Ian McCallum

43 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

What's the diameter of the OTA tube?

I have an old head that's no use to me but is small diameter, as per pics. No Slo-Mo just basic alt-az but if its of use to you I'd be happy to send it on.

 

It's about 63.5mm in diameter. Would that fit at all? 🤔

I bid on and won this old Prinz Astral 500, from eBay.  I didn't look carefully enough at the advert to realise that there was no tube rings or tripod head.  I've got the experience to clean the front objective lens, etc.  Is it worth doing up?  I know that the circle T Japanese optics are supposed to be really good.

I got this from eBay. Sorry if I outbid anyone from this forum. 🙄 Perhaps I should have left it for someone else... 🤔

I should have looked closer at the advert, as it didn't come with a tripod head or tube rings. But I'm sure it can do something with it... 

I couldn't be bothered setting up the imaging rig this evening, so just did some visual observering with my two Sky-Watcher refractors.

I tried them on Jupiter, then moved on to M45.

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

I think those H and SR eyepieces get too much stick.  I use mine every night I'm out observing.  They do a really good job as replacement dust caps.

Great at stopping dust ingress?🤔😂

A cracking image, from an achromat!😮

These arrived today, courtesy of @SzabiB. I bought a friend a second hand Celestron Firstscope 76mm Dobsonian from eBay, which was supplied with awful H and SR type eyepieces.

I bought these Sky-Watcher eyepieces, as these will be an improvement for him. 

It's a Sky-Watcher 4.5 inch Newtonian reflector on a German equatorial mount. 

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

Arrival number two today. I thought I'd give one of these a try.

Worth a punt.  Prior to buying the same filter, I had no experience on opening up a Baader filter draw - fast learning curve.😂

Got these from Auntie @FLO, late this afternoon... 

54 minutes ago, saac said:

I've always thought that a sobering metric would be cost per photograph!  Perhaps we all should have a spreadsheet updating with each purchase and photograph to show cost/number of photograph index   Perhaps it would be beyond sobering, maybe scary! Certainly all too easy to get carried away but there does seem to be a healthy attitude and support in the community for second hand kit and that can help mitigate the cost.  Anyway what is the alternative - there is only so much whisky to drink   

Jim 

I've got a few second hand items, bought from members on here.👍

2 hours ago, Elp said:

Get an Asiair, trust me, it just works. Another one of those purchases which I put under best purchase ever. The only other thing I think you'll need is a small guidescope, and an EQ mod cable and a 12v adaptor to power the asiair if it's a gen 2 or 3 (the gen 1 you can power with a usb power bank). I can build PCs and troubleshoot them hardware and software, I have used an RPI with astroberry. The asiair simplifies everything, user interface, control, everything. Little to no faffing around finding and configuring things, some people might like taking up time to do this, I don't, I want to spend the time imaging. I set up and break down every time, so my time is even more critical.

I've been using Astroberry on the RPi 4 with 2GB of RAM, as that's all that was available at the time. Again, I'm loathed to throw more money at AP.

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Just to put further temptation your way...👿😁

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=193005

A truly portable but optically awesome scope..think Tak quality optically, lens I believe made by Canon Optron as Taks are, and a good price IMHO..

Dave

Nah, I'm happy with what I've got.😉

26 minutes ago, Alan White said:

There is no backwards in returning to Visual Astronomy and keeping it very simple.
Simple works, has very few foibles and just works.
Good luck with the changes and hope it now works in a better way for you.

 

Yep, doesn't require batteries, tricky software, etc. 😉

1 hour ago, Jules Tohpipi said:

I think the hardest step is the first one out the front door. Once outside the door everything seems easier. 
 

I’ve recently downsized after some time off. The 10” Goto dob had become too big and cumbersome for frequent viewing and my back. Now I’ve acquired a mak and ST102 and it’s cooking on gas once again. 
 

It’s supposed to be fun, right? Not a chore, challenge or commitment. Otherwise no incentive to stand up and grab the door handle - especially when the clear nights get really cold outside. Sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in what’s possible that we set ourselves unreasonable daily challenges. 
 

Maybe have fun with your dob for a while and take the full rig out only when you’re in the mood for it. 
 

You're right, getting the motivation to move is the hardest part. That and chasing software issues for hours, doesn't help either... 

Thanks for everyone's input.👍 I've ordered a AZ5 mount head and adapter for my EQ5 tripod, so that I can use my refractors on an Alt-Az mount for visual use.  My two ZWO cameras will be put back in the boxes, till I get the AP notion again...

10 minutes ago, Geoffw said:

I have a problem with my Celestron StarSense Handset where the cable enters the handset.  It still works but the black (Coiled) shielding cable has become detached revealing the internal cabling.  I initially tried fixing from the outside but failed.

So I  carefully opened the handset and pushed the loose end of the black coiled cable back into the case and wound some insulation tape around it on the inside.  Unfortunately, as you can see from the image this hasn't worked, as he insulation tape has not held it.  Before I start dabbling with the superglue.  Has anyone else got a fix for this?

I don't know if you can get some heatshrink sleeving over it?

3 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Make sure any cable is one that transmits data rather than power only..

Alan

That happened to me, when I bought a TinySA spectrum analyser.🙄

1 hour ago, Stu said:

The time commitment to setup, deal with pc and connection issues, plus processing are the reasons I’ve stuck with visual astronomy all these years. Often my sessions are short grab and go ones which are totally unsuited to AP.

I can only suggest going with what feels right; it’s all about enjoyment after all. Maybe before selling everything, just set yourself up for visual session and see how you go. Do you still have the dob? That should be enough to enjoy visual in a simple relaxed way.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I still have the Dob and won't part with it, as it has sentimental value - My late mum looked through that telescope at Venus and Arcturus.

4 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Ah OK, I was going to suggest selling everything apart from the dob and eyepieces, then purchase:

SA-GTi

A small, fast astrograph apo, from Askar or Sharpstar, keep it light and manageable. FLO have several options depending on size and mass. You could add a reducer for a wider field.

A ZWO ASI 533, either mono or OSC depending on whether you want to risk the added complexity. I suspect that one of the IMX531 cameras might blow the budget.

You may or may not want to add a small (30-50mm) guide scope and camera. 

I've already got a converted SW 9x50 finderscope, that works really well with the ZWO ASI120MM mini.  I'd go back to purely observing, so no more AP, other than perhaps the smartphone upto an eyepiece.

28 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Sinking three upside down flower pots in the grass with the drainage hole used to locate the tripod legs is something I've seen people do. Sink them low enough and mowing the grass then isn't impacted. You could sink them the right way up, then fill with concrete with dimples to mark the points.

It may be worth downsizing to keep it simple, either a Skywatcher SA or SA-GTi and a short Apo 'frac depending on what you can carry.

The flowerpots sounds like a sound idea, I'd probably go for the terracotta type.  My initial plan was to sell the two ZWO cameras and buy a SW AZ5 head with an adapter to fit my existing tripod legs. That way, I can still have my goto mount ability, but also the ease of Alt-Az. I'm not intending to part with my telescopes, as I like them all!

3 minutes ago, DaveS said:

OK, so a permanent installation isn't possible. The only other simplification I can think of is to keep it very simple and portable so that the entire rig can be carried out in one go and polar aligned. 

Any chance of marking the tripod locations? What are the neighbours like?

I've done that in the past, but want to make the markings a bit more permanent.  I tend to use the tripod on grass, rather than concrete, as the grass is a bit further away from the buildings, so therefore gives me a little more sky to work with, etc.  Most neighbours are okay and know that I do astronomy.  In the past, I've even shown them the moon through my 8" Dob.

22 minutes ago, DaveS said:

What's your ground situation like? is there any chance of a permanent set up? Even putting the rig on a pier under a Telegizmos cover can slash the set-up time drastically, and eliminate the repeated polar alignment faff.

Although an obsy is ideal, you don't have to go that far.

I share a small communal back garden with 3 other neighbours, as I live in a ground floor flat (4-in-a-block).  At most, I can only see about 90 degrees of the sky, from East to South.

22 minutes ago, allworlds said:

I'm not sure visual is much less of a money pit. Personally I don't like observing with glasses but I don't like my eye astigmatism spoiling the stars either. I could get Dioptrx, but a set of even Delites is going to get spendy, never mind ultrawide Tele Vue EPs.

Regarding eyepieces, I've got the full BST StarGuider series which should cover all eventualities...

I'm at a point where I no longer want to go further into the rabbit hole that is astrophotography, due to costs of getting more equipment.  Whilst I can do AP on a budget, I find that the time required to set up the mount, polar align, connect all the gear and run the software (allowing for computer problems) is killing the hobby for me.  I'm tempted to go back to just purely visual observing.

I could have just stuck with my SW 200P Dob and still been happy, but with more money in my pocket.  I felt drawn to refractors, so got a 2nd hand SW Evostar 120.  That required a better mount and tripod than I had at the time, so I bought an SW EQ5 Deluxe mount.  I wanted to motorise the mount, so I got a SW Enhanced Dual-Axis motor drive kit.  This allowed my to do some rudimentary AP, using the ST4 port on the hand controller.  I then bought a ZWO ASI120MM mini guide camera, but I found that I didn't like ST4 guiding.  I then decided that the EQ5 Synscan Pro Goto upgrade kit was the way to go.  That certainly made improvements, as did getting a small RPi to do standalone stuff, very clever stuff!

I thought that a one shot colour camera would be even better, so I got the ZWO ASI224MC one.  It's gave me some good images, over the time I've had it.  I recently bought another refractor - a SW ST120 OTA, for wider views of DSO than can be obtained through my SW Evostar 120.  The idea was to do DSO imaging with the ST120, along with a Baader Contrast Booster filter attached to the from of the ASI224MC.

A mixture of poor weather, technical limitations of the budget equipment and my own limitations, have caused my to pause for the moment and reconsider... 

I'm thinking of selling the cameras and going to back to purely visual, but getting an AZ5 mount for the existing tripod (with adapter).