joss

Thankyou for your help, I'll try and hold off cleaning for a while as it does make me nervous cleaning telescopes just in case I do scratch the hell out of it. It's a bit concerning that it's got that bad in just a few months but if it is the result of dust storms from the desert then I shouldn't be surprised. I think I'll keep track of these dust storms in future and not go out if there is dust on the way.

Hi everyone I have a 14 inch reflector that i got back in January and have used it quite a bit since then. When i went to go out tonight i noticed the primary mirror is covered in strange marks that i personally have never seen before on a telescope (I have owned several 8 inch reflectors for 13 years) I was thinking that maybe its something to do with condensation but i always take a hair dryer to the mirrors after each session to get rid of any dew. when i transport the scope or sometimes have to leave it in the van overnight i cover the scope in a duvet and put the heaters on full blast to get rid of any moisture on the outside, i also check the mirror the next day to see if any moisture has formed but as yet i haven't seen any form as a result of being left in the van over night. so i'm a bit confused as to what it is, I know shining light on a telescopes mirror can make it look a lot worse than it is but im wondering if these marks are going to effect its performance and if it needs to be cleaned off? Any help would be appreciated, thank you

hi, sorry for taking so long to reply but i managed to solve the problem by messing with the camera and kinda forgot i had posted a question. i have attached an image i took during my first session, while it won't make the cover of national geographic i'm pretty pleased for a first attempt. I would like to boost magnification for things like the whirlpool galaxy but not sure whether to go for a T mount barlow or try A focal. For a focal i don't really know what i need to use a DSLR camera for it, most guides are for digital cameras.

Good evening everyone I am just getting into astrophotography and don't really know a lot, i'm using a 14" reflector on a Dobsonian mount with GOTO. Recently i have purchased a cannon EOS 1100D SLR camera and a T-ring. The problem i am having is i cant get it to focus on anything, i have even tried random objects about the house. I didn't buy any lenses as i intend to use the T-ring to connect it straight to the telescope, from what i have seen online this kind of set up should work but i don't know how to make it work if it won't focus, could anyone help? thanks joss

good evening all i went with the 14inch on the dobsonian mount in the end and despite seeing multiple pictures of them i was still surprised by its size, especially when it arrived on a pallet 🤣 i started to wonder what on earth i was getting into. couple of things that kinda concerned me was the mirror seems fairly exposed, there is no cover at the bottom of the tube and it seemed to attach with just 3 screws with springs over them. There were no instructions on how to put it all together so i watched everything up through trial and error. the other kinda problem i cant seem to solve is the longitude and latitude co-ordinates on the goto, for example my longitude is -4 02' 56.40"W but the goto wont let me put in a minus and the first set of digits is 3 and second is 2 example (000,00) Am i being really dumb and missing something? if so how to i un dumb myself? thankyou

thank you all for your replies and a happy new year to you all. reading through your replies has been very helpful and as as a result im throwing out the OTA plan and now looking at either a 12" reflector with a mount included or a 14" Dobinson with GOTO. I should of mentioned in my original question that i am primarily interested in visual observation but i am also open to looking into a bit of photography further down the line. I didn't know you could an Equatorial set up for a dobinson so that's now an option also. ill keep my 8" reflector as a secondary/backup scope as its pretty easy to move around. I cant set up a permanent observatory so i have to load my scope into my van and travel away from my village to minimize light pollution. Any thoughts or advice on my 2 front runners the 12" skywatcher and the 14" skywatcher dobinson? thankyou

hi all, im new here so i dont know if this has been answered before but here i go. i have an EQ5 celestron mount with an 8"reflector and am looking to go for either a 12" or 14" reflector. i would preferably like an OTA i use with my EQ5 mount. my question is will my mount and its current counterweights support the weight of said OTA or will i need to upgrade. my back up option is a dobinson but i prefer the EQ mount so i can have high magnification and be able to easily follow my target. can anybody help me out? thankyou