Mach13

Okay thanks for posting here you guys.... it helped me alot

I had the same led blinking 3 times after a firmware failure,, have to say Skywatcher support was next to useless...

I really thought i'd bricked my unit  🫣

but after reading here i realised that I after my initial firmware failure using wifi method i was trying to use the skywatcher usb adapter  (i recently bought) with the same firmware loader....when i really needed t o download the NON WIFI loader..

When I used that together with the Skywatcher Usb Adapter it worked a treat

Happy days... truly relieved

KUDOS to those that keep at it..

Hmmm  🤔 I'm wondering if the answer for this topic is the same response to how many guitars does a guitar player need?   Ans: Just one more! 😅

At the moment I have more guitars than OTAs  but I'm defo building an accumulation of additional' bits n pieces 🙂

20 hours ago, Rusted said:

Vlaiv covered it all perfectly but here are some more thoughts to inspire you emotionally.

The cost of entry level to white light, solar imaging and observing, is extremely modest using approved, solar film and is a very good place to start.
It is quite magical to be able to see the sun in fine detail with nothing more than a circle of approved, solar foil fixed firmly in front of your objective.
You can observe and image from almost anywhere. With any sized telescope. No light pollution to worry about and you can easily see what you are doing.
Many find day time observation and imaging a pleasant, relaxing change from shivering in the dark. Watch transits and eclipses in comfort and safety.
Practice handling all your equipment as often as the sun shines. No fumbling in the dark or tripping over invisible cables.

Thanks Rusted, yep I like the idea of daytime viewing and I appreciate your comment and the inspiration.

I've also seen reference to Baader Continuum filters.. do these make much of a difference in terms of viewing and or imaging?

Thanks as always for the prompt and detailed yet balanced response Vlaiv.  👍

So white light solar imaging would be a good economical place to start..

Don't think I would go DIY on a filter as the consequences of getting it wrong are too worrisome, but if that's all I'd need then that's not too bad.

Will give it some more positive thought.

Hi folks I like the idea of solar imaging, but its brand new territory for me.

I know nothing other than safety concerns about the need for filters of some type.

So before i get too curious about it.....

I thought i'd ask...

1. Will a Skymax 127 and DSLR and or ZWO 224 cut it?
2. If so what kit would I need beyond this? an estimate of costs would be cool

Great tip thanks

Interesting topic, and some really useful info here...

  I managed to get the image below of Jupiter recently but found focus a real pain... more luck than judgement.

Keeping it on the sensor is also a phaff but just about doable when I take some time to get Goto mount setup properly-ish

BUT now i have a DIY motorised focuser MOD I'm hoping for better things..

So I finally managed to mod install a focuser for my SkyMax 127

What I Bought
1x SkyWatcher Auto Focuser kit

1x GT2 200 mm x6 mm 2 mm pitch drive belt

1x GT2 6mm wide 60 tooth pulley with 12mm bore

1x GT2 6mm wide 20 tooth pulley with 6.35mm bore

I used the small bracket that came with the focuser to slip right in between the dovetail mount and the OTA.. its a snug n tight fit.. just put some Gaffa tape on it to protect the OTA No screws needed!!

Also made a felt washer out of some spare pads to go behind the OTA focuser

If I need to do a major focus change I will just slacken the grub screws to the motor pulley and manually set to approximate focus then retighten for fine tuning...

Now just need some clear skies

18 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

If your mount is a Go-to I suggest you use your laptop to control it. That gives you the ability to platesolve and the software will automatically centre your object in your Fov. I use Kstars/Ekos (free) and an RPi to manage the mount, camera etc. But you can use others like NINA (free) and a few other paid ones like SGPro.

Hmm plate-solving 🤔 Not really looked into it... Thanks will have a think about that..  In the meantime i'm ok finding things now for imaging... The flip mirror and the illuminated reticule are amazing aids

Have to say the illuminated reticule eyepiece is a real lifesaver when paired with a diagonal flip mirror.... now I just need an auto focuser motor (on order)

Jupiter BEST 22_17_26_pipp (2).bmp

thanks for the comments to date.. been a great help

I've also come across illuminated reticle eyepieces, anyone use tried them for this purpose?

