PeterStudz

Even if it needs some adjustment it looks like it’ll work to me. If you had a white light solar filter you could try it now. Well, it’s sunny here. This does remind me - if you haven’t got a white light solar filter it’s another great little DIY project. Very simple too and well worth having.

Looking excellent! I could not do without mine now. Eg just looking at Saturn at high magnification, going back inside to make a cup of coffee, and when I get back out still finding Saturn in the FOV is great. And that’s before I get to observing

They are fabulous images and a great achievement. Also shows that you don’t need that much “stuff” to get good results. Well, as long as you have the skills!

I’d like to know some tips on this too. I’m planning on an attempt to capture it on mobile phone with my 8” Dob. I’ve done a couple of practice runs and my method so far has been to make sure my finder (RACI 9x50) is spot on, then manually push/follow it in the finder. As long as the ISS isn’t too high in the sky (pushing a Dob at high angles is always a faff) then it hasn’t been too hard to keep in near the centre of the finder..

Looking good @GasGiant! And thanks for sharing. The only issue you MIGHT have is it slipping due to the thicker arcs. But then probably not. After all, there are other EQ platforms like that eg the Omegon at FLO.

What are they? What are they made of? I assume that they are new pads for the AZ bearing. And if so and when installed what do they run over? Is there any sort of textured surface? If not then there needs to be otherwise movement will be jerky and “sticky”. It’s often the case with these manufactured Dobs. Some get around this by using a lazy Susan for the bearing but I find that runs too freely. When I made my base I cut my pads out of a Teflon sheet. And I have it running over cheap textured aluminium like this… As for the right size for your bearings and setup the only way to find out is to try it and see.

“Maybe I missed it, Can someone explain how you polar align please ? Is it simply pointing the pointy end north as accurately as possible ?” For visual that’s accurate enough and all you need to do. There are ways of getting it more accurately aligned, but unless you are trying to do long-ish exposure astrophotography don’t worry about it now. ”Also, im at 51 degrees. Should I use the 50 or 52 degree wedge ?” It doesn’t matter… 50 or 52 will be more than good enough.

And if you haven’t got some already - a decent pair of binoculars, something like 10x50 which are easy to hand hold. Really useful for learning the sky, scouting out targets, planning a star hop... And I find that certain things, eg the Pleiades and Beehive Cluster, look their best in good binoculars. Better than any telescope.

An EQ platform has already been mentioned with the OP in another thread so I left that one out. I have a DIY EQ platform (they are so easy to make) and I now couldn’t do without it.

It’s all very personal with no right answer. Eg the only filters I’ve found useful are the Astronomik UHC and a variable polarising. IMHO the cheaper UHC filters are a bit pants and the variable polarising I’ve only used on Mars. But for me it’s been very useful on Mars. But for me I found a chair so useful. I don’t need to “stoop”, but in my job I stand/walk all day and the thought of having to stand for another 4 hours at my Dob (which I’ve done) doesn’t make me feel very relaxed!

I have the even more “budget” Svbony 7-21mm zoom and I have similar issues with FOV and eye relief. I sometimes observe wearing glasses (my daughter always). In fact she can’t stand the thing and I get comments like “errr… not that thing” if I go anywhere near it. Although there’s obviously better out there It’s put us both off zoom eyepieces. That and the fact BST StarGuiders (which I have) have proved optically better anyway.

Interesting. I haven’t found this with the focuser on my 200p. However, I have taken it completely to bits and put it back together. I have also installed a Lacerta fine focuser, so it’s not quite the same as it was. It’s all rock solid. The only play that I noticed was in the stock extension tube for 1.25 eyepieces. I replaced that with something more substantial and of a different length. I did that because I didn’t like the amount of draw-tube that extended into the light path. Probably makes no visual difference but it annoyed me! So much so that I thought of taking a hacksaw to the end of the draw-tube. But a different extension tube sorted that too.

Fiddling with collimation when it isn’t necessary and making it worse is something that I’m sure everyone with a Newtonian has done at some point. I certainly have. And it’s often a sign that the weather is cloudy. Sometimes you get complete beginners launching into it, getting in a mess, then coming on here when it really wasn’t necessary… first just get your new toy out under the stars. Before trying to fix a problem that might not exist!

