Ags

Yes I know, but I had a generous offer of a excellent mono CCD and spectro grating. When I am using the CCD I will have to do a slightly complicated arrangement with an AIR and a laptop running in parallel. I rather think that I will use the CCD mostly for photometry and spectro, as it will be much more convenient to run everything from the AIR. Besides, the laptop doesn't have the battery life for an extended session.

Currently I only need to power two uncooled cameras, the HEM15, and the Air Mini, all that only seemed to draw 1A. But there's a cooled 8300 CCD coming to me on the next family visit. When I set up my C6, I guess I really will need to think about dew strips if I am imaging with it for a few hours. So power requirements will go up... The mount will travel! I've flown a few times with the AZ-GTi and the HEM is only a little heavier. That does impose limits on the size of the battery. This one give 3A on the 12V output: Celestron Lithium 7.2 Ah LiFePO4 Powertank | First Light Optics

Next time I am out I will use the Air to make a graph of Volts and Amps over time. From what I have seen so far the measurements it gives seem quite close to the expected values. The 24/12/5 battery looks like a good upgrade for me as the Air was measuring my current draw at 1.0 A, so well within the 2A envelope.

A couple of nights ago I had a brief opportunity to play with my beautiful machine. Polar aligning did not go well - hundreds of stars detected but plate solving failed and failed. Eventually, I remembered to take off the lens cap 😀 Whenever the mount slews around I am enchanted by the obvious precision of the mount and its smooth unruffled whir, nothing like the multi-tone grinding of my AZ-GTi! I didn't have time to do much, but it tracked the Moon very nicely, and I took a few test snaps of double stars.

My main interest is making out the main stars of constellations under very bad light pollution, and also trying to spot some shooting stars.

Romulan Ale.

My three most used eyepieces are the Svbony 3-8 Zoom and, um, well, that's it.

Lay off CN! It's a great forum and resource. Honestly, I have never seen a cultural difference between the two forums... SGL has far better software though.

Found a good write up about talentcells and their limitations. https://www.californiaskys.com/blogs/archives/11-2023

A bitter cup of cold regret that I haven't bought more stuff!!!

That's good info. Looks like I can pick up a 3x Nikon for the price of 2 imported Astronomy Now magazines, not the sort of pricing associated with the brand. Sorting out a DIY eyecup won't be hard. Only concern is that the Nikon doesn't focus so I will have to wear glasses. https://www.kamera-express.nl/nikon-tc-e3ed-teleconverter This actually works out well as I would prefer a 3x monocular for quick looks and scanning as it should go a bit deeper. For meteor showers and other sustained viewing, I think I would prefer a 2x pair with focussing, and FLO do sell a cheaper pair that comes in around the price of 2 Nikon's but hopefully with better ergonomics (again important for sustained observation).

Aperture is King, but Takahashi is Takahashi.

More seriously, as a member of a minority grouping, I would never consider joining that society. I have enough qualms about joining even the most open societies.

That is not logical.

Run a thousand miles, then run some more.

According to Ags' First Law of Observational Mechanics, a Betelgeuse supernova can only occur when the star is close to the Sun in the daytime sky. The Second Law states that when the event does occur it will be oddly faint and accompanied with global cloud cover on Earth.

Intrigued by these, I wonder if the monocular would help explore constellations under Bottle 8 skies? I am also interested in the binocular version - torn between the 2x and 3x options - 3x should go a bit deeper but at a cost to stability and field of view...

Isn't that just ALL of YouTube?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellamira-telescopes/stellamira-66mm-ed-f6-refractor-telescope.html

Awesome stuff, worth a try with my 12x60s.

I thought the kid might get flipped like a pancake🙃

I just checked with a full charge and indoors, so ideal conditions for the battery. The Air says the battery is offering 12.4V which sounds about right.

All I did was look on the power/network status of the Air - the power dropped rapidly to 10.7 and stayed there.

Looks very similar, but I am looking at a 24/12/5V unit as the 12V will be regulated. In the one you list I think the top voltage is 12V and I suspect that is unregulated and less in practice?

Was watching my new HEM15 move tonight, including doing its first flip. It performed superbly!