dweller25

It could be Jupiter

Correct 👍😁

Well if you want old fashioned bear in mind that the Newtonian type telescope like the one in my photo first made an appearance around 1670 ! 🙂 The views through “Newts” are very good and the Newtonian gives the best performance per dollar spent of any telescope type. My Newtonian is on a Vixen GP-DX.

Hello and welcome to SGL. As others have said, that is a lot to pay for a 6” Achromat and it will have strong chromatic aberration and it will need an Atlas/EQ6 to hold it. Do you need an achromat ? Have you considered an 8” Dobsonian ? - They are easy to use, relatively cheap, have Apochromatic performance and the mount is included….. https://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT8-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/102005.uts?refineByCategoryId=13 And if you find you like the hobby but want to upgrade to a better setup you can mount the Dobsonian tube on a motor driven equatorial mount for automatic tracking, GOTO and photography like I did…..

Nice setup, nice image 👍

I rotated the corrector 180’ on my C6 and the views improved significantly.

Good read 👍 I like prisms 😃

Actually, a new Mewlon 180 and a new SW EQ5 GOTO costs £2600, which is less than your £2700 budget 🙂

I also have a bad back and have had to find a lightweight observing option. It is currently a Mewlon 180 on a Vixen GP. A Celestron C6 on an EQ mount would be even lighter….. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/advanced-vx-goto/celestron-c6sct-vx-goto.html

Also I would suggest you get a good quality 7mm eyepiece (x92) and a good quality 2x Barlow to go with it to give x184 which will be perfect for Saturn and you will get two magnification powers from one eyepiece.

You can see views like this in your 130SLT when Saturn gets closer to the Earth later on this year 👍

If I could only have one scope it would be the Tak TSA120

Hello @J123 One more pointer - do make sure the scope is cooled down and don’t observe on a hot tarmac or concrete floor - grass is best. And avoid heat sources like air con units, roofs and chimneys.

None of the screws in your photos hold the focuser onto the white OTA. The whole focuser will unscrew counter clockwise by hand. On older Taks you may need to loosen a tiny grub screw that locks against the white tube first, newer Taks do not have the grub screw. Take great care when screwing the feather touch on as the threads are quite fine.

I have the Vixen GP on a Vixen AL110 tripod, the tripod head has a 60mm diameter locating hole which my Vixen polaris did not fit. I believe the EQ5 also has a 60mm locating hole ? It sounds like the newer HAL110 has a smaller locating hole so the Polaris may fit. This may help….. http://www.vixenoptics.co.uk/Pages/connection_specifications.html

I do not think the polaris has the same fitting as the GP

A little dust is inevitable and will have no visual or photographic effect. Enjoy your superb scope.

Great report @MalcolmM 👍 The M180 is a great scope, I am surprised by just how sharp it is when cooled and the contrast it delivers is superb. As the tube is short it’s easy to handle and comfortable to look through - I think it’s a great all rounder. My FC100DZ and FS128 are worried 😱😂 I rest this on the spider vanes to cool mine down.

It’s getting a lot of use, the wife uses it as a foot rest 😱🤣

Hopefully not made of full fence panels that can be lifted out of their concrete supports VERY easily 😱

37 years ago (1985) I read the Astro Systems booklet cover to cover - Many times 🙂 trying to decide what should be my first telescope . I decided to buy this very fine 8.5” Equatorially mounted Newtonian. BUT I kept looking at the Vixen FL102s which for some strange reason it - even though it was only a 4” scope - attracted me, but the price £1300 at the time compared to the 8” Newt at just £595 seemed insane. Roll on 37 years and I now have the modern version of what caught my eye all those years ago - A Tak FC100DZ Fluorite doublet on a motor driven Vixen Great Polaris mount - only now do I understand just how versatile/fun a good 4” Refractor can be. Could have saved myself a fortune not buying all the stuff in between 😱 PS - A Celestron C8 fork mounted Powerstar was £1750 back then 😱

Hello @Parziva1 and welcome to SGL. An 8” telescope will show all objects far better than a 5”. An 8” Dob can be equatorially mounted (with GOTO) at a later date for astrophotography or a small refractor can be put on the EQ mount. So a progressive approach may give you more options. Here is my dob on an EQ mount

Hello, today I received my new observing chair, cannot wait to use it - just need some clear skies……

I think in addition to everything else you have done wrapping with reflectix to reflect solar heat would be worth a try.

The back of the scope holding the primary can probably be removed by removing the screws, then you can clean the mirror.