bosun21

Ideally you want to use a high power eyepiece for alignment. The higher magnification gives you better go to accuracy when you centre the alignment star. I use a 12.5mm illuminated reticle which allows high magnification and centering accuracy.

As has been said the short answer is NO. The standard EQ5 is a manual mount and you couldn’t even buy the motor kit for it, as they move the mount axis too slowly for go to. You would need to buy the Synscan go to upgrade kit which would equate to a total price roughly equal to buying the EQ5 pro in the first place.

I am giving another 👍 for the Berlebach Charon. I find it really quick to adjust with freezing fingers which is quite often at this time of year. It’s also pretty lightweight for carrying.

Isn’t that always the story 😂

I had originally bought one of these for my 102 refractor and was happy with it but I unfortunately left it behind during a visit to a dark site. I ended up buying a load of dew bands for my three scopes. All 12v now from Dew Control as the sizes I needed were out of stock at FLO.

I have a Starfield 102 and I also have all the Morpheus eyepieces. You most definitely won’t be wasting your money buying dew heaters/controller. I had my entire night totally ruined once, and that was enough for me. I now have 12v heater bands on my telescope objective, my 9x50 RACI and also my eyepiece of choice (usually a Morpheus but not always). These are powered by a 12v dynamo power supply and controlled by a 4 channel controller. I now have incorporated this arrangement for my other two scopes, and dew is now a thing of the past.

Another 👍 for the Astronomik OIII and also the UHC. On starting out I originally bought the cheaper OVL/Skywatcher. Then the slightly more expensive SVbony filters before doing what I should have done in the beginning and bought the more expensive Astronomiks. Both these filters are invaluable in drawing out the details with deep sky targets. If you can’t stretch to the Astronomiks, then I can recommend the SVbony UHC.

Another 👍 for the triple/double bracket. I use mine for my RACI, Starsense unit and Rigel Quickfinder.

Agreed, although the 9mm isn’t too far behind.

It’s got to be between the Stella Lyra and the Bresser. These two are superior to the Skywatcher. The optics are great on the Stella Lyra although I have never looked through the Bresser. The Bresser has large altitude bearings which is a large plus. The difference in the focusers is minimal IMO, unless you intend to fit a heavy camera etc. In which case the Bressers R&P would be the better focuser.

I am one of those people who have been solely a visual observer who ventured into AP. Whilst I had read a great deal about the subject I was totally green as regards AP. It took me longer to get to grips with the exposure times and gain of my camera than to set up everything else. I cruised through the all sky PA and had achieved multi star guiding without a hitch. The asiair plus is a godsend to beginners of AP and it really is as easy as 1,2,3.

Really!! Many thousands disagree.

To me Mars can be very finicky to draw out any significant details. Last week during an observing session I was viewing Jupiter and due to the seeing being reasonable I was seeing a lot of surface details. I then slewed to Mars expecting more of the same, but it was a disappointment. The most I could discern was surface shading. There’s so many variables, but when they all come together you are in for a treat.

I don’t know about the roof prisms but I use my 1970’s porro 8x40’s (Japan) a lot more than my modern 10x50’s which are also porro. Regarding collimation my 8x40 pair are still in perfect collimation after almost half a century! This along with having crystal clear optics and being lightweight makes them a delight to use. I would definitely go for the 8x40(42) for your wife.

Love the landing lights! No more tripping or stubbed toes.

I do always fit the AE dew shield on my dobsonian. While it’s not quite double the aperture it still definitely helps

I ventured out into the sub zero night, as I had spent the last two nights of clear skies embroiled in starting my EEVA journey. I set up my no automation 8” Stella Lyra dobsonian. I was running the primary fan with the provided 8xAA cell battery pack. I also fitted the 8” dew shield and rigged up a 12v dew heater band and controller for my eyepieces. I started off by alignment of the Starsense unit, which was problematic with the moonlight flooding the sky. It was taking much longer to acquire targets, and even when it did it was drifting away much faster than usual! I had enough of technical problems with the two nights prior, so it was switched off. I went to the Jovian giant with my 12.5mm & 9mm Morpheus for 96x and 133 respectively. The seeing was pretty poor, yet I could still make out distinct bands both north and south of the Jovian equator. I then moved over to the Pleiades with my Baader aspheric 31mm for 39x. The image was nice and pleasing to my eyes despite the anticipated “black velvet “ looking more like grey slate due to the moonlight flooding the sky. Next was a short drop down to the Hyades in Taurus. It was more of the same, with the moon spoiling the views. Mars was next up first with the 9mm Morpheus again for 133x and the 6.5mm for 184x. I was struggling to see distinct markings other than the dark and lighter areas on the planets surface. I was thinking about trying a Baader contrast booster filter on Mars, but I could no longer feel my fingers! I thought that the seeing had gotten much worse but on closer inspection I found my secondary was beginning to ice over. This brought my very cold nights observations to a close. I will now consider fitting a heater to the secondary mirror, although the standard ones for sale won’t fit the Stella Lyra dobsonians. Time for a hot shower and cocoa.

I am having problems with both Royal Mail and Evri. I made six sales in the SGL classifieds. I sent five of them by first class signed for(£5.50) and one by next day before 1pm(£11.50). The next day by 1pm took 5-6 days to be delivered. Four of the others took from 5-8 days to be delivered. The problem package has still not been delivered! I have contacted the postal service and been told that all time estimates are canceled due to the strikes. I need to wait several more working days before I can claim it as lost. I really want it to be delivered as it contains two cracking Vixen silvertop plossl’s. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it arrives. If not then I’ll claim it as lost and sort out refunding @Carbon Brush My other hassle was an item i bought on eBay which was due to be delivered by Evri. I got an email saying it was delayed! That was 5 days ago, and nothing since.

After two nights wrestling with my venture into EEVA which was spent with all the technicalities that entails. I decided that tonight was going to be a dobsonian night. A really, really COLD dobsonian night 🥶🥶 I think the camera on my phone was starting to freeze up

Cracked it! I have set it up in daytime and just dropped the gain and exposure times to achieve focus on a distant berry tree. I achieved almost perfect focus on my main color camera and decent with my asi120mm guide camera. I am now looking forward to freezing again tonight. Thanks all Ian

Thanks Peter, I don’t have Sharpcap as the asiair plus is a stand alone unit. There was no clouds in the sky at the time. The gain recommended by ZWO is 250 for the ASI585 MC and I think the maximum i can adjust it to is 400. Can I set it up in daylight and try to focus on a distant target or other? I don’t want to be wasting any more clear nights. Thanks Ian

Here it is 👇

Thanks Peter, this was my exact thoughts as well. I spent a ton of money and I was thinking " What a total waste of time and money". I brought it all back indoors and tried it on a streetlight. By moving the slider on the histogram I got a badly focused streetlight with a load of aberrations due to the window glass. I will not throw the towel in, and I'll be back out tomorrow night plus I will try it in daylight as well.

The only way I can get it all black is by moving the histogram slider. I brought it all back indoors as I was numb to the bone. I set it all up indoors and pointed it to a streetlight through my window and by selecting auto on the histogram I managed to get a picture of the streetlight with a ton of aberrations, Probably due to my window glass. Should I be moving the histogram to achieve a picture? Thanks Ian

I’m calling it quits tonight. 3.5 hours of banana fingers and no image has broken my resolve for the night. It’s supposed to be a clear night tomorrow so I’ll resume then. I was thinking of removing the reducer/flattener and spacers etc and just fitting my vixen flip mirror. That way I can see the target centered in my eyepiece then flip it to camera. Thoughts anyone.