Show us your set up in action at night.

[Stub Mandrel]

28 minutes ago, Grogfish said:

 And if you don’t have to skip around kids toys in the dark then you don’t know what you’re missing out on! 

 

Better than when the SO lets the dog out for its evening ablutions and you don't notice the results...

[Stu]

Quick session with the Tak on the Vixen Sphinx tonight, just checking everything was working really. Easy alignment, quiet slows and accurate gotos, what's not to like? Nice portable mount with decent (10kg) capacity.

[Guest]

Getting ready here too. 

[FaDG]

Here you are, before frost covered everything except the two lenses which were equipped with the (dew) heaters. 

[Guest]

Just a scope. No wires. ?

 

[Ags]

4 hours ago, FaDG said:

Here you are, before frost covered everything except the two lenses which were equipped with the (dew) heaters. 

I am Borg.

[FaDG]

18 hours ago, Ags said:

I am Borg.

Hi Ags.

Are you referring to the scope? 

[Gina]

I think it should be "We are Borg" ?

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Gina said:

I think it should be "We are Borg" ?

They had to start somewhere, and now we know where! ?

[Guest]

The workbench. 

[dannybgoode]

Finally pressed the TMB into imaging service. Had to swap the stock finderscope ring for my Altair ones but it works very well. 

Love the massively over-engineered focuser assembly . To give some idea of scale that’s a 60mm guidescope sat on the end there. 

[wimvb]

20 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Finally pressed the TMB into imaging service. Had to swap the stock finderscope ring for my Altair ones but it works very well. 

Love the massively over-engineered focuser assembly . To give some idea of scale that’s a 60mm guidescope sat on the end there. 

 

 

Looks like it's about time to do a flip. ?

[dannybgoode]

Just now, wimvb said:

Looks like it's about time to do a flip. ?

Don’t. I had a nightmare with the mount tonight. First attempt at star alignment worked no problem but I then had to swap scopes and bumped it. 

Tried to realign and it slewed to the first star almost perfectly but then decided to go mad for the second. Tried several times before just manually aligning on M42 any which way and guiding

[wimvb]

One of those nights?

[dannybgoode]

7 hours ago, wimvb said:

One of those nights?

Pretty much but at least I got something out of it. Well quite a lot really so can’t complain

[Guest]

I picked up my NEQ6 from Dark Frame Optics over the weekend and just fired it up for the first time in quite a while.

The belt upgrade is a massive improvement and so nice not to hear the mount "making a cake" every time it slews LOL!

Here it is getting ready to image M81 and M82 - two objects I haven't imaged since 2010 with my un-modded DSLR and an Orion ED80 - should be a bit of an improvement?

[geordie85]

4 minutes ago, David_L said:

I picked up my NEQ6 from Dark Frame Optics over the weekend and just fired it up for the first time in quite a while.

The belt upgrade is a massive improvement and so nice not to hear the mount "making a cake" every time it slews LOL!

Here it is getting ready to image M81 and M82 - two objects I haven't imaged since 2010 with my un-modded DSLR and an Orion ED80 - should be a bit of an improvement?

You'll have to let me know how it performs once its settled in. I've been tempted to get this done for a while now. 

[GraemeH]

Taking some sky flats in preparation for an evening of imaging.

[Ally8446]

Here's my DL dob in situ from the other night

[Guest]

I've got the C8 SCT and solar scope on the pier now for the late Spring / Summer season.

Here I'm struggling to image the Moon with last nights really appalling seeing 

 

[Stu]

Here is the Mewlon in action last night. Seeing not as good as Sunday but still nice in the stable moments.

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Here is the Mewlon in action last night.

ooooh i would love to have a peek through a Mewlon, i have been "scoping"  (no pun intended) one out for a while, i do hear they're superb lunar/planetary scopes, i also hear they're about as fun a root canal to collimate.

i was wondering if my Vixen GP mount would handle the 180 or 190? i think  it is, it looks like you have the same mount?.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Sunshine

[Stu]

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

ooooh i would love to have a peek through a Mewlon, i have been "scoping"  (no pun intended) one out for a while, i do hear they're superb lunar/planetary scopes, i also hear they're about as fun a root canal to collimate.

i was wondering if my Vixen GP mount would handle the 180 or 190? i think  it is, it looks like you have the same mount?.

It is rather lovely I must admit. Mine needed collimation after it was shipped to me. I still intend to take it to Es Reid for a proper check, but for now I did it myself and it was not too hard. The collimation screws are REALLY tight, so it is a matter of backing one off a tiny amount and adjusting one of the others so you always keep them tight. Mine is not perfect, but is good enough for excellent images still. It is great for doubles and DSOs too!

The mount is actually a Vixen GP-DX, so the GPs beefier brother. It still has a little more vibration than I would like but that is likely related to the pillar so I can sort that out. I would think a GP should take the 180 if on a solid tripod or pillar.

[Rob]

11 hours ago, Stu said:

Here is the Mewlon in action last night. Seeing not as good as Sunday but still nice in the stable moments.

What a beautiful setup. So jealous

[iapa]

On 26/02/2019 at 20:18, David_L said:

I picked up my NEQ6 from Dark Frame Optics over the weekend and just fired it up for the first time in quite a while.

The belt upgrade is a massive improvement and so nice not to hear the mount "making a cake" every time it slews LOL!

Here it is getting ready to image M81 and M82 - two objects I haven't imaged since 2010 with my un-modded DSLR and an Orion ED80 - should be a bit of an improvement?

Have to let me know it is,

they’ve had my CGEM-DX, just waiting to get it back

hoping for serious improvement if their video is anything to go