Shimrod

I'm not sure if an 80ed loaded up for AP might be pushing the weight limit of the mount, especially in EQ mode. I think some have had success overloading the mount with a carefully balanced telescope but if you haven't yet bought the 80ed you might want to look for something a bit smaller/lighter.

I'm sure those of us who have to set up are scopes each night get plenty of exercise anyway, but this advert on an auction website made me smile!

Of course if you are just imaging you can get more stability out of the standard tripod by not extending the legs.

Glad you like them, that's the same model I have. There are some good deals to be had if you step outside the main brands.

That shouldn't be a problem - there are plenty that operate that way and they don't need a huge power drain. I use mine via a dew controller, which is just a small box that allows me to have up to four dew straps attached and vary the power to each one. It's similar to this one dew controller You can buy some 'smart' controllers that will adjust based on current temperature and humidity, but they tend to cost £100's. If you go down the controller route, then you will have to be careful they you get the right type of connector on your dew strap - I've not see a controller that supports USB but maybe someone else can provide a link to one. Of course, if you are only using one dew strap then you don't really need a controller at all.

It depends a bit on how cool and how humid the climate is where you are. You may want one for your lens as well - I've had my camera mist up on photography trips - the objective of the camera lens is some distance from any heat generating components in the camera body. I've no personal experience of the SVbony dew straps, but I have other equipment from them and it has been fine. A dew strap is certainly one of the simpler devices in astronomy, basically being a piece of wire which heats up when you run a current through it. The length of the strap will determine part of the price, as will the brand name. You may find the more expensive ones offer a bit more in the way of temperature control but not much else. None of my dew straps has cost much more than the equivalent of $26 in the UK.

It sounds like you have a refractor, so you would want to have the dew heater wrapped around the telescope where the objective lens is - so at the bottom of your dew shield. The idea is to keep the lens slightly above the temperature at which the dew will form. If you have an SCT, you would heat the corrector plate. You can get dew straps to fit eyepieces, finderscopes and guidescopes as well - I only use one for the telescope.

I cannot find any website that trades as astrostore.eu - have you got the correct name? The domain name is registered, but registration has expired (there is a grace period before it becomes available again for the owner to renew). It may well be that you have seen a parking pages with adverts - certainly I get a DNS error when trying to go the website. There is an astroshop.eu which is trustworthy. The domain name as only been registered for a year - details below from https://whois.domaintools.com/astrostore.eu

As is noted on one of their other listings, they are not a telescope buff! This is someone buying second-hand (possibly auction or house clearance) and then selling on. They have separate listings for an ETX 125 OTA, ETX forks and tripod which come to around £700. That's with no accessories and with the handset already sold. Seems to be randomly pricing some items!

I don't understand why you need a powered drive. Why not just use a large capacity pen drive - if it is serving out music it does not need the speed of a Sata or m2 interface.

Here's one from Hubble that at 69,000 x 22,000 makes that look like a 6x4" photo https://esahubble.org/images/heic1502a/ Here's an earth-based imager who claims to have gone bigger than Robert Gendler - https://astrofalls.com/products/10k-andromeda-print 2008 is 15 years ago now and there's been a lot of advances in that time that make it easier to claim larger image sizes - doesn't mean there is any corresponding increase in image detail though. That's probably why the World Records people are not taking active submissions - they'd be verifying and updating the record every few weeks!

I've been, but in summer which isn't much good for Northern Lights! As others have said, polar bears will be an issue and I don't think it would be safe to be outside at night without a guide. Even in summer we were confined to a relatively small area outside which we we warned not to travel solo. Travelling to see the aurora is always a bit of a gamble because you need the sun, the weather and the time of day all to play nicely at the same time! I think the time away rather than the location is the key factor - the longer you are in the 'aurora zone' the more chance you have of seeing something. I favour Iceland as a destination even though it is not as far north as other popular Scandinavian locations is because it offers more as a holiday location - especially if you like photography. Best times to travel for aurora are around the autumn and spring equinox when there is an uptick in activity. For Iceland Autumn is a good time to travel as it is still easy to get around - Spring (or March) it can be very cold, icy and snowy. Iceland has plenty of class 1 Bortle skies as well and perhaps most importantly you can travel around at night without fear of getting attacked by bears!

