Redcat 51 TicTacToe club

[shut comet]

for people that have the redcat 51 or any other variant of the redcat!!! but not the redact 71.

[shut comet]

just a forum where people can give tips and tricks for the redcat 51

and post there pictures ofcource

[hardy marsh]

Well ill start I guess 😅

[young cosmos]

Here is mine

[shut comet]

great setup!

[shut comet]

that aa good one too!

you can also post the pictures you have captured with the readcat 51 or any other variant!

[young cosmos]

@hardy marsh is that a nema 17 your using as a focus motor ?

[hardy marsh]

Nema14 actually lol, but close! I may downgrade to a nema 8 or something though, as I'd like something lighter and there's no need for it to be high torque

[young cosmos]

Im trying to get an 11 to work but its being a very bad boy, me and generalsyb trying to get my focuser working for an age and its just not having any of it lol

[hardy marsh]

What focuser did you build? Myfocuserpro2?

[young cosmos]

No we are using moonlite with an esp32 and tmc2209 driver

[hardy marsh]

Wait, moonlite electronic or manual focuser?

[young cosmos]

Electronic

[hardy marsh]

What's wrong with it? I assumed it would work out of the box well?

[young cosmos]

Just moonlite ascom and softwere and my own hardware

[hardy marsh]

Ahhhh I see

[young cosmos]

And syb's code

[hardy marsh]

Yeah I'd look at a proper diy project like the mfp2

I see what you guys are doing though, and it's awesome!

[young cosmos]

With moonlite i can run a focuser and a rotator from the same ascom drivers and from the same controller board with 2 diffrent drivers

[hardy marsh]

Ah gotcha

Well good luck then lol

[young cosmos]

Yeah we having some issues at the moment

[hardy marsh]

I do actually need to redesign my focuser enclosure and find a way to include a nema8 motor in it 🤔

[young cosmos]

I keep saying to myself i could releave the pain by getting a zwo eaf but i begrudge giving them my money

So atm im manually focusing the redcat, its easy enough to get into focus

[hardy marsh]

Pinged you out of a thread in diy btw

[young cosmos]

One thing i did find hard with the redcat is trying to find a 12v dew strap short enough

[hardy marsh]

Like wire or the heater portion?

You could technically shorten the wire by cutting and splicing it back

[young cosmos]

No the heater portion, seems 12v are all really long for dobs not little refractors

Ive seen lots of 5v usb but not many 12v

[hardy marsh]

I mean, mine is perfect length

[young cosmos]

The shortest svbony i could find is wrapped 3 times round the cat

[hardy marsh]

https://agenaastro.com/dew-not-dew-remover-dn04.html

[shut comet]

i mean, you can talk here. it is about some teqnicals things about the redcat which can help someone.

[hardy marsh]

That's the one I have

I mean, a dew heater for the redcat is a necessary addition?

[young cosmos]

I would always use one, i had 1 night were i had frost on the main lens so i wont image without one at all now

But even 13" is a bit long, that length we can wrap it around the cat and the guide scope

[hardy marsh]

You have 3 inches of overlap, and that's really it. It's not that big of a deal

[young cosmos]

Why is mine so long then ?

[hardy marsh]

Is it actually 13"?

[young cosmos]

It may be 13" whole length inc the velcro strap but only 10" heater ?

Mine is like 20" maybe

[hardy marsh]

Nah, mine is 13" for sure, it has an overlap and I like that there's one, cause I can use the heater on a bigger scope next

[young cosmos]

Also i have just the normal 12v barrel conextor not the rc thingie

I dont have a peg system

[hardy marsh]

Ah gotcha, well you could technically cut it and put a barrel on it?

There's also adapters

But tbh, a pegasus power box is an incredible accessory to have

[young cosmos]

Pft lol i had a 5v usb dew strap and i accidently put 12v through it, it made a mess after the buring had stopped

[hardy marsh]

I mean, those are 12v straps?

[young cosmos]

The first one i had was deffo 5v max

[hardy marsh]

A. About Dew-Not Dew Heaters

Proudly made in the USA by AFAB, the Dew-Not Dew Remover is a thick film dew heater manufactured for operation at 12 volts. Sixty-six percent of the surface area is heat emitting - this means more even heat distribution and no localized hot spots or burnouts often associated with resistance wire heaters.

It's on that page I linked

[young cosmos]

Ok cool

Do you ever pack your cat away in its bag any more ?

