Ags Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 I have discovered that the more wires and cables there are coming out of my telescope, the more impressed visitors are! 4 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Nobody will be impressed by my scopes - no wires at all 🙄 Perhaps I'll add some dummy ones to make the rigs look more "technical" ! 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 When I took my scope (FS-128 on Rowan AZ100 Goto) to show my daughter’s class, they nearly fell off their chairs when I made it Goto where Jupiter should be and thought it very cool that it was controlled by my phone. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ags Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 They weren't impressed by the FS-128? Philistines! They need some eddycation! 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan White Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Its all Dark Magic I tell you....... Wires are the sign of a frustrated IT technician, the more the merrier. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vroobel Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 1 hour ago, Stu said: When I took my scope (FS-128 on Rowan AZ100 Goto) to show my daughter’s class, they nearly fell off their chairs when I made it Goto where Jupiter should be and thought it very cool that it was controlled by my phone. I'm still impressed by the GoTo, it's a kind of robotics! I felt a similar thrill when I modified my EQ5 by adding stepper motors and an OnStep controller, so what about building a mount from scratch? Friends, neighbours and their friends were speechless with shock. A lot of cables, screws, motors, etc... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor!Takahashi! Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 I don't have visitors because there's no space for them with the telescopes and all of that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elp Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 2 hours ago, Ags said: I have discovered that the more wires and cables there are coming out of my telescope, the more impressed visitors are! They should see my "IT spares bag". Doesn't make the bag more technical mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul M Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 One can only imagine what a non-astro visitor might make of a complex rig. I mean, a lot of the scopes containing mirrors don't even advertise their purpose, Add some cameras and cables and computers and it's probably unfathomable. It'll be 7 or 8 months after my last session before I get out again, minimum. When I do I'll be both impressed and baffled by all those cables! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimvb Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 (edited) 11 hours ago, Vroobel said: I'm still impressed by the GoTo, it's a kind of robotics! Then you should see an automated meridian flip with target platesolving. It will knock you off you chair. Literally if you sit too close. 🙃 1709864057000.mp4 Edited June 22 by wimvb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vroobel Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, wimvb said: Then you should see an automated meridian flip with target platesolving. It will knock you off you chair. Literally if you sit too close. 🙃 1709864057000.mp4 3.8 MB · 0 downloads Me? 🙂 I see it often in my garden, sometimes twice at the time, because I have two (three?) automated mounts now. Anyway, the GoTo and Plate Solve are really awesome pieces of robotics and maths. A few years ago I was developing my own system controlling a motorised Dobsonian. It was written in Python. I had to read nearly whole Jean Meeus' 'Astronomical Algorithms' book to understand enough the sky mechanics to write RA/Dec -> Alt/Az conversion formulas. It worked quite good. The GoTo and tracking were satisfying, but I met some problems with a physical inaccuracy, so I abandoned the project. I started building a heavy EQ fork mount and this was the thing that made my friends' and neighbours' jaws drop. 😁 Edited June 22 by Vroobel 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomato Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 On 22/06/2024 at 08:21, wimvb said: Then you should see an automated meridian flip with target platesolving. It will knock you off you chair. Literally if you sit too close. 🙃 1709864057000.mp4 3.8 MB · 1 download Love the frost on the tube… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimvb Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 (edited) 2 hours ago, tomato said: Love the frost on the tube… There wasn’t that much. The SkyWatcher ”black diamond” finish enhances the effect. What I don’t love is how bright anodised aluminium looks in IR light. The camera body is red (zwo) aluminium, and the adapters and filter wheel are black anodised. It’s difficult to tell the difference in this clip. Edited June 25 by wimvb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollypenrice Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 See what it says on my catchphrase below. lly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimvb Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 3 hours ago, ollypenrice said: See what it says on my catchphrase below. lly I bought a few extra just yesterday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bingevader Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 9 hours ago, tomato said: Love the frost on the tube… Me too, very sparkly! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimvb Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 2 hours ago, bingevader said: Me too, very sparkly! In astrophotography ”sparkly” is only good in the final image, imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOC Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 (edited) When it works the goto on the Skywatcher 200P that I have is really good, but I found it was very easy to tie it up in knots (unbalance is particularly horizontally) by adding just large single EP's and if I use the scope I must admit I do just push it to where it is needed rather than using the expensive on-board system Edited June 26 by JOC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vroobel Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 (edited) I have a similar kind of problem, but I think it's opposite. I added the OnStep GoTo to my EQ5 and I lost the ability of quick moving the scope, like manualy. Now I think about a StellarMate platform based on Raspberry Pi as it offers an app working on a smartphone. I already have the fully working RPi which I used with Astroberry before I bought an ASIAir, but I'm very reluctant, I don't like it's INDI, Ekos etc. too much. I look rather towards an ASIAir mini with its very comfy interface and stability. It would be great for observations with bino and also useful in planetary/solar/lunar imaging, even if I use a fast laptop for that purpose. Edited June 26 by Vroobel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chefgage Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 Reminds me of when I was camping and decided to set up my scope. Out comes the large scope bag followed by a number of other bags and boxes. Quite a few people were walking past and looking as they went by with I can only describe as confused looks. I suppose if you are not astro inclined then the setup might of looked a bit strange. More cables, computerised bits and bobs than actual telescope I was kind of hoping someone would stop and ask a few questions. I might have even been able to answer them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ward Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 (edited) On 25/06/2024 at 12:09, wimvb said: There wasn’t that much. The SkyWatcher ”black diamond” finish enhances the effect. What I don’t love is how bright anodised aluminium looks in IR light. The camera body is red (zwo) aluminium, and the adapters and filter wheel are black anodised. It’s difficult to tell the difference in this clip. My eyes were opened by this link posted by Oddsocks back in May ... https://diffractionlimited.com/flat-fields-stray-light-amateur-telescopes/ Edited July 16 by Steve Ward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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