StuartT

7 minutes ago, Elp said:

Bit confused here. Isn't this thread about the 2600 duo where no second guide camera or oag is needed?

Apologies for diverting. Entirely my fault. Just that this may be a Eureka moment for me! (I'll take it offline)

17 hours ago, Dark Raven said:

That is suboptimal position and you are loosing a lot of light for the OAG camera.

See proper positioning here: 5. Using OAG-L and 2” EFW

Now this is very interesting! It may even be a game changer. It may explain why I get quite a lot of 'lost star' beeps in PHD2. I have the filter screwed into the back of the telescope focuser.

I just dismantled mine and it seems to have a M54 15mm spacer in there which I assume is to produce the correct back focus distance. So perhaps I could replace that with a filter drawer of the same thickness?

Thanks for this!!

On 05/12/2023 at 18:59, Peter Drew said:

After all my years in astronomy I'm still puzzled by the hype surrounding Takahashi telescopes as an OTA.  Granted the performance is legendary but this is due to the excellence of the Canon made objective, so shouldn't Canon deserve the accolades?.  In reality, what is Takahashi's contribution to the hype? a fairly ordinary looking tube assembly, yukky colour (ymmv) and a so-so  focuser which those who can still afford it replace with something better.  Wouldn't another telescope, say an Askar, with the same Canon objective, be a better telescope overall? or are Canon objectives available only to Takahashi ? I'm not knocking refractors, I have at least 20 including 7 150's and a 220.   🙂   

That's fighting talk, sir! And you know it.

(but someone had to say it 🤣)

On 09/12/2023 at 13:05, Dark Raven said:

It differs from OAG in a sense that the filters come after OAG in the imaging train. With duo filters are in front.

Not in my setup. The Esprit has the filter screwed into the focuser, then OAG then the camera. In fact, I'm not sure how it could be otherwise as the OAG is actually mounted on to the camera.   

On 09/12/2023 at 13:06, petevasey said:

I'd be very surprised if your OAG is behind your L Extreme filter, i.e. on the camera side of the filter.  

Again, I am not sure how it could be otherwise with an OAG? (see photo) Where would the filter go if not in front of the OAG?

As for the image circle the Duo requires, I make this 41.5mm which is fine for my Esprit at full FL which has 44mm

What a great idea! How come no other camera manufacturers thought if this? 

I'm slightly puzzled by all the comments like "but will this guide through narrowband filters?" - How is that any different from using an OAG? I use an OAG on the back of my 2600MC Pro for almost all my imaging and I generally use an L Extreme filter. My guiding is just fine, so I can't really see why there would be a problem with this new Duo.

A larger concern for me would be the image circle, as the guide chip looks a little further from the centre than my prism is. Need to check that.

This chap seems to like it too

3 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I am not sure but I just put an HEQ5 in my cart at FLO and put Italy as the destination for the purchase. It was the Rowan belt model costing £1200+ to buy in the UK but only £900+ sending to Italy. Am I missing something?

No. You're not missing anything. It was me who was missing something! 🤣

12 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Won’t the not paying VAT with FLO balance out the import duties?

Just now, Stu said:

VAT is deducted for non UK sales, but presumably local VAT equivalent is charged on import to Italy? Worth researching all this.

Cool!

I just checked astroshop.de and they are significantly more expensive, so when VAT is deducted it would def be cheaper to order from the UK (even with import duty).

Thanks guys!

5 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Won’t the not paying VAT with FLO balance out the import duties?

why would there be no VAT?

Just occurred to me that ordering this lot from FLO (or another UK supplier) for delivery to Italy would incur import duty. Anyone know of any good EU suppliers as reliable (and well stocked) as FLO?

Thank you all so much for this advice. SUPER helpful!

20 hours ago, Elp said:

I'd also ask them what their nightly weather is like, if it's breezy which my experience typically is like, a Newtonian will move a lot unless the tripod is set in stone.

19 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

One of these factors is portability. Does he need a nomad setup, to be able to go to dark sites easily? Or is it a more sedentary setup for his backyard? Traditional mounts can be quite heavy, someone with back problems might not want to drag such setup outside and might get discouraged after some time. Or use it less often, which means learn more slowly, and feel he's not making any progress.

 

apols. I missed out this important info, you are quite right. He is on a mountain, 1000m up in northern Italy. Frequent very clear nights. It doesn't need to be portable, I would think he will leave it set up for quite long periods under a Telegizmos, or similar. He's also super fit and an active, outdoors kind of a guy who is used to heavy labour.

45 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

EQ5, PDS130, autoguiding trinkets would fit the budget. Not much left for a camera, but some second hand deals could work for that.

I would be inclined to suggest an HEQ5 instead and maybe start with lunar first and some short exposure DSO unguided to get going. Wont be too long until guiding turns out to be necessary but that could be another purchase if the budget doesnt stretch further at the moment.

