Rallemikken

Small upgrade. The observatory has got a foldable windshield, and I have made a platform for my new dob. The former dollhouse is modified a bit, with a door that makes me able to store the dob and a chair when not in use. I made a cradle for the tube, after all, you first get the mount, and then the tube. To heavy and wobbly to carry in one piece. The windshield is hinged to the wall, and is raised and folded out in two seconds. It's mounted in the prominent wind direction, and one (but not both) side section can be folded in. I have missed a scope to use visually while I image, hence the 8" dobsonian. I have also experienced nights when I have lost many subs due to wind, hope this will help a bit.

Up here at 64 degrees I have six more weeks to wait. But when it gets dark, it gets dark fast, and the nights are long. I have more than 12 hours of astro dark for two months around christmas. Can be quit exhausting, frankly. But suits me well, I have a job that bends with the seasons, with many blank weeks during the winter. Actually, that's the main reason I took up this hobby last year. Haven't regretted a second!

No, but the cable most likely end in USB at your pc... Looks like the problem is in the mount. Have you tried to connect via usb into the handcontroller? This is how I managed my HEQ5 untill I got my hands on a usb/eqmod cable. No difference in function, but I had to start the controller first. Fiddly, the only reason I droppet it.

This is one of the occasions where it is useful to have an install on another platform, just to eliminate hardware issues. Alternatively, you can keep an old laptop with a dated install you know works, and is separated from internet. Or you can have a Pi with Astroberry in a drawer. It runs Kstars with INDI drivers under Linux, as far away from windows and Eqmod as you get. Once it's configured, it's just a matter of swapping a couple of usb-cables and fire it up.

I know, but "newt's" sounds better. Considered to use "reflectors".... And the refractor guy's don't know the difference anyway.

God knows how, must be entrophy at it's best. But they are OK as guidescopes. Bought a ST80 for my newt, have even used it for imaging. This one is fairly easy to take apart, just two lenses. And don't forget, all big scopes in the world are newt's.

They are not high-end, far from that, but the mirrors and focusers on those I mentioned is good. If you want to throw in some extra bucks, choose one with a carbon tube. Other than that, it's much more satisfactory to tune and enhance a midrange scope to top performance, than just buy the one on the top shelf. On this endeavour, you learn a lot, and you hone your skills. This is typical for many of us who use newtonians, we love to tinker. And our scopes lasts forever, or at least as long as the coating on the mirrors. Sooner or later all refractors fills up with god-knows-what, and you will have a hard time dismantling it and cleaning it up. Once in a while people with problems posts flats here, pretty obvious which ones uses refractors..........

First decide the focal lenght, based on the desired field-of-view. Also bear in mind that you most likely will continue to use your current scope, unless you sell it. Therefore, it makes little sense to increase the focal lenght just a bit, with a 400mm I'd at least want 600mm, maybe 800mm. I have a HEQ5 with a SW 200PDS newt witch I use with a DSLR and the finderscope as guidescope. It is heavy for this mount, and as I recently got my hands on a Canon 5D (which adds additional weight) I'm considering a downgrade of the scope. What about a 6" newt, either f/4 or f/5?? SW has their 150PDS (750mm focal lenght) at a reasonable price, and the more pricey 150P f/4 Quattro (with 600mm and a coma corrector). StellaLyra has a 6" f/4 without coma corrector which is priced something between the two SW-scopes. The SW 130PDS is somewhat hyped, in my opinion, and a bit wee for the HEQ5. The smaller the scope, the more prominent the obstruction caused by the secondary mirror.

I've made many mods on this scope, even before I've taken it into use. It came from FLO this spring, and it will not be dark enough her untill september. It might seem unfamiliar, thats because I've removed the fan, and dressed the edges and bottom of the mirror with flocking material. I've also painted the top and bottom end rings in a less glossy black. Notice the scuff marks on the top end ring: It's caused by the retainer studs on the top cover plate. It was too tight, I had to use brute force to get it on and off. I used a knife and removed three of them. Now the cover is pretty loose. Remove two, and it still stays in place. The collimation studs/pinbolts are M6x52mm. Theese are homemade, but you can buy them by the metre in hardware stores. Try to get some of good quality. They are threaded into the top mirror cell plate, be aware to stop before they reach the mirror. Then they are secured with the first nut. I dropped in an additional two nuts to reach focus on my DSLR. Now I collimate by turning the last nut, the studs stay rigid. The other three screws are M6x38mm, I think theese have been used on some furniture. DO NOT use force on theese, you can twist the top mirror cell plate. The bolt I replaced on the base is UNC, that is; not metric. The green tint on it comes from a Volvo combine.... Now I can carry the base by the handle without worrying about the whole thing to disintegrate. During mounting I saw this flaw, and considered to turn the bottom plate upside down. I discarded this idea, because the top of the integrated nut also serves as base for the distance tube. Under the top cover I have made an aperature mask, to avoid light on the focuser tube and the retainer nuts on the spider. I did this mod on my 200PDS, and it really made a huge difference. I also made an almost identical, that fits between the sides of the primary mirror, and the inside of the tube. It's mounted as high as possible on the mirror, without flipping over. The photo of this is slightly out of focus, but you can see a couple of places it doesn't fit 100%. It prevents ligh from entering from behind, and maybe also prevent reflektions from above. An alternative way of the traditional aperature mask. The outer ring with the numbers are made of steel, paper and transparent tape. Simple and homemade. I place the scope on the ground, find Polaris, and rotate the whole thing until the spirit level is pointing to zero. I might make a removable indicator point later, but will try out this first.

