Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[LaurenceT]

1 hour ago, chiltonstar said:

A bit of a change from the topics above....

Is there any way of expanding the rather limited list of doubles available via the Synscan app other than by entering data manually or by using 3rd party software like SS? I bought an az gti a few weeks back and I'm having great fun with it  but I need a much bigger doubles list.

TVM for any replies....

Chris

I'm a novice in these matters but would integrating an app like SkySafari into the process give you more choices?

[chiltonstar]

3 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

I'm a novice in these matters but would integrating an app like SkySafari into the process give you more choices?

Yes, and that works OK using a large tablet I have. Unfortunately though, SkySafari (SS) won't run on my phone, so I was looking for an alternative as explained above that I could use with my phone when I'm "grab 'n going".

Chris

[herne]

13 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

A bit of a change from the topics above....

Is there any way of expanding the rather limited list of doubles available via the Synscan app other than by entering data manually or by using 3rd party software like SS? I bought an az gti a few weeks back and I'm having great fun with it  but I need a much bigger doubles list.

TVM for any replies....

Chris

From the Synscan app’s main menu, you are going into Star > Double Star?  That gives a list of 32 double stars.  The only other options I can suggest are either:

1) Tap on Deep Sky rather than Star from the main menu.  You can then enter any categorised object from Messier, Caldwell, NGC or IC.  Not sure if there are many (any?) double stars in those lists though.

2) If you know the coordinates of the double star(s) you want to look at you can enter those directly to the app.  From the main menu tap User Objects > Celestial Objects then define what you are looking for using RA/Dec co-ords.  I believe you can save those so in effect you create your own list.  That’s the only way I can think of to expand the list of doubles within the Synscan app.

[happy-kat]

Doesn't the synscan pro app have a greater list of stars, throught I'd read that somewhere

[chiltonstar]

14 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Doesn't the synscan pro app have a greater list of stars, throught I'd read that somewhere

It is what I am using, but it's very limited as detailed above. I am really looking for a way of importing one of the standard double star lists into Synscan, ie copying a file into the user defined object list  rather than having to enter each one manually.

Chris

Edited May 14, 2022 by chiltonstar

[AstroNebulee]

@chiltonstar  Can you connect your phone with stellarium to the az gti. I've seen something here but not entirely sure on it. 

https://stellarium-labs.com/telescope-control-in-stellarium-mobile-plus/

Could you put your tablet in a back pack for a bit of grab and go, then room for a nice flask of coffee and a wee nip 😉

Edited May 14, 2022 by AstroNebulee
Grammar

[herne]

2 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

It is what I am using, but it's very limited as detailed above. I am really looking for a way of importing one of the standard double star lists into Synscan, which may not of course be possible.

Chris

I’m not aware of and can’t see any way to import a list to the app (other than sitting there on a cloudy night and tediously typing your own).  The manual doesn’t even mention it and only discusses connecting to other apps such as Sky Safari, which I know you can’t do.  Short of contacting Skywatcher direct I’m afraid I’m out of options 😔.

[bomberbaz]

32 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Doesn't the synscan pro app have a greater list of stars, throught I'd read that somewhere

Think it might have been skysafari as you can definitely add a more detailed list via download to the SS6 plus

[bomberbaz]

Yeah just checked that you can add the cambridge catalogue to ss6 plus.

Are you sure you can't use ss6 for the azgti?

[chiltonstar]

11 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Yeah just checked that you can add the cambridge catalogue to ss6 plus.

Are you sure you can't use ss6 for the azgti?

Yes, works OK with the tab but the phone won't run it. I am trying to avoid carting the tab around too to reduce weight.

[Elp]

Thought I'd just put this here, finally got an okay image with the PST, trying to align my Z61 was another story entirely (sol finder needs some fine positional tuning), it's amazing how difficult it is to align to the sun, simple method is to use a piece of paper on the diagonal opening without looking into it and getting the sun in the centre, slow mo control with the azgti helps a lot.

[AstroNebulee]

14 minutes ago, Elp said:

Thought I'd just put this here, finally got an okay image with the PST, trying to align my Z61 was another story entirely (sol finder needs some fine positional tuning), it's amazing how difficult it is to align to the sun, simple method is to use a piece of paper on the diagonal opening without looking into it and getting the sun in the centre, slow mo control with the azgti helps a lot.

Beautiful 😍, great work 👍

[bomberbaz]

Howdie all. I have decided to update my rig, bit of a see and bite tbh.

It's not a great deal bigger than my existing OTA in aperture but I had an eye on weight re AZGTi capability, (+0.78kg on the evoguide) so this seemed like the best option if I am to be able  to carry on adding to this thread.

This scope here at 60mm.  RVO Horizon® 60 ED Doublet Refractor OTA - Rother Valley Optics Ltd and it's assorted FF weigh in at only 1.94KG.

A few things sucked me in, the bigger aperture, better glass and small FOV mainly, plus it's overall a more dedicated arrangement than the evoguide which I intend keeping for wider field stuff.

Add in the AIR+, guide scope etc and it all comes in at a little over 5kg, think the mount will be ok at that.

[herne]

16 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Howdie all. I have decided to update my rig, bit of a see and bite tbh.

It's not a great deal bigger than my existing OTA in aperture but I had an eye on weight re AZGTi capability, (+0.78kg on the evoguide) so this seemed like the best option if I am to be able  to carry on adding to this thread.

This scope here at 60mm.  RVO Horizon® 60 ED Doublet Refractor OTA - Rother Valley Optics Ltd and it's assorted FF weigh in at only 1.94KG.

A few things sucked me in, the bigger aperture, better glass and small FOV mainly, plus it's overall a more dedicated arrangement than the evoguide which I intend keeping for wider field stuff.

Add in the AIR+, guide scope etc and it all comes in at a little over 5kg, think the mount will be ok at that.

Penny drops why you were asking how much my Z61 and everything else weighs 👍.

Are you including the counterweight in your 5kg+ weight?  If not, my Z61 weighs more than that scope you linked (2.2kg) yet with guide scope & camera, camera (OSC or DSLR), AAP, cables et al I’m still under 4kg total.  If you are including the counterweight, mine weighs c.1.7kg so total = 5.4kg.

[bomberbaz]

31 minutes ago, herne said:

Penny drops why you were asking how much my Z61 and everything else weighs 👍.

Are you including the counterweight in your 5kg+ weight?  If not, my Z61 weighs more than that scope you linked (2.2kg) yet with guide scope & camera, camera (OSC or DSLR), AAP, cables et al I’m still under 4kg total.  If you are including the counterweight, mine weighs c.1.7kg so total = 5.4kg.

Think our weights are very similar there then, I come in at 3.18kg for the entire imaging gear, the cw is 2kg, so 5.18. 

[badhex]

On 14/05/2022 at 10:02, AstroNebulee said:

@chiltonstar  Can you connect your phone with stellarium to the az gti. I've seen something here but not entirely sure on it. 

https://stellarium-labs.com/telescope-control-in-stellarium-mobile-plus/

Could you put your tablet in a back pack for a bit of grab and go, then room for a nice flask of coffee and a wee nip 😉

I may have mentioned it. It's supposed to be possible and I had a quick 15 min play around at the end of a session a while ago, but couldn't quite get it to work. There was definitely some communication because stellarium knew where the scope was pointing and it was accurate (it shows you on the Star map) but it was reporting some error in the settings. I will have another play around at some point as I like the idea of using stellarium. 

[AstroNebulee]

8 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Howdie all. I have decided to update my rig, bit of a see and bite tbh.

It's not a great deal bigger than my existing OTA in aperture but I had an eye on weight re AZGTi capability, (+0.78kg on the evoguide) so this seemed like the best option if I am to be able  to carry on adding to this thread.

This scope here at 60mm.  RVO Horizon® 60 ED Doublet Refractor OTA - Rother Valley Optics Ltd and it's assorted FF weigh in at only 1.94KG.

A few things sucked me in, the bigger aperture, better glass and small FOV mainly, plus it's overall a more dedicated arrangement than the evoguide which I intend keeping for wider field stuff.

Add in the AIR+, guide scope etc and it all comes in at a little over 5kg, think the mount will be ok at that.

It's going to be a lovely set up with the horizon 60ed and heard good things about this scope in the past. 

I think lot of us with a slightly bigger aperture scope are over the recommended 5kg payload and have very little issue, if I remember rightly my set up inc cw comes in at 5.9kg. Will enjoy hearing about your first light 😊

Edited May 17, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[AstroNebulee]

6 hours ago, badhex said:

I may have mentioned it. It's supposed to be possible and I had a quick 15 min play around at the end of a session a while ago, but couldn't quite get it to work. There was definitely some communication because stellarium knew where the scope was pointing and it was accurate (it shows you on the Star map) but it was reporting some error in the settings. I will have another play around at some point as I like the idea of using stellarium. 

Good to hear some feedback when using stellarium, I wasn't quite sure if anyone got it to work as it's mainly sky safari that's the choice to use. Hopefully you can get it to work, would be interesting to many, the op included. I know the op wanted to keep weight down but a tablet wouldn't add to much weight and can use SS then. 

[bomberbaz]

Quick pic of new OTA.

The thing is a piece of beauty, the build is superb. 

Looking very forward to trying it out. 

[herne]

23 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Quick pic of new OTA.

The thing is a piece of beauty, the build is superb. 

Looking very forward to trying it out. 

Looks great 👌.  Looking forward to your first light picture.

[AstroNebulee]

25 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Quick pic of new OTA.

The thing is a piece of beauty, the build is superb. 

Looking very forward to trying it out. 

Fantastic 👌, it looks brilliant, I'm going to enjoy hearing your first light and images too 😊

Cheers 

Lee 

[bomberbaz]

1 minute ago, herne said:

Looks great 👌.  Looking forward to your first light picture.

A big plus to me was I didn't need to faff around with the cable, they all simply went back into sockets and things look fine. 

 

[SuburbanMak]

On 14/05/2022 at 09:25, chiltonstar said:

Yes, works OK with the tab but the phone won't run it. I am trying to avoid carting the tab around too to reduce weight.

I agree it’s a very limited list - I quite enjoy programming the night‘s doubles ahead of time to the User Objects.  I can also theoretically use SKy Safari but have found in the field the GoTo to behave a bit inaccurately compared to the native SynScan app. 

[herne]

42 minutes ago, SuburbanMak said:

I agree it’s a very limited list - I quite enjoy programming the night‘s doubles ahead of time to the User Objects.  I can also theoretically use SKy Safari but have found in the field the GoTo to behave a bit inaccurately compared to the native SynScan app. 

When in the field do you use AA batteries to power the mount?  If so don’t use rechargeable ones, they tend to be underpowered and can cause issues.

[LaurenceT]

2 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Quick pic of new OTA.

The thing is a piece of beauty, the build is superb. 

Looking very forward to trying it out. 

It's a thing of beauty, congratulations.