The Astronomy channel that doesn't take itself too seriously as you can probably tell, myself & Nicky have been doing astronomy & a bit of imaging for quite a while on & off over the years but we think it's time we stepped up a bit. I've been watching quite a few youTube channels lately & getting my mojo back again as it has waned a bit for both of us. There's some great channels out there now with really good tutorials & I hope when we get going & upping our game so to speak we can help out others with some input. Clear skies everyone!!
Oh man. The bolts you took out were so twisted they looked like they were ready to shear as well. Glad you were able to sort it out. Did you use a drill press? Don't imagine you hand drilled out that bolt. I hope you get a chance to use the whole rig soon. CS!
Thanks Chris yeah it did turn into a nightmare in the end but fingers crossed I've got it sorted. I did sadly drill it by hand as I only have a really cheap & nasty drill press from Amazon ( See the CGE pro ONSTEP install in the observatory video) It did the job but only just & isn't the most precise of tools lol. We're away next week so hoping to try it when we get back from our holidays,
I fitted a cnc spider to my 200pds excellent upgrade , used a deepskydad apeture mask and I fixed the mirror to cell using VHB Tape clips are totally free of the mirror and my stars are brilliant now no flares totally clean ,
Always the same, still it looks like yre winning, I had same issue with my ASi AF adapter in the Evolux, ended up grinding some metal off the adapter to fit in hole, not sure why they've never standardise things like that. Maybe just to annoy people 😂. Atb..
Richard - Belgium- Had the same problem with one of the screws (M4 thread) of my 250 skywatcher. Manage to drill it and recover the thread. In the end I only use 3 points out of 6 to hold my miror...😊
Story of my life mate five minutes job turns into 3 day job , glad you got it all sorted and looking forward to seeing you your first light with this new set up
I think it ended up being more a 3 week job waiting for parts etc to get delivered, it does however to be ok now so hopefully I'll get a first light with it soon.
Hopefully I'll get to use it soon although we're gearing up for out holiday to Whitby in a week, we'll probably make it just in time for the wind & rain ha ha.
Well done on carrying through with the whole thing after all those screw/bolt issues. Pretty poor of Alliexpress to try and give a $1 compensation for a 13 pound item. They should be sending the probe out to you. Anyway, hope you get it sorted. CS
Thanks Logan yeah I'm not to happy with the Ali Express seller I must admit there's also the dented cover which I think happened in transit so I may have to take it up with Paypal. Clear skies
You're becoming the DIY king. I feel for you with your mirror cell. When I went to put my mirror mask on the mirror was pretty much stuck fast to the cell so I never got it off.
Ha ha I wouldn't say DIY king as everything was fighting me in this mind you the RASA did when I fitted the Celestron retrofit focuser ended up having to totally strip that thing down, the thing is when I first had the Newtonian I pulled it apart & cleaned the mirror & it were just fine, maybe I should clean the mirror more often than 10 years I think.
Sorry, missed the premiere. I believe Andy of Astro also got his delivered without the temp. sensor. I think he just assumed that was another option, but the listing does say it's included. I wonder how many actually get one?
It's ok Nugsy we were late back so weren't around at the premier oops lol, I think Andy bought his with the hand controller as the listing had it pictured, the one I bought had the sensor pictured but sadly didn't get one so seems a bit of a lottery when you buy the things. That said it does work & you can always set it to do a refocus every couple of hours so not to much of an issue.
The Gemini focuser is working great for me. No issues with it at all and a bargin at 80 Euros. Aluminium is a horrible alloy and subject to quite some variation. When the copper content is too high, you get all sorts of issues with corrosion due to the "galvanic reaction between dissimilar metals." A kind of welding for free!!! The trick is the tighten and then loosen, well at least that normally works for car heads!!!
Yeah I did try the loosening & tightening the screws as I tried to remove them Neil but sadly 4 still still snapped, maybe due to the poor quality of metals but it seems ok now even though its a bit of a bodge but seems solid enough so I guess I shall find out when I get round to testing it out. The Gemini focuser I have is working although I shall need to set up the backlash which I'll get round to doing to. I'm just a bit annoyed about the temperature sensor being missing & the damage done to it & all they're offering is $1.
Nice setup Tich, did you have to account for the weight difference between the two scopes when placing the two saddles? Looked in the video like the heavier scope was closer to the center than the smaller scope, but I wasn't sure.
