badhex

Welcome Richard! Great report. I look forward to hearing more!

I think Aptoide is reasonably legit but tbh I would have the same misgivings. One thing of note, I used the skywatcher site a while back to get the app but even the earlier stable versions did not work with my version of Android.

Okay so, visually it was somewhere between the first and second versions you posted 🙂

Nice image despite the challenges! This is actually a good representation of what it looked like visually through my ZS73 a couple of weeks ago from Bortle 4 skies.

Fingers crossed for clear skies!

Love to hear about how autoguiding with the AZ-GTi works out once you've had a chance to test everything.

Nice, great idea and nice back yard!

I see what you've done there with the counterweight bar and nuts! I have a probably eq2 ish counterweight bar where the male thread fits the female thread on the AZT6 - but if you screw it in all the way it interferes with the ALT clutch and if you don't the bar is too loose... was thinking of popping a nut on the threaded section as a spacer. Looks like you've built some sort of couple for a large counterweight bar? Oh and nice tripod BTW 🙂

Amazing news, glad you got it sorted! Fingers crossed you manage to get Jupiter and Saturn 😊

They had four different Swift 0.965 Circle-T EPs appear on there not long ago, at least two of which I don't have. Whilst I thought about it for a few days, they all got snapped up 😢

Agreed that the finder is basically trash with that scope; that said you can still adjust it using the two small screws on the finder holder itself - i.e. the two small screws near the centre of the below image, not the ones holding the finder base to the OTA. Regarding focuser slop, double check the focuser lock screw on the top of the focuser in case it is either too loose or too tight when focusing - I found that can make quite a big difference with the image shift, although it should be the case unless at very high mags (which this scope doesn't do anyway) that the shift completely moves the object out of view. Great, just wanted to check as it's an easy mistake to make! The daylight test is definitely the best next step, and if the fisheye lens or focuser aren't a problem then it may just be the settings that need adjusting like @neil phillips has talked you through.

I'm not sure that the scope would cause any issues here, not the issues you describe anyway! A couple of things to try: I believe that model comes with a wide-angle lens which won't be needed for imaging through a scope - is this still attached? I believe there's a nose piece included with no lens inside, so you should make sure the standard nosepiece is attached, not the lens You may eventually also need an IR cut filter as don't believe this model has one, but this won't stop you taking pictures in the first instance It's possible that may not be able to reach focus without an extender of some kinda although there is quite a bit of focus travel so I'm not sure this will be an issue Try taking some basic images/videos through the scope in the daytime, TV aerials, lamp posts etc - something easy to find

It's a great setup. I like the idea of the mat/blanket too. Does it stay nice and flat or do you ever worry about tripping up? Are you in a public space there?

It does have 4K and high quality rubber protective leather!

Crikey I didn't notice the price!

I'm surprised the Seben Big Boss didn't get a look in. It comes with accessory that allows you to get reaaallly close to the object you're looking at. No need for long exposures!

100%

BTW @Maideneer I'm certainly not super experienced but I can say with confidence that knowing where to look really makes all the difference. I had a few years break with astronomy until last year, and I'm having to relearn tons of stuff, and along the way making loads of mistakes too. There were some favourite targets and constellations that stayed with me but a lot of stuff I used to know off by heart has disappeared into the recesses of my memory. I think I'm the same in the temptation to dive in head first (which is great, don't get me wrong - I've also been thinking about buying a second hand DSLR body or planetary imaging camera to replace my ancient converted webcam) - but I also know that sometimes all of the technical stuff can get in the way of just enjoying observing. It can be quite frustrating spending 3 nights under the stars with tech that won't behave and not a single image or even visual observation to show for it!