What is it about the set up that takes for ever? I have a similar Meade lx90 8" and a Celestron Edge 8" mounted on an AVX (equatorial mount). If I just want to do some quick visual I will still set up the LX90 because it is quicker. Carry tripod out, add mount/OTA and align. To take the AVX out is tripod & mount, then back for the extension bar weights, then the OTA. Then polar align, then star align. LX90 wins every time!

I have a monopod for photography, but I find I get too much shake for my binoculars so prefer the tripod and 'hands free' approach. I'd really like a parallelogram mount at some point!

I use one of these with my Helios equivalent sized binoculars. Not too heavy and very stable and currently £129. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088FQ2C8L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Review of the tripod here: https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/kf-concept-sa254t1-camera-tripod/ I have found you can use the transverse arm to give the binoculars steady, but the ball head at this angle will not prevent movement of the binoculars. You could remedy that my replacing the ball head. It does hold the binoculars fine when in the standard 'vertical' mode.

Never had any problems doing firmware updates on handsets using the Celestron tool (CFM) available here: https://www.celestron.com/pages/manuals-software - it will check for, download and update any relevant firmware files for you. I have a Starsense for alignment on my scope and it is convenient (but costly, and prices have jumped quite a lot in the last couple of years). Before going down this route, I would suggest something like a 12mm reticle eyepiece if you don't already have one. Accurate centring of the target stars when performing alignment greatly improves go-to accuracy. It's surprising how far off-centre you can be when using a low power eyepiece and best judgement. The wi-fi dongle adds wi-fi and nothing else - it removes the need to use or have the handset plugged in and allows control via either phone/tablet or a PC (download CPWI from the Celestron website for that).

I think this post should be the first one on a corresponding pretty/elegant mounts thread!

I'm an occasional contact lens wearer. I get 10 pairs a month which costs £162 a year. You do get a couple of benefits (Specsavers) - free eye test and £85 towards a new pair of glasses every two years, so the real cost is potentially much lower. On the occasions when I observe without lenses in I get very frustrated removing and replacing glasses while getting everything set up (I am short sighted and can't make out many stars without corrected vision). My challenge now is that I need reading glasses when I have my contact lenses in!

The website is still up and running but I think that is just because the hosting has been paid. I requested a quote for an observatory back in October (as a test) and have never received a reply. It's not possible to place an order and spend money directly on the site, so unless someone starts picking up the emails at the other end again there is little danger of someone losing money.

There was a thread on here about people buying the LT70 just for the starsense licence and using the adapter on other scopes. I've had a quick look but can't find it. Have a search on "starsense explorer" or "LT70". Maybe one of the contributors to that thread will be able to point you in the right direction.

I've used an old 10" tablet and 7" tablet for controlling my Canon camera. You'll need to get an OTG cable to go with the tablet. This is a link to the Canon app - you'll need to download on your tablet of course! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.canon.ic.cameraconnect It offers full control of the camera, will download the photos (or just previews) to the tablet and will also act as an intervalometer. You can use it with liveview to help with focus as well - much better than the small screen on the back of the camera. DSLR controller was another app that I have used in the past and was highly regarded - but not used it since I got the Canon app a couple of years ago - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.dslrcontroller It's the same challenge with laptops as well.Google and Apple both offer free photo storage (although Google is less generous with space than they used to be).

I'm assuming you are leaving the hand controller in the holder mounted on one of the legs? Have you considered a bit of velcro and fastening ithe controller to the side of the mount instead?

I'm after the same eyepiece, I'm waiting for Retevis to list it on Amazon. They use Amazon for fulfilment so for me just a more straightforward process for purchase (and if needed, returns).

It took me a bit of time to find this, so here's the link for anyone who's interested - it is listed as an item and you then choose one of the products (and delivery option) to add it to basket. SVbony Aliexpress UK warehouse Personally I'd be reluctant to order anything - given the discount I suspect these products are customer returns but there is no indication as to the condition of the item It now shows as £136 with free shipping - unless VAT has to be added to that price.

I've had a tablet frost over (which stopped the touchscreen working) but otherwise was fine. The biggest issue is reduced battery performance if you are not running on mains power. My laptop (HP Spectre X2) has a warning not to operate in temperatures below zero because it may damage the battery. It may be coincidence but I have recently replaced the battery in that laptop as two cells had failed and what should have been 3-4 hours of cold weather performance had dropped to around 10 minutes! For reference, the laptop is around six years old and has had heavy use in the past, so the battery may just have reached end of life anyway. The tablet mentioned at the start is nearly 9 years old and still operating without any issues.