Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

Things that need powering:

• Guide computer
  
• Guide camera
  
• Camera
  
• Auto focuser
  
• Dew heater
  
• Mount
  
  

All take 5v to 12v each, but unsure how much wattage they are drawing. Will experiment when I get the mount.

They need power for up to 8h.

May also need to charge phone and laptop too.

I did notice my Sharge 100 https://sharge.com/products/storm2 has a 12v DC out, so I might be covered already.

But yeah the Anker thing looks great. The thing I bought is similar, just wish it had a better build quality.

Apologies if already posted but the excellent Herstmonceux observatory is under threat of closure. Take a mo to sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/save-the-observatory-science-centre-herstmonceux?

I have finally received all of the bits, as the mount arrived.

Next steps... Anytime it's dark enough and clear enough, get out and test it all.

But failing that, construct it all and figure out how best to pack it all. Measure all required cabling and order custom lengths, so that the cables can be laced together in a tidy and compact way.

ah, I wondered why it had clouded over
have fun with putting it all together and making it whirr and buzz

Tada...

Everything working, and it's a breeze.

The only problem I really have is that it's not outdoors, in a clear field, at night, under stars.

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I’m not sure the Tak faded Celeste goes that well with the bold ZWO anodised red, but that looks like a brilliant bit of gear. Clear skies to you!

Woooooowwww!! Love it, can't wait to see some results. I'm gonna get my Seastar out tonight, been so busy I haven't got it out for ages.

Edit: just plugged the S50 in to charge, went outside for a peak at the sky and cloudy! We've had clear skies for weeks, bloody typical. 🤡

What do other people do with their various lens and accessories?

The Tak comes with about 10 standard parts, and then once you buy a reducer and an extender, and a couple more adaptors to make those work... and the additional eyepieces... you just have < 10 various sized cardboard boxes, and a few random parts in bubble wrap.

Feels a bit awkward to transport, would prefer a case / bag of some kind with the eye pieces on top but everything else in there too.

I have a separate small flight case for the eyepieces, barlows, filters etc that I use regularly but then I am not lugging my scope around much (I’ve not flown with a scope since 2010 when the heavily armed security people at Dubai airport didn’t like what they saw on their screens and watched nervously as I unpacked and reassured them that it was harmless).

Yeah, this makes sense.

I'm also wondering about custom foam for the flight case that I already have. The pluck foam is a bit soft and is already showing signs of degrading due to things pressing against it, but if I pluck more out the scope and various things will be a lot more loose in the case and subject to more movement.

Now I've got everything, I could just have fun creating CAD models, and send those off to a company to cut some foam for. It's a bit over the top, but given this cost so much and custom cut foam will be a lot longer lasting, offer more safety for all of the bits of glass, it feels like it's not wildly excessive, and if I can also fit the cabling into the case it really simplifies the carry.

Not as portable as I wished though... it will be two small flight cases plus the mount case and tripod. Hmm... now I wonder whether I can get the mount into one of these flight cases too with a bit more planning so that I can get it down to two carry on flight cases plus tripod.

I also haven't yet done a lot of work on real power usage, I'd like to not lug a portable power station around, and I love that the Sharge 100 https://sharge.com/products/storm2 has a DC output, so if the storage of 25,600mAh is sufficient for 4-6h of photography then I can actually have a portable setup.

Plastazote foam from Pentonville Rubber is ideal for this sort of stuff.

I also haven't yet done a lot of work on real power usage, I'd like to not lug a portable power station around, and I love that the Sharge 100 https://sharge.com/products/storm2 has a DC output, so if the storage of 25,600mAh is sufficient for 4-6h of photography then I can actually have a portable setup.

Aren't you going to start running into problems flying with big power banks if you need more than that Sharge 100?

It depends.

Because if I'm going to see my colleague who lives in Maine, and has a large house and a several acre space around it, then he can run extension leads out to wherever we set up and I won't need to carry power for the telescope and full set up to be useful... power will be there.

But if I'm going to Arizona where a friend is and they are in a forest and we're on the roof of her cabin (where she has a Dobsonian set up), then her cabin has no power so yeah I'd need power... and the Sharge is the largest size I could fly with, or we could arrange for her to get a local power bank sorted.

But if I'm going to Wales where there's a dark sky area, then this is all not an issue as the power bank I have can just go into the car and I can drive there.