+1 for getting a bit more experience on the visual side first, at least for a couple of months. Even after starting to get the hang of things I tended to find that AP (I only ever did a little planetary/lucky imaging AP) was just a load more headache and stuff to learn and kind of gets in the way of learning the basics through information overload. On a very basic level, being able to find your way around the sky better (for example, knowing a few of the major moon features ands a handful of constellations off by heart, maybe even where to look for a few easy DSO targets) will mean you're able to then focus more of your efforts on the imaging side. All of this said I totally understand the desire to start creating images - as you said there's a lot to learn, but you have plenty of time to pick it up

Thanks Jeremy! I think the scope handled the targets pretty well 😁

Thanks Stu. Unfortunately I don't normally have access to dark skies but so whilst having a small frac has limitations, I'm also much more likely to set it up for a quick session, and as per my report it's very portable which makes a huge difference. Thanks for the advice on filters, my understanding is from previous threads that the Astronomik OIII is likely the best option. Not sure if my Bortle 8 skies will fare well but I love a challenge (and there's always the option to go somewhere darker as mentioned above)

Hello all, I wrote up a first light report as well as a few thoughts on how the travel kit worked out:

Hello all, Technically, I guess this is not a true first light report as I did do some solar observing for the eclipse, and the first night of observing was cut short with batteries dying and clouds rolling in (at the same time!) so I decided to include targets from over a few nights. My partner joined me for the first 30 mins/hour of the second night as she was interested in seeing things in a dark(er) sky. This is also the first proper tryout of my travel kit in the dark, so a quick few thoughts about that too. M57 - The Ring 9mm (48x) / 5mm (86x) First up as I was already not too far away after alignment. I had erroneously entered M56 to my AZ-GTi the previous night and been surprised when I couldn't find the ring, but initially put it down to an alignment issue and ended up running alignment again. Garbage in, garbage out I suppose! That said, when I was actually looking in the right place, the ring was significantly more visible than from my usual site. Averted vision not strictly needed to see it, but there was more definition when using it so I ended up positioning M57 slightly to the left of centre which worked well. Couldn't really pick up any hints of colour on this night but other nights on the same target at slightly lower powers I feel I could just detect a touch of greeny-blue when moving my eye between centred and averted vision. Albireo 17.5mm I have recently been thinking of spending more time with double stars as I'm not well versed, and I wanted to show a few double stars to my partner so we started with Albireo. As always, very easy split at low power, size difference and colour very clearly visible. β Cygni A showed as a light golden-orange and β Cygni B as a lovely pale eggshell blue. Wonderful. Epsilon Lyrae - The double double 35mm (12x) / 17.5mm (25x) / 9mm (48x) / 5mm (86x) / 3.2mm (134x) On the first night, this target was going to be the next and last on the list when the batteries in my mount died mid slew. I looked round to see an entire sky's worth of cloud heading towards me so called it a night. Fast forward one night and I made it an early target so I could show my partner. To demonstrate the split I went through each FL until the final 3.2mm (134x). at 134x the splits were evident but only just. With the 5mm (86x) the pairs showed up as peanuts; I have heard of people getting clean splits at around 90x in a modest scope but I'm not sure what the conditions must be like to achieve that. M13 - The great cluster in Hercules 17.5mm (25x) My partner and I refer to M13 as my "favourite grey smudge" from the first time I found it myself under central London skies many years ago, and promptly rushed in the flat at 2am to wake her up 😂 Anyway, this time round, despite having seen it many times, it appeared to me much bigger than I expected and with much more detail than in my Bortle 8 skies at home. Still quite 'smudgy' or fuzzy, but possible to distinguish a little more detail the longer we looked (which was frankly ages, because who doesn't love M13?). My partner was definitely more impressed this time round, and I went back to M13 multiple times over the course of the next few days. Nova V1674 Her 35mm (12x) / 17.5mm (25x) To view an event such as this is obviously quite an astronomical treat, and in fact my first nova. Unfortunately I missed the first night it appeared as I had not seen the thread from @JeremyS and others. It took me a while to find (manual searching) and I spent a while doubting myself due to it being much dimmer than the previous reports of it being around