Hi there Chris, yes the larger heavier scope is closer to the centre than the refractor although it's not properly balanced as yet as I'm waiting for the autofocuser to arrive so I can then attempt to balance it all properly also need to get a dew heater for the secondary mirror to so still going to be a while before it all gets a first light.
Thanks & yes it is Ascom compliant if you watch this video by Andy he shows you it working within NINA, the drivers can be a bit of a faff to find but he does show you how he got his. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zMlYYb_ENdE.html
I wondered why the clouds had come racing back 😂, seriously though not a bad idea especially in Uk..I've seen a few are on this path, ti's Looking good, atb Tom..
Ha ha yeah sorry about that Tom although in my defence I've owned both scopes for quite a while now lol, weird as I saw that you'd commented a couple of days ago only to see that it had gone for some reason very weird. Clear skies!!
@@dumpydalekobservatory Hi, it's odd as I to had noted this, hence re writing another comment I've even had to re subscribe to others after they'd disappeared from my subs list ??..
Excellent Tich, well put together, looks really solid and fit for use, fingers crossed that there’s not much messing around when everything is turned on 🤞🤞🤞
Yeah mate that's going to be the fun part getting everything to work so fingers crossed it does, it'll be nice to use the Newtonian again to as it's been a while.
Very nice setup Tich! One rig, double the data😀 Ali Express seems to be a reasonably priced company, I’ve used them before! Will be interesting to see your thoughts on the new focuser! I need another focuser and am about to get the ZWO EAF, may hang on a bit now!😀 Clear skies mate!
Cheers Simon I doubt I'll be doubling the data though as they would need to be aligned & I'm betting they're going to be a fair bit off from one another, but nice to have the choice for different targets rather than swapping out scopes. Hopefully the Gemini focuser will be ok & like the ZWO EAF is powered by the USB cable so that's one cable less to deal with. Clear skies
Looking good. Nothing wrong with a good dual rig setup. I found it really saves on physio fees (fixing your back from having to lift heavy rigs on an off a single rig setup). And you can flick between the setups really quickly in NINA if you want to change scopes and targets during the night. I'm really interested to see what you think of the Gemini focuser once you have it up and running - sounds bloody good for the price. CS
Thanks Logan I think balancing it may prove to be the tricky part but we shall see when I get everything fitted, I'm guessing I may need another small counterweight bolted on somewhere but we shall see. I hear ya regarding saving your back & as I'll be off to hospital for an op in a few months might as well get the heavy stuff sorted out now so I haven't got to worry about it later. Cheers & clear skies
Hey Tich - Nice work and nice to be able to have the two setups like that. Logans Astrophotography has similar setup in NZ. I've also been looking at that Gemini focusser, seems a bargain.
Cheers Ollie yeah seen Logan's with his SCT & Esprit very nice that, an SCT would be a better bet in mine to to be honest but I managed to squeeze the thing in lol.
Nice one, I used to have a dual set up on my old EQ8, and had to turn the saddle by 90 degrees to get it to work too. It’s a shame the Onstep system does not have a feature for it, but you got round it, so all good, look forward to your first light with the set up…👍🏻
Thanks Stuart the Onstep isn't the problem on this it's the design of the mount itself as it has limit & home switches on each axis so it will always use those so the mount knows when its at the home position if that makes sense. You would have thought that Celestron would have given you the option just to rotate the saddle but sadly this wasn't the case, fingers crossed I'll get a first light with it soon cheers.
No worries mate I did ask Chad who built the kit if there was a solution as he has a dual setup on his mount but he said there isn't sadly & as height is the issue this was the only solution I could come up with.
To be fair at the time I hadn't had it long & was a bit clueless with the settings as people were telling me different things when I asked about them, since then I do run it at around 282 now, also since filming this its runs with NINA just fine now.
@@Oxizee It's a brilliant camera although I did buy another one last year as I sold the first one to fund a 26C, my only niggle with it is that it can sometimes suffer with condensation on the sensor window so a separate heater might be required, other than that it's a great performer
Hi, thinking I might collect more data on pinwheel tonight, Clear at 21hrs but cloudy by 21.30hrs, just a mere thought must have brought clouds rolling in. Regards Tom🥴...
Hi, Just watching more Utube and thinking about all those wonderful expensive shiny triplet scopes that have arrived from China these days (No envy, honest😁) I feel your comments regarding a good quality doublet, even an older scope was a good evaluation,(except for my TAL 6inch reflector I owned which weighed a ton and was probably built with Russian submarine spares😂😂) after all the hobby is what you make it, technically advanced cmos cameras and software are making a big difference, but really just happy with my achievements and the gear I have. Some of the planetary images taken with a Philips modded Web cam on the classic 9.25 still look good and hang in our hall to this day. Using early registax and a modded PHILIPS 2U webcam from the late 90s-mid 2000s was awesome at the time, one of my composites even made it into Astronomy now magazine with a cracking Mars image. Speaking of which I must get those mags & sky at night down from the loft just to remind me of specs and prices of the day, funny I have no laptop or PC capable of playing those cover cds these days... Regards atb Tom👍..
I hear you Tom I had some of my best images of Jupiter using a modified Philips webcam & two stacked 2X Barlows, maybe I'll have another go again sometime when they're around at a decent time. Cheers
Nice wide field image. I'm more or less resigned that most of my imaging is going to be carried out in strong moonlight and for some targets it might take months or even over a year to collect enough data to get the final image I want. All part of the joy of astro photography in the UK.
Yeah I guess I've never really put in lots of hours on an image apart from the Helix nebula twice now but even then it were only about 8 hours on each session but a lot of those subs ended up being tossed aside as its low for a UK target. I may have one last try at it this season if the weather allows but I think it will be the last time for me.
That's pretty good for 3h! Were you using the tri band filter for the entire run? If so, it's making me rethink how I've been imaging galaxies! I've only been able to get that kind of colour definition on Triangulum (using a UV/IR Cut filter).
Yeah I used the Antlia triband RGB filter for the entire run the star colours were almost perfect straight from the camera, M106 needed a bit more work to tease out the colours but it didn't take much to do. Altair astro also do an RGB triband filter & I've been hearing great reviews about it to. Clear skies!!
Great image from a doublet Tich, nice looking scope that! So glad you finally got some clear skies mate! I’ve been wait for clear skies to test a doublet out myself! Clear skies 👍
Thanks mate yeah it is a pretty decent performer I'm very happy with it one of my better purchases I'd say, the Antlia triband RGB filter also worked well a very decent performer.
@@SimonsAstro I did think about buying one & by the time I'd made up my mind they'd sold out at the PAS which is why I bought the Antlia, be good to do a comparison of the 2?
Thanks Logan more time would have improved it I think but I'm pretty happy with the result, the Antlia triband RGB filter did a great job to as the star colours were pretty much spot on although with the galaxies I did have to tease the colour out a bit.
Nice image, I've had similar results on my old C100-Ed R with GSO focuser upgrade, bit slow 900mm f/l, but with a reducer it has produced some good galaxy pics. The scope was a freebie from my brother some time ago who just wanted the mount it came with. My bruv was instrumental in getting me into astronomy, living in Warminster Wilts we'd often hit the hills to sky watch.. in the late 70s he generously bought me a Prinz Astral 500 60mm refractor from Dixons , My mates and I used to stand in mums back yard observing moon and brighter planets, I was so proud to own this..good old days and with good eyes to boot, swear I could see the horsehead through it, must have been dreaming!! 😂.. I still have the scope in pristine condition ... Atb Tom..
How strange you should say that Tom I was given a Skywatcher ED100 for when I did solar outreach events, I still have it now although I did buy a case with a reducer some time afterwards. I did try imaging with it a couple of times with my old QHY8 camera & DSLR & even though it's pretty slow it didn't do a half bad job but for solar it performs great for white light. The only let down is the rubbish Crayford focuser that Skywatcher still build to this day but it's one of those scopes that I think to myself do I or don't I upgrade the focuser & would it be worth it? Blimey I remember seeing Prinz refractors in Dixons although I never owned one myself. Clear skies
Hi I have a metre square of concrete with 4 M22 threaded rods sunk into the concrete as the pier itself bolts to those rather than having the pier sunk into it. It's been solid all this time & hasn't moved although if the pier was longer I probably would have sunk it in the concrete.
First light optics sell them here's a link although I'm almost certain other vendors sell them to. www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-anti-dew-heater-strip-for-asi-cooled-cameras.html
Mate, it was incredible to see the aurora push so far south, not alone the amazing multicolor show it produced! Great video, was a beautiful yet very strange experience
It was an incredible night mate I wish I had more cameras to point at the sky as there was so much to see so I were kinda going all over the place lol.
