Dougie Smart

Thanks very much for your reply, that makes sense (the previous person was very helpful too 🙂). I've just ordered a Bahtinov mask from a local supplier in Scotland. to fit my 8" Newtonian. I will also have a wee peek at the online calculator. I think I may need to bite the bullet and purchase an EQ5 EQ mount with a motor. All the best, Dougie

Thanks for your comment Bright Giant. As previously mentioned, I have a Celestron 90LCM which tracks the stars using a drive and computer and was properly aligned prior to taking the long exposure images.. In the provided photo, the Orion Nebula region does not trail. I'm not sure what you mean by the red dot finder mounted on the flash shoe (I have no trouble lining up what I want to image with my rig, just difficulties with the focusing) I have attached another photo showing my setup. Hopefully you can help further. Thanks again, Dougie

Hi All, I was out observing last night and tried taking a picture of the Orion Constellation using an 18mm lens with my DSLR. I have a Celestron 90LCM and once aligned, I removed the scope and replaced it with my DSLR which has a dovetail attachment on the bottom. I stacked 7 x 4 minute exposures where the camera was set at ISO1600 set at f4.5 (attached). The telescope was centred on the Horsehead Nebula. Is it normal when using an 18mm lens that the central stars will be fixed and the outer ones will start to trail even on a driven mount? Would I be correct that to countermand this effect, I would need to use at least a 50mm lens or greater level of 'zoom'? I was also wondering how I can effectively focus my camera on the stars. I have tried switching the camera to 'live view' mode on a bright star, then zooming in and fine tuning it so the star appears to the smallest point as possible. I still find this technique difficult and feel I can never achieve optimal focus. Is there another easy method that I could try for better focusing? Hope someone can help. All the best. Dougie Orion complete 18mm lens (6 x 4 mins) 11-2-21.TIF

Telescope sorted. Once you guys advised me, it took 5 mins to repair. Brilliant 😁

Perfect Gents, thanks so much for your help. I'll have another go on it tomorrow. Hopefully the screws in the middle will do the magic trick. Thanks again, much appreciated your time in answering 👍

Hi All, I was wondering if someone can advise me on reattaching my focusing assembly on my Skywatcher 200PDS? I made the mistake of purchasing a motorised focuser from Sky-Watcher and due to poor instructions took the whole assembly off. This involved 6 screws (photos attached), and when screwing them all back in carefully, the bar underneath does not meet with the focusing barrel and so the focusing wheels just spin and are not in contact with the barrel. I have asked a contact from Skywatcher to send me an exploded view of this assembly, but have waited quite a while. Does anyone have a schematic of this assembly they could send through, or any advice of how I can get my scope working again. It's rather frustrating 😩. Hope you can help. All the best, Dougie