[hardy marsh]

Lol does it look like it fits? 😂

I'm too lazy, I just have a tarp and padding in a box

[young cosmos]

I took the original foam out and bought some pillow foam sheet, cut out the shape, put it in the cat bag, now i just take the camera off and off the tracker and it goes in nicely.

I like the cat bag i like to use it

[hardy marsh]

Yeah everything is too connected on mine, plus removing the EFW is a pain, so I just keep everything assembled. As a bonus, takes like 5 mins to setup

[young cosmos]

I did have to change the dovetail as the original is too small

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/william-optics-vixen-compatible-long-dovetail-plate.html

This is what i have now

[hardy marsh]

Yeah I was looking at that one for a bit, but didn't feel the need for extra holes tbh

[young cosmos]

Most of my cables are all down the middle

Or didnt feel the need to spend nearly £100 on dovetail ?

[hardy marsh]

That too lol

[bleak girder]

Hello!!!

[ember fulcrum]

@slow gull

[slow gull]

huh

[ember fulcrum]

Takes excellent photos at airports with their redcat 51

[slow gull]

I also do astrophotography though

[ember fulcrum]

I didnt finish but yeah

[slow gull]

||the pictures aren't good though lmao||

[ember fulcrum]

I think they're fine though

[slow gull]

I don;t evem know where my ap photos arw

Here's one

[shut comet]

well, thats a good photo, it is really noisy, but still good.

was that of the coment ef2022??

[slow gull]

Ye

[slow gull]

Here's my best shot with it

[bleak girder]

Ooh that’s good!

[bleak girder]

Seems like my forum is running dry

[young cosmos]

Why u say that ?

[bleak girder]

Nwm

[young cosmos]

Captured this with my cat on sunday night whirlpool galaxy

[bleak girder]

Oh, good to know you can even capture some galaxy’s with the cat

[young cosmos]

Andromeda with the cat

The 51 only has a FL of 250 so realy far DSOs have to be zoom cropped but widefield its brilliant, mine is paired with a asi533mc pro which is a good combo

I bet if i targeted say m86 i could prob get hundreds of galaxys in 1 picture

You know this weekend i might just do it

Asuming i get clear skys

[bleak girder]

Man, galaxy clusters might be my favourite to capture man. Just to know that you captured thousands of galaxy’s with wacht more then 200 billion stars and planets!

Yey, my forum reached 100 replies!

[young cosmos]

Well the whirlpool galaxy i posted has an estimated 100billion stars

[bleak girder]

Well, I might have exagerated a bit.

[young cosmos]

No no some have way more

[bleak girder]

Like the m86 galaxy right?

[young cosmos]

Not sure, i think our galaxy has an estamated 500billion stars

[bleak girder]

UGC 2885, HOLY, it has a trillion stars!!!!

[young cosmos]

Yup there you go

[bleak girder]

Man, how have we been not visited by some curious aliens? I mean. Ok I get you may be not interested in us, but we are even untested by ants.

I mean intrested

[young cosmos]

I have a theory that is also supported by Brian Cox

[bleak girder]

And what is that theory. I would like to know

[young cosmos]

We as us humans are not that advanced, but our galaxy is one of the oldest in the known universe, we are 13.6 billion years old, and the known universe is 13.7 billion years old so in theory only galaxys older than us would have inteligent life able to visit us or comunicate with us, assuming younger galaxys dont have rapid ageing, so yeah this cuts down the amount of possible galaxys, now people will disagree and have theorys but thats ok thats what we are here to figure out right 🙂

But the kicker is earth is only 4.5billion years old which in the universe terms is not old at all, so although our galaxy is old the earth isnt, but then how long would an inhabitable planet take to produce life, again its all theory, nothing proven, nothing disproven all guesses at the moment

[bleak girder]

Well, I may sound lunatics but I have a little theory that I thaught of if you want to hear it.

[young cosmos]

Go for it

[glacial jewel]

Im getting one soon

[slow gull]

[glacial jewel]

And "soon" being I'm 14 and I have to wait 1 year for me to get the $$$ for it. I can't get a job nor debit caard. Because my parents wont allow me. But still 1 year goes by in an blink.

[bleak girder]

Well, how I always think how the time in percentages. Now, 1 year of your life while you are let’s say,5, that’s 20%!!!! Of your whole life, while let’s say when you are 100 years old, you get a year older, and now that was only one percent of your life. So while for the 5 year old, one year took a reaaaalllllly long time, once your even 30 or 25. One year does not seem like much.

Well that’s how I think

So the older you get, the faster life goes!!

[young cosmos]

Hava a word !!!

[shut comet]

you found ALIENS

[young cosmos]

I found elon playing tic-tac-toe in the sky !!!

[shut comet]

hahaha, he seems like so

elon just wanted to play with his aliens friends

[ember fulcrum]

wanna go?

I got X you got O

[shut comet]

oh my gotttttttt, tic tac toe in SPACE.

[bleak girder]

Oh no, caphe is going to win. What will lozandogg do

[bleak girder]

AND lozanddog has has placed a counter attack, what will caphe do now

TUNE IN TOMMOROW MÖRING TO SEE WHAT HAPPEND

Seems like nobody is using this forum to post redcat 51 things😢

[shut comet]

seems like so astrobeginner.

idiot

jk, that account is just my phone accoutn

[bleak girder]

Indeed I can confirm

[young cosmos]

@bleak girder well that picture was taken on my cat51

[shut comet]

well, yes ofcource.

but there is a plot twist coming

[bleak girder]

BOEM

MOEHAHAHAH

[shut comet]

now defeat this MOEHAHAHAHAHA

[young cosmos]

No plot twist that was from saturday night with my redcat51 of pinwheel galaxy that was a 120s sub, i managed 7.5hrs of intergrated moon washout !!!

[shut comet]

7,5 hours wow

[shut comet]

but this was the plot twist

i was talking about

i addded my own tic tac toe

[young cosmos]

And yeah hours of starlink satalite interuptions as well

@bleak girder i concede you win the elon tic-tac-toe game

@shut comet when ever i image i normaly start at about 9pm and leave it running till 5am, i leave my rig in the garden and go to bed, callibrations are done in the morning when i wake up

[shut comet]

ah, so it is self automated. i still have to do everything manually

[young cosmos]

@shut comet even manages its meridian flip on its own

I use nina, but just the simple sequencer, i havent set up and advanced stuff.

[shut comet]

oh wow. i have a dslr and a mechanical star tracker so there isn't really to automate in my case

[young cosmos]

I used to use a dslr and star tracker and still be automated, just not for so long still 4-5 hours tho, when you say mechanical star tracker ?

[shut comet]

the omegon lx3

it needs to be rewinded every 1 hour

[young cosmos]

@shut comet like a clock ? I guess thats one way of not worrying about power issues

[shut comet]

yes. littaraly haha.

but the main reason is that it was cheap

or else i would have gone for the star adventurer any day

its thousand times better

[young cosmos]

@shut comet i have a swsa 2i that i was using and yeah its great, now i have a swsa gti and i love it also

[ember fulcrum]

thought you were gonna get away with that little move didnt ya

[shut comet]

oh no, this game will end in a draw if lozanddog is slim

EYYYYYY LOZANDDOG, your a red dwarf!!!!!

[young cosmos]

Oh hang on a min, were is the other line, is it at the bottom ?

[ember fulcrum]

you just gotta imagine it

[shut comet]

Uhm lozandog, it’s your play

[young cosmos]

Im going for the win

[hardy marsh]

Redcat 51 TicTacToe club

[ember fulcrum]

not so fast

[glacial jewel]

The galaxy sent some aliens in

[glacial jewel]

^

[ember fulcrum]

🤨

[shut comet]

Agahaggaggaga ALIENS HAVE COME

[shut comet]

this might just be the slowest tic tac toe game i have seen in my live.

right mantee

[slow gull]

What

[shut comet]

hey people

lozandog,

its your move my man

and caphe

what lens would be good with a nikon for wild life photography

since you have got some great images.

@ember fulcrum

[ember fulcrum]

what's your budget

[shut comet]

about 500 for a lens

tripod i already got

and a dslr

i heard zoomlenses are great, but also that prime lenses are sharper

[ember fulcrum]

a used sigma 150-500

[ember fulcrum]

prime lenses will technically be better than zoom lenses but both are just for two different purposes, zoom lenses are typically preferred for wild life

[shut comet]

because you could zoom in and out depending where the wildlife is.

[ember fulcrum]

yea

you would really enjoy the 150-500

what lens mount is your nikon @shut comet

F?

[shut comet]

lens mount?

wait, dx?? does that help/

[ember fulcrum]

how do you not know what a lens mount is

[ember fulcrum]

no

[shut comet]

Srry, I mean f mount

[ember fulcrum]

what camera do you have

specific model

[shut comet]

Nikon D7000

[ember fulcrum]

@shut comet https://www.ebay.com/itm/175678272012?epid=101740670&hash=item28e73db20c:g:Y88AAOSwB31kLV~0&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwPSjODdFMlgwBoibnxi3yXNRwMJNl6jcxdH7OErepHpus6t5XHmhlKD1Z5NjQkn9TwqjBcCQh0zeiryXO8Fq1lI6Dmqkx%2Bdjnxx3MVe2u1a83Cb8DBet%2FPxjUazAiTA9zSsXT9hNcqTNKn7BJn7VT5aBwAQs783dR%2BXkbmzPXR9zbwmn3p0ppp%2BNSWx47o1cLyjmZdjqAruFCtHv5DOUiyLhmJY1RIjl087R7Xy8jRICnYd5wyrZagr9K4IByhRvLg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6iU74f0YQ

nikon F 150-500 in perfect working condition for $385

[shut comet]

Ey, thank you man.

Looks good

See you later!

[shut comet]

What lens do you currently use?

[ember fulcrum]

samyang 135mm f2

Its a great lens made for daytime and portraits

[fierce sinew]

My setup and a bad picture of Orion I took after first getting it (took with no guide scope, no tracking from my deck)

[shut comet]

Could be far better when you really maximise your setup. You have a great and capable setup

[fierce sinew]

Thank you, getting my AA+ today, so my whole setup will hopefully get easier and faster to setup. The biggest barrier to using it, was the setup and use...PHD2 etc is very frustrating to deal with, especially when you need a laptop to control the mount + guide, and a tablet to control the camera lol

[shut comet]

Ah ok, I hear NINA helps a lot and eases things a lot too

[fierce sinew]

Image I captured last night, processing with Siril, and I am pretty bad at it.

[ember fulcrum]

Looks like we tied

good game

[shut comet]

Ggs bois.

[slow gull]

💀💀

[shut comet]

anybody up for a new game?

maybe multi-player?

[drifting scroll]

Here are my shots so far with the redcat, I think I’ve been using it a bit wrong so all of them are a bit out of focus

[drifting scroll]

Sure lol

[slow gull]

Hot

Here's a recent picture I got

So sharp

[shut comet]

sheesh

[drifting scroll]

Yeah plane spotting has been awesome since I got mine

[shut comet]

some of them have trailing noise. but still good images

[drifting scroll]

Yeah I don’t really have a way to fix that rn

Most of those have like 3 hours of exposure besides rosette

[shut comet]

you can begin with the tictactoe game

btw

[drifting scroll]

Should I use that same image you guys were playing with before?

[shut comet]

yea, or you can make your own image

[shut comet]

you are going to have to wait atleast 1 hour before i make my move, this has to be precise.

[slow gull]

Please clean your sensor

[drifting scroll]

It doesn’t come off aaaaa

I’ve tried cleaning it like 5 times

Also here’s my rc51 setup

(Please ignore the white 3d printed parts)

[slow gull]

I like the wire holder

[drifting scroll]

Thanks

Those ones are custom made, pretty simple design but they don’t work super well

I might re design them and print in black

[shut comet]

oh you're a good one,

still cant find the stratagy

WAIT I FOUND IT

HAHAHAHA

ONLY TOOK MT LIKE 19 HOURS OF PLANNING

HAHA

[shut comet]

uhm.... where are you?

i mean. i spent 19 hours on planning my moves my man.

[drifting scroll]

Still thinking

[drifting scroll]

I have made my move

[shut comet]

I have stayed up… THE WHOLE NIGHT. Just for my perfect move MOEHAHAHHAHA

[drifting scroll]

Hah, and I stayed up…. The whole DAY to perfect this precise and well planned move to block you

[shut comet]

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAA, I KNEW MY PLAN THAT I WORKED ON DAY AND NIGHT WORKED!!!!!

[ember fulcrum]

I think raidriar is going to win

I see a major flaw @shut comet

[shut comet]

Well, lemme draw the situation out

@ember fulcrum

Do you want to change you mind?

[ember fulcrum]

no just let him make his move

[shut comet]

@drifting scroll RAIDERREEERRRR.come forth if thy dare.

[drifting scroll]

Uh oh

Uno segundo, porfavor

[shut comet]

alright, i will give you some time.

[drifting scroll]

Hah! Well you can’t beat the square! (I forfeit)

[shut comet]

MOEHAHAHAHAHA,

AND SINCE YOU FORFEIT,

I WIN

GGs btw!

[drifting scroll]

GGs

[young cosmos]

Omg you guys play that incredably fast !!

[shut comet]

Hm, seems like more people should join our club

[shut comet]

anybody here🥺

?

🥺

[slow gull]

💀

[shut comet]

Yea, you…. Up for a game of tic tac toe?

[slow gull]

💀💀

[shut comet]

That was a order sir. You WILL. Play a tic tac toe game with me

I begin.

[shut comet]

@slow gull

[slow gull]

No thanks

[bleak girder]

How do you guys put on the wo bahtinov mask, everytime I do it i fear for my fokus… and if I take it off the same thing doesn‘t it shift the fokus?

[shut comet]

The redcat 51 has a second ring that when you tighten also tightens your focus so that when you move your redcat. The focus stays the same.

[drifting scroll]

Yeah it should work when you twist the lens hood, there should be some words saying “focuser tension” and if you hold the back of the scope while twisting it towards the direction the arrow is pointing, then it should tighten down the focus

[bleak girder]

yeah, I tested it but the focus shifted, even though I tightened that second ring pretty good…

(I have the v1.5 so maybe its because of that)

[young cosmos]

@bleak girder i also have the 1.5 and i find the dew shild tension on the focus works quite well, one thing i also do is when in focus check the focus mark, if u do accidently move it you know roughly were it should be, do a test sub to check, i used the focus markings for ages knowing it was the correct focus.

[dull zinc]

CHEAPCAT FOR LIFE

[unique goblet]

lol what is this

[drifting scroll]

Wdym it’s the tic-tac-toe club only for redcat users

It’s like a perk you unlock if you get one yk

Definitely William Optics certified

[unique goblet]

might have to get a redcat

[drifting scroll]

You should, then you can play tic-tac-toe with us

(It’s also a great and versatile scope that is equipped to handle wide field and deep space photography, especially if you have a crop sensor and or a autofocuser)

But the tic-tac-toe is better tbh

[shut comet]

yup.

[slow gull]

💀

[shut comet]

💀

[slow gull]

How is this RC related?

[young cosmos]

I took the original tic tac toe board with a redcat 51 and it had so many satallites in it that it made a tic tac toe board

[shut comet]

well, the name now indeed it redcat AND tic tac toe club.

[shut comet]

you wanna play tic tac toe?

i'll begin

[north compass]

Anybody get the supernova with their redcat?

May try Wednesday…

[bleak girder]

weather is broken at my location, 6 weeks no clear night

so no🥲

[north compass]

It’s been broken for me, but possibly may clear up Wednesday…

I have a “pre” pic - just need a “post”

[drifting scroll]

Yup I got it

Single sub unstretched

[north compass]

Love my redcat but galaxy season has been rough

[drifting scroll]

Same

[north compass]

Best I could do with dither / drizzle / blurX / NoiseX

(Pre supernova)

[drifting scroll]

Woahh that detail on m51 is nice

[north compass]

Tks! Yeah that was from a Bortle 4 “dark” site, whereas the m101 was from my Bortle 7 front yard

[north compass]

@drifting scroll got it!

[drifting scroll]

Nice shot!

A surprising amount of detail too, any blurX or anything?

[north compass]

Yup, BlurX and DeepSNR

[north compass]

DeepSNR does a lot better job on galaxies with lots of tiny details, but makes it look a little like it has miliary tuberculosis. I’ll work on this some more later to help it be less mottled, hopefully.

[drifting scroll]

Lol, I would get deepsnr but I can’t afford to get pixinsight atm

[north compass]

I resisted a very long time, and got some pretty good results with Siril. It’s worth it, though. I suggest doing the 45 day free trial, and do the free trial of BlurX simultaneously. DeepSNR is free, but complicated. Only works on CFA drizzled x1 data if using an OSC camera.

[shut comet]

oh

how did i end up here

anybody up for tic tac toe?

[graceful palm]

yeah

[shut comet]

Nice

[shut comet]

@sterile gorge

@opaque helm

@main isle

@desert cedar

@safe plaza

[safe plaza]

what

[shut comet]

y'all wanna play tic tac toe?

