bosun21

The only black hole I've ever seen is in my wallet 🙄.

I just did in my previous comment.

Lovely image Kostas. I was also out last night and discovered the same thing. I think I managed 4 x 60 second captures and like a light switch the quality became terrible. I thought the focus had slipped or something but no amount of tweaking the focuser made any difference. I'll process them this afternoon/evening.

I'm referring to the temperature control circuitry. As the cooling is controlled by the 12v perhaps the temperature sensing is also supplied by it.

No they aren't plugged into the auxiliary port on the mount. You can either buy a 12v DC dew heater or a USB powered one. They will require a 12v supply or a USB hub to power them respectively. You can also add a dew heater controller to the 12v version which will allow you to control the level of heat applied to the telescope. Many of the USB powered types have an output control as part of the actual cable for them. The auxiliary port is used for the likes of a GPS module or WiFi dongle. HTH.

Doesn't the 12v supply also have something to do with the temperature readout? Just a thought 🤔.

The adapter you bought is too short for 1.25" eyepieces. The telescope comes with two adapters. One is a 2" and the other a 1.25". Both are longer than the one you bought. What height is the adapter you bought? These are the two adapters that come with the scope.

I’m out again tonight to capture Jupiter again hopefully with better seeing conditions. After which I will switch to visual on some of my favourite targets. I’ll try and squeeze in a bit of Lunar also if I can bear the cold that long.

Hi Doc, welcome to SGL 👋.

The bubble level doesn't need to be that accurate for an EQ mount. There's no real excuse for it not to be though.

Lovely captures Peter. I particularly like the M1 image as despite the short exposures you are really starting to draw out some nice details. As soon as Jupiter is gone I will make a start on deep sky targets 🤞.

To easily see the GRS on Jupiter(when it's visible) with your scope I would get myself an 8mm & 5mm eyepiece. This will provide you with 97x and 150x respectively. The seeing conditions will determine which one is best for a particular nights conditions. It may also be a good idea to check the collimation as it will provide sharper views when collimated allowing you to see the GRS. Happy hunting.

I was referring to the OP as he has a reflector which will show north on the bottom. ie upside down. I actually read your explanation wrongly and can now see that you said north will be 90° anticlockwise from west which is indeed correct. My apologies.

It will actually be 180 degrees ie upside down (north at the bottom).

When first opening the image in Registax I immediately do the RGB align and then then the auto balance directly to the right of it. That usually corrects it for me, but on the occasion it doesn't seem quite right I can tweak the individual colour balances. I then slightly adjust the saturation until I get a natural look I am happy with. Good luck 👍. Ian

A far cheaper route is to get an Equatorial platform. It tracks the target so no more nudging the scope. You can also do EAA with short exposures and find out whether imaging is your cup of tea.

Lovely image Ian. I also used to suffer from the dreaded yellow hue but thankfully have now overcome it.

No derotation as I could tell looking at them that it would be a waste of time and effort. This is just a single 90 second SER through the usual steps of Autostakkert III and Registax. I didn't even open Astrosurface for final tweaks. Oh well, onward and upward as they say. I'll be back at it the next clear night.

I guess the Jetstream wasn't that benign over Oxford last night. I tried for ages to get more out of them but it was in vain. The collimation was spot on so it has to be either the Jetstream being overhead, the seeing or both. I was getting better from my 150 Mak. I guess it's just the roll of the dice regarding the conditions. Caught a couple of the moons in sync though. Pushing the images was just introducing noise.

Thermal underwear and an electric hand warmer is what I use to prolong the misery in sub zero temperatures.

Will you have to pay import duty on this?

I managed a load of 90 second captures and will process them this evening. My previous outing was poor due to terrible seeing. If last night was better I'll post an image of the result.

The dual speed focuser upgrades have no bearing on whether the focuser is a R&P or a crayford. It's simply a reduction gear to rotate less for each revolution of the fine focus knob. You should ensure that the spindle is the correct size for the dual speed upgrade.

I would go for the Imagic from Opticron. First Light Optics has them in stock at the moment. What you pay on import costs will more or less cancelled out by getting a reduction on the listed price as VAT won't be charged.

BST Starguiders are a decent eyepiece at a very reasonable price. Also the Nirvana eyepieces are wide field and also reasonably priced.