Depends on the scenario.

Saw this thread pop up last night and thought… he’s gone all in straight away! Read back and confirmed it lol.

I’ve done things a little differently, but ended up in the same place, technically: I started with a zenith star 73 and a skyguider pro on an old tripod, learned to polar align, where all the stars were, and how to take photos using my DSLR. The next year I swapped the skyguider for a GEM28 so I could track in RA and Dec. Last year I got a second scope for planetary viewing and photography, a 6in Mak. This winter I may swap the slr for a dedicated Astro camera.

All of this because, three years ago I moved to a dark sky site, half way up The Long Mynd, in Shropshire. It’s the perfect place to enjoy what little clear skies we have. If you wana come hang out for a weekend we have an apartment for guests ✌️

Saw this thread pop up last night and thought… he’s gone all in straight away! Read back and confirmed it lol.

Am I not famed for stewing on something for years, researching the hell out of it and then going all in and straight to the destination?

I could've easily bought several cheaper things and other cludges on the path, over years, but life is short, opportunity to stargaze limited, my time is valuable... may as well spend the time and money now just getting to the destination I want, and then having high quality experiences and enjoying it all more for it :)

All of this because, three years ago I moved to a dark sky site, half way up The Long Mynd, in Shropshire. It’s the perfect place to enjoy what little clear skies we have. If you wana come hang out for a weekend we have an apartment for guests

Well I will 100% take you up on that as the nights draw in more. I'd actually booked a glamping thing in a dark sky site in Wales for a few nights in September and I hope the weather favours me. But yes... I can't help now look for houses, fields, farms, and mountains to buy in that kinda area... researching for a few years time when I'd be more willing to make the leap. Would love to come and stay, stargaze, catch up, and also see the area.

booked a glamping thing in a dark sky site

Brilliant idea! Thank you

It might be a dumb idea, I've yet to find out.

Booking these things in advance means you can determine the best things to observe and the moonlight, etc... but you are still subject to clouds and poor weather.

Yeah I wanted to learn some of the skills and see how I liked it before investing too much.

I spent much of last winter doing visual with the mak, the moon is so close with that thing! This winter is going to be more dedicated to photography. I don’t know about you though but, the older I get, the more I want to get away from screens! I may end up getting the sky guider again, just for visual while the photo rig is doing its thing.

Looking forward to catching up. I moved here for cycling so a road, XC or gravel bike will also reward you. The dark skies are a bonus!

Just to say, the apartment at my place is hardly ever used, fully independent (kitchen, bedroom, living room, bathroom) and a decent size. So if I know you (@ChainBreaker, @mashton etc) and you see it’s clear, dm me . Its unlikely I’ll say no :)

I'm split on visual and photography... a large part of me wants to just do visual, but I want to see deep sky and really you need the benefit of time and a super long exposure, hence the photography comes in then.

I'd sat on this idea for years, my first serious bookmarks for buying a telescope was in 2018 when I really wanted a Takahashi FS60Q with their Teegul mount. I've not deviated from that initial idea much, the Takahashi FSQ-85EDX is the grown up quadruplet version of it, and is just more precise as this kind of astrophotography whilst still being amazing for visual. The big changes of course are all around the mount, and then things to make photography work. My initial thing was "just use a DSLR", but the ones I've got are all Sony and no ASCOM support rules them out and focusing all night would be a PITA... so I just said fuck it... just go all in, hence the setup I eventually chose.

super kind, thanks buddy!

Yeah I have a D850 which does very well due to low noise and good size sensor.

It’s funny how quickly my perception moved from ‘photographing’ to ‘data sampling’ with my first experiments with DSO. Between getting your darks, lights, mids, then stacking. It’s definitely a process. You can still get some great results straight of camera though. The first time I shot Orion I was amazed, so def want more.

Current issue is balancing the mak with 2kg of DLSR hanging off the back… more dovetail required.

Current issue is balancing the mak

Hello ridiculous Harmonic Drive mounts that require no counter balance at all.
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/harmonic-drive-mounts.html

And of course, that made it possible to at least imagine I could travel with this stuff.

Cheers man!

Right, that Perseids shower has come around quick again so it's time to dust off the tripod and try to get the photograph that eluded me last year thanks to the clouds. Sunday night is probably peak viewing.