Shed9

If in the UK, give the NFU a call, they do insurance and fully understand the implications of 'sheds' with high value equipment. They are generally a lot nicer to deal with as well.

Hydrogen Peroxide will shift it. The mucus from snails is not just a locomotion 'lubricant', it's also used by the snail to stick to vertical surfaces so it's essentially an adhesive. Low strength hydrogen peroxide will do the job, also perfect for fungus blooms.

I have one of the 80mm f/10 StellaMira's which has a similar glass make-up of FPL-53 and Lanthanum, it was my first decent refractor purchase, a while back now. The StellaMira's (albeit, GSO's) are beautifully made and the glass combination is a little bit special in my as-yet limited experience. If I was in the market for 5" doublet this would almost certainly be at the top of my list based on my use of the 80mm f/10.

Looks like a Celestar model to me.

I have refractors in the 80mm range and the Skymax 180, appreciate it's slightly larger than the 150 however I have the original gold tube which effectively has a 170mm aperture so not that far off really. To wade in where I can, the thing is built like a tank and slowly becoming a favourite. Ironically I suspect the 150 is possibly a better fit for me as I bought it as a travel scope which the 180 really isn't so now looking for an additional 150 (possibly a 127). Obviously your field of view will be narrower so you won't see a lot more, just more detail as such. Factor in that cool down periods are going to be a lot longer than you are used to with an 80mm refractor and that it is getting close to double the weight too. Clearly an 80 Ed and Skymax 150 both have their purpose but you won't regret buying a 150 in my opinion, my 180 is a keeper and like I say I'd like to add a 150 to the mix eventually.

https://app.box.com/s/3rz6102vwul2plbmjet8jqnt4h1oxo7n/file/287920989240 https://app.box.com/s/e91gklcclu7yux0hkgucjlpakjl6r9mk Not a 6000, but the 4000 variant of the manual but it will help I think.

I think I responded to your question on a FB page somewhere Ian. Definitely not mould, it would take far, far longer to develop and looks branch like in appearance. Mould is rarely symmetrical as its organic and besides, even when caught early mould is not that serious either. It's only when mould is left on optics for long periods of time that it can attack coatings. UV light (even leaving out in the sun), ammonia and hydrogen peroxide will tackle optical fungus, I used to do it all the time with camera lenses. Get a desiccant cap for the focuser and, as advised by others already, keep the transition between temperatures in check.

Make sure the molex connectors and any DIP switches are masked off properly. Do it in a well ventilated area, wear a mask and read the hazard sheet before using it. Edit: obviously make sure it's clean and free of dust before application, maybe use a stiff art brush and isopropyl alcohol before application making sure that evaporates before application and stay away from the board connectors and and DIP switches. One other thing to note, make sure there isn't already any varnish on the board else the isopropyl will affect that and the Ambersil will also react.

Of course it is, I knew they do this design for the smaller newtonian's, not seen it on an 8" before. Why was this not obvious to me? I don't do much with newt's but have to say, despite the usual negative comments on bird-jones, this is actually quite nice. Off to Ebay it is though.

As the title says, I have an older Celestron Newtonian, a C-8N which like most C8N's is a 200mm / 1000mm f5. This one however is considerably shorter than a conventional C8N and it measures around 50cm (20") in length. I do happen to have a standard C8N to compare it to which measures around 92cm (3') in length. This short tube version has been sat on a shelf for about a year, I bought it with some other astro kit which was connected to an ebay auction winning bid. I just assumed that someone had cut it down in a failed experiment but today whilst sorting out some old scopes to sell on, I tried looking through it (albeit terrestrially) for the first time with a 24mm EP and the image was perfectly sharp, in fact it was incredibly good. Anyhow, when I looked at it further I noticed there is a small lens in front of the secondary mirror, obviously doing some form of optical correction for the shorter length. The scope is a David Hines delivery so I know it had a little more love on its dispatch than the usual scope vendors of that era. I've not seen anything like this before and can't find anything online about it. Any ideas what this is? I've taken a picture of it as best I can, you can make out the lens holder and the glass lens in the middle of the image.

Thank you for this, I'll get it a shove and let you know how I get on. Edit, thanks again Olly finally got them off, they were really stuck in there but some effort prized them out.

As above, I'm disassembling an LX200, mostly to defork the tube. I've done this before with Meade (non LX200) fork mounts but strangely stumped by the two plastic drawers under the fork arms? How do these come off? they seem to go so far but stop about 5mm out. I need to get one of the them off at least to free up the grip on the tube. Any advice or am I being dumb?

I've used one of these on a stuck visual back before with no issues, similar to the jar opener up there ^ but with better purchase and by design, better leverage. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00096JDK8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If all else fails, I tend to tap the outer knurled part with something metal, it has to be metal and don't ask me why. Sometimes the only way to free stuck threads is some gentle percussion mechanics. You are only looking to free up the mechanical bind between the threads, not do any damage. I would only do this as a last resort on an optical instrument myself. The above is just advice, I'm not responsible for what you do to your own scope (yup it needs saying). Personally I would wait for Widescreen Centre to get back to you.

There are plenty of hardware options to hold the T7 securely, just google the DSLR / movie camera rig options. The most likely candidate is the Smallrig version; https://www.smallrig.com/smallrig-t5-t7-ssd-mount-for-bmpcc-6k-pro-3272.html