They don't seem expensive if they safe alot of aimless sky searching

26 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

For bright planets I use a GoTo mount to initially find the planet, then centre it in the eyepiece and then remove the eyepiece and fit the camera and acquire and focus the planet using the full camera pixels (e.g. 1304x976 px), and then reduce the field to e.g 320x244 to take video without wasting storage and slowing the frame rate.

If I need to re-acquire the planet I use a 9x50 RACI finder and the full camera pixels.  I don't think a red dot finder would be good enough as even the 9x50 barely gives enough magnification.

I only use my flip mirror for faint objects, e.g Uranus, Neptune or plantary nebulae.

Note that you need to use the ASI224MC with an IR-cut filter to get the correct colour balance.

If you don't have a dew shield, you should buy or make one. A dew shield should be regarded as standard equipment on a Mak or SCT, just as on refractors. (The manufacturers don't want to provide one purely for marketing reasons - makes their product look long and ugly).  I have not bothered with dew heaters as yet.

Some great tips here thanks....  esp on video settings and IR cut filter...  I've already ordered a shield and dew heater together with a power pack as I'm always finding something will inevitably run low on power just as things start to get interesting.. so for me worth the investment in terms of the number of times I actually get a clear sky + objects high enough to see + getting enough heads up to be ready in time and not chasing my tail to get set up.....  as winter is on its way i'd rather be prep'd

Appreciate your comments... very helpful

22 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Just for comparison. the FOV for this combo is similar to using a 6mm Plossl (x250)

 

Not surprised you are having trouble landing on it, even with a GoTo.

Even without a flip mirror, with the AZGti mount  tracking the target, can you centre on it using a wide-field EP first, then switch to the cam?

 

Thanks ..... think I will have a play on astro tools to see what else i can come up with...  👍

16 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Make sure you align the scope first on a bright star then align the red dot. 

My Telrad was out the other night so I could not see Saturn I managed to get Saturn in my eyepiece then I adjusted the Telrad so when I went to Jupiter it was dead centre in the Telrad and also in the eyepiece. 

Thanks.... I've ordered a flip mirror , but will defo give that a go in the meantime... not sure why i didn't think of that, but then i often find myself in a (slightly panicky ) race against time to find and lock on before the neighbour's chimney pot, (and various trees) get in the way  🤣  he wont move it so i have to move location... 😅  Perhaps if i line up on the top edge of the red dot... (Saturn doesn't show through mine) that will be a useful reference point.... will try it tonight if a get a chance...  👍

19 minutes ago, AKB said:

Flip mirror and zoom eyepiece are useful tools.  Find it easily in the wide view, zoom in and keep centering, then flip to the camera.

Ahah that seems a very useful tool for my needs... Just found one and ordered it.... Whoop whoop!  Thanks so much!

Ok so I had my very first opportunity to see what I could see of Jupiter and Saturn yesterday evening.  I have a Skymax 127 (AZ mount) with an ZWO 224 and a red dot finder.

I found it incredibly hard to locate the little beasties on my viewscreen (Laptop)  Once I had them aligned as best i could with the red dot, I found myself just blindly moving the synscan up down and about in the hope id see it pop onto the screen view...

I have a few obstacles around my garden which make for having to relocate from time to time, so view finding became a bit of a curse...

I had all sorts of trouble with dew (I've now ordered a heater, power pack and shield for that) so some lessons learned and I might try a 2x barlow to get a bigger and hopefully clearer image, but that makes me think view finding is going to become even more difficult..

Re images i got (which i'm pleased with considering the difficulty I had) I  haven't bother stacking  the image below is just a single frame of each but i'm hoping for better things once my dew heater etal arrive..  If i get another chance anytime soon

Any tips on view finding folks?

Great topic choice!

I'm new to anything astro but lovin it... Captured this with 8-9 shots, on my Nikon D7000 through a Skymax 127 then stacked n processed this week...  am gonna give it another go as I didn't set the  camera 'mirror up' (which I learnt about today).. so will see if it means I'll get a sharper set of images...   I find the mineral moon idea fascinating..

