Shimrod

I thought stargps might have been able to help. They do make cables to connect handheld GPS units to telescope handsets, but looking at their website it seems this is only available for Meade handsets. It might we worth getting in touch to see if they are able to do anything on a custom basis, but otherwise looks like you will have to get a dedicated GPS unit. The alternative is to use Skyportal or similar via a tablet or phone to control your telescope. You will need to buy a wifi unit, but the Skyportal wifi adaptor is a lot cheaper than the GPS unit. The telescope will then take location and time from your tablet/phone.

Frugality! They are within budget, but I can't get any real handle on whether they are twice as good. It is a difficult metric to measure and I at the upper end of my budget I think I would really like to get hands on to decide. Mrs Shimrod has kindly offered to have a pair of hand-me-down binoculars should I decide to upgrade in the future! I read it more than once, although not just related to the Helios binoculars - rather comparisons between 20x80 and 16x80 - it could have been in one of the sky at night reviews on the website although I've a feeling it might have been part of a general round up of binoculars as well. edit: I've just looked back through my history for yesterday and can't find anything relevant - I wonder if I have misread a comparison between 16x70 and 20x80? A quick google search and the first link to a thread on cloudy nights says the exact opposite to my statement on relative brightness. So the choice may just be down to FOV.

Depending on your DSLR, you may want to check on the performance of the focuser on the 72ed - I have read it can struggle to hold heavy cameras in place at/near the zenith. The same also applies to the 80ed. I added a Baader Steeltrack to my 80ed but that ups the cost of the scope considerably, and that may make the WO Zenithstar 73 a more attractive option. There's also very long wait times for Skywatcher kit at the moment - it might be easier to find WO scopes if you want something now!

I have an LX90 and wedge - it is an older model and at some point I must sell it because it has turned into an ornament. If you are using the LX90 on a permanent pier, then a wedge might be worthwhile, but if you are setting up each night then it just adds extra time and complexity to the set up of the telescope. It could take me 40mins upwards to get set up and ready to go. I now have a Celestron AVX equatorial mount with both an EdgeHD and Skywatcher 80ed to use depending on what I want to observe or image. An 8" SCT on an equatorial mount is only going to be same (or maybe even less) than the LX90. I find the AVX fine,although you will often see the Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro recommended as the entry point. Both are around the same price, and the HEQ5 does offer an upgrade path with the Rowan Belt mod which improves tracking. With a couple of additions (Ioptron ipolar and starsense), I can be set up in little more than 15 minutes. Going down the separate mount and OTA path makes it much easier to add to your telescope collection (just accept it will happen!) than the fork mounted LX90. For imaging, if you have a DSLR, I would buy the appropriate T mount to use that for imaging, see how you get on and what you enjoy imaging first - then buy the astro camera to best fit your needs. I am just starting down the imaging route, and I have to resist the urge to buy an astro cam - but looking around at the DSLR images of DSO that are so much better than mine is an easy reminder that it's about more than just the kit.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Based on the reviews, I think the most likely candidates are the Helios Stellar II. Quite a few reviews were for the 16x80 rather than 20x80, and I am now wondering about the relative merits of more magnification of the 20 vs the brighter, wider FOV of the 16.

The stellar II look interesting - I'll have a bit more of a look around for reviews, but the first couple I've read have good reports. I think at just short of 5kg they're probably a bit too heavy. Although my tripod is rated for 7kg I don't think it would be stable enough.

You can register on the Sky at Night website - they will send a 'sky this week' email along with some unobtrusive marketing. Astronomy Now also issue email updates although less frequently and I use Spaceweather to check in on solar activity, although they do report on other other astronomical events. Spaceweather Astronomy Now Sky at Night Both magazines have the free email newsletter subscription on the front page.

Thanks for the reply and interesting point on the individual eyepiece focusing. The use for wildlife is optional, so if the best pair for me has individual eyepiece focusing I wouldn't let that stop me buying them. I did look at spotting scopes as an alternative (which would also address KevS comment above about zenith viewing), but they don't offer a wide enough FOV. Interesting that your suggestion includes 15x56, as I thought 20x80 would be a good fit in between my other binoculars (Opticron 10x42 Discovery, not 10x50 as in my original post) and telescope. Would I be better looking for slightly higher magnification but better specification binoculars instead? Apart from comet Neowise, I have not used binoculars for astronomy observation other than for casual glances when I have been on holiday in dark sky locations without any other astro equipment.

