve any sort of focus. Now I am hoping someone can please tell me what I am doing wrong apart from spending £500 on equipment that has almost had flying lesson

I've been looking for a dual Ha/OIII filter and come down to a choice between 3. a) Optolong L-Extreme b) IDAS NBZ Nebula Booster c) STC Astro Duo Narrowband. It will be mainly used with my WO GT81 and ASI 183 MC Pro. Any opinions and things for or against would be a help specially from anyone who has use any of these .