Time & Transportable (my quick solution)

[Bigwings]

Blue skies   .... sun setting...Yesssss..... Scope cooling.  Jupiter looks like a searchlight, its going to be.....CLOUDY , they roll in and its gone.

Day after day Cloud. BUT WAIT there are gaps with clear skies. dash out set up , align ..... Gap Closes.

 

My problem was time, I need to be able to get out and see some space objects. I don't have time for serious imaging and I don't have the skill either LOL.

My 10" Orion XTi takes a bit of time to move to the patio from the garage and its just a bit big to take elsewhere.

I think and I think and .....I spend for a more portable and quick setup.

First came the Mak 127 on an AZ mount, then the outrageously priced StarSense  for Skywatcher to manage the align accurately and quickly. Then the very outrageously priced Celestron SkySync GPS which is £50 dearer than the Skywatcher GPS which does not work with  the Satr Sense).

I hope I have a good Grab & Go setup which I can plonk down, level and switch on and catch those gaps and those moments of magic between the fronts that roll through all the time (or does it just seem to be that way.

The conversion to Roboscope (hey, my Mak has a name.....) has cost way more than the scope and mount which cost only £215 on Ebay (and its very nice). I just hope that the investment in lots of dosh is rewarded by making great use of time.

Anyone else robotized a wee scope like this and if so how is it working for you?

All I need now is for this cloud to go.

 

Clear skies

[Geoff Lister]

I have the Skymax 127 Mak, with the Synscan GOTO. I fancied the lazy option, so, a little while ago, I bought a Skyprodigy 70, (£200, much cheaper than the 130 or 6 versions) with its starsense camera, and cut back the dovetail clamp's restricting plastic cowl, to take the larger diameter of the 127 Mak.

The sky was clear last night, so I tried the starsense setup as it was getting dark. I waited until I could easily see Jupiter, Saturn, Vega and Arcturus, and started the alignment. At that stage I could have done a Synscan "Brightest Star" alignment easily within 5 minutes. The starsense kept on looking at different parts of the sky, probably at least 20 spots, and each time reporting "not enough stars". To be fair, looking through the finder and 32mm EP, I could not find many stars either. I watched the ISS go over, and the mount was still trying to find enough stars. It was getting darker and the star count was rising, until, eventually, it stopped, telling me it was aligned. So, I told it to go to Saturn; it duly slewed to about the right altitude, but a good 15 degrees off on azimuth.

There is no option to re-try alignment, the handset helpfully, tells you to cycle the power to start again. At least the RTC keeps an accurate time and date (Synscan would reset time to 8:00pm). I set it off again and it aligned in under 2 minutes, and found Saturn in the 6x30 finder, probably a bout half-way between the cross-hairs and edge, (but not in the 32mm EP). After a manual re-centre, tracking was fine and the clouds stayed away for a 1-hour session.

Given dark, and reasonably cloud-free skies, the Starsense is probably faster, but at dusk, and/or with partial cloud cover, there is a better chance of alignment with Synscan's "Brightest Star" option.

Geoff

[MarsG76]

What about a permanent hut/cubicle/area housing your telescope, ready to go at a moments notice?

 

[Bigwings]

57 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

What about a permanent hut/cubicle/area housing your telescope, ready to go at a moments notice?

 

Management would not like that option....you know SHWMBO . In any case I hope this rig can come to work with me some nights.