bosun21

Mystic Meg. Joking aside all the previous recommendations you have been given are similar to mine. I generally use YouTube on a topic basis in that I refer to the subject and not the channel per se. There’s so many out there now.

The Seestar 50 isn’t really suitable for planetary imaging. The variable ND filter is suitable for lunar imo.

A 2x will suffice imo. I think I used a barlow once when I owned the 8”. With a focal length of 1200mm a 5mm eyepiece will provide 240x which is a decent magnification under UK skies. As Stu said which eyepieces do you have or are bundled with the scope? This will make a bearing on the recommendations you receive as they will try to fill in gaps in the focal lengths of your eyepieces.

Same position that I was in. I ended up getting the 150 mak which the EQ5 handles fine. I'm using it primarily for the planets at the moment. Nice and sharp.

Excellent image 👍. That's one large Maksutov you have there. Great details.

This may sound silly and trivial but has your guide scope become loose on its fixing. Other than that I'm at a loss.

Thanks Geof. I knew that i went a bit too far with it. I'm learning that with poor seeing no amount of processing will bring out details that simply are not there. I have a load of SER files so i will continue to practice on them.

I have only glimpsed the HH once and that was in a B2 sky with a friends 12" dobsonian. He used a low power eyepiece with a H beta filter. It was faint but easily distinguished. I wouldn't even try with a 5" scope.

I just ran it through Registax 6 again and added the result. I don't really like sharpening too much. Thoughts anyone.

I was out last night capturing Jupiter again. The only opportunity i had was well before it reached its maximum elevation. The seeing wasn't too good but i had to give it a go anyway. This was the best 15% of a two minute capture at 186 FPS. 150mm Maksutov ASI585MC. I'm still getting to know the software properly.

I also prefer to move an 8" dobsonian in two parts. I reckon it's both safer and easier to move especially if you have any distance or obstacles to overcome. The 12" I opted for a sack barrow and moving it as one unit.

I hold this book in higher regard than Turn Left at Orion. It goes through all the good targets to view from suburban skies. They are rated bronze, silver and gold in relation to their difficulty.

I found that with a better diagonal there is no big change in the image. Rather the images appear a bit brighter. Some of the supplied diagonals are now of decent quality, apart from those plastic upright image ones.

Great work Kostas. The seeing was really poor tonight as you said. I had to capture Jupiter earlier in the evening due to visitors. I shot multiple 2 minute captures at 186 FPS which is a good rate for the ASI585MC.I will process them tomorrow and use Astrosurface this time. What should I set the white balance?

I recently dropped my Starsense unit while removing it from the scope. Unfortunately for me there was no plant pot in-between it and a concrete paving slab. It snapped clean in two. I hope your diagonal is okay and still fully functional. It may be an idea to buy a Baader clicklock as I find them to be rock solid.

I would start with the 8” dobsonian as you really need to jump to 12” to see any noticeable difference at the eyepiece. The 8” is a great visual scope and further down the line you can add an EQ platform which will allow you to do a bit of EEA (electronic enhanced astronomy). The Starsense unit works very well and makes finding targets relatively simple. Good luck with your journey.

Out again with the 150 Maksutov tonight capturing Jupiter again. Unfortunately I have a visitor coming round so I can’t capture it at its highest elevation. This is addictive as you keep chasing a better image than before.

I don’t think 10 minutes is enough for a 8 - 10” mirror. I used to give mine at least 30 minutes and even then the views improved as the night went on.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping to do some planetary imaging tonight pending on the MET forecast being correct. It's been raining all morning so I'm not holding my breath.

ZWO recommends 4GB and above. The Lenovo tablet I bought has 4GB and works just fine. I've even heard of tablets with less than 4GB working as well although I wouldn't risk it.

EQ platforms generally come in two pieces. A top and section and a bottom section where the workings are located. They can be separated easily for transport. The wedges are tapered to your location and will give you roughly 45 - 60 minutes of tracking before needing to be reset. The angle of the scope does slightly change as the platform traverses but only slightly and not enough to alter the eyepiece position by any margin. Think about how much a star will move in latitude in 45 - 60 minutes. That's how much your scope will tilt on the platform.

Another thumbs up 👍 for a 4" refractor. I am very happy with my Starfield 102 and it's my most used scope by far. I have looked at possibly buying a Tak but I doubt my aging eyes would really see much of a difference between them. Never say never though. I really have to fight myself some nights to give one of my other scopes an airing.

As Mandy said an engineering workshop is the answer. I would be more concerned with my binoculars if they fell off my tripod. Hope they are okay.

No the platform is actually not set at 53 degrees, it's the wedges inside them that are cut to match your general location.

As has been said already the collimation requires a tweak or two however it's certainly not far enough off to cause rotating moons. My guess is that the mirror cell clips are too tight on one side of the primary mirror. I would slacken them all off and then re tighten them using a playing card as a spacer. I would also tighten them slowly doing one then its directly opposite clip. Good luck.