bosun21

Doh!! Sorted now. The air setting has to be EQMOD which I had set as Skywatcher Synscan. All up and running now. My apologies.

I have just tried to connect my EQ5 pro mount to a new asiair plus and it keeps failing. I had a previous asiair plus with this mount and it ran just fine. I have connected a USB2 cable to the mounts usb port. I've set it to Skywatcher Synscan and the baud to 115200. I just keep getting a message saying that the mount needs to have completed a one star align??. I done a fake one star align but still nothing. This is driving me nuts. Thanks.

That's why I love the small hours of the morning when most of what you mentioned has dissipated. However I pay for it the next day 🥱.

I just downloaded Stellarium onto my new laptop as my old was on its way out. The old laptop had the older version of Stellarium on it and worked just fine. However on installing the new version I saw this MESA shortcut. It slowed things down so badly and the application completely froze. What is this MESA?

Thankfully all my 2" eyepieces fall into your latter category and work just fine for me. I didn't recommend a WO diagonal to the OP. I was referring to my own experience with them once they were mentioned. In hindsight if I were to buy another 2" diagonal I would most definitely now buy one with a larger clear aperture. The WO however with its 1/12th lambda mirror does provide very sharp views.

The LT70 is very light and wouldn't make much of a counterweight unless your main scope is very light as well.

There’s no vignetting with my SL 30mm UFF either which is 70 degrees. There’s very few eyepieces with a field stop large enough to cause vignetting. I have only owned the 2” version though.

Great image especially under subpar conditions.

Exactly there are very few eyepieces with a field stop large enough to cause vignetting with a WO 2" diagonal. One that springs to mind is the Nagler 31mm.

I would try and find the recommended back focus for your particular make of reducer as they may look the same but it's the glass inside them that determines the back focus. If you can't find it then I would start at 105mm.

With the focal ratio of 5.9 I would go for a mirror diagonal, and one with a dielectric coated mirror. I would stick to one from a well known manufacturer. The choice of whether you go for either a 2" or a 1.25" will really depend on your preference and want you want to observe. For really wide field views I would opt for the 2". For everything else a 1.25 would suffice. You should also take into consideration which mount you have as a 2" weighs considerably more than a 1.25".

Definitely not. They use the same box but there should be a tick box on it to highlight whether it's the EQ3 or EQ5 inside.

Quaint little telescope indeed. He must have a lot of free time due to the clouds just like us.

Thanks Peter 👍.

Getting everything together now and just need to get a 4K monitor, though I can get started without that. How do I get All Sky to work within Sharpcap? Sorry for all the questions.

It’s okay. All up and running now with just a usb2 cable.

Ed Ting did a review on the 7" Intes Maksutov scope of which he sung its praises. He also took some images with it.

DPD dropped off a few more bits and pieces from FLO for my new endeavor. An Asiair plus, finder shoe and a couple of cables. Wish me luck 🤞.

Have you activated your mini by using a device connected to the internet? You can also just swap back your galaxy tabs internet from asi to your regular WiFi. Then activate the device and swap back to the Asi WiFi.

What a totally depressing outlook for the next generations of astronomers. Is this the beginning of the end for ground based astronomy?

I would definitely swap out the 10mm for the Svbony 3-8mm zoom otherwise the highest magnification you could achieve is 71.5x. Another option is to forget the individual eyepieces and buy the Baader 8-24mm zoom eyepiece and barlow. Save yourself a few quid into the bargain.

There's no mention of the Svbony barlow being of a telecentric design. Neither in the description nor the specifications.

I will do just that as soon as my other bits arrives this week. Oh and a clear night! Thanks.

I must admit that for your first time collimating a dobsonian you have done remarkably well. Well done 👍.

No, you are correct. It needs moving away from the primary mirror by a clockwise turn of the centre screw on the secondary mirror holder.