Black Knight

Hi Andy,

You don't slide each half off separately, you slide the two domes off together. 

Carole

Hehehe, of course! I should've realised that! 

I like what you're doing here Carole. Mrs Black Knight has always preferred the look and simplicity of the SkyShed Pod over a conventional ROR obsy, but the zenithal view problem has always put me off.

This PZT is a new one on me. When I was researching possible obsy's ages ago there was no such thing. Very interesting! TBH, it never occurred to me that it would be quite so easy to slide each half of the domed roof off the base. I shall be following your progress with great interest!

That is what I am hoping! It is made for skywatcher scopes

I must admit I liked having the strap on my DSLR to help secure the camera to the mount, and feel a little bit nervous hanging my 314 and filter wheel off the back of my ED80. I like the picture of the guy lugging a C14 around using this adapter!

That Baader adapter really looks the business. I assume it just screws directly onto the ED80s drawtube?

Dont forget the boot polish when those adapters arrive.

That's a good tip, I haven't heard that one before

This is a great idea. Finding the right adapter can be a a right royal pain sometimes. Well done FLO and John!

I ordered a set of M4 secondary mirror thumbscrews on Saturday afternoon, and they arrived Tuesday morning. Really pleased, great stuff. This is the first time I have used 365 Astronomy, and based on this this I would certainly use them again.

At 18:55 pm Friday evening I sent a product question via FLO's helpdesk. Since this was obviously out of office hours I was not expecting a response until next Monday at the earliest. I was much surprised to discover that I had a response to my email aswering my question, sent at 21:25 that same evening! It was only a product question, but even so, this is truly outstanding service from Martin and FLO.

My first DSO was M13. Probably not classified as a true DSO but I think as this was my first attempt at M13, It's not a bad start! A little out of focus but I'm very pleased! ;-D

Of course M13 is a true DSO! Beware though, once the dark side grabs you, it's a slippery and expensive slope! Well done

I needed a 10mm T2 extension tube to ensure the correct spacing for my Atik camera and filter wheel. I emailed Bern at Modern Astronomy on the off-chance that, although not listed on his website, he might just have the beast I was after. Which he did. I ordered yesterday, and it arrived this morning.

It may only be a 10mm extension tube, but it was exactly what I needed. First class service, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him.

Just want to say thanks to Bern at Modern Astronomy for my M48-T2 adapter. It wasn't listed on his site, but he had a few knocking around in stock. Ordered Tuesday, delivered Wednesday. Great stuff!

Ordered a Hotech SCA laser collimator Wednesday night, dispatched Thursday, arrived Friday. Great service FLO!

Thanks for that Themos. I think I understand now. Thanks for taking the time to explain it, I'm very grateful!

I explained above, using numbers. It depends on the distance of your guide star from the centre of the image.

I saw that. I understand the first line no problem. But could you explain the second line please? I'm sorry, but maths is not my strongest suit. At all!

0.02 degrees rotation = 0.00035 radians (divide by 180 and multiply by pi)

So, at 2000 pixels away from the guide star you'd get 0.7 pixel smearing.

Slightly off topic, and apologies for hijacking your thread Sara, but can anyone tell me what degree of field rotation would be acceptable? Should I be aiming for 0 degrees rotation? In the example on the DSS wiki page linked earlier, field rotation is shown as 0.02 degrees. Would that be acceptable, or too much?

Hehehe, that's a classic!

Funnily enough, I get the same behaviour in Dec. I shall be trying out James' suggestion tonight (hopefully)!

Yeah, it did . I did take a bit of a gamble on it TBH. I assumed that SW wouldn't sell a CC designed for DSLRs if they hadn't tested it first . It comes with an adapter which replaces the "ring" (I don't know the correct term for this) on the focus tube i.e. the ring you drop the eyepiece adapter into. Maybe that makes a difference?

TBH, I don't know. Without the Coma Corrector, I had to use the Direct Camera Connection or a Barlow to achieve focus. T-Rings and T-adapters didn't have enough in-focus on my Crayford. Does the R&P focuser have a direct camera connection, and if so, will the DSLR focus? If it does, then perhaps the SW CC will be OK.

Black Knight, what focuser has your 200P got, low profile Crayford, rack and pinion?

Normal Crayford. With the sporty alloy wheels . The OTA has the Black Diamond finish.

I use the official Skywatcher item Coma Correctors, plus the M48 adapter. I haven't experienced any problems focussing. I know many other people use the Baader MPCC. No idea what focussing is like with that I'm afraid.

Seems as good a place to start as any I guess

You guys are a seriously clever bunch I wouldn't have a clue where to start with something like this!

I've now put a weekly reminder on our calender to charge it.

That sounds like a great idea to me