drivera

1 hour ago, PhilB61 said:

Can't help with your new telescope choice but I'm with Adam above. It would take a very significant impact to knock things that far out to not be able to focus. If the lens cell is firm and non of the elements are loose (try gently shaking) and the focus tube is secure then it can really only be a spacing issue. I presume you are manually focussing, can the tube move freely over it's whole range. Have you tried with an eyepiece with/ without the flattener to try and narrow down the issue, you may need a diagonal for visual to get the necessary backspacing. Some of this testing could be done in the daytime if you have a distant object to try and focus on.

Ah didn't think I could do it in the daytime. I'll hook the camera up without the flattener and see if I can focus during the day time, plus check again nothing is loose. It is very weird.

12 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Send it to RVO, they have the kit now to do full Zygo tests, and re align if needed, I don’t   think FLO have any kit like that, and would need to send it out to someone for testing…I have mine done at RVO and they were excellent…👍🏻

Oh amazing thanks for the recommendation.

Ah yes thank you!

My budget ideally would be < £2k, but also thought given the mounts weight the scope wouldn't extend / push past that anyway? But could assume wrong?

Hey,

I tried to quickly surmise my situation in the topic!

So in the UK it's been terrible weather for months and with limited time (can't image during the week) it was about 2 1/2 months since I have tried to image. I have a GT71 setup with a ZWO 533MC, on my GEM45 (don't get me started but won't be upgrading soon).

I went to image about 3 weeks ago on my first calendar cleared/clear skies and I suddenly couldn't get focus, even more, the stars were off and my mask couldn't pull any spikes. I always take my scope and gear all off, don't touch it, store it and return it for my next session. Something has gone wrong and maybe suddenly knocked (wife wants to blame a cleaner, and I want to blame the wife so we resulted in natural causes and force majure).  I'm doing first tests on it on my next clear night such as removing the flatenner to see if it is that or not. Otherwise, something has damaged the scope and it seems FLO are manic busy can't do any tests, and I will see if Rother Valley can do a check. It's also out of warranty.  

So...back to my main next question. I'm going to have to buy a new scope. I've loved the GT71 for widefield and it's beautiful but I would love to get into galaxies more. I have been trying but unsuccessfully identifying the right scope like a RC8/10 that would provide great images for galaxies, but under acceptable GEM45 weight (45lb/20kg).

I'll be imaging with my 533MC until in the next 4-6 months I'll step up to mono (not sure which camera).

What scope would you go for to image galaxies but can handle the weight on GEM45.

Thanks!
 

Hi,

I have a recently purchased (few months now) GEM45 with iPolar. In the last three to four attempts using iPolar, it connects to the iPolar but then says 0 stars detected. I've tried this using my Mac and Parallels windows version. I'm at a loss...on whats going on.

It shows the USB/driver connect for the software and then nothing for stars.

Cheers

Awesome thank you! Seems like that might have been it. Just did the files again and they're fine, so came out okay! This is cropped but no vingette at all when I stacked them.

29 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

Did you cool the camera when taking the flats? Was thinking there might be dew in the centre there.

Aah I wonder if that could have been it, as I did it after a night out shooting - brought it in and then about half-hour to hour later I did the flats. Will try again soon now its been inside and temps settled

Hi there,

I completed flats this morning with my 533MC, GT71. I used Kstars to capture them with an ADU of 30000, and tolerance of 1k. I went to stack them and have a terrible purple vingette around the stacked file. I validated it was my flats when I stacked without them.

What causes this? Is it the light source or something else?  The image attached is stretched in Siril straight after stacking.

Hey there,

I'm looking at a winter project and I'm seeking some advice for someone in the UK ( not sure with category to put this in). I'm on 0.6 of an acre and decided (with the bosses permission) to start building a dome. I have been researching kits and some range from £3k to £20k and I'm a bit intrigued if people have tried to build their own retractable domes through a DIY or half makeshift shed that would do the trick? Otherwise recommended kits.

OR... 
A semi-portable 360' pier or fixed pier with a moveable shed to cover during poor weather nights but controllable? 