magnitude 6. It turns out according that by the second night it had dropped to about magnitude 8, and over successive nights dropped further to about 9 then 10, and according to reports this might be the fastest dimming nova recorded, so I feel privileged to have witnessed it. Some people picked up hints of red in images or large scopes, but I did not detect any colour at all. Later viewings meant that switching to the 25x gave me a darker background which was needed to pick it up in the EP. Double Cluster 35mm (12x) / 17.5mm (25x) On all but one night I was blocked by trees and other skyline objects which was a little disappointing, as I had been looking forward to spending some time on the Double Cluster with the new scope and better conditions. On the night I did manage to get them (briefly between a tree and a pylon!) they really did sparkle. So many more stars visible than from my home location, and the views were extremely crisp. It was alas a brief window, but I spent as much time as I could taking in the view. The 17.5mm framed both clusters very well, again with better background contrast than the 35mm Jupiter 5mm (86x) A low gap in the east/south area of the sky meant that just as I was planning to pack up I noticed Jupiter was visible along with three of the Galilean moons, albeit rather low. The 3.2mm was a little too high powered for the amount of atmosphere I think and did not produce good views, so stayed with the 5mm (86x) and spent a short time picking out as much detail as I could. Despite the low altitude, sub 100x magnification and rapidly approaching sunrise I was quite impressed with the view. The NEB and SEB were clearly visible. I am looking forward to what may be possible with the small scope when the gas giants are back in a favourable place. Saturn 5mm (86x) Again I had not specifically intended to go for Saturn, but it was early enough to be visible through the same gap in which I'd spotted Jupiter the night before, so it seemed rude not to have a little 10 minute bonus before heading off the bed. Similar viewing conditions to Jupiter, but this time the atmosphere adding a sort of odd yellow haze to everything. Saturn was still surprisingly crisp, with a clear separation between the planet and rings. I also picked out one of the moons, which I'm guessing must have been Titan. It was certainly a bit further out but I can't remember if it was to the left or right of the planet an sure if Rhea is visible in such a small scope. Hopefully again with better placement later in the year I will be able to make out more detail such as the cassini division. Thoughts on the travel kit Broadly, everything worked pretty well. I had to carry additional stuff such as my tablet, work laptop, work phone, etc and it was still easily light enough to carry around on public transport without concern. The bag itself (Thinktank Airport Essentials) is super sturdy and I feel really confident that everything was very well protected. In terms of the inner storage, plenty of space for everything but I did end up removing the spacers between the tube rings and dovetail so that everything fit more snugly. It could still work with them in but it felt just a bit too much to then add laptops etc to the front pocket. (WO clearly listened to complaints about the focuser locking screw in previous versions not leaving enough room for the dovetail to move backwards, and added the spacers. Here I am undoing their hard work!) I've never used bolt cases until now but I managed to get a good system going where I open each bolt case as needed, place the EP endcaps and silica packet back into one half of the bolt case and pop that back in its usual space in the bag while the EP was in use or on the tripod accessory tray. This made it really easy to find each of the right caps etc when packing up. In terms of changes, so far I just want to tweak a few small things. I still don't have a red headtorch - no idea why - so I want to add this, along with better spare AA battery storage rather than them rattling round in the pack. I might invest in a powerpack of some kind but need to look into what is most portable. All in all, a great first few nights with the scope and kit, and especially happy to have been in much darker skies as well as see an unusual nova!

Ags, I was *this* close to owning the TS 70ED - ordered and everything - but the delivery got pushed out another couple of months, and with an upcoming holiday to darker skies I ended up cancelling the order and plumping the extra cash for a William Optics Z73. I can vouch for how nice doubles look in a small frac as I was observing Albireo and Epsilon Lyrae in the last few days. I'm very, very pleased with the Z73 but I did kinda fall in love with (at least the thought of) the TS 70ED, so if you do go for it I'd love to hear how it turns out!

Hello all, Sadly I kept forgetting to take my mini phone tripod out to get a decent night shot this last week, but here's an passable phone shot of my Z73 out on its first few nights under the stars: