Anyone near northwest Hertfordshire that can advise a geriatric newbie?

[Tony Acorn]

Hello.

I have dabbled at the very basic edges of astronomy off and on for many years. It probably started with seeing the NASA programme in 1960s on TV, developed when I was at sea for at least a decade (wonderful unpolluted skies, even saw Apollo 7 launch off Florida in October 1968) and it has become a bit of a hobby over the last few years. 

I moved to this location (near Hitchin) in 2018 when the surroundings were open fields to the west and north. Now, like so many places, the fields are covered in concrete and brick and light pollution becomes ever more prevalent so good viewing almost certainly means I need to travel.

I have moved up to a 150P-DS OTA and an HEQ 5 Pro tracking mount which of course need a bit of effort to cart around and I am very scared of knocking the 'scope out of alignment, although I do have a collimator. I also am interested in photography - predominantly landscape and nature - and I have a reasonable cropped sensor DSLR (Nikon D7200, Samyang 14mm f2.4 and Sigma 100-400mm f5-6.3 superzoom etc) with which I have captured a few good images of the moon, the Milky Way and some meteors and Comety Neowise. I did manage to stack a number of images to create one of my better Milky Way images but these were not taken using the tracking mount. 

I would like to add my camera to the dovetail on top of my OTA on my tracking mount (it is ok weight-wise) but I need to learn how to use the mount first, hence my request for contact with local groups and members of SGL.

Thanks for takingthe time to read my mindless meanderings, hope you can help me improve.

Tony

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

I'm sure someone in your area could help or offer suggestions for local groups.

[StevieDvd]

Your nearest astronomy club is likely to be https://www.ldas.org.uk/

Depending on how you plan to use/control the mount, and if via a computer how you are with a PC expert/novice, affects what help is needed. With the mass of SGL users and the popularity of the HEQ5 mount we have a wealth of experience & patience here in SGL to cover most of the areas you need assistance on.

 

[newbie alert]

Hi Tony, I don't live that way but I used to work at buntingford and Royston  area.. and while I stayed away I used to stay mostly at the premier inn around the Stevenage area, so not too far from Hitchin ... Sometimes if the  weather looked like it was going to cooperate I used to take my  kit and spend some time imaging .. the skies were pretty good,  and during my time I met a few people around the area.. one of those was quite active in the Cambridge astronomical society and he had awesome skies, Sort of Cambridge side of Royston... another guy Phill lived just outside of buntingford and even thou I never see a clear night there he said his skies were bortle 4 ... There was a little spot that I used to image from, not far from Stevenage.. I can send you a Google map drop pin if you wish.. 

[Neil H]

Hi I am in Luton , Luton Astro have viewing nights just sign up http://www.lutonastrolink.org.uk/

I also have the HEQ5pro great mount I put a Orion optics VX8L on it 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Neil H

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Tony, welcome. 

[banjaxed]

Hi Tony, welcome to SGL.

[barbulo]

Welcome to SGL!

[malc-c]

Welcome Tony,

As one of the founding members of the Letchworth & District Astronomy Society I would recommend you join us.  Pre-Covid we met up for regular meetings and start parties at Standalone Farm in Letchworth, and have a dedicated imaging section with members who range form having basic equipment (like me) through to those with serious kit that have produced images that have graced the covers of leading national magazines.    We also have a our own observatory  containing a computerised 14″ Meade LX200 on an equatorial mount, so we have a lot to offer.  We also have telescope workshops form time to time, where members can bring their scopes along and be instructed on setting them up or servicing them etc.

The link is in Steve's post, so no need for me to duplicate it here.  But for £17 pa plus meetings it's well worth the cost (naturally I'm biased  )

 

[Starflyer]

I lived in Hitchin until seven years ago and was a member of LDAS, as Malc says they're a friendly and helpful bunch of people.

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂

[Tony Acorn]

Good afternoon to all. It's been a while since I was on here due to a few medical issues that are hopefully now resolved. Many thanks for the advice re L&DAS - I'll pop along in August if there are any meetings.

To update my astro story, I still have the 250mm SkyWatcher Dob with Alt / Az motors although it is now too much for me to move, even with the mobile trolley I built for it so it sits forelornly in my garageand will probably have to go on flea-bay. The 150P-DS on its HEQ5-Pro mount sits alongside it and very occasionally gets an airing for visual opportunities but it is still quite a load and I don't like to leave it outside without a shed in which to store it.

Along with a similarlyt elderly local friend, we sometimes go out and about attempting astro imagery using our DSLRs and now both of us have got portable tracking mounts - in my case a Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro bundle that sits on a sturdy Manfrotto 055 aluminium tripod A right-angle viewer certainly makes initial polar alignment easier. I did buy and have been reasonably successful with a 14mm Samyang F/2.8 Manual Focus on my mirrorless camera.

I've recently added a ZWO ASi120MM guide camera on an Astro Essentials 50mm f/4 scope using the ASiAir Mini and ASiStudio with some decent outcomes when our skies are clear enough. My fear is that my camera (Nikon Z6) + lenses (70-200mm or 100-400mm Sigmas) + FTZ lens adaptor + 1.4x Teleconverter alongside the guide scope and necessary bracketry reaches the limit of what this mount can deal with. After numerous messages to and from the helpful team at FLO (and considering my budget too), I decided at this time to keep the Star Adventurer (why didn't I buy the next one up in the first place) and concentrate on how to get better images whilst accepting this mount tracks in one axis only.  I could go up to the SA GTi mount if I can get better with the imaging in time.

On Friday evening, I "bit the bullet" and bought a StellaMyra 80mm ED F/6.25 scope, a 0.8x Field Flattener, a ZWO ASi585MC camera and a ZWO Electronic Auto Focuser from FLO - delivery hopefully on Tuesday. The reason for these purchases is to get a more practical and manageable set-up that this elederly guy can take around on holidays: Isle of Wight next month, Cornwall late September then back to the Isle of Wight late October. Meanwhile, my efforts at capturing The Perseids meteor showers and super-moons in 2022 were quite satisfactory although last year they were thwarted by clouds so I want to repeat those too. I am hopeful / optimistic that I can capture Comet A3/2023 (Tsuchinshan- ATLAS) far better with this rig than I managed with Neowise a couple of years back.

If anyone has any tips / hints / advice on such a set-up (apart from that I bought the wrong bundle again) and / or the individual items, I would be very glad to read them.

Cheers,

Tony

[M40]

Hello Tony and welcome back. Nothing wrong with your purchases, I use similar stuff.

I see you still have the heq5, so, one of my favourite pastimes is suggesting something outside of the box. Have you thought of a permanent pier in your garden? I  leave my heq5 outside 24/7 under a telegizmo 365 cover. I then went further and put it all under a lift off sentry box type enclosure. I  am not sure that the heq5 will work with your 250mm but it certainly will with your 150mm and your stellamira80. It will save a lot of heavy lifting.

Do you use the asiair app? Makes polar alignment on the heq5 a breeze. All the best.