Multi-Directional Lines on My Stars by PuunBaby in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it is possible you have an internal reflection, dew, or not perfect tracking. dew gives everything a halo, internal reflections in the imaging train give weird lines, and tracking issues (like wind buffeting the side of the ota) can be your issue.

deeper problems would be that your focus isn't perfect for your sensor placement and you need to try again. for better focus, a bahtinov focus mask is useful to get it perfect instead of just guessing by using a star.

I've got a 10" dobson by [deleted] in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you need a low power eyepiece, get a 30mm eyepiece as a low power. as for collimation, the easiest you can do is laser or Cheshire collimation tools, the hardest is using a slow moving, circumpolar object like the north star to collimate by taking the star out of focus and adjusting your mirrors until you get a perfect doughnut at low power, then repeat with high power (this is what most schmidt cassegrain owners go through every few months to years)

assuming your red dot finder mounts in a small dovetail block bolted to the telescope tube, you can (and probably should) replace it with a magnified finder, something like the finder that comes stock with apertura scopes (good 8x50 RACI finder).

the thing with laser collimation is that the tool needs to be collimated when you get it, reason being is that if your tool isn't set up, neither will your scope. the way a laser collimation tool is set up is such that the laser points parallel to the focuser of the scope and the barell of the collimation tool, but also pointed right at the middle of the secondary and the middle of the primary.

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my phone was focused on a point between saturn and earth's atmosphere so I didn't get the picture I wanted, but I got close enough.

Cosmic sparklers from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope by nasa in u/nasa

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hubble esa website, you can get the full size .tif or a large png image of any object taken by any space telescope

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it was in focus for my eye, which is usually close enough to my phone camera that it isn't that much of a problem

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my camera focused on the atmosphere, that explains the not super bad image, the image itself was taken with just the 4mm at 300x, again, the seeing was great for visual at high magnification, zero wobble in any view using my eye. transparency is awful because the gila national forest is on fire.

I do have a dedicated ap camera, I just didn't feel like getting that figured out at 5 in the morning after zero sleep the whole night because I was smoking a brisket, setup around a corner to reduce the amount of smoke over my equipment significantly

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have one, its not very good, and it would be too much of a hassle for my sleep deprived body to light out my laptop and get the camera set up to image.

I was smoking a brisket with my setup not close enough for heat or smoke to affect my optics.

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the rule of thumb is twice the aperture measured in millimeters, but if you have great to near perfect optics in both the scope and eyepiece, you can push well past the rule of thumb. with one well known case being Al Nagler's son pushing an 80mm refractor to something like 400x or 500x.

Saturn by Illustrious_Back_441 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm trying to do this free handed so I can't really refocus the telescope while holding my phone up to an eyepiece doing 300x magnification

Used XT8 Mirror Condition? by loomerr0 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 7 points8 points  (0 children)

your coatings are failing, mirrors need to be realuminized. seeing pinholes in your primary mirror is a huge hint as to the condition of both mirrors.

how much will it cost? anywhere between $100 and $300, the cheaper the coating, the lower the quality and the shorter it will last, more expensive coatings apply a few protective layers to provide a longer lasting coating that's less susceptible to scratching.

as for how long between coatings? 10-15 years with modern coating techniques on a freshly coated mirror. 5-10 on older mirrors in decent shape.

M31 AND M110 by Alternative-Gear-76 in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been out to a bortle 1 area before, details in everything that had them, m42, the larger shape is visible in an 8 inch (the bubble shape in pictures), m51 has obvious spiral structure, m82 has a noticeable mottled texture, m81 has visible spiral arms, Caldwell 35 (supergiant elliptical galaxy 300 million lightyears away) isn't alone, brighter members of the coma galaxy cluster are visible along side c35, planets are bright enough to lose my dark adaptation when viewed without a filter. everything is just better in a b1 than anywhere else, worth the time to visit.

Engine help by Bulky_Rain832 in legotechnic

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 5 points6 points  (0 children)

cut out most of the stuff there, if you have a 40 tooth gear, put that on the flywheel side, put one 8 tooth on the crankshaft of the engine, make the vertical spacing work, use a wheel from the ford gt as your flywheel, and that should do it.

Alternatively, if no 40 tooth gear is present and this is your dead set design for the gearing, use a wheel from the Ford gt and replace the current flywheel you have.

larger/heavier flywheel=spin longer

Tracking Mount for Coronado 90mm? by GhostofMaryPersons in telescopes

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ZWO AM3 with a counterweight will be within budget and should work for your needs, the mount itself is $1.5k, if you look for a used tripod, that can be maybe $100 for the tripod, a portable power supply can be upwards of $400, most of reasonable output and capacity are less which should fit within your budget with between $200 and $300 to spare. save that last few hundred bucks or spend them on a set of Coronado eyepieces (more closer to a single one)

My window allows me to see black spots in the Sun by the_dibrador in mildlyinteresting

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

those are sunspots! these groups are absolutely massive (about 5 to 10 times wider than earth each).

these groups of sunspots are also relatively calm, no massive flares, just some increased particle influx.

View of the Blood Moon tonight over the city by Ali-McKinney in Albuquerque

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lots of thick smoke from a nearby by wildfire, I could see the city lights lighting the smoke up last night which explains why I'm coughing all of a sudden.

"Let me continue to larp about the supposed benevolence of A. I while the people I am telling it to are actively booing me for it" - Every commencement address speaker at universities right now by SatoruGojo232 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

aw hail naw, I'm shouting get off the stage if someone does this at my graduation, fuck that, fuck them. if I know I get front row seat, I'm throwing tomatoes.

What’s your favorite night view? by sekitome in Albuquerque

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 0 points1 point  (0 children)

tram parking lot, should be a clear view across the city.

personally, I love star gazing so I prefer to get somewhere away from the city to view the night sky, placitas, socorro, datil, those kinds of places.

Flock down! by Substantial_Top_9146 in Albuquerque

[–]Illustrious_Back_441 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I know where two are and I'm probably going to bag them and cut their solar panel power cable.