Stefan87

Sorry for the noobiness, but to clarify, this sounds like it is to align the lens cell, but can it be used for focuser alignment? Also, does the laser enter via the focuser or the lens? I'm so sorry, this is all very new to me. I ended up purchasing a Cheshire eyepiece, and sure enough the circles were not concentric. This has been resolved now and I'm looking forward to my next cloud free night to verify if this has helped. So if there is an even field of egg shaped stars around the edges, a field flattener is required. Got it. $500 aud is a big dent in the wallet, but love makes you do crazy things right? I didn't ask. He had a good reputation on Iceinspace, so I trusted that. I can be quite naive hahaha. I'm not too upset about the purchase, even with an alignment problem I am very pleased with the outcome. Fantastic advice. I did manage to get another night and follow Vlavs advice to ensure the imaging train is correctly seated. The problem persisted unfortunately. But I love this method, it really eliminates this as a possibility. I will be sure to do this next time. Thank you for sharing it! So as I alluded to before, using the Cheshire eyepiece I discovered that there was an alignment issue due to the circles not being concentric. I have solved this issue now and I am pleased with the alignment as per the Cheshire. I'm just waiting for another opportunity to test it, and from what I have been hearing on here I should be hoping for either perfect stars, or evenly egg shaped stars on each corner so a field flattener can correct it. Is this correct? This leaves me with one more question. Focuser alignment. I don't have a collimated laser, and I read on some other forum posts that one way to get a rough idea of alignment is also using a Cheshire eyepiece, but observing the edge to see if it is even. Does anybody have any quick and easy ways to check focuser alignment without shelling for a collimated laser? Does using the Cheshire eyepiece to make sure the circles are concentric mean that I have also corrected for any focuser alignment issues? Thanks for your help guys. I purchased a refractor thinking it would be an easy way to continue this hobby and ended up making it a bit more difficult for myself than it needed to be. I appreciate everybodies input! Here is the finished product of the first light with this scope, even with the egg shaped stars it is quite obvious that the optics of this OTA are fantastic. Clear skies!

Silly me. Thank you very much! I'll grab an el cheapo laser and and try it out!

I'm in Australia, and the ones available here state they are only good for relfectors. They do appear that be exactly the same. Do you think something like this will work? SVBONY Red Laser Collimator 1.25'' Battery 7 Bright Levels Triple Cemented Lens Metal with 2" Adapter for Reflector Telescope Collimation https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00LX34ZH2/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_WF66K5RWNZ64Q331Y7GE

Are you sure this laser is collimated? I am not sure if this will cause more problems than it solves? Did you fabricate a holder to insert it into the focuser?

I shall give it a go. Thanks so much mate!

Thats ok! The link didn't seem to work. Was that a laser pointer? Have you got another link? Thank you!

On a different note and while I have you, I have taken my first set of flats on this scope and noticed a weird gradient. I am unsure if this is being caused by my oag prism or not. There doesn't appear to be any visible blockage in my light frames as shared in the OP. What do you guys think?

I think you have have hit the nail on the head good sir. I have just run out an purchased a Cheshire eyepiece as per the video. Wasn't sure if I needed a short or long one so I went short, assuming the longer ones would be for larger scopes/newts. Thank you, I will let you know how I go.

Good tip! I did not do this. I will try this and hope it Is something this simple! Thank you! I'm relieved to hear that. So in future, I will be ok to remove the lens using those pairs of screws as pictured below? Can their adjustment affect how "flat" the lens will lie on the tube? That sounds llik a complicated process. But I must try. Thank you for explaining it to me. Do you know of any resources or videos that could guide me through that to ensure I'm not stuffing it up? Thank you. Are you referring to the 3 pairs of bolts holding the lens in? I attached a picture of one pair for clarification. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I have recently received a second hand ES ed80 triplet refractor that I purchased in some classifieds. Tonight was my first light with it after months of cloud and I immediately found I had severely elongated stars at the top of the frame. I run it without a FF/FR as the bloke I purchased it off uses the same camera (Asi533mcpro) and he said it didn't need one due to the small chip size of the camera. This would lead me to assume he had not experienced the same problem as me. I have a long imaging train with a filter drawer and an OAG for guiding. I immediately thought this was flexing and took an exposure pointed at zenith only to find the same issue. My guiding was ok, sitting at 1" or 2". I'm concerned that I have stuffed the collimation by removing the lens to get some marks off the inside during some cloud induced boredom. I loosened some of the Alan bolts around the edge and pulled the entire assembly out. In hindsight I realise how stupid this was, but I was careful and I'm not sure if this is the issue or if I simply need a field flattener? I've attached a fits file that I captured showing the elongation and a picture of my imaging train. I'm really hoping I haven't stuffed my collimation by removing the glass. Thanks everyone Stefan2022-02-09_21-45-05__-10.00_180.00s_0008.fits2022-02-09_21-45-05__-10.00_180.00s_0008.fits

