bosun21

If you are seeing the secondary mirror and the spider then you are definitely out of focus. I get the feeling that you were expecting a large disc and focussed until you got a larger disc. But at only 56x magnification Jupiter will be very small. Focus on the moon and then move the scope to Jupiter without touching the focuser and you will see the proper size of the planet for your given magnification. A 2x barlow lens would help you with the views of Jupiter.

The pixel phones have an astro mode which will take short exposures (16 x 16 seconds I think) and stack them into a final image. Works well.

Nice images 👍. Good to see at least someone is getting clear skies 😔.

I have had a solid curtain of thick clouds here for the past 2 weeks. Beginning to wonder whether spending over £1.5k on my new scope was a waste of time 🤔.

The OP has just bought a new scope. He has never collimated before so he should try it as is before messing with the collimation. They generally arrive reasonably collimated.

I have found this grease to be the best of those I've tried.

The Skywatcher reflectors generally come reasonably well collimated. Try using the telescope first before you start adjusting the collimation. If you are unsure what you are doing with collimation it's very easy to find yourself chasing your tail and making things worse.

I knew you would end up getting them all 😂.

Here’s a video showing how to make and fit a DIY light shield along with a focuser tweak. The finder on @Tiny Clanger’s scope is a 6x30 RACI.

You should try a standard dew shield first as I have found this sufficient for dobsonians. I experience bad dew formation in my area but I have never had a problem with the primary mirror and the dew shield protects the secondary.

Agreed. I found that the best additions for planets are a flip mirror and an accurately set finder. Especially with a small sensor like the 224. They can remove a lot of the frustration in centering the planet.

Sounds like a Bolide 🤔.

I don't know a single serious imager who uses a diagonal with a focal reducer or not. It will degrade the image slightly and while imaging every little bit counts.

What have we reduced ourselves to? Cloud reports? 🤣.

Another thing is to consider dropping the diagonal as they are not needed with a camera. They only increase the light path. Place the camera directly into the back of your scope and if using the powemate place that directly into the scope and then the camera.

Probably due to having a focal length of 7000mm and such a small FOV. The exposure and gain settings could also be wrong. Try it out on a planet to achieve focus and ensure everything is working as it should.

Whilst I do visual, EAA and planetary imaging all of which I enjoy very much I still think nothing compares to the view through an eyepiece. If light pollution is severe I can recommend EAA to obtain views that are simply not possible with an eyepiece. Once the planets are gone I will be spending more time on EAA and visual.

Apparent FOV or AFOV is eyepiece design dependent. Edited 1 hour ago by Louis That's what I said.

These are the same steps I take when using a Hotech laser to collimate. I use the 2" version to eliminate any slight misalignment discrepancy with the addition of a 2" - 1.25" reducer. I can collimate my scope this way then completely remove the laser and insert it back in with a different orientation and it's still perfectly collimated. I haven't really had to adjust the secondary very much at all apart from the tiniest tweaks, and even then rarely.

I bought a Berlebach Charon which is one of my best ever astro buys. Solidly built and comfortable into the bargain. It's also extremely stable.

It looks better than before. I can't see the focuser draw tube outline to check the position of the secondary though.

Shorter FL equates to more magnification. The FOV is dependent on the design of the eyepiece itself. As Don said 14mm and below can be accommodated by 1.25" eyepieces showing the same FOV as 2" eyepieces.

I am growing a strong aversion of the colour red. Now I know how bulls feel.

Turning the centre screw clockwise moves the secondary mirror holder up towards the open end of the telescope and anti clockwise moves it down towards the primary mirror. I owned the same scope as you and the three secondary screws were not as protruding as yours. You have tightened the central screw too much as your secondary is not centred in the focuser draw tube. It's too far up towards the open end of the scope.

Are they all the same image apart from being flipped?