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Old 11-08-2019, 07:52 PM
drrockso (John)
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Help Identify what I have inherited.

Hi everyone,

I have not gotten to deep into AP as it generally too expensive. But I have inherited some gear and I'm really just looking to work out what I'm doing with it. If I should keep it or move it on.

It's the mount I'm particularly questioning.



It's a Losmandy G-11 with a Losmandy Gemini System and hand controller.

It also has a 88mm Williams Optics OTA - Megrez 88fd

The imaging systems it has is anm ATIK CCD Camera and an Orion Starshoot pro.

I don't know where to start. For reference, before this I only used an 8" Dob.



Cheers
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  #2  
Old 11-08-2019, 08:35 PM
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Hi John
On the face of it you have some very desirable gear.
If you are interested in astrophotography I would keep it if not and without being too hasty get rid of it.. but remember opportunity often only knocks once and if you don't open the door may never knock again.
Alex
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Old 11-08-2019, 08:40 PM
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It can seem a bit all too much but folk here will help you every step of the way.
Do you know how to use the mount?
If not that's the place to start.
If you want to take photos we will help.
Most folk would give up their first born for such equipment so please recognise how fortunate you are if you wish to get into photos...I would it is such rewarding fun.
Alex
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Old 11-08-2019, 08:48 PM
drrockso (John)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave View Post
Hi John
On the face of it you have some very desirable gear.
If you are interested in astrophotography I would keep it if not and without being too hasty get rid of it.. but remember opportunity often only knocks once and if you don't open the door may never knock again.
Alex
Yeah it's a tough one. I'm not sure I have the time or room for this level of kit and commitment right now.

I guess I need to try the mount out and get it aligned and see it's tracking. Make sure it all works still. Particularly as it's been a 7+ years since it was last used.
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Old 11-08-2019, 09:31 PM
drrockso (John)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave View Post
It can seem a bit all too much but folk here will help you every step of the way.
Do you know how to use the mount?
If not that's the place to start.
If you want to take photos we will help.
Most folk would give up their first born for such equipment so please recognise how fortunate you are if you wish to get into photos...I would it is such rewarding fun.
Alex
Hi, oh I’m starting to figure out exactly how fortunate I am.

Unfortunately I know only a little about gem mounts. I have never polar aligned one, that’s for sure.

I will have a closer look into it this weekend when a friend comes by who’s done a fair bit of AP.

I’ll try post up some photos.
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Old 11-08-2019, 09:36 PM
drrockso (John)
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Hopefully this link should have a few photos

https://imgur.com/a/s0uTlZC
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Old 11-08-2019, 10:40 PM
Ukastronomer (Jeremy)
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surely just google what you have listed
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Old 12-08-2019, 07:51 AM
drrockso (John)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukastronomer View Post
surely just google what you have listed

Thanks, yes I have done some searching. Seems they are more common in the US, to be expected I guess.
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Old 12-08-2019, 08:18 AM
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Nikolas (Nik)
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Geez thats some decent kit you have aquired
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Old 12-08-2019, 08:37 AM
casstony
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It's kind of jumping into imaging at the deep end; if you have a mentor you should be ok, otherwise I'd suggest trading for a more user friendly mount and a DSLR camera. The short focal length refractor would be fine to start imaging with - it will need a flattener or reducer.
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Old 12-08-2019, 09:34 AM
drrockso (John)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony View Post
It's kind of jumping into imaging at the deep end; if you have a mentor you should be ok, otherwise I'd suggest trading for a more user friendly mount and a DSLR camera. The short focal length refractor would be fine to start imaging with - it will need a flattener or reducer.
That’s basically how I’m feeling. Very overwhelmed with the kit. It’s not something I have passion for at the moment. I’m still enjoying learning the basics of astronomy and I don’t have or see myself having the time or access to dark sky’s to be able to put such equipment to good use.
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Old 12-08-2019, 10:47 AM
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The key is not to get overwhelmed.
I am old and easily flustered and I constantly run into brick walls but I back off relax seek help and eventually overcome that issue and on to the next.
If you have a DSLR start with that on the mount...you can find the Celestial South Pole by pointing South and taking star trails and adjust the polar axis so their centre appears in the centre of your photo..and the mount needs to be switched off to do this...next figure how to make it track and take short exposures with the camera of any bright star that you can see and learn how to stack them in Deep Sky Stacker ..a free program...your DSLR has a 30 second exposure that will run while you let it if you have a remote control...which you really should get or an intervalometer which is just a remote camera control that allows various exposures.

At this stage you could probably will have find out how to do a star alignment...and I note here although I have had a number of Goto mounts I never star allign or use the Goto..all I wanted out of a mount was to track...so we can learn star alignment together..well I tried it recently cause I now need to do it because I am going to link my mount to planitarium software but my point is you can do a lot of photography without ever doing a star alignment...and I could not do it as soon mole as it is..well I did it but things were not where they should be..so a little brick wall I guess.

So perhaps leave trying the scope and camera until you get the mount tracking simply so you only have one area to worry about..you may get thru my suggested steps in a couple of nights or it may take months depending on a whole range of things..just be patient...first see if you can assemble the mount and point it ruffly South...then take some static shots..one step at a time...and please let us know your progress and ask if you hit a brick wall...sometimes we use jargon which when explained makes things simple..like I will say get CSP sorted..what does that mean to someone just starting...I need to be pulled up and asked what I mean..
Good luck let us know how things go.
Alex
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Old 13-08-2019, 10:41 AM
drrockso (John)
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Ok so just a quick check in here. I am assuming both the camera's are useless unless I build/buy a really old PC as I am unable to get either the ATIK 16IC ccd or the Orion StarShoot Pro (V1) camera's working in Windows 10.

I believe they're USB 1 and so outdated they wont run on my 64bit AMD System running W10.
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Old 13-08-2019, 11:08 AM
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I can't answer but hopefully someone will offer a suggestion.
Alex
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Old 13-08-2019, 11:58 AM
drrockso (John)
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I think I might have to try and get some help from some of the guys in our Astronomy group here to get the mount set up and make sure it's still in good working condition and I might post it up on here for sale.

I think starting here, with this level of gear, on a subject i'm not super passionate about (AP) is maybe not the best, and the mount would be better used by someone with more passion and experience.
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