[safe plaza]

i mean sure

also

i found a redcat51 being sold for 700

[shut comet]

holy

[safe plaza]

http://www.te-les-koop.nl/index.html?BekijkAdvertentie.php&key=45634

[shut comet]

@tame vale

this is THE place to play space tic tac toe

so come and join us

[shut comet]

this is the space sheet everybody will play on

[desert cedar]

YOO

[daring smelt]

Meet the Cat !!

[desert cedar]

WOoo shes a beauty......

[shut comet]

Holy man

That is an awesome setup

[daring smelt]

Its a capable system

[shut comet]

That is beautiful man, wow

And very expensive XD, but the images seem to be worth it

[daring smelt]

Yes totally worth it

[drifting scroll]

Clean rig

[shut comet]

Time to wake this thread from its grave

[mortal belfry]

Low left corner

[young cosmos]

I always worry about the wires maybe causing drag, i managed to get mine down to 2 wires coming off the scope, 1 is the usb to the mount, the 2nd is the 12v, i have plans to even remove the 12v as well, so no cables are from the mount to the floor

Cables have got tidyer since these were taken

[shut comet]

https://tenor.com/view/your-move-obi-wan-kenobi-obi-wan-jedi-master-star-wars-gif-17755475

[mortal belfry]

Hmmm upper left corner

[shut comet]

Hmmm, the next step will be hard for me, I shall think till morning

(Real reason, need to go to sleep)

[pure slate]

hi! i’m ordering the redcat 51 tomorrow!!

[pure slate]

guys will i still be able to use the same spacers i use with my zs61 for my camera ?

it’s those

[drifting scroll]

They should work as long as they are m42 mount

[pure slate]

yeah okay cheers

[drifting scroll]

I made an underbarrel grenade launcher for my redcat

I really should mount stuff like a normal person

[young cosmos]

Ive seen guide scopes hung underneath, keeps the CofG low

[bleak girder]

Good idea!

[daring smelt]

Fully loaded Redcat !!

[bleak girder]

I've never seen eaf on the dovetail bar before

Looks very solid and nice

[pure slate]

bootiful

[pure slate]

idk how tf to extend this thing , any yt vuds?

vids

[bleak girder]

yeah take the whole red thing off

and flip it to be the other way and screw it on

I was confused when I first used a redcat, too

[drifting scroll]

Really rudimentary precision focuser for the redcat since twisting it normally isn’t all that accurate

I really need to improve on the tolerances tho

[inner oracle]

what you need is autofocusing, really the redcat is meant for longer integrations and to get good quality you need to adjust focus from to time to time to account for temparature changes, plus autofocus is always more precise that you can ever be manually

[drifting scroll]

Yeah I know I need it, it’s next on my list. I just got autoguiding but currently autofocus is too out of my budget, maybe in a few months

[neon moat]

💀

[pure slate]

bro you’re acc annoyijg

oiss off

[neon moat]

instagram now

[pure slate]

no

[unique goblet]

Nice worm gear

[sterile gorge]

Dayuüm

[drifting scroll]

Worm gears are awesome

So much torque

[young cosmos]

@drifting scroll dude dont panic about auto focusing yet, i was using my cat well over a year with no autofocus, just get a lens heater band, as long as you can keep the cat lens warm there wont be a noticable change in focus, as said i used a batonov mask to get focus locked down the lens hood so the helical focuser didnt move recorded the focus setting and didnt change it for a year until i did buy a focuser, and you know what even with an auto focuser i still cant see a differance between auto focus and my focus !!!

[drifting scroll]

Ah ok, I don’t have a heater band (because I live in Hawaii, where there is literally no dew) but I’ll look into getting one. It would make sense to keep it at a stable temp throughout the night and is probably part of what’s making my images all messed up. Thanks for the insight!

[pure slate]

FLO , come on

i ordered this and this is how the lense looks

[pure slate]

don’t worry , it didn’t touch the glass

[sterile gorge]

The idiotic felt that's in the cap is mad annoying

Have the same issue with my z61

[pure slate]

yeah it’s so annoying there’s so much

[pure slate]

i might rip it off honestly

i did on my zs61

[sterile gorge]

Well it won't hold at all likely

[neon moat]

its m48 adapter monkey

youre gonna have to buy another ine

[pure slate]

u think i’ve got one

i

the spaces

[neon moat]

look for one and u dont gotta worry bout the filter since it has a holder

[neon moat]

DO NOT TIGHTEN THE THREAD HERE TOO MUCH

you will have to use pliers to unscrew it and youre filter will be stuck

[pure slate]

i cant even get the threads on

[graceful palm]

Serious question for once: How do I get rid of astigmatism on the redcat? (pinched optics) @inner oracle

[inner oracle]

No idea, sorry. I don’t think g you should get much distortion overall, unless you get to the outer edges of the image circle

RedCat 51 on AM5

[bleak girder]

hot as heck

[low thistle]

Wazza

I will soon be a red cat

[weak lily]

[low thistle]

Red cat looks like my solar scope

[graceful palm]

Do your stars look like this too? Cause they seem to look like a pentagon to me…

[pure slate]

$1460????

why so expensive

[inner oracle]

Aussie dollars

[pure slate]

ohhh

[graceful palm]

found out that the star shape is actually caused by the sensor.

[weak lily]

Is there also a redcat61 thread?

[drifting scroll]

Made an ultra slim mount for my guidescope, hopefully I can test it out tonight. I still need to print a focuser that’s lower down tho

I need to spray paint it too

[pure slate]

yk that white thing around the focuser , is that needed ?

[drifting scroll]

For my focuser machinist to work yes, but a stock redcat doesn’t meet it, it just helps because I find it inaccurate to twist the focuser back and fourth

[pure slate]

ahh ok , i got mine form FirstLightOptics so idk

[low thistle]

this is what my setup might look like in 2025

[drifting scroll]

Same except an AM3 and 2026

[low thistle]

First ever image with my redcat 51, just a test image only 5mins of data with the almost full moon out

[pure slate]

nice , if you haven’t already i advise purchasing a UV/IR cut filter

[sterile gorge]

It looks like he already has one from the looks of the stars, or he's using a DSLR which already has a UV/IR cut.

[low thistle]

I also got 1 sub of Horsehead lol

[pure slate]

really? stars look good but they have no colour

[low thistle]

narrowband lol

[pure slate]

ahhhh

okay i see

kinda forgot that narrowband causes that , literally got everything to image narrowband but clear nights have been rare

my bad.

nebula looks very good tho

[sick mango]

Hey, so I recently just got the redcat 51 for Christmas I was wondering how do I mount the guide scope that comes with it to the telescope itself? Without getting a $70 piece of metal

[drifting scroll]

You don’t

That is unless you have a 3d printer or access to one

[sick mango]

So something like this would not work?

[drifting scroll]

Yeah that would work just fine

[sick mango]

Do you know the thread sizes on this area of the scope?

[drifting scroll]

Sorry I kinda mislead you lol I just found it funny WO didn’t include the mount

[drifting scroll]

M3 and M4

[sick mango]

Are they supposed to?

[drifting scroll]

No I don’t believe so

[sick mango]

Ah

[sick mango]

So which ones are M4 and M3

[drifting scroll]

M3 Are the smaller ones M4 are the larger ones

You probably just need the M3 tho

Or just the M4

No need for both

[sick mango]

OK, so basically, I would just look up this mounting bracket with the correct screws?

[drifting scroll]

Well that mounting bracket claims to be universal, so it should work with the redcat but there’s no way to be sure unless you just buy it and test it out

[sick mango]

OK cool

I just really did not want to spend $70 on a piece of aluminum

Maybe in the future but right now I’m trying to save money

[drifting scroll]

WO moment

Idk why they overprice their parts so much I made an extension rod for my mount for like $2 out of aluminum with a near mirror finish that’s $30 on their website

With a desktop lathe too

[sick mango]

Dang

[drifting scroll]

I just find it so stupid why they have some pretty good deals on glass but when it comes to metal they just overprice it by over 3x of what the stock probably costed then

[sick mango]

Because their stuff is pretty much, the only stuff that will fit with their stuff

If that makes any sense

Dimension wise, will this fit

I would be placing my screws on the center vertical cut out

I’m just not sure if 20 mm is enough gap

[drifting scroll]

Hmmm

So you would be putting it in that cross area and the head of an m3 bolt is about 5mm

I think that should work then

Wait can you flip the picture so it’s top down?

[drifting scroll]

Yeah that’ll work

That gap in the middle seems to be enough to catch the head of an M3 screw while letting the threads through

[sick mango]

Since it does not come with M3/M4 screws, do you by any chance know which ones I need

[drifting scroll]

Wait lemme check mine rq

[drifting scroll]

That’s an M3 thumb screw

[sick mango]

Yay finally after two hours. I’m getting somewhere with this.

So I’m gonna have to buy the screws third-party I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but do you know what length I need?

[drifting scroll]

Normally they come in a pack of assorted screws, but I’d say about 10mm should do it

[sick mango]

OK yeah I can check and see what it comes with but if not, I should be looking for a M3 10 mm screw correct?

[drifting scroll]

Yes but I highly recommend you get an assorted pack bc I’m not entirely sure if 10mm will be enough

[sick mango]

OK bet

[drifting scroll]

They normally are just like 10 bucks or less

[sick mango]

This looks perfect size

Because the screw, I tried did not go in super deep

It probably went in half

[unique goblet]

Do you live in civilization

[sick mango]

Yes?

[unique goblet]

You can go to home depot and get screws there

If you can go there

[sick mango]

Yeah, this is true but I’m currently just trying to find what I need

TBH I may already have some

@drifting scroll OK I went ahead and bought it. Hopefully we are right.

[inner oracle]

highly recommend to get the WO guidescope saddle

[graceful palm]

agreed

[sick mango]

Yeah, but I’m kind of broke

And I found a $20 solution

[inner oracle]

hope it works out!

[sick mango]

I don’t really see why it wouldn’t

I will eventually get the saddle in the future. It’s just right now I’m trying to budget.

[unique goblet]

buy once cry once

[sick mango]

Don’t spend $70 on a piece of metal don’t cry ever

It feels like 30 or 40 maybe but it’s way too overpriced. In my opinion.

[unique goblet]

it is overpriced

but it is good

[sick mango]

Yeah, but this will do just as good

[sick mango]

But I do plan on eventually getting it i’m just trying to get everything generally set up and in testing

[drifting scroll]

Very nice! You’re lucky you found them at the hardware store

[sick mango]

I know

[tidal field]

Macro abomination. Just slap on every extension you have

..shoot alien worlds

[drifting scroll]

Macro redcat goes hard

[inner oracle]

this is amazing!

[nova anvil]

These are so pretty WHAT
Literally looks like it came from an animation, I love these

[broken geode]

really cool work

[tidal field]

thank you guys

[pure slate]

first light on rosette with the RedCat51 , 75 mins guided b7 L enhance

[pure slate]

re process

[sick mango]

Hey I need some help I would like to do lunar and solar photography with the red cat 51 but I need more FL do they make Barlows for it?

[pure slate]

26 3 minute subs on flaming star , you know the scope , uranus c pro , L enhance , guiding and sky watcher star adventurer GTI

[unique goblet]

No, they don't make barlows for it

That is not the purpose of the scope

[sick mango]

Figured

[unique goblet]

You don't need them to do solar or lunar

It's sharp to do decent pics, even with the low fl

[sick mango]

Yeah, I need to try it then

[drifting scroll]

currently at 22h on this project, probably gonna wrap it up soon but it's stupid noisy and I have no clue why

also that's a super rough process and it was shot with my XSI

[unique goblet]

i think you answered your own question

[drifting scroll]

Why tho? I’ve gotten clean shots with my XSI before and even the thoroughly processed image still has lots of noise

[unique goblet]

This some faint dust

[stoic idol]

would the rc51 be suitable to image the 100% eclipse coming up on april 8th

[drifting scroll]

I would think so if you had a good solar filter

[low thistle]

Captured with the red at

[undone veldt]

Hey guys, what's the best RC51? There is like 7 versions of it

[inner oracle]

they're all the same, except the newer version you can't use for visual

[mortal belfry]

Why not?

[inner oracle]

You need the erecting prism which is “coming soon”

[mortal belfry]

Like a diagonal?

[pure slate]

all my images so far with my redcat 51

[nova anvil]

Why doesn't this guy have Nerd role yet

someone nerd this man

[pure slate]

[low thistle]

My recent stuff all shot with a Redcat 51 and Ares C Pro
Runjing chicken is HaRGB rest is pure broadband

[unkempt blaze]

Dead forum

[main isle]

yea the host gor bannend

he dind't even have redcat lol

tbh this server is slowly dying too

[unkempt blaze]

Oof

[unkempt blaze]

Not really

[main isle]

it is alot less active then 2 years ago

[unkempt blaze]

Okay

Mb didn’t experience it before that