Shimrod

I considered a zoom lens, but I think I will wait for some reviews of the APM 75 degree zoom. I have discovered with eyepieces that I have a preference for wide angle eyepieces and the current zooms get a bit narrower than I would like. I would like a zoom as part of my travel kit for simplicity - I've never had the opportunity to try one though, so maybe I should pick up one of the cheaper zooms first to try and sell it on if I don't get on with it.

What are the advantages of this over the EdgeHD, which with the reducer has a similar focal length and is slightly faster than the linked telescope?

Most of the funds are in the form of FLO vouchers, so the Samyang is not an option. From a focal length perspective, it is quite close to my Canon 100mm F2.8L which is reportedly good for AP, although seems to be less commonly used. The astromechanics adapter (linked by @nfotis) for controlling aperture and focus looks interesting, and I will check compatibility across my other, wider lenses. That might be worth considering.

Guiding is one of things I have thought about. I already have a guidescope and a Celestron Nexguide I bought when I got back into astronomy in 2019. The original intention was to try and have something that did not require a laptop (so Nexguide, AVX and DSLR), but things have taken a different tack since then. The AZ-GTI does not have an ST4 port so I have thought about selling the nexguide to pay for an ASI120 or similar to use as a guide camera. The ZS61 and ASI290 combined would still be in budget though!

Definitely the 50mm 1.8, and you'll need to bump your ISO up quite a bit as well. If you can, consider renting a fast, image stabilised lens like the 35mm F2 IS. I've had several trips to Iceland shooting the aurora and use a 7dmk2 and (mostly) as Sigma 18-35mm 1.8. Even with strong aurora a couple of seconds exposure is required to really capture the structure - doesn't mean you won't be able to capture memorable pictures though - just take lots to account for any handshake. I have provided some links to photos (Not mine!) taken from planes below - you might get some ideas for likely settings to try - quite a few seem to be taken on modern phones rather than camera equipment, so that might be an option worth considering as well https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=172505 https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=155986 https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=150803 https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=143762

I've received a recent gift of some FLO vouchers, and with the proceeds of some ebay sales I have £500-800ish to spend. I'm trying to decide what to buy. Current kits consists of: Celestron AVX Skywatcher AZ-GTI + wedge EdgeHD 8" + reducer Skywatcher 80ed (with Baader Steeltrak focuser) + reducer ZWO ASI533 Eyepieces - mostly ES 4.5mm, 7mm, 14mm, 24mm, 40mm. The three middle ones are all 82 degrees. Various filters for visual and AP I have to set up and tear down my kit for each session, so the AVX is a big as I want to go, and I am happy with the Edge and 80ed. The AZ GTI is a recent purchase so I have a truly portable set up to take further afield and on holiday. I've thought about a large dob, but I am not sure I would get the benefit in my light polluted skies, and my car is not suitable for transporting a large OTA. I am only just getting started with imaging, and I find myself speinding a lot of time looking at the WO Zenithstar 61. I have been trying to use a Canon 300mm F4 lens with the ASI533, but I am finding for astro work the focuser is too coarse. The ZS61 would seem to be a good match for widefield, and from reading around it seems to be a good as a casual visual instrument as well. I'm open to other suggestions for kit to consider, or whether given the above list you might suggest something else entirely.

A quick check on ebay.com (assuming you are quoting US dollars) shows the highest price Meade ETX 90 has sold for $355, so it looks very overpriced. Ebay sold prices Meade ETX 90 This one sold for $351 for the full kit plus the Meade 9 piece plossl eyepiece set. ETX90 Sold $351 As Peter Drew has said, the eyepieces provided would have to be high quality to justify the price.

If the budget allows, maybe consider a LifePO4 battery like a tracer or the Celestron battery (Celestron PowerTank Lithium Pro) I have the latter and it is much lighter than a traditional lead acid battery and does not degrade between charges. I'm assuming your 7Ah powerback was a lead acid battery that has gone too long between charges. Alternatively, have a look inside your powertank, as you can probably buy a replacement battery much cheaper than a new powertank - I've done that in the past as well.

If you are on linkedin, you could try a direct message there Corey Lee - Celestron

It's worth noting you can buy exactly the same filter wheels with a different (or no brand) on ebay at half the cost. I bought one last year for £25, although like everything else they have gone up in price and are now £38 - although still a lot cheaper than own-brand equivalents in the astroshops.

I think Nigel Tufnel moved into telescope manufacture...

This last year I have been working from home, and my window looks west. Throughout the winter, a lot of days were clear blue sky, then as 5pm came the clouds would roll in. I've also noticed that quite often it seems to clear up around 1am - roll on retirement, though that's still a few years away.

And I think that is probably the biggest advantage of all - time to get images and practice. I decided to get into imaging in the last year, starting with a DSLR and buying an ASI533 at the end of August. I think I have probably been out with it about 6-8 nights since then, and some of those have been short sessions as clouds have come over. I've yet to get anything I am really happy with and I'm still trying to learn the best way to get everything set up. I have a guide camera, but I'm still trying to get the basics right with both the setup and the software before I add an extra layer of complexity. I can lose time just trying to remember how to get everything set up again, as I haven't had enough time for things to become a habit.

It's the US Orion (hence the link), but they ship from the Netherlands to the UK. "The majority of our orders are shipped via economy service from the Netherlands. In-stock items will arrive 5-7 business days after receipt of your order" from Shipping info

If you are in the UK, Orion Telescopes might be worth looking at - they come in a bit cheaper than Skywatcher and there is a further 8% off if you use Topcashback.

There was an article on the BBC recently about the increase in "night exercise" - people trying to exercise and avoid crowds during lockdown. My wife has also come with me on the few occasions I have gone to a local location to try and get a southern view of the sky (most recently the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction) - it has never felt like a particularly relaxing experience though.* *Edit: To remove ambiguity, it was not the fact my wife was there that made less relaxing!

I have to connect my ASI533 direct to my laptop. I can successfully connect through my hub but any attempt to capture an image fails. I had a similar issue with the camera and an USB wifi adapter plugged into the hub - the wifi adapter would drop out. I can only assume that even though the camera is powered separately the communication between laptop and camera requires more power than I might expect. I run my laptop off battery power rather than mains, so that may be part of the issue (Although I have do not have any power saving options set when doing astro-work).

I find that very unusual - turning airplane mode on for your phone and ipad would prevent both of those devices from connecting to any network, including the Evolution mount. It would point to a problem with both of your devices which is very unlikely. Try turning airplane mode on for just one of the devices- it is possible that both are trying to automatically connect to the Evolution network and that is causing the issue.

Here is the UK you don't really hear of Meade very often, although they were one of the 'big' names twenty years ago. If you are in the US then Orion is another name to look at, although they are also available in the UK - not to be confused with Orion Optics! There are also a number of own-brand re-labelled telescopes than can be good value although there are a much smaller selection of mount manufacturers.

You need to have the handset connected to the mount and the mount powered on - it picks up power from the mount not the USB port - did you do that?

java isn't obsolete, but you need to keep the version up to date! CFM does run as a java app but is quite straightforward to use. Best advice is only to flash one device at a time - CFM should report the current version as well as the version it has downloaded for update.

I would probably be less concerned about the tripod and more the tripod head. If you want to track birds in flight, then a heavy duty gimbal head is probably the way forward. With such a large telescope you will have a wide degree of movement so will require some clear space around the tripod - keeping focus may also be a challenge.

It might be worth checking your firmware versions on the mount - there have been a number of bug fixes for wifi recently. Celestron firmware history

They are less common than they used to be, but have you considered a wifi capable SD card to enable transfer to your laptop? Some brands are EZ-Share or Toshiba Flashair. The original company, Eye-Fi went out of business in 2016 but there are still a few out there. You probably want to check connectivity to a laptop before you buy.

If you have a laptop you could try Sharpcap for polar alignment - you will need to pay the £10 subscription to access the alignment process, but I believe you should be able to do that using images from your DSLR. The free option lets you check alignment so you could try that first. It would buy you a bit of time to save up a bit more or wait for your chosen option to come into stock! edit: I have also found this thread here which is software for polar alignment software specifically for DSLRS - might be worth a read.