Here is a link to the EdgeHD optics manual - EdgeHD 8" manual If you look on page 7 it shows two 'mirror lock' knobs. These hold the mirror is place for astrophotography. Make sure they are fully turned anti-clockwise to unlock.

Thanks for the reply. I already have a Skywatcher 80ed ds pro and an EdgeHD 8". I am looking for something a bit more portable - and I always travel with my camera and tripod, so binoculars would seem to be a better fit. I should also have said I would want to use them occasionally for wildlife as well.

How far did you thread the focuser on the shaft before pushing? Assuming this focuser here: Starlight micro focus for Celestron SCT it does say you might need to push the focuser in slightly to get the focuser flush with the tube. Are you sure you haven't engaged the mirror locks on the OTA which might also be causing the jerky movement?

I am thinking of getting some 20x80 binoculars to mount on my camera tripod - this will give me something to observe with while my telescope and camera are imaging. I already own some 10x42 so want a bit more magnification and light gathering ability. I started off looking at the Celestron Skymaster Pro, have read some reviews on the internet and at binocular sky and just managed to get myself confused. I would like to buy once so I am now thinking of moving the budget up, but don't really want to go over £500 as I do also use my telescopes for observations, so the binoculars are for intermittent use, and probably also when travelling. Any suggestions or comments on a shortlist to assess gratefully received!

If you're wild camping you might want to think about the easiest and most comfortable way to carry it - have you considered a padded tripod bag like this? Tripod carry case You should be able to find a single bag that will hold both scope and tripod. I use one (along with a camera rucksack) - I can comfortably carry both all day and if you don't want to carry it over your shoulder, you should be able to get some straps to attach to your rucksack. edit: Realised Scarp15 has already recommended a tripod carry bag! You can also get specialist bags (I have one for my EdgeHD) at Altair, but they are quite expensive: Padded Scope bags

similar question asked and answered by OP here: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/19-getting-started-general-help-and-advice/

Have you tried Celestron's free offering, CPWI? It doesn't have as big a database as the commercial offerings but I've found it to work well. I also used Starry Night (I got the Celestron SE7 version with my AVX mount and upgraded to Pro 8). CPWI and Starry Night work well together to provide telescope control and a large database! I am sure Stellarium can do the same.

Would a USB hub on one of the ports that is still OK be a cheaper and easier first option?

Two 10gb fibre ports and I think two extra control ports so you can sync the exposures in multiple camera set ups. As far as I could tell from the video everything else is the same.

Controlling your mount from a network connected laptop (or a tablet), date/time and location will be taken from those so no need to use the GPS.

You can do the same thing Mick H is describing from your laptop as well. I am using Starry Night and CPWI to control my mount. I upgraded to Starry Night Pro from the Celestron SE 7 version. I believe you get different versions of the software depending on what mount you buy. You can also do focus motor control from Starry Night as well.

I'm afraid I can't really answer that, because I am generally only a few feet away from the mount - I don't think I have tried it any further than six feet. It's now somewhat less than that, as I attached a USB hub to my tripod and added in a USB wi-fi dongle so the distance is now about one foot. I did this so I could also connect my laptop to the internet through the in-built wi-fi rather than any connection issues. I use the direct connect mode.

If you use Canon or Nikon, you could try a Camranger mini. It will give you the wireless control for the camera, but you will still need to sort something out for the mount.

I don't have direct knowledge of Macbook Airs, but based on the spec you have given above you are running a mobile version of the i7 - 2 cores and 4 threads designed for optimal battery life rather than performance. I have a similar processor in my windows laptop and while great for day-to-day use, it is not particularly powerful. If you are running programs in a emulated version of windows, then I could well imagine performance will suffer.

Could I ask what you are basing this conclusion on? I have the Skyportal and it works fine - a small device that connects to and draws power from the mount so no extra batteries or cables required. It's also the same device found within their wi-fi enabled mounts, so widely used. I can see the advantage of the Sky-FI for those who might want to upgrade mounts in the future or can't use the Skyportal (because they do not have a Celestron mount), but I wouldn't dismiss Skyportal as a toy - and it is less than half the price of the Sky-FI III for the same functionality.

If you haven't read it already, this thread is a good place to start - it's quite long! What can I expect to see?

Have you tried right clicking on the .jar file and choosing 'open with'? You then need to choose the java platform binary (java.exe), which if it doesn't show can be found in c:\program files(x86)\java\jre1.?????\bin (where??? is whatever version of java you have installed. This is the 32bit version of java - if you have a 64 bit version installed you will find it in c\Program Files\java\jre1?????\bin If this works you can tick the box that says 'always use this app to open .jar files'