Whippy

Good stuff Ant, I only recently found out you can do basic image stretching in Artemis capture which has made locating and framing objects so much easier. Nice when you have one of those eureka moments isn't it? Shame they don't come up too often! Tony..

Not at all Karlo, go on as much as you like mate :). Tony..

That's my thinking Rog, I can't see how it makes life easier than using the handset epecially when you haven't got a permanent setup. I can see what you're saying Karlo, and I can imagine that if you have an obscured view, using Stellarium (for example) rather than just a fairly arbitary (seems to me anyway) selection of stars to choose from would make your life easier but how has it simplified things other than having a better choice of stars for alignment? Hopefully, I'll have a look at a few people's setups at SGL4 and perhaps I might see the upside, I guess we'll have to see... Tony..

A week off of work plus wall to wall cloud has given me lots of spare time (probably too much!). One things that I keep on coming back to is EQMOD. Here's my conundrum: Will it help me set my imaging kit up any quicker? - Not that I can see. If anything, having to connect a few more wires and fire up one or two more apps would make the process longer, albeit only a little :). Does it provide me with better software than I currently use for image capture and guiding? - No. Will it provide me with more accurate GOTO slews? - Probably but I've never found it to be a huge problem. I do like my technology, but I'm not into technology for technology's sake (that's my wife's job :) ). Controlling my mount from a gamepad would be fun but is it going to be a real help? I can't see it. I understand that some people are even using it to control their mounts whilst observing. Unless you've got magic eyes, surely you'd lose your night vision everytime you look at the screen wouldn't you? I've got a couple of mates who are real advocates of it, and I can see some benefits if you've got a permanent setup in an obs but for me, it's a bit of a gadget and what little time we get under clear skies right now, I want to be productive rather than experimenting and troubleshooting.

What to do? Dunno, but I did make me & L'Missus a nice Pad Thai for lunch. Yum :). Tony..

:lol: If it's not the boss, it's L'Missus,. If it's not L'Missus, it's the kids.....

That's good to know Jon, just let me know nice & early so I can get setup in double time! (and no, what you do isn't sad, I'm sure most of us do that on the quiet!). I think you hit the nail on the head there Rog, and there's the paradox. It does takes over your life, but we do so little of it! If it wasn't for the Ha filter, it'd be a lot less.. If push came to shove and I had to sell the imaging kit, it'd be a wrench but it wouldn't kill me. I still really enjoy observing and I think I always will so I'll always have a scope (or two :wink: ) but whilst I've had a surprisingly good first year imaging, if I had to give it up tomorrow I think I'd be relatively philisophical about it. Funnily, it's not just the prospect of clear nights that keeps me optimistic, it's also remembering good times at star parties, both cloudy and clear always puts a smile on my face. And of course there's this place..... Tony..

... another moan about the weather! Just looked at the 5 day forecast and once again fully clouded out. Joy. I came to the conclusion a while back that to get some real depth to my images, I'd need at least two evening's worth of exposures (about 6 hours or so) but the complete lack of time under the stars have me wondering if it's worth imaging at all and just sticking to observing. As much as I love being able to 'see' much more than I could ever do with my eyes is great but the hassle and planning just to take one picture is making me wonder if it's all worth it. Certainly I haven't been able to do nowhere as much LRGB imaging as I'd like to. After recently slimming down the astro kit, I diverted some of the money I made into re-igniting my love of fishkeeping and have bought a tank which is now in the process of being stocked, planted and matured. And it's been great not sitting around getting frustrated at the lack of time under the stars. I guess variety is the spice of life and some people on here would do well to think of that while the mood gets distinctly edgy on here while this sceptred isle is under a blanket of cloud for the upteenth night. Of course, I say all this and we'll get a couple of clear nights and I'll be in love all over again... :). Tony..

Sounds good Jon, I take it we'll be getting cloudy days as well as nights now! Tony..

Peter, may I suggest you start a thread in the equipment help board, you may find you get more replies there. FWIW, try Telescope House as they are the Meade importers for the UK. Tony..