My attempt at a Mineral Moon effect

Thanks. much appreciated... Will keep at it..👍

DSC_5468_lapl5_ap87834.bmp b.bmp

On 25/06/2021 at 18:45, Nik271 said:

I regularly image the moon with the same scope and a DSLR with a crop sensor, the whole moon disc  fits perfectly. So one solution can be to purchase a dirt cheap second hand crop sensor DSLR camera 😀

Thanks so much for your comment.. so i went for a DSLR.. steep learning curve on how it to use it but finally started to get images I like... this is from Sunday 18th July 21 the full image is 46mb... 😅

So ... I've been playing peek a boo with the moon this morning as I found there was a possibility of it being visible in the  lovely bits of blue morning sky .... and it was... periodically But then found I had no idea what my camera settings ought to be for daylight shots once i'd got myself setup on my scope..😂

Can someone give me some pointers? Pleasey 🤩

I'm using Backyard nikon on my laptop

EDIT

OK I had a bit of (non moon ) blue sky to play with so I tried to work it out for myself.  The attached photo is of what I THINK is going to be getting something useful when/if the moon comes back  from its hiding place.. So the settings were Shutter 1/1600, Aperture f14, ISO 1600...  To my untrained eye that looks to be a reasonable starting place.. but 

What do you think?

Is this me being on the right track ?🤔

I've saved these settings in the app to recall them next the moon pops up in daylight  (maybe tomoz)

Would you believe there's a whole window full of blue sky -just where the moon isn't...  Where the moon is is just a white out of bulbous spoil sports..😤 - I bet you would believe it!🤣

On 28/06/2021 at 23:35, rsarwar said:

you cannot really do anything much with the USB unless you get yourself a DSUB, use your snap port if you have one or make something to accopmish  remote release control

 

can i ask how much you paid for the camera and if it was astro modded?

Thanks rsarwar,  it seems you can actually do quite a lot... 👏  I've found (through the forum) that there are a couple of apps that work quite well Controlmynikon and backyardnikon 👍 the latter being the one I'm trialling see the YT demo.  🥇 You can create a live view from your camera to a laptop, adjust all sorts of settings, with some cool focus aiding tools too.. and take  images with a variety of options 🤯 Still a learning curve but well worth a look if you haven't seem them.  

As for my camera  I ended up buying a used but in good condition Nikon D7000 and Nikon Nikkor 28-100mm f3.5-5.6 AF lens £250 inc delivery.  I'm still trying to get used to it but its thrilling to get such quality terrestrial shots... 🤩 I got a T2 ring for it which attaches it directly to the OTA and give a good picture... Just need some clear skies to try it all out... When will that be? who knows 🙄

Its not astro modded as far as I know, but i will look into that when its out of warranty

Thanks I've found it.. and downloading the trial right now.... Watched the demo video.. looks awesome!

On 03/11/2015 at 17:22, Lonestar70 said:

I have both of these software packages and BYNikon eats controlmyNikon for breakfast... it is, by far, the superior package for astrophotography needs.

ControlmyNikon was originally developed as a camera tethering package, more for daytime photography and, originally, lacked the facility to control long exposures necessary for astrophotography use.

The latest version does have this facility using a Dsub cable release or directly via USB where the camera model allows... it is a great piece of software for tethered use but lacks a lot of the features more suitable for astrophotography.

BYNikon (just like BYEOS) was specifically developed for astrophotograhy and as such it does a lot more in that it can use several different external electronic shutter release devices (including the Dsub).

Sandy.

I see this is an old thread... but is this BYNikon software still available? doesn't seem to come up on google?

Awh your a legend john thanks so much  👏

I did have to google 'Field rotation' lol 😁 (another useful gem..) But I see there are EQ wedges that I can use down the road...

Will defo let you see what images I get when clear skys return... 👍

Exciting...

Also I've seen somewhere something about controlling the D7000 from a laptop - have you done that?