Many thanks,

Steve

Hi there,

I have recently gotten the GEM45 mount, using a WO GT71 and a ASI120MM for guiding.  I am a bit lost at how to 'set it up' correctly for each imaging according to their manual.

I run it off Astroberry with KStars and internal guiding (but looking at PHD2 soon if I figure it out).

iOptrons manual says to do a One Star Alignment each time you set it up.  It says it displays an alignment star, and then using the arrow keys to centre it in the eyepiece then press enter.

Do people do this when using it for imaging? Do I go ahead and just do a sample shot through my main scope not guide scope at the pointed star and do a plate solve to check it's perfectly in the middle? If it's not then adjust to make it in the middle and then I'm good to go?

I have noticed that when I do GoTo it is off and won't be on point so then I use platesolving/slew to target which finds it, but then my guiding is at about 1.2-1.5rms?

Should I do one or two star alignment each time I setup?

Thanks!!
Steve

20 hours ago, Astro Waves said:

Thanks very much. The SGP and redcat are great together, been really enjoying using them. Only thing I'd say about the Veil especially when not using as astro mod is definitely shoot to laptop and proper stretch the data on the test images to make sure you've got it framed nicely other wise you might struggle as I did first time around.

I attempted the Veil last night.  Omg it was painful. My Redcat has been replaced by a GT71 as I broke the Redcat 😞 When I got the GT71 I also purchased the L-Extreme filter to see.

I'm shooting with a Sony A7iii and I feel theres something weird going on with the sensor - I can't get my bias/darks right. I'm trying to understand if it's okay or not by reading up on ADU values etc. 🤷‍♂️

Great point on framing! The GT71 is a bit on the heavy side, and I was using the new WO Base for the SGP and I messed up the levels, so my guiding was shot. The camera was upside down so I was taking a shot then watching it on the laptop, then moving it and it was so hard to get the framing. I was running out of time so I saw a clip and decided to run with it.

I just can't seem to learn how to process images correctly! I did this with Siril then Photoshop 😕. 

This is:

- 30 Lights x 180s

- 20 Darks

- 20 Flats

- 40 Biases.

My first attempt!  I'm lost on the processing side.....but  guess slowly but surely? Oh yeah excuse the upside/down/wrong way image. 

That's awesome!!

It gives me hope with the same setup; SGP and a Redcat + Sony A7iii (not astro modded though).

I'm hoping I get some clear skies soon in Kent as I really want to attack the Veil nebula!

Hi there,

I was trying to understand how much I need to re-align my PA scope in my Sky Guider Pro.  If the drawing attached is an object the inner circle in the scope at the cross hairs is that fine for PA or should it be absolutely still when rotating 360?

I'm thinking I'm going to pull the trigger - it's about 250 over budget for me. But if the triplet is better than the doublet and if my mount may struggle now, it sets me up for the right one in 12-24 months when I get a better mount (GoTo etc).

I was leaning around the WOZS71 after all the reviews/back & forth etc than the WOZS81 due to the price as its about on point for budget.

The WO ZS71 looks decent so was trying to now narrow if its worth the difference and price pain.

3 hours ago, PadrePeace said:

That worth stating for sure as the heavier your rig the more strain on gears and the like. That’s why mine was balanced very carefully for each session. The WO71GT is only 2.2kg so I guess it’s all about what you are going to add to that. As I understand it the SGP 5kg limit is for imaging as I cannot see anyone doing visual work with it so working in the 3-4 kg range would be a comfortable upper end target.
Balance is important as is the length of the rig as inertia is a consideration. That said mine guided through PHD to 0.40 arch seconds on RA which I’d say endorsed it for me. 

Thats really interesting. I thought it was 2.93kg so I have been pre-empting my total weighting around 4.3kg with all the stuff. I'm wondering if I do move the guidescope/cam to the counterweight bar it can assist.

7 hours ago, PadrePeace said:

Here is a screen shot of the telescope tab. Once you have loaded and saved your native scope details into the app you just need to set the reduction amount located at the bottom of the tab, in this case it’s a 0.8 reducer (if barlowed it would be something like 2.0, 3.0) and turn the setting on or off to change your image effective FL and hence FOV, pixel scale et al….

Oh that is awesome! thank you for sharing that. Now it makes sense.