Hi guys I have a few questions I've recently upgraded to an ASI533mc pro from a DSLR. As I am living in the southern hemisphere and in bortle 6 light pollution, I don't have site of Sigma octanis to get a rough initial polar alignment and previously found that using the reticle feature on my DSLR live view with the synscan polar alignment routine, I could get quite accurate polar alignment in 5-10 minutes (180second unguided subs with around 80% keepers, I don't trust the estimates but under 2 arcminutes generally) My initial setup is usually 3 or 4 degrees out in azimuth. I had a go with phd2 PA last night without much luck, I'm assuming because my initial setup was more than a couple of degrees out. I'm happy to just use the synscan routine as I can complete it quickly enough and achieve a good enough alignment, especially now that I'm guiding, and it would seem I would have to run a few iterations of it anyway to get my initial setup close to simulate you lucky northerners with your bright polaris in the polar scope. So my question is, what is a decent piece of software with reticle live view to use with my Asi533mc pro? I currently have NINA, ASI studio and PHD2 installed and I couldn't figure out how to superimpose a reticle last night. Also, Sharpcap pro seems to be the most commonly recommended software for polar alignment. However I am using an SCT telescope and a smaller sensor camera so my field of view doesn't meet the requirements stated by sharpcap. Has anybody tried using Sharpcap pro PA at 1500mm and 945mm (f6.3 reducer) with any success? Besides drift alignment, which would take longer than the synscan routine for me, are there any other pieces of software that I should try that won't cost an arm and a leg? I'm running an HEQ 5 with a Celestron 6se using an Asi533mc pro imaging cam with an ASI290mm mini on a ZWO OAG for guiding. I'm open to suggestions for other software to use for imaging, I only installed NINA because the functionality and price point is amazing, and it gets rave reviews. Thanks in advance wonderful people!

You're kidding? I had no idea.. such a rookie error. I will look into this. Thank you!

I recently tried to record the transit of Io accross Jupiter over 2.5 hours on my Nikon d5300 and Celestron 6se for the first time. My intent was to create a gif from 1 frame every 5 minutes made from a 60 second clip, stacked @ 25%. I couldn't find a way to make my Nikon camera automatically record at set intervals and after manually recording a couple of frames I realised that it would get very boring very quick, so I decided to record a long video and crop 1 minute clips from it later on. In order to crop it I used DaVinci Resolve. However when I export the clip, the quality after stacking and wavelets is terrible compared to the raw clips I took from the camera. I was using the YouTube 1080p default for exporting as I thought if it's the same resolution as my camera then it should be right. Does anybody have a recommendation on a way to crop small clips from a longer clip that won't affect the quality? If DaVinci Resolve is the best way, what codec/export quality settings should I be paying particular attention to? Please find attached the settings I was exporting my crops with. Also, does anybody know a way to make a Nikon record videos of certain lengths at set intervals? I've looked for some time and come up with nothing. The creator of Backyard Nikon stated that it's a Nikon thing..something to do with SDK access? 🤷 Thanks guys

Thanks for your response! My DSLR is a crop sensor with a diagnonal of 27mm, which is quite a bit larger than a dedicated astro cam. So would this mean I have far less room to play with and would be better off purchasing a standard zwo OAG with the 8mm prism? Pairing that with a asi290mm?

Malcom thank you ver Thank you Malcom for the information and sharing the pics! It's good to know planetary can be done with that arrangement and I think those pictures are totally acceptable for a hobbyist. Although as you said they certainly don't compare to someone with more appropriate gear for the job. I've been doing a lot of thinking and even more reading and I think I've reached a conclusion for now that I will get an OAG and dew strips for the 6se, and use this on the HEQ5. I've had no problems using the 6SE. Collimation is a breeze and dew is the only hassle which can be prevented with a heating system (using a low powered hair dryer every 20-30 minutes atm😅). Knowing that the OAG can be used with other setups means it won't be wasted money and I can use this for the foreseeable future. Doing this, I can get a good guiding setup now using the money I told the Mrs I would spend on a new scope, then down the track I can get the new scope and enjoy two different FOV scopes for different targets! Thinking ahead!! I have one more question for anybody who can help me. I am looking at OAG's and I have read that the larger prism (12mm x 12mm) is a great choice if you pair it with a better cam than the ASI120mm. So I will get the ASI290MM mini. This will be the most I spend on a guiding cam. There are 2 OAGs that I am aware of with the 12x12 prism. The ZWO OAG-L and the Celestron OAG. I really dislike the size of the Celestron and how much back focus it hogs in your image train. Reason being is that I'm concerned about buying this and not being able to use it in the future when I purchase a refractor or a Newtonian as a second scope to use with my DSLR (I'm beginning to lean towards a Saxon FCD100 102mm as a second scope and in the future I will get the ASI533mc). Has anybody got experience or know of any anecdotal reports comparing the two large prism OAG? Right now I can't see a reason to spend more on the much larger COAG besides the helical focuser, which seems like it would be slightly redundant if it only needs to be set up once. Would I be safe getting the ZWO OAG-L and the ASI290mm mini to use with a 6se and down the road with a Saxon FCD100 102mm refractor? I really appreciate the input and advice you guys have given me. The astro community is amazing and so many people are just so helpful, kind and patient. Thanks again for giving me your time. It is greatly appreciated Stefan