Worth searching the site. Eg I found this which might be helpful. One other point that is mentioned in the link… I’d seriously considered a decent tripod (like the skywatcher steel tripod) when near the limit of the mount.

The tube I used was meant for model aircraft - fuel supply to a glow-plug engines - from the days when I made model planes. It’s flexible but quite stiff. If you put the slow-motion cable back on, tighten the thumb screw, and move it back and forth you should see if it works. In fact the idea came via someone else and was used to help prevent fixings vibrating loose from running model engines.

If you mean the locking screws working loose then it’s a common problem. I solved it by putting a small section of plastic tubing over the tread of the thumb screws. Just long enough so that when you tighten the screw it compresses the tube a little. That extra friction prevents the thumb screw moving and working loose.

Yes, I saw and thought about the acrylic sheet thing. I can see how it would be easier if trying to flock within a narrow tube. But for my 8” Dob it was so easy and straightforward to just stick it down the length of the whole tube I couldn’t see any benefit. I also flocked the inside of the focuser drawtube. Not sure if that was necessary but it was so quick and easy I thought that I might as well try.

I flocked my 8” Dob 2 years ago when I was still very much a beginner. For me it was far easier than I thought and after I’d stripped the tube down the actual flocking took under a couple of hours. In fact I had the whole thing back together, collimated and observing the moon as it got dark. I did the whole tube in 3 sections following the advice of someone on here. Although I found a head-torch useful when sticking the sections down.

I also prefer the first softer image. To me, having done mostly visual, it just looks far more natural. I’ve been through the “over sharpening” thing in mobile imaging where I think it’s even easier to get caught-up in and where you are very much on your own.

I have a NeXYZ but for me (we are all different) I found it over engineered, heavy and in practice no better than a simple, much lighter £10 adapter. Other than the moon I’ve taken smartphone snaps of… The Sun The International Space Station passing the sun Jupiter Saturn Mars Venus Neptune Uranus Orion Nebula Various Star Clusters A Comet The Ring Nebula Dumbbell Nebula Various Globular Clusters Various Galaxies Probably forgotten something. Basically everything that you can see at the eyepiece. I find it useful to record my observations and occasionally a bit of fun processing especially on those far too many cloudy nights. To get an idea of what people are doing have you had a look at the “Imaging - Smartphone / Tablets” on this site… https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/279-imaging-smartphone-tablets/

Collimation issues can be seen by doing a star test. A beginner can do that too. From experience my 8” Dob takes about 50mins to fully cool. I generally allow 1hour but that doesn’t mean I don’t look/observe before hand. For a start it’s useful to be able to learn and recognise tube currents. A sky looking clear does NOT mean good seeing. You can have a crystal clear sky and very poor seeing. Sometimes you can judge poor seeing by stars “twinkling”. Sometimes not. Poor seeing is often caused by the jetstream which is 5-7 miles above the earth’s surface. It’s invisible naked eye. You need a night of good seeing to do a star test. Otherwise it’ll appear “fuzzy/wobbly”. If a star that’s high in the sky is heavily twinkling then don’t do a star test. Or maybe give it a go in order to practice, learn & recognise poor seeing.

This ⬆️. A star test is essential and something you should learn to do.

Poor seeing will be more obvious as you push the magnification. Eg for me on Thursday Jupiter looked small but tack sharp at x80 to x100. But at x170 and above it was a fuzzy mess.

I thought it might be. There has been some very poor seeing the last week for me in Southampton. Monday the exception but still it wasn’t great. Astronomy requires patience. I can now recognise poor seeing, dew, transparency, collimation issues, stray light, when the OTA hasn’t cooled enough… Eg for cooling I think it’s useful to look at targets as soon as you get setup and learn to recognise the issue. For me being able to recognise all of the above took about a year, maybe more.

If dew is the problem you’ll notice it on your finder(s) first. So much so that I can’t see the finder cross-hairs let along the target. For this reason I have a finder dew shield too. If you think that your secondary has dew shining a light at it, down the focuser, will confirm or deny. As for collimation… have you done a star test? The rapid change in temperature of bringing the OTA back into the house where it’s warmer will quickly create condensation on your mirrors (primary and secondary) and in situations where you haven’t even got dew. You will then need to wait a considerable time, sometimes a couple of hours, for the condensation to evaporate. Also keep in mind that heat from around your eyes/face can cause condensation to form on the glass of your eyepiece too.