I was wondering how to understand the 'flattener/reducer' impact per lens (new world).

9 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Could have been worse - you might have been married........... 

(sorry, couldn't stop myself).

Michael

Haha won't be long now - so lets see how many more scopes hit the dirt lol

10 hours ago, PadrePeace said:

Hope I’m not teaching you to suck eggs but try putting the various scope FL options and the 533 into the Telescopious Telescope simulator which will allow you to see the framing of almost any target you might think of. It allows you to rotate framing plan mosaics and use the native and reduced FL as well. It reads out Dawes limits, pixel scale, FOV and target coordinates which is helpful to assess almost any combination of gear. 

I have a 71GT and have mounted it with an ATIK 460EX on a Sky Guider Pro. Fully rigged with a filter wheel and focus cube

Thank you so much for sharing! This is extremely extremely helpful!
I'm amazing it's 4.5kgs with that setup, that's great. I was guesstimating my weight with the 71GT around 4.5 too.  It's great to see you got it working and set up and getting 4mins.  It gives me confidence!  I was thinking I'll go and place the guidescope on the counterweight side too to reduce the it if needed, but maybe not needed?
I'll be technically a few hundred over budget if i did the 71GT but feel it would be worth it in the long run?

RE: Telescopious - thanks for sharing that. I've been going over and over on that with subjects etc, but I'm so new to this that I think I've done it wrong - not including the flattener and how that impacts FOV/reducing it?

1 hour ago, beka said:

Sure it was accidental - maybe jealous?😀

Haha I thought she'd want to keep it in pristine condition to have peace and quiet when I disappear for imaging haha

1 hour ago, Dave Lloyd said:

That's a change. It's usually having to justify a new purchase to your better half. She's done the hard part for you. 

Haha exactly!

7 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Skywatcher, like the Evostar 72 ED or 80 ED DS Pro or the Esprit range.

Alan

Wow the 80 ED DS Pro is nearly half the price of WO! and bigger focal length. I think the weight will max me over 5-6kgs with guides cope + camera etc. Hmm wonder if I could get away with it.
 

12 hours ago, JeremyS said:

How did he do that then?

She accidentally kicked the coffee table it was on - rolled off 😕  

12 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

Its worth looking at the SW range too, never been convinced by the WO GT range, the Z 61 or 73 are good value though.

Alan

Thanks Alan, what's the SW range? Do you mind sharing an example for comparison?

I also saw ALTAIR STARWAVE 70 ED TRIPLET  but unsure of that vs the WO Z71?  There's a big difference in price between the Z71 and Z73 so now i'm going down a the rabbit hole.

10 hours ago, Adam J said:

I think that the thing to remember is that the moving to a smaller sensor and a longer focal length at the same time will greatly reduce the field of view from your current setup. 

Personally I would go with the GT71 as it's a triplet shorter focal length and will make the most of the 533 sensor. 

Yeah that's my learning curve on this trying to ascertain that and the limitations, I don't want to set myself up for failure!  Having the Skyguider Pro I'm limited to about 5kgs which is also another factor with guidescope and ccd.

Looking at targets like Andromeda, NA etc I realise it'll be filled past the FOV but other ones like Pinwheel, parts of Veil, Crescent etc will be good for it?

We're looking at our home insurance for accidental damage to see if it'll pay for repairs/replacing it. As it seems it'll take months to get it fixed potentially, thats why I'm  looking at different style scope as if I get the Redcat back then I don't want two of the same.

Hi there,

So my... fiancé broke my Redcat. 🤣

Considerations: William Optics 2019 Gran Turismo GT71 APO Triplet Refractor; William Optics New Super Zenithstar 81 f/6.9 I'm looking at purchasing a new scope. I currently have (had) a Redcat 51 and looking at a new purchase, while also upgrading from DSLR to the ASI533MC.  What would people recommend for this setup? I'm limited by weight with my Sky Guider Pro at this stage.

The WO GT71 is a tiny bit cheaper than the WO 81.

I'm looking at a closer FOV for DSO objects than the Redcat but unsure of the 533MC impact.

OR any scopes like these out of the WO would be worthwile and/or better?!

Thanks!

Steve