The 600D and 450D are cheap as chips, at least here in Norway. I have two of each, one modded and one stock. Both are easy to mod, and well documented on Gary Honis's site. I use all four on a regular basis, depending on the target. I'd keep the 450D, maybe buy another, mod it, and resell that?

Pretty much the rule nowadays. I have an 8" of those, it's a really good scope. But at that price, there's bound to be flaws. I've dealt with a couple, check out this thread: And for astrophotography with a crop sensor DSLR, the mirror has to be raised 20mm. No big thing, very easy mod on theese scopes. Clear Skies!

It will wobble. Imaging you sit with the scope in your lap. Firm and sturdy. I bought a stool, like this: The tray is removable, toss it away. Was this what you meant? Highly recommended. Requiers a solid foundation. You spin the stool around with the dob, and raises and lowers it as needed. Time flies, and no bad backs. And you follow the objects automaticly, without thinking.

I have not done socalled nightscapes or Milky Way shots myself, but that is a good place to start, to get the grips on things. Much technical things to learn. And as you can see above in the reply from the Lazy Astronomer, you can do galaxies with long camera lenses, but for the faintest ones you might need some sort of motorized mount. As mentioned before, Andromeda, Pleiades and Triangulum should be possible without a mount, if you use a lens longer than 100-150mm and shoot many pictures. That's how most astrophotographers start, me included.

That was very nice indeed. I have a ST 80 at 400mm, but such an image on that scope would be very difficult. Triplet or camera lens?

Not sure what equipment you used, but if you shot M51 with a DSLR and a standard 50mm lens, the galaxy would not be bigger than a star. Much to faint, details would drown. Learn to use a field-of-view calculator. To get a detailed picture where you clearly see that it is M51, you need a telescope at least 800mm long. I suggest you have a take at Andromeda, Triangulum galaxy, or the Pleiades if you stick to that lens. Or Orion, if you don't have to much light pollution.

Yes, and the one with the best depth. Something you rarely see in astrophotos. In this image, you can clearly see (or imagine) that the object has three dimensions. Can it be some mismatch in the merging, or what is the answer?

Stellarium. Set place and time as you wish.

This is one thing I like, gives you a glimse of the capabilities of new or unknown gear. Didn't get good guiding untill I took a deepdive into the settings of my new guidecamera. That beeing said, the GUI (graphical user interface) where you actually do theese adjustments looks like something from RedHat 7.2... Btw, thats not RHEL I'm talking about.

You can't tell how big the ocean is by measuring one drop of water. I generally don't trust science on this level. Much of it is just things they make up........

Naahh... I do well, have an obsy. And as I said, it's borderline! Live in Norway, and when it's clear and dark it's most often also cold and still. It's just the stock HEQ5/200PDS rig, but I've had guiding in the low 0.4 RMS, and usually expose 2-3 minutes. I'd say this combo is the best value-for-money, as long as you can remedy the wind, if any!!

The HEQ5 can handle an 8" reflector without issues, as long as it's not windy. Entry-level, but semi-proff quality. And platesolving is something you do once for each target, don't confuse it with guiding. Platesolving is usually done with your main scope and imaging camera, and it's mainly to set up (frame) the target in your camera. Also used in polar alignement and such, but that's another story. If you buy a 6" or 8" reflector, you can use the 50mm finderscope as guidescope. FLO has a set with camera and adapter for a reasonable price. As for camera; I use a DSLR. I want a dedicated astrocamera, but that will cost the same as the rest of my rig combined. So untill further, I have a collection of three Canon's, like to keep things simple.

Gary Honis, the one with the DSLR-mods, have instructions on building something like this. He buildt an enclosure in styrofoam around the cam, and put the element inside. http://dslrmodifications.com/rebelmod450d16c.html Was considering it myself, have the parts around, but heat rarely is an issue up here. Most often it is the cold that makes trouble.

52 Night Sky - Remco Hekker in the Netherlands, because he thaught me to set up and use platesolving and polar alignement in Kstars/Ekos. Been a year since his last video, wish he got back on the horse.... BorealisLite - Gary from Canada, because he thaught me to master Siril, not just run it in the default scriptmode. He also have a few tips on processing in Gimp, the place where I do most of my processing....... AstroStace - Stacey from the UK, because she thaught me what clipping is, and how to avoid it. She also have videos that explain the maths and algorithms behind stacking, flats and biases, and other technical things that's nice to know, but others avoid......

Agree, but many are used to SkyWatcher's cells. On those you can tighten the securing bolts hard, without loosing collimation or damaging anything. When they are spread out like on the StellaLyra, you have to take care NOT to overtighten, or things start to twist. Anyway, they shall not be tightened hard, no big deal. Screw them in so they just touch the upper plate.

It's the real thing! Purchased from you this spring, from Norway. And don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining! I couldn't get a better scope for this price anywhere else. Especially the focuser and secondary mirror holder impressed me. But theese scopes are always objects for tinkering, and there is a lot that can be done. The reason I want to use my DSLR are for planetary imaging, I already have a 200PDS/HEQ5 rig for DSO imaging. All in all, I'm satisfied, but the thing with the central bolt in the base should be sorted out. When mounted, it was wiggle. Not much, but everybody responds to that by tightening the bolt. Which will do nothing, because the mentioned shiny tube is to long. When you later try to unlock this bolt, the nut-part in the lower plate comes out with the bolt. Just stupid engineering.And the bolt itself should be metric, not UNC.