AL1

Hi,

Has anyone had experience with the original vixen encoders for the GP.  I am curious what count they are?  Could they be interfaced to a Nexus DSC?  "Push to"  GPD project ...

I spent new years flying home long haul and had the unexpected pleasure of seeing the Aurora Borealis over Greenland.  Light from a costal village can also be seen.  I think it is Nuuk.  The orange glow is reflection of the cabin lights off the window.   

Has been cloudy every night since queenstown (NZ) and forecast cloudy for remained of our trip.   I would be happy if at least I had lured clouds away from the U.K. for others to enjoy.  Seems that hasnt worked.  Bortle 3 probably better out over the tasman ocean not that i would know.  Cant complain though, one night observing in Queenstown was awesome.  Beach is quite lovely too.

On first night arrival at Queenstown New Zealand, I was presented with clear evening skies.  Being late and tired I initially walked out in front of our apartment to the waterfront path lit by lampposts.  My first target was our old friend the Orion nebula.  Orion is in the northern sky over the lights of Queenstown so was not at its best however the milky way extended from Orion in the north to the Southern Cross low in the east.  It seems strange to see Orion apparently standing on his head compared to my usual view from the U.K.  Next, I moved to the southern cross and located the jewel box which was faint but clearly visible in my small 55mm scope.  Encouraged, I swung low to the eastern horizon to easily locate Omega Centauri as a bright fuzzy patch but were not able to resolve individual stars.   

It was a fantastic clear night but the path lighting and passing cars were a bit hopeless.  With new energy I picked up my kit and walked 10 minutes out of town.  Wow what a difference!  I was still on the roadside and had no chance of dark adaptation with cars passing every few minutes but even with this limitation the glow of the milky way was very apparent.  I could make out the outline of the Remarkable Mountain range against the lighter sky which made me think this is not even at it best. 

I revisited my first targets then started my hunt for the large Magellanic cloud.   After 15 minutes of searching in the eyepiece I gave up feeling a little deflated but not for long.   This is not a telescope target (at least not in my set up).  The large Magellanic cloud was naked eye as huge faint glow.  Encouraged, I tried the eyepiece again, the glow was not discernable, but I immediately located the Tarantula nebula which I had been previously ignoring as a concentrated glow.   

The small Magellanic cloud was also naked eye.   It did not show in the eyepiece but 47 Tucanae popped into view.   I could not resolve individual stars, it visible as a concentrated glow. 

Thrilled and very tired, I gave up hunting for specific targets and started sweeping the Milky Way, which was magnificent.   I discovered a new (to me) method of astronomy of scanning the milky way naked eye for an interesting fuzzy patch then placing the red dot finder over the location.  I viewed many beautiful unidentified clusters through the eyepiece but most excitingly stumbled on a lovely cluster surrounded by nebulosity with a dark lane through the middle which I subsequently identified as the Eta Carinae Nebula.   

Quick hand held phone camera view of the southern cross

View this morning roughly the same patch of sky

My travel kit

This looks like an EQ6 board.   It is hard to tell if the chip is damaged or is there some kind of glue on the chip?.   Replacement EQ6 main boards are available but you will want to know the motors are healthy first

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-replacement-motherboard-with-usb-for-eq6neq6-pro-mounts-inc-non-usb-models.html

I think it is surface area that gives light gathering power

i.e

(pi X (130/2)^2) - (pi X (47/2)^2)  =  (pi X R^2)

R = sqrt((130^2-47^2)/4)

R = 60.6 mm radius for equivalent refractor

Just over 120mm diameter.   I would double check my maths though

Hi, 

I am following this with interest. I have a onstep project on the back burner at the moment.  I built a proto board and had it working on the bench but have not got around to the mechanical integration on my vixen gp mount. 

Delivered this week my FL55SS.   I plan to take it with me on an upcoming trip to New Zealand. 

I have a gp mount with this issue.  A paper or cardboard washer behind the nut to increase the coefficient of friction worked

It seems that wind turbine power has same aperture response as light gathering in scopes.   With an additional wind speed term of course.   Point  being that wind turbine engineers also have aperture fever

I think maybe the bolts are bright zinc plated steel. 

Hi Clarkey,

Thanks for you input..   Maybe that cast part is a zinc casting and not aluminum?  I will take a closer look at the bolts with my reading glasses  ( And yes I am a mechanical engineer). 

At some time in the past a previous owner upgraded the collimation bolts on my Meade SN6.   For anyone else thinking of this take care in selecting compatible materials.   Aluminum in contact with stainless steel is vulnerable to galvanic corrosion.   As you can see there is lots of powdery white aluminum corrosion around the collimation screws.  My hypothesis is galvanic corrosion due to stainless bolt in an aluminum thread.   It should not be too hard to rectify as it has not gone too far.   Has anyone else encountered this?

Onstep is connecting to SkySafari and connects to bluetooth gamepad.  

I have soldered header pins into the veroboard for each of the modules so I can change boards easily.    I managed to fry only one ESP32 so far by plugging it in back to front.   I have had success connected to onstep phone app and skysafari and can issue goto commands etc.   I also have a bluetooth joystick t/ gamepad on order to try.   After that mechanical integration on the mount

Hi,

I have got first onstep proto hardware working.  I am impressed with the technology maturity of the onstep mount controller system.   Long tern goal is to control a vixen GP from a phone planetarium app

9 hours ago, IB20 said:

What a beautiful looking mount. What is the payload for that?

7  kg for the GP/GP2.   There is also a GPDX/GPD/GPD2 that has 10 kg capacity.  

1 hour ago, Nakedgun said:

~

That GP-2 a recent acquisition - new old stock? And, I'd like to have a mini-pier like that for mine. Still available in the UK?

 

 

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2nd hand in lovely condition

I was only going to buy a vixen motor drive set but could not resist also buying this beautiful GP2 mount to go with my ED103.   

I started my path into astronomy relatively recently, all second hand kit, and have benefited greatly from the generosity of SGL members who have priced their equipment with the intention of making the hobby accessible to others.   Case in point is my lovely new GP2 mount.

It is the illuminator for a cross hair eyepiece like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/specialist/skywatcher-125mm-illuminated-reticle-eyepiece.html

Nice report,  I have looked for Caroline's Rose a few times but have not observed it yet.  Is it in reach of 103mm refractor? 

Following with interest.  I have been visual observation only till now  but considering the (big) step to AP.

HD v SD

Lovely image.  Really provide prospective to how small we all are.