Or alternatively lean more into the DSO use and get a small refractor that can work well with a smaller mount. Something like a redcat51 or an Edph 61 and an Az-GTi. Or a Samyang 135? Many options, all fairly expensive though...

Good idea to check what the second hand market has to offer for sure.

thanks for this. I like the idea of the HEQ5 (as that has GOTO, unlike the EQ5, correct?). Is the HEQ5 accurate enough for imaging?

Which camera would you recommend? 

A friend of mine wants to start doing astrophotography (mostly DSOs and a little lunar perhaps). He currently has no equipment but he is technically competent and a very practical guy. Would you be able to suggest a setup for him costing up to €2000? I imagine that a newt and an OSC is going to be the most affordable option, but can a decent mount be fitted into that budget too?

Thanks so much 

Got four hours on this last night with the Esprit. My guiding was particularly good (0.38"), so I got tight, round stars 🙂 

Going to add some more data to this when I can.

8 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Put a dew heater band on and leave it.

When it's cold outside with a lot of moisture around, as it was last night, I put the lens caps on before I bring the optics back inside and leave the dew strips running for a while. There's nothing worse than bringing a freezing cold bit of glass from outside into a warm house, it will instantly fog over. By putting the caps on you are trapping some cold air against the glass which will then warm up gradually and hopefully not form any water droplets but evaporate away slowly. I keep a desiccant bag inside the dew-shield, trapped by the aperture cap so it can't get free and touch the objective and a desiccant 2" insert at the eyepiece end. Never had any problems when doing this.

Yes, I have the dew heater on now.

Sorry, I should have said my scope lives outside, so it wasn't a question of bringing a cold optic into a warm house.

Thanks both. 

I did think of leaving the cap off at the focuser end, but I think my scope has some other kind of lens at the bottom, so is not really an open tube. I have been unable to find a cross sectional diagram to verify this. It's an Esprit 150 ED

Last night was particularly heavy for dew and this morning I am seeing a fine mist of dew on the inside of my frac's objective. How can I clear that?

33 minutes ago, globular said:

 

But more than a year or so ago and/or hour by hour (to focus on nights) is subscription only.

Smashing! Thanks

1 minute ago, AstroMuni said:

I am not sure if they do. I was suggesting asking them if they keep the stats 🙂

sorry, so you were. I didn't read it properly 🤦‍♂️

Thanks everyone. Wasn't aware of the Meteoblue data, but that looks to be only daily averages of cloud cover so I need to see if it can be restricted only to the hours of darkness. If so, that would be fab and I don't mind paying.

12 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Did you check with FLO if they keep stats of Cloud cover as part of ClearOutside?

We are next to the gulf stream on the west, so I suspect the east coast maybe less cloud prone?? Thats just my guess, but as an island we are quite small so may not have much of a difference. Also the weather has been so unpredictable across the world due to global warming etc, that the next decade is probably going to be fluid. I know thats not good news for us astronomers as a whole 😞

I am aware of ClearOutside, but it is hopelessly inaccurate for prediction (as are all forecasts) and I no longer bother with it. But I wasn't aware they also recorded what actually happened. This is worth knowing

I have been trying to get hold of data on how many clear nights different parts of the UK have had over the recent past (as I am moving house next year). So far, I have not managed to find any, despite contacting the Met Office. best I can get is sunshine hours, which I guess is a somewhat reasonable proxy for clear nights, but not ideal since most sunshine is in the summer (when astronomy is hardest).

If anyone has any info/suggestions as to where I might be able to get my hands on historic clear night data for various parts of the UK I'd be very grateful.

Thanks

On 14/07/2023 at 20:12, 900SL said:

And why I'm thinking of getting the NBZ 6nm filter set if and when I go mono. Each filter is individually tested and the results included in the box.

this is worth knowing. I plan to go mono when I'm a grownup 😃 

7 minutes ago, 900SL said:

Thanks for publishing this, Stuart.  I was about to order a D2 filter to take on vacation (and against my better judgement, knowing Askar). Think I'll stick with the IDAS NBZ and just get extended Ha/Oiii.

 

you're welcome! 

Just to add to my post above, the % transmittance on Oiii is not great either (at under 80%)

2 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

It’s not just the cheaper brands. I fell foul of a set of Baader filters being off band on my fast scope.  I spoke to Mr Baader himself and he blamed my processing but there was no oiii in 20 hours of imaging at F2.8, hard to argue with that.  Plus plenty of star haloes in a product advertised as halo free too😊 

I moved to Chroma and funny enough the issues resolved.

as with most things, it seems you get what you pay for...

Cuiv the Lazy geek tested my Askar D2 (Sii and Oiii) filter. It's reasonably on band for Oiii but certainly not for Sii. The FWHM is also considerably wider than the 6nm advertised.

Needless to say FLO has graciously offered a full refund 👍

(contacted Askar themselves, but they declined to answer)