Scream

I recently got a pier set up and I have everything on it now. One of my questions is; Why do I keep having to do a polar alignment with the air pro? Everytime I check the PA it's always out, not really bad but enough that I have to make some adjustments. I was under the impression that once you're polar aligned on stationary equipment then you're more or less done for "good". My second question; I am having troubles with my air. Here is my equipment. EQ6-R, doublet, 533MC Pro, 120mm, ASIAIR Pro. As far as I am aware all my settings are correct. 120mm guidescope, 369mm main. I remove my cover and power the equipment. I check focus and then select PA. It does it's thing and I make any adjustments, I try and get the alignment down to 1 but have gone as high as 5s, NOT minutes. It shows the smilely face and I think swap into preview and get it to slew to target. Here is the issue. It doesn't slew to the target, I was trying to image Elephant trunk and it looked straight up roughly in the area where I know it is. It fails and then slews all the way to the other side of the mount looking straight up. It does this several times, fails and then stops. I've tried other targets. In some instances it just doesn't slew to the right place in the sky at all. To the point that it's looking in the completely different direction. I can't for the life of me figure it out. This has been happening for three nights in a row now making me lose precious clear sky.

I recently got the pulsar pier and adapter but I'm not sure how to set it up. I've tried asking elsewhere and have been contacting FLO but the communication is slow. I don't know if I have mounted this plate properly. The problem is that it doesn't come with a bolt to mount the wedge. I know it's an M12 but I don't know how long I need the bolt to be and how I'd measure for it. I have the foundation poured and cured and soon I intend to bolt the pier into it. Although I'm unsure how I should go about that. The foundation is square and roughly in line with the house. The foundation points roughly between NW and N. I don't know if I should have the whole pier point north of just mount the wedge north. I really don't know. I would really appreciate some guidence. I'm very poor when it comes to DIY, I'm not labour minded.

I've considered the idea of making my own and I've considered the idea of buying one. I know this is a stupid confliction but the prices of the piers I have seen are what I personally consider very overpriced. The thing is I've spent quite a lot of money on equipment and I understand it doesn't make sense to then cheap out on the pier. The issue is I cannot seem to find a good DIY plan online or any worthwhile pros and cons to making your own. I'm not really sure what to do because I've read conflicting opinions and information on the subject. A load say to make your own as it's cheaper and just as good as any pier you can buy and I've seen others say not to make your own. I'm really not a DIY person. I have a mate whos a builder and said he'd help me but he knows nothing about astronomy so there's a bit of a block. I'm really conflicted and would appreciate some advice.

I have an intervalometer, I have everything I need now to set it all up automatically on my laptop but my issue is this, I don't know what cable I need. It says it's a USB and I've read it's a micro but also some how a mini USB, neither look like they're the same shape as the port. The Nikon shutter is some purpose built port I believe, some rectangle. I want to control the shutter and have it set up automatically all on one system, rather than having a random intervalometer connected manually.

The skyguider by iOptron with the iPolar. Which way is the front bracket supposed to be? I've installed it as the manual says but last night I realised that when I have polar aligned my camera gear would be upside down when the bracket is mounted on. I didn't think you were supposed to rotate the bracket after alignment?

I'm only interested in a triplet for imaging. I have a newt for visual but to be honest at this point I'm not really interested in visual use any more, plus I personally considering imaging visual anyway. What you capture is what you would've seen to some extent with your own eye. Obviously not talking in regards to most nebulae.

I'll try and keep this short and sweet. I was looking to get a triplet and I had put in an order for the ts photoline 80mm f/6 fpl53 triplet apo. Problem is I think I'm going to have to pay a load of money after Brexit and January 1st agreement. That said I'm more of a newt user than a refractor. I don't really know what I'm looking for and I spent several weeks looking around before I picked the aforementioned scope. I don't really understand what makes a refractor better over another. Like there are different types of glass, etc, FPL53/55. So having said that I'm quite stuck. I'd really appreciate some help. Thank you.

If you have a "full" spectrum camera do you need a filter for milky way including landscape? I have a Rokinon/Samyang 14mm f/2.8 Lens, on a Nikon body APS-C. I cannot find anything for clip in aside from the Multispec and nightscape by STC. I don't think this will be any good for what I want and it's quite expensive but I'm weighing my options. I cannot find an APS-C nikon clip in that does UV and IR. I've been trying to find a square filter that I could use on the front. I'm having a hard time trying to find on here in the UK.

I'm having a look around but not finding much luck. I was looking to try and pick up a camera lens that was "cheap" got good results and would double up a bit because of the APS-C. I've not really had much luck finding a 250mm fixed lens. Someone said about getting a small refractor but from what I know a cheap refractor isn't worth it because of all the problems it'll cause, CA, etc. That said does anyone have any info on this? I'm looking to pick up a tracker, either the SkyGuider Pro or the SA2i, unsure for now. Really I was looking at a budget of £150 for the lens but I can push to £200 and perhaps a little bit more if a good option is just over the £200 mark.

I don't really use forums like this so forget to come back and check responses, especially since you might never get one or sometimes they're hours or days later. Anyway. I've decided to have mine modded. I'm getting full spectrum done because I like the idea of being able to create cool daytime pictures if I want through the use of filters. I contemplated the idea of doing it myself but as said above mine was also spring and I didn't fancy breaking the camera after spending so much on it. Plus there were other areas that I thought if it went wrong then it is busted. The camera was used but pretty much like new and only had just under 4K shutter count and is rated for a total of 100K so if my camera was a beast and got there (unlikely) then I have 96K left. Seemed like the right choice having someone else who does it for a job to do it. That said I've sent it off now and I'm expecting it to take about two weeks before I get it back, five days max shipping, three days modification, five-seven days shipping back. I may or may not be back to share my experience or images. I'm trying to get into the hobby so it might take me a while before I have anything of use.

OK, I'll start out by saying I've searched this in the search bar on this site and I've read through some of them but want to start my own because I want to ask some questions that haven't be asked in them or answered and I may have more questions afterwards. I want to understand how each one functions, what it can do, what it can't do, etc. What are the pro and cons of each of them? Do any of these modifications prevent you from being able to do something? When would you want said modification (depending on the one you select)? I've been trying to do a lot of reading and I think in the process I have confussed myself and made it harder for myself, I want to simplify as best I can and start from scratch. Here is what I have gathered and I'll have probably forgotten to include some things. Full spectrum uses (IR filter?) and clear glass, I don't understand how it functions but what I have read is that it can cause focusing issues unless calibrated(?). Ha is an emission that nebulas emit which is a red colour, other things can emit this light and supposedly it is (good/bad?) for light pollution, this mod allows more of that light in that otherwise would've been blocked. IR lets in Ha but not to the same extent (That is all I have for this one)?.

Hey Dave, really appreciate the response, I'm getting in touch with him to see what he can do. Cheers.

Who is this Romanian guy and how does one find him?

I'll have to do it do tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I absolutely messed the collimation up, The secondary mirror from the bottom of the scope looks too far over as there is a gap on one side and the other side no gap so no perfect gap around the cell. If It's totally f*£ked then I'll have to take the cell out and lock it back in and then start again.