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Zakalwe

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Zakalwe last won the day on March 8 2015

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  1. Get shot of the tripod and tube. Carbon fibre is very rigid *along the strands of the fibres* but can be flexible in other axis. You also need mass to damp down the vibrations. That tube, mount and counterweights represent a heck of a lot of mass and surface area, all mounted on a tipod. I would wager that a decent steel or concrete pier will get rid of a lot of your problems. You could try hanging a substantial weight directly underneath the tripod, suspended off the ground to see if more mass will help with the damping.
  2. Have at it then. Though, once you take the central obstruction into place, a 6" SCT probably wont get that much more resolution than say a 5" 'frac.
  3. For H-A, a 6" ERF (essential component) costs approx £1K. More for one with a mounting bracket. Then you will need an etalon and various blocking filters. You will end up with a highly specialised system that will need a lot of knowledge to use and will require superb seeing conditions. I'd recommend starting off with a dedicated H-A scope first. https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/baader-d-erf-energy-rejection-filters.html https://www.altairastro.com/altair-152mm-aperture-triband-d-erf-solar-energy-rejection-filter---h-alpha-plus-cak-cah-160mm-erf-11920-p.asp With H-A viewing (or imaging) the actual scope is probably the cheapest component of the whole system. I suspect that you may be putting the cart before the horse. For WL viewing, then a sheet of Baader Astro Film and a continuum filter is what you need. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-astrosolar-safety-film-nd-50.html
  4. Quark Chromosphere on Esprit 120 Stacked in AS!2, sharpened in IMPPG, finished in PS CS5 Thanks for looking ☺️ https://astrob.in/full/fo60g6/0/?real= https://astrob.in/kxdzzq/0/
  5. The pixel size on the 174 is a bit too large for the 80mm, although it works extremely well with setups using a longer focal length (such as when using a Quark). Perhaps one with smaller pixel will work better. I pair an ASI 178MM with my Lunt L60 and it does nicely.
  6. I've had a busy couple of years with a house move and life in general. Although I rebuilt my obsy, what builders pass for a lawn meant that using it wasn't really an option in wet weather. So this is sorta a first light. Yes, still got the Quark. Got some data to process, once I remember how!
  7. https://astrob.in/5sje1s/0/ [URL=https://astrob.in/5sje1s/0/][IMG]https://astrob.in/5sje1s/0/rawthumb/regular/get.jpg?insecure[/IMG][/URL]
  8. Hi Mark, Thanks for the comment. I moved house almost exactly 12 months ago, so still haven't got the observatory back up and running, though I did finally manage to get a solarscope out the other day. With a bit of luck and focus I should be back in action soon. And yes, I still have the Esprit 120 ;-)
  9. You should extend your reading horizons then. There's a very long thread on here detailing serious issues that I and others have had with this system. The resolution took many months to sort out and only with the persistence of the users and Dan Gray's exceptional help. The experience pretty much killed my enthusiasm for this hobby for a number of years.
  10. An easy way to measure drift is to run the PHD Guiding Assistant. Let it run for at least 5 minutes (longer is better) and it will tell you the actual drift.
  11. Be very careful doing this, especially if there is a big load on the scope. There's a very real danger of the telescope swinging round and smashing against the pier/ your head with real force if you load it up without counterweights. You could also deal yourself a serious crushing injury if a hand or arm came between 40Kg of scopes and the pier.
  12. I found that it changes too rapidly to be of any use. The Mark 1 Mesu is best balanced by good old pushing and pulling. The mechanism is quite stiff so it's only ever going to be an approximation but it seems to work fine. Balancing on the Mark 2 is probably a lot easier.
  13. Pay a bit more and get a regulated power supply. Personally I'm leery of using those cheap eBay PSUs (often badged as CCTV supplies). They need casing and they aren't designed to be used in condensing environments. They have the potential (geddit?) to have exposed contacts at mains voltage. One slip-up with a finger in the dark and you could be found dead the next morning. How many times have we tripped or banged our heads in the dark? Also get a decent Anderson powerpole splitter and convert all your gear to Anderson plugs. it#s well worth investing in a proper Anderson crimper too. The Anderson plugs are handed so they cant be plugged in the wrong way and are very solid, unlike crummy cigarette plugs. Anderson PowerPole splitter
  14. Hi Torben, I have had a similar experience, so I understand your frustration. A couple of things....RA drift can be solved pretty easily. If you use PHD V2 then you can use the Guiding Assistant to accurately measure the drift amount. You can then calculate the change that you need to enter in the SciTech config tool. See this post on how to calculate the amount that you need to add or subtract in the Tick field to correct the drift: If you use the PHD Guiding Assistant then it will take the first couple of steps out as it will give you the drift amount that it is out by. Regarding the handset- contact SciTech directly. They did have a bad batch of handsets so you *might* have one of those. I had one replaced by Dan at Scitech- no questions asked and they paid for shipping and the handst. They are a great bunch of guys to deal with....nothing is too much hassle for them. Fingers crossed that you get it sorted.
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