powerlord

Ipswich, Suffolk.

ClearOutside app - 0% cloud 2-4am

metoblue - 0% cloud 2-4am

Cool - get everything setup in conservatory ready to go out. set alarm for 1.50am.

all set for some moon piccies - it will be more or less directly south then - great view from my garden.

1.50am...up! togs on, downstairs, and out into the cold...

Er...

Someone appears to have stolen the moon (should be above that house).

total 100% cloud/fog cover. Unusual for the forecasts all to agree and still be so totally and utterly wrong.

was it just Suffolk or the same elsewhere ?

stu

oo ta. mine is ordered too. hoping I might get it in March if FLO get lucky with shipments.

aha! I read a dissassebly guide for a similar mount, and it said there were grub screws and to look through the hole - but there were no holes around outside... except the one circle locking one which I completely didn't register as a hole. duh.🤪

so they are out. pliers still don't shift it, so as @Dr_Ju_ju above suggests, I'm CADing up a tool on the printer. It's M2 bolts btw

@Budgie1 thanks for the links - just what i need (probably). oh - btw I'm a regular to Fort William area for one of my other hobbies - paramotoring - flew over Ben Nevis 4 times so far... here's a video from a few years ago:

It was missing fine adjustment knobs too, so CADed up some replacements for those.

And as I had to replace the alt/asc bolts (one bent, the other naff) - I used stainless hexagon bolts. The rear one through the grinder to give a smooth ball. And I've CADed caps for those to make them easy to adjust too.

And I've CADed up an LED polarscope illuminator as well, since theres nothing to them, and I ain't paying 30 quid for that..

So - getting there. It's projects like this that the 3d printers really come into their own. 😃

stu

Hi chaps, so this old EQ5 I got - after a bit of a  clean and adjust of the worm to DEC axis is fine, but the RA is very stiff. and worryingly stiffer in some bits than others.

If I'm lucky I'm thinking hardened grease to clean out and replace. If Im unlucky - knackered bearings ?

But, its locked in with a round ring nut with two small 1.5 mm or so holes in it (42mm or so apart). And it's locked tight. I've tried a pair of needle nose pliers, and I've tried 2 small allen keys put together, but it's not for shifting.

Is there a specialist tool for this ? If not, what do you reckon is best way ? Is it worth heating it with a hot air gun ?

pic attached.

have you tried using the mobile apps ( polar align pro on iOS, polaraligner pro on android).

both have daylight modes which align via your mobile gyros and are pretty accurate - certainly sufficient for visual.

stu

Just an update. enhanced motor kit arrived today. Turned out installed motors fine, but swapped for new ones and new gears anyway.

Its hard a hard life - RA screws were bent, so replaced them with sold bolts (one smoothed at the end with grinder), and refitted worm screw as it had massive backlash.

by time i did all that I'd ran out of time to align finder.. but didn't want to let that stop me, so I set it up anyway... first time polar aligning, first time newtonian... and only used a telescope for first time 4 weeks ago.. so bare with me.

Took me about 45 mins to polar align.. shining red light down to see markings.. def need to get an illuminator.

then i must admit to being quite out my depth and moving it around, which way, etc - kept getting wires all tangled or ending up with it pointing right way, but with viewfinder inaccessible..

of course with no finder just finding something to focus on took a while but got something in the end, and watched it for a bit - loved just seeing it not moving!!! yeh!

tried camera, but it was too faint and just couldn't focus and with no hope at all at finding a bright star randomly pointing at stuff, I called it a night.

tomorrow - get the fecking finder aligned !!

but impressed - not play at all in motors. very quiet, etc.

Need to find a tutorial on actually using a newtonian now I think......

stu

Well.. Turned out I need not worry about the quality of the other pictures after I took mask off.. Seeing as I made the mistake of leaving the card on coffee table.. In reach of the puppy.. Sigh...

Just spent the last 2 hours capturing subs of Orion.

With the Bahtinov mask still on.

arrrrrgrgrggrgrgrgrgghhhhhhh!

stu

Seeing as I got a new ota

hi, similar here - az gti mount, skymax 102, canon 1300d

very new (1 month). I've been struggling to get decent 30 sec tracking so far no matter how I align and am going to try in in EQ mode, but not an option for you I don't think ?

If it's the same as az gti the best I've got is:

- balance with DSLR mounted, then remove it and stick a wide eyepiece on (alignment will be too far off to see in liveview initially)

- reset alignment each time (assuming mount moved).

- start with a north and 2 star.

- goto target (align, sync)

- go a few places nearby (align and sync)

- goto target again (is it dead on? if not, go a few more places, align and sync)

- got to target.

The first alignment start with a wide view (25mm on my 102), get it in middle, move to a narrower view (i use a 12.5mm with illuminated cross) and get it bang on the middle for each.

After the initial alignment, you should be able to stick with the 12.5mm and adjust to centre.

Now, carefully attach DSLR and hopefully target is still in centre. If it's not you can try repeating the gotos to nearby stuff and syncing again (should be close enough to appear in liveview now)

use max liveview zoom and a Bahtinov mask to get perfect focus.

I put magic lantern on my canon 1300d - this gives me tons of extra options like adding focus peaking, pumping up the EV on the liveview so you can see stars clearly, etc - I recommend it - it sits along side canon firmware and runs off the sdcard to perfectly safe I think:

https://builds.magiclantern.fm/1200D-102.html

stu

thanks chaps. it was the EQ5 I really wanted for my skymax 102 sometimes. As I got the lot (EQ5 with motors, ali tripod, helios 200 and finder, pole finder) all for 250 quid I figured I'll probably end up selling the P200 eventually, keeping the mount and adding controller, etc (controller and motors ordered now!).

I didn't factor in the crappy tripod, hence the need to do something, and as a local SGLer was selling a 2" it seemed sensible to grab it.

Having played this evening it's gonna be easy enough to fit it - its standard metric bolts - I've already test mounted it with a long bolt. I'll CAD up and 3d print a collar and it'll be good to go.

Clear skies here around 11pm on... so will get a chance to try it tonight !

stu

thanks Steve - my use is certainly including AP - but 'numpty AP' - not 'this is useless -  you need a 3k supercooled CCD and tracking laptop to do AP'. It a Helios job - so pretty old. but in good shape. don't know if need collimated yet, but seems nice and clear in the 30 secs I've looked through it at the backgarden so far.

Almcl - I was sort of put off by the DIY route. If he had a ready to go solution I'd buy it.

Geoff - I've no aspirations to do guiding, but do want to be stuffing my DSLR on the end of it as I do on my skymax102/az gti. And of course will be trying the 102 on the Eq5 too. Why do you say it's barely adequate for visual use ? And mount wise, its on an ali mount just now, not the 1.5" stainless. the stainless EQ6 is much more solid and was available 2nd hand, so that's what I've got- I purchased it as it was recommended when I asked on SGL here:

As pointed out its all just experimenting and a bit of fun. I've had nice results (that im happy with) with DSLR on 102. I'm interested to see what I get on P200. I've got a nice Canon EF F4 L coming from Japan to use for DSO with my (back ordered) adventurer 2i wifi.

I've no plans to try to go any further down the AP rabbit hole than that frankly. What's great to me, is undoubtedly pants to the pros, but thats fine 🙂

Hi chaps,

I got myself an EQ5 and Skywatcher P200 on ebay. Figured it'd be a great non portable scope to start with in the garden (with my skymax 102 idea portable for when I get away in motorhome).

So.. of course I've downloaded the manual to read, but sky watcher hardly know for their concise documentation...

It's had motors fitted to it. But alas, no cables or controller.

So dunno if motors work. Hopefully, all looks if good nick, though a bit unloved and maybe old (how old can one with motors be ?)

Now, seems like there's a few options:

1. get the full kit with new motors and controller and no need to worry motors are knackered.

2. just get the controller. if doesn't work, get motors.

3. Look at one of the 3rd party ones like EQStarEQ5 or summit - which is goto, wifi and all the goodies..but only seems like you can buy from ebay from ukraine!! - and not sure about synscan compatibility, etc even though it says it is - docs are a bit poor.

4. synscan goto + wifi upgrade. not happening - costs a fortune.

Now, there are two skywatcher controllers available - the regular one and the 'enhanced' one - is the main thing the enhanced one can move motors quicker ? seems a bit of a con...

Am I missing any options ?

I'm not too fussed about goto, but if I went that way, I'd want wifi.

But frankly I just want the motors working and RA sidereal tracking working. But regular controller says works at 8x.. which is pretty useless if its gonna take me hours to turn the thing round 180 ?

Oh.. and one more thing for those that made it so far...I've got myself a very nice 2" EQ6 tripod.. which of course won't fit an EQ5 on. Is there some sort of official adapter do you know ? or is it time to get the drill and angle grinder out ?

stu

any chance of a quick paragraph numpty guide to Sirl ? I've read the tutorials, etc and am none the wiser - it seems to have been written for use by some other lifeform.

stu

As a long time mac fanboi, Do remember you have crossover or the various virtualization options (vmware free now, parallels, virtual box) to run windoze stuff. So it's easy to use Windows astro software where you need to. Even on my M1 macs Im running DSS fine on crossover and parallels beta for example.

Imaging wise the native mac stuff isn't great - sirl, starry sky, stellarium, nebulosity.

Of course once you have your raw image you've lots of options - lightroom, photoshop etc. I prefer affinity. And it's cheap.

Pics for those who want to dance with death....

Mine is the tamron 70-300. Ef. So on the 1200d it's effectively 480. The ef-s Canon jobs were too expensive.

Sorry yes - I wasn't suggesting 50ED +FF for that reason. I was pointing out the lack of a need for an FF with a camera lens.

Sony - I can't do anything with the scope - the lens is not removable.

Ill see how I get on with the canon. I did try the sony vs canon @ 300mm on the moon - and the canon had pretty bad chromatic abervations vs almost none on sony.

So, I imagine one positive as you say, is the optics of an ED type scope are superior for distance work like stars/DSO than a cheap kit lens.. it's a pity as you say the FF doesn't work with it and a DSLR.  hmm.

I just built my own.

I had a few old 6000ah 6s lipos lying around. I rigged them up in parallel in a tupperware box. giving me about 300Wh.

I then used 2 LM2596 modules - one set to 12v for my az gti, one set to 8.2v for my 2 cameras.

I also bought a 24v truck dual usb (2.4a each) plug.

i fitted that all onto the tupperware box with an on/off switch. Basically means I can power my mount(s)*, canon 1200d, sony rx10, dew heater and have a usb spare.

*can easily add another LM2596 for 6v output once i get my EQmount up and running.

I realise not everyone has big lipos hanging around, but buying them will still work out cheaper. But the main thing is get to customise it they way you want it.

Really only a suggestion for those already working with lipos though as it needs charging/balancing with specialist lipo charger, etc - but since I've already got that its cost me about 6 quid to make a one stop astro power pack.

Apologies if it's a newbie question..I've been doing this for 6 weeks only.

So.. I have a polarie mount and an AZ GTI mount (faffing with trying EQ mode is next task), and I've been playing away focusing (sic) on M42 in various ways.

I've stuck the 1200d on the back of my skymax 102 on the az gti and though its quite cropped in, I've got some ok pics. Im consious though that the f12.75 is not ideal for this sort of thing.

I have shot with my Sony RX10iii at 600mm on the Polarie  and got some nice shots - its F4 at 600mm, but its a real pain to focus - which is very very annoying as its super low noise, amazing optics, etc.

So next I was going to try the 1200d with my 70-300mm (EF) on there - giving me 480mm at F5.6

I see a lot of folk using the Sky Watcher ED 50 for these sort of targets too. And well.. I'm not really getting the advantage that would have over the canon zoom ? F is about the same, you lose aperture options, and without an FF you get blurry edges. So - what am I missing ? What are the advantages of using a small refractor/spotting scope with a DSLR over a camera lens basically ?

stu

hmm. this is putting me off flashing the eqmod firmware tbh...is this the odd person who it fails with, or is it failing with everyone ?

thanks John - I'm kinda hoping to stick a pier in the garden mount wise in the next 2-3 months.

I was thinking the 400x for planets ? certainly my can't see much with 200x on my skymax 102.

collimation - is this advised instead of laser then ?

Hi chaps, I think I've just got a decent deal on a setup off ebay (famous last words). Won this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Helios-telescope-/224342985796

As you'll see from my small number of posts - I'm pretty new at this. Current equipment in sig.

I'm hoping it's what I think it is - basically a Sky watcher 200p eq5. aka:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5.html

MOUNT QUESTIONS:

It also appears to have been motorized, but i think all it's coming with is what is in the pictures - i.e. motors but no wiring/controllers.

It does seem to be complete otherwise looking at pictures - has polar scope, etc. Maybe missing EPs.

Anyhoo, as a minimum I want to get an RA motor working on there for tracking, but I can do it cheaply I would like to get a wifi goto setup working.

Options off the shelf seem limited:

1. the whole skywatcher shebang - which would be a goto synscan kit + wifi - which is 389 squid not including wifi ! (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-mount-upgrade-kits/synscan-pro-goto-version-3-upgrade-kit-for-eq5.html)

or

2. EQStarEQ5 from Ukraine. 200 squid or so and is wifi - but probably get stung for a ton on customs/vat, and seems to be not a lot of users in the UK ? (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EQStarEQ5-GOTO-EQ-drive-upgrade-kit-for-equatorial-mount-EQ-5-CG-5-MEADE-LXD-LX/312879931732)

3. get a second hand motor drive, stick an ST-4 on it, and then see if I can modify the arduino project to use serial over wifi rather than usb ? (https://hackaday.io/project/4386-arduino-st4-telescope-control). However that seems like it might be pretty useless as your limited to something like 16x sidreal for 'gotos' ?

4. forget goto and just point it and use the RA motor sidreal tracking.

Am I missing anything ?

OTA QUESTIONS:

Assuming it arrives in one piece these seem reasonably decent ? Might need columating ? I thinking it's a step up from my skymax 102 for when I'm in the garden - and keep the 102 for travelling.

Any experience with decent/cheap EPs for it ? I'd like to have one that hits it's effective max magnification of 400x - but I assume that's not really very possible at 2.5mm.. am I better going for something like a 10mm and a 4x barlow ?

stu

Thanks, but I ended up doing the 3d printed route. Works a treat. 😀

Last night. Skymax 102. Canon 1200d modified stuck on the end of it, all sitting on an AZ GTI. 40 second exposure. stack of 5 processed in affinity photo. All