John

34 minutes ago, JacobiteJake said:

Just a thought John, is that a clamp that holds the plate nice and tight without placing screw marks on it, only I've noticed on some used scopes that there are a lot of indentations in the plates where the screws dig it when you clamp it to the mount.  Or do you need to buy a different clamp that just squeezes it and not digs in with screws, hope that makes sense  

There are a number of aftermarket clamp upgrades available. I use the ADM type as shown by @johninderby above. I'm not bothered by getting digs and marks on the dovetail bar particularly but I feel that the ADM type of clamp, and there are other good designs as well, offers a more secure attachment for the scope than the stock clamps that are sometimes supplied with mounts.

I would want a complete replacement.

The scratches would not affect the performance but they would knock it's value if you choose to sell it.

And you will need to collimate the replacement mirrors once they are installed.

They should just send you a complete replacement scope (no repair) and cover the cost of the return of the damaged one.

The Skywatcher Deluxe 2x barlow is quite good optically.

My current barlow is the Baader Q-Turret 2.25x which works very well with the 7.2 - 21.5 zoom eyepiece that I have. I don't tend to use a barlow with any other eyepieces that I have.

With scopes, I've tended to try and get the best figured optics that I can over the years on the basis that I'd like as much of the light gathered to be focused where it should be and as little as possible going astray through diffraction, CA, SA, poor collimation etc, etc.

There are a host of other factors that will conspire to scrub contrast, sharpness, resolution etc off the image of course but I figure that I might as well have a decent starting point. Occasionally, when things do all come together in a positive way, I get a chance to see what the scope is really capable of. 

Probably an over-simplistic approach but there it is

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link to the article.

Here is another, from Roger Vine who has created the excellent "Scopeviews" website:

http://scopeviