Astro Noodles

And then she went back to texting her friends on the i-phone, right? 😄

I knew you would explain it better than I could. 🙂

Hi Keen Without the equatorial wedge, the telescope won't rotate to track the sky correctly. Celestial objects describe an arc across the sky. Without a wedge you would doing very well to get 20 sec subs with a 500mm focal length. This may help explain it better than I can What is an equatorial mount and how does it work? - Space Oddities There is also a very long thread called 'No EQ challenge' or something on here which will show you what is possible without an equatorial mount.

Hi John Welcome to SGL😀

Hi Keen. I'm not an expert on this, but are you using a wedge? It looks like the AZ-GTE is an alt-az mount. Without an equatorial wedge, stars will start to trail around the periphery of the image quite quickly. Make sure everything is fully tightened and that nothing is slipping. This has happened to me. It doesn't look like you can move the centre of balance on this scope, so with a big camera hanging off the back, this might be putting a bit of strain on the motor. Also, the mount is rated for 5kg (although I can't find out whether it is for optical or imaging). The StarTravel 102 OTA is 3kg, and the camera + accessories probably weigh another KG which will put you close to the rated capacity. This could potentially be putting strain on the motor which would cause the stars to trail. Also, make sure your mount and tripod are properly levelled before you start your imaging session. As I said, I'm not an expert on this, but these are a few suggestions. I hope it is one of them rather than a fault with the mount. 🙂

Oh, so this rubbish weather is your fault 😆 Nice scope, I hope you get to use it one day.

But at least they still have time to keep us all amused with elaborate April fools wheezes. 😄

Do you have the camera exposure time set to match the intervalometer exposure time?

I agree with what you say here. I can't achieve focus without a barlow on my 130p. That puts the focal length out to a whopping 1300mm. Also, the mount and tripod are too wobbly for the scope. I'm sure that, with the right mount and guiding that the 130p would produce very fine DSO images but it would be very expensive.

Is this what you are thinking of? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-ra-motor-drive-for-starquest-and-az-eq-avant-mounts.html#

The Great British Summer 😁

As I no longer have astro darkness until mid August and the clouds have set in for the summer, I thought I would bore you with a photo of my two rigs. I have nothing better to take photos of at the moment. 🙂

Quick, if you get out at 23:00 there might be a break in the clouds! 😂

I quite like red.

Just keep posting. 🙂

Nah, that's not why 😄

I admire your optimism. I might start using Clear Outside as a tool to indicate what I should drink. Every time I look at it - Red= a glass of red wine, Amber = a glass of beer and green = a cup of tea. What do you think?

Hi I was in the same position as you a few weeks ago, so I asked FLO what they recommended and they suggested this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/horizon-8115-2-way-heavy-duty-tripod.html. It seems pretty sturdy to me and I am pleased with it.

Hi goddasgirl Both eyepieces are good for stars and planets. The 20mm will give you a wide view and the 10mm will give you a higher magnification and a narrower view.

Welcome

That's good, What sort of camera did you use? Did you have to use a barlow lens to achieve focus?

Winter is definitely the best time for us northerners to do astronomy. They say that nothing worth doing is ever easy. 🙂

Don't worry, this is an astronomy forum, not 4-chan. 😂

I have been able to see the Orion Nebula quite clearly through my 130mm Newtonian. City skies are a problem, I am in a bortle 6/7 zone? Where are you located, city centre or suburbs? Which country? What eyepieces do you use? It's cloudy here most of the time too.