More often than not failed alignments result from overlooking some silly little thing - if you put your hand up and ask for help you'll get it on IIS - you just need to get together with another observer or observers. Other options are: to sell for about 70% to 75% of new price; trade down to a simple dob and go visual; trade for a Nexstar 8SE or LX90 - these alt/az goto scopes are extremely easy to use and someone swapping over to imaging would likely trade for your gear.
Whatever you decide Rob, life's too short for regrets so don't worry about mistakes you may have made (we all make them) and forge ahead.
i don't think people would like to comment on second hand value - very subjective & conflict interest..many have diff views on prices..check old classifieds for a guide, treat as a GUIDE only
The fact is I dont want to give it away but if push comes to shove and I cant get the photos or track as I want or get started, the scope will just stay on the floor getting in the way of the wife ,,,,,,,
thanks again
Rob
Instead of lamenting over the possible sale of your gear, why not ask if someone near you is willing to come show you the ropes? Or, attend an astronomy club night, or a star party?
These things have been suggested a number of times, but, it appears as though you're not interested.
This is a lost case people.
I offered to help, and helped him before.
Brendan helped him before i believe but that didn't work out
I wont go into why, that is what the OP should tell you himself.
Like many other members here, I browse the IIS Trade section all the time, and my observation is that most, if not all people list the items in one post, but offer them for sale individually.
Without knowing too much about your knowledge Rob, have you progressed from, say binos or a Dobsonian or is this your first setup? If this is your first telescope setup, and you were expecting to start imaging from day one, there is a massive learning curve with imaging, as many here will attest to. Perhaps once you sell your gear, try some visual observing and enjoy the hobby that way.
Don't lose sleep over polar alignment and drift alignment
I can't polar align due to a roof line and like you get confused by drift alignment and programs like Alignmaster allways choose stars that are also blocked by my roofline
Three things you need to do
a) make sure mount is level
b) make sure mount accurately set for your latitude
c) make sure mount head pointing as near as possible to true South (about 178 Degrees Sth) not magnetic which is 180 degrees
Learning to polar align and drift aligning is like learning collimation on a Newtonian telescope. It will confuse the @#$% out of you at first and make no sense what you are doing.
But once you practice and see the processes involved unfolding, you'll wonder why it was so hard to understand in the first place.
bit like math..
These are good skills of an amateur astronomers arsenal.
I highly recommend requesting assistance in person; either a callout by fellow amatuer astronomer or a visit to your local astro club meet.
It would be a shame to get rid of all that gear.
