badhex

Thanks @IB20. If I were in the UK I'd probably be straight on that. Sadly buying from FLO is a bit more complicated these days for us Europe mainlanders, and I'd only end up saving about 10EUR if I'm lucky - along with all the delays and customs faff that it entails. They are pretty much all in stock at astroshop.eu ... which is dangerous. I had momentarily "forgotten" that I was thinking about another one!

Clearly the central hole is where the mirror lives, the tube goes on top, and the tracks are for... tracking.

Hello and welcome back!

Sounds like a nice session. Could you pick up any hints of colour at all in the Ring? I also can't quite split the double double in my ZS73 - nearly, very nearly but not quite. I think I was trying at 86x last time I tried it. Any idea what the red star was?

Congrats @John and thanks so much for everything you have contributed - I suspect there's not a single member of SGL who has not felt the benefit of your wisdom from a post you have started or contributed to!

Thanks Don. I'll have a look at acetone. The biggest challenge is that it's a convex lens, so will need to make sure the cotton bud is only just wet so it doesn't run off and into the edge of the lens.

I've used the 100mm in a C5 which is *roughly* the same as your Mak in terms of specs, it works very well for planetary viewing.

I must admit the pleasure of first finding an object on your own is like nothing else. When I first found M13 in a 6“ newt under Bortle 9 skies I was overjoyed, despite it looking like nothing more than a faint grey smudge!

Agree with much of the great advice already given. Broadly it's just about what fits your situation best. Of course we'd all love a permanently installed, 12in scope in a back garden observatory, but for most that's unlikely. Convenience of setting up, breaking down etc in whatever your circumstances allow will usually play a big part in how often you observe. Since getting back into astronomy after a few years break, I have pretty much downsized as far as makes sense for normal visual observation; a 73mm semi-apo refractor (William Optics ZS73), a Skywatcher AZ-GTi mount and a small selection of quality EPs. This means I can be up and running in a short time, easily take my kit away somewhere if I want, and the views are remarkably good for such a small aperture.

The most recent photo I posted is actually of it when I first had the problem some years ago. The photo I posted at the beginning of this thread is how it looks now - it's significantly better, and mostly appears to affect the outer 10-15%, and only on some edges. This gif will give you an idea: Also, I'm not sure what I could do, to be honest. Perhaps someone more skilled than me could do more, but the problem is only on the field lens and only on the outside - not sure if taking it apart would do any good.

I was always very careful to very gently clean any fingerprints or other debris with Baader wonder fluid when it was regularly in use, and then it went into storage for about 6-12 months (dry cellar, inside an EP case with silica packs.). When I got it out it looked like that, all other EPs were completely fine. It's hard to capture a good photo but my best guess is that some sort of residue must have been on it and caused a reaction with the coating. I'd be surprised if it was mould as from my reseaech it did not bear the typical hallmarks. Whatever it is, you can feel that the coating is no longer smooth. A few years ago thinking it to be a lost cause, I did try some slightly more vigorous cleaning which I think improved the view through the eyepiece, but possibly at the cost of removing some of the coating where it had reacted. See my original photos and post below - a few people suggested it might be moisture on the inside as the photos seem to suggest, but it was definitely something external.

Hello all, I've had a Meade 18mm UWA for quite a few years, and some time ago it developed a bit of a weird coating issue which meant it wasn't completely unusable but did cause some softness of the image. I retired it, and replaced it with a (much better) 17.5mm Morpheus. More recently I discovered the wonders of tiny widefield scopes via a Celestron travelscope 70 and now a WO Zenithstar 73 which makes a really excellent - albeit expensive - portable/travel kit. I was always a bit sad about my first expensive EP being put out to pasture, and now I also had a cheap, lightweight and pretty capable scope which performs best at widefield views also not being used... I'm thinking I can pair the two, and give a second life to the Meade as an *even more* portable travel kit. Chuck in a Celestron 25mm Plössl and 5mm BST, throw everything in hold luggage and not worry about breakage or weight. I set about denuding the Meade which makes it huge amounts smaller, albeit only a touch lighter. On the third picture I tried to capture the weird coating issue in the reflection - it covers about 25% of the fields lens and is slightly tactile. As I say still usable, at least for this application!

Thanks!

Good news. Did you get chance to use it in earnest? Another question - which cable were you using to do the update? Does the standard firmware loader have a cable update option?

Good to know the larger one can power the EQ6R-Pro! I assume you're using a dew strip controller of some kind as well with your three dew strips?

I'm also looking at the Celestron for my AZ-GTi, and was similarly disappointed to read about the USB ports. Seems rather silly that they don't all work at once. That said, it looks like a good fit for the AZ-GTi and I like how portable it would be. I also want to run a dew strip controller with pass through power to the mount, but haven't done the figuring out yet to see if it has enough amperage.

+1 AZ-GTi owner here. Once your scope is set up correctly for the firmware version you have installed, one-star alignment should be pretty good for tracking the sun. For the recent eclipse I tracked for 2+ hours and only had to make two minor adjustments in that whole time.

Thanks - hopefully if someone else has the same issue they will find this thread and it might help. So regarding the updates, I have read (and @PeterW said something similar earlier in the thread) that updates via WiFi can be problematic when there are lots of other networks in range, could be that contributed to it failing during the update process. Regarding the alt-az mode left hand/eq mode right hand thing, it is by design rather than accidental, as it mentions in the update notes (and gives you the option to choose when connecting as you pointed out) so it's just a case of getting the right one for your use case - although they don't make it that easy sometimes! Either way - glad you got it sorted.

Was just wondering (and might benefit others with the same issue) what the end result was after each installation? Did the upgraded firmware not install correctly (i.e. firmware version still showing the same in the app) , or did it install but not fix the issue? And what was the difference in outcome between the left/right hand versions? Presumably there must have been some difference between the two if the scope was mounted on the same side for both versions?

Haha I'm literally doing the same thing! I work in IT so I'm generally all about waiting until they fix the bugs or at least until people have figured out what the bugs are before I upgrade!

Sorry @Ags just saw you replied with the same info before me!

Sorry to hear you're having troubles again @Maideneer I remember the mount issue you had back in May were driving you up the wall. IIRC at the time after doing all the updates you switched to the scope being mounted on the right hand side which solved your problem? I believe you were using the eq-supported firmware which I understand requires the telescope to be on the right hand side if the mount is directly in front of you and pointing forward/north - as @Ags mentioned could it be the firmware you're using now is the alt-az only version which requires the scope to be on the left?

Fair point, thanks Don. I do generally try to go for minimum exit pupil between 0.5mm and 1mm. Thankfully with the ZS73 it would be a much more manageable 0.76mm.

I was wondering something similar. Could it be the CA causes the colour to somehow get cancelled out a little?

Usually this one: But recently also this one: