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I currently have a Skywatcher 10" Flextube which, in one sense, I am more than happy with, but now and again I keep getting a severe dose of aperture fever and longing for a bigger scope. I am 52 and weight is an issue with me. I can currently manage the 20kg of the base and 15kg of the tube but I am not getting any younger and minimise lifting as far as possible. I do take the scope to dark (within a reasonable travelling distance) sites and it does increase my enjoyment as I normally live in a city. Does anyone know of any large aperture, lightweignt (obviously within reason as I know mirrors are the heaviest part of a scope) scopes can break down to a reasonable size? I know they're not going to be cheap if they exist. As I said just dreaming ....... Simon

At long last, Monday night there was a break in the clouds after nearly two months of rain. It was so clear I could see the MW overhead.... great.. time for more experimenting! Wasted about an hour to start off with due to a schoolboy error in PA... doh! Once sorted, the first test was to see if re-collimation would fix the reflection/halo I get when using the MPCC. Nope, it wasnt having it - still a nasty red blob appearing on bright stars and im pretty sure I know why. If you pick up an MPCC and look through it towards a bright light - then tilt it slightly - you will see exactly the same artefact that im getting, same colour too. This leads me to the conclusion that the 150P focuser isnt quite square and that no amount of collimation will get round that. Without the MPCC it performs great, just loads of coma! Anyway, I will give it one more shot before abandoning it in favour of an all refractor setup. By about 2am I had to abandon the Veil for something a bit lower becuase I was getting a severe attack of dew of the ED80, which hasnt happened in ages. So I pointed the NEQ6 towards M16 to give it its first proper test of long exposure times, attempting my first 25min sub while the 1000d was left to snap 5min subs. Would prefer more clear sky to test it further, but for now its working well enough NGC6960 + M16 NEQ6, ED80, 150P, Atik 314L+, 1000d First up, the Veil nebula data from the 1000d - a bit noisy and some coma as a consequence of using no MPCC. 9x600s, darks, bias and flats used Next, lets see what happens if I mix 8x600 worth of Ha to Red, and 8x600 of OIII to blue and green (60/40 mix). The blend the combined Ha/OIII (monoised) to the DSLR luminence (50/50 mix). Less noise, but not at quiet as it would be if it were all CCD. After having a severe attack of dew, I then slewed down to M16 for some respite and a quick test of the NEQ6 with long exposures. First was the 1000d data, just 5x300s so its noisier than a 2 year old. Next was the thing that was the biggest winner of the night, the first time ive ever gotten past 20 minutes without eggs for stars. Here is just one 25 minute sub of M16 in Ha. I cant repeat the word that came out of my mouth when I saw this, but it would be great if I could get 16 of these. Just a few curves and levels to bring it out, no other processing. Not 100% prefect but the guiding was getting a little bumpy becuase of cloud that started drifting in. Lastly, add the single 25 min CCD sub to the 1000d red channel (60/40), and to the luminence (50/50). It just makes me wish I had two CCD cameras so I wouldnt be fighting the noise. Thanks for looking Rob

Hi Guys, I put out a couple of wanted ads for a flip mirror, and at £70.00 each I wasn't going to buy a new one, especially as its only for the guide scope, so after both ads went without a single reply, i thought I would have a go at making one, and purchased two diagonals, one from ScopeNskies 'astroboot for £2.50, and another one from UK astronomy for £10.00 (Thanks Tom) which had all metal and filter threaded holders, these and a blue chopping board from the £shop got me up and running. As you can see from the pictures and I hope you agree it all worked out very nicely, I attached the mirror base to an allen key as the hinge, and three small magnets from an old name badge holds the mirror in its relevant up & down positions. Please click on the image below to see the completed build. As always love to here your thoughts. Ian.M

had some fun today with this roof had a nice weather for a change so we took a chance to get the felt on. firstly boarded the roof with 9mm shutter ply. at the top of the apex we then ran a roll of led flashing down the joint to with water resistance then we smeared some black stuff ( no idea what its called ) on so the felt would stick to the boards i wasnt convinced this would stick as it didnt look like it was sticking but barry said it will be ok sooooo...... we shall see tomorrow opon inspection the edges look scruffy as there not tucked under the over hang yet which is a job to do tomorrow, also have all the cladding coming tomorrow i got 120mm x 12mm 4.2m lengths x 40 for £178 so hoping it all goes well tomorrow with no hiccups.

i use a canon 350d, pretty pleased with it so far.canon does seem to be the most popular brand for astrophotography.

Not quite, but I get your point James

Srri didn't realize your mount wasn't a EQ, forget the Polar aligne, just get it level and pointing north and bear in mind its motors will affect a compass so keep this a good yard away.....

£45 is definitely a very reasonable price for an illuminated reticle eyepiece. Just remember to turn it off James

Looks like a 'lift-off' roof then

Here is video of me space stuffs from 15th July 2012 my crazy astronomy Cliff's style Enjoy http://youtu.be/lz9n8PkzMIs