TerraC

Waiting for darkness on Saturday. Managed a single frame on pons brooks before I lost it behind neighbours house. Moved over to M51 for a couple of hours.

I've got 1691077 - Lepus My daughter got it for my birthday a few years ago RA 6h 6m 4.83s - DEC -17 7 25.64 Mag 10.227 Tried getting a shot of the area but it's quite low behind houses where I live.

You would need to flash the AZ-GTI with an original non EQ firmware to go back to left arm control. This would put the AZGTI back into ALT-AZ mode. This link should give you instructions and links to the firmware and loader you will need to do this. You can flash back and forth with any firmware on the AZGTI. https://www.astropills.com/blog/how-to-update-your-sky-watcher-az-gti-firmware Hope that helps. Ray

Thanks guys. Good points from both of you. I think you are right, i'll spend the summer getting used to the system and fine tuning. The mount controls well through astroberry, it's the polar alignment utility and plate solving i'm having the trouble with which needs the darkness and practice. I think I may have a little cone error between the polar scope and telescope too which could be an issue. Should be ok if I use a polar util rather than the scope but I might start from scratch and re-align the built in polar scope too in daylight whilst i'm at it. I'm not too fussed with extra long exposures at the moment. My bortle level and light pollution means i'm limited to about 60sec before the histogram goes too far to the right anyway. If I really cant hack it I might sell it and go back to the portable AZGTI option. 😁 Ray

Not sure where to put this so the lounge might suffice. Its more of a rant and therapy than anything else and wondered if anyone else felt the same? 😀 Does anyone else find themselves wishing theyd just left things alone? I had a perfectly functioning azgti system. Easy grab and go unit that i could manually PA and set off for unguided subs of upto upto 60sec, ready within 20mins. Not winning any apod but im happy with the basic data id got and seeing things millions of light years away. I had dabbled with computerising the system with a guide scope and astroberry but its beyond me. I find myself faffing with one thing or another more than I do imaging. Happy with my lot? Oooh noooo. The upgrade bug starts to itch. I get the opportunity to sell my gear and buy an eq5 pro goto. So in a fit of upgrade fever off i go. Built in polarscope, better tracking. What could go wrong? Well it’s heavy for a start, not good for chucking in the car and heading out, especially with a back problem. Then I get what I think is walking noise. Oh bother!. The azgti dithered itself because the tracking wasnt that good, it kinda drifted to eliminate it itself. To get rid of walking noise its easy you just have to dither you say. That means im back to trying to guide and astroberry the system again. First night, couldnt find focus with my asi120mc and 50ed guidescope. Focus great in the daytime on distant street lamps or tv aerials but at night, i think i can see a blob. 2hrs of faffing im getting nothing done and feeling frustrated again. If it aint broke, fix it until it is. Why cant some of us just leave things alone when they are working? 😀 So do I throw in the towel and try get another azgti system that im comfortable with? Try muddle along blind learning a new complex system? Or possibly find a friendly local in the Yorkshire area who can maybe help me set it all up so its simple when I switch it on? Light nights mean im probably mothballing the system for a few months anyway to mull it over. Ray

Thanks guys. I've heard it said to align the mount rather than the scope. I've also seen people using sharpcap to polar align. If this is used will that not be out compared to the axis and polar scope on the mount? Or am I missing something here? If you sharpcap align do you need to make sure you are guiding? Planning to add guide scope and astroberry over the summer - ready for next season. thank you Ray

Hi Guys Recently started using a used EQ5 Pro after upgrading from an AZGti. I aligned the polar scope with the adjustment screws on a TV aerial in all axis following a tutorial I found online, so i'm sure that's correct now. It was way out and the crosshairs didnt line up when rotating 90deg. I have a 72ED with a Canon550d attached to the EQ5. It is attached with 2 tube rings to a dovetail bar then clamped into the EQ5. I polar align with the built in polar scope and get it spot on as best I can. However, When looking through the Canon viewfinder polaris is nearer the bottom of the screen. Should this not be near the middle similar to the polar scope? ie: should I be aligning the telescope with where the polar scope is pointing? Or does it not matter? Because when I come to doing a 3 star alignment on the mount i'm centering the alignment stars in the Canon window. Regards Ray

Unexpected clear night and late rising moon means ive managed an hour and a half of 60sec iso800 exposures tonight. Grabbed some calibration frames and will see if i get anything in the morning Ray

Hi guys So id be better off keeping at iso800 and doing twice the number of exposures at say 30sec so as to keep the histogram 1/3rd from the left? Ray

Iso on this one was 400. Trying to combat a bright moon. Iso800 blew out the sky. 60x 1min exposures. Ray

Thank you. Its a Canon 550d. The line has only appeared recently along with the dust spots. Ill try the calibration frames on next attempt. Ray

Hi all Just looking for a bit of advice. Having trouble with dust and cleaning telescope glass, field flattener. It just seems to get everywhere and wont stay away. Need some anti static cleaner maybe? Crude stretch of a quick test in nowhere near ideal condition but I think these dots could be dust on DSLR sensor rather than on the FF or scope? I think i'll need to have a go at cleaning the sensor with some swabs. What could be causing the blue line? I think i'm getting a bit of walking noise too. Just started using an EQ5 without guiding right now so i'm not dithering yet until I get my guide scope all setup. I used to use an AZGTI and the accuracy wasnt good enough to need to dither, it dithered on it's own. Thanks Ray

Last night trying to image the moon with my classic 200p and a mobile phone adapter. Dropped and smashed my mobile phone on the patio. 😡

Brilliant thank you. I'll see if I can get an M54 female to M48 Male adapter and see if that works. Ray

Image showing the section i'm missing.

The problem I have is that I dont have the T-ring bit on the end of the flattener. I need to know what the thread size is where the t-ring connects to the actual barrel of the flattener. Where i've put the thread size arrow on the first image. I believe FLO do two versions to choose from M48 and M42. I'm missing this bit on mine. The scope end takes 2" filters. The camera side is a lot bigger when the included T-ring is missing.

Hello Could anyone tell me the thread size on the T-ring end of the OVL or Stellamira field flattener please? I have a flattener but i'm missing the T-ring end. I want to know what the thread is so that I can maybe get something to link to a Canon adapter or some kind of replacement T-ring. Could anyone tell me what the correct thread size is please? Ray

Just wanted to thank you guys for all the help with the AZGTI over the past 2 years. My time with the mount has come to an end and i've sold the unit to move to an EQ5. This has to be one of the best and most supported mount threads on this forum and a pleasure chipping in and chatting with you all. Once again thank you for all the support and answers you have helped me with. Ray

Whats the concensus on the secondary encoders? Do people have them switched on or off?

We seem to have a rare clear night predicted for tomorrow up here in the north east. However, the -4 "feels like" temp doesnt fill me with joy.

Mine has done this too. After 3 star alignment. Went bonkers pointing downwards. Had to remove power. Restart and realign and its not happened since. Done it just the once in the last 18months.

@AstroNebulee Thank you that's great. Ive ordered the adapter for now and will get a rotator a little later.

Looks like i need some kind of adapter. The connector on the 72ed is male ended and plain inside. The stellamira slides inside and holds in with 2 thumbscrews. The stellamira comes apart but they are female threads that wont link to the 72ed.

Wow fantastic result. Really appreciate your efforts and description of workflow. I think i'll start again from scratch and look into getting some decent flats. Then have a play with the tools you have used.

I was wondering if it was getting too hot but to the touch it was just gently warm. It drained a 10,000mah power pack in around 2 hours though. My Canon 550d will run off this pack for 2 - 3 nights without a charge. I read someone said to remove the controller for the dew heater but it runs on full power then and they say it gets a bit warm! Attached a stack of just lights. straight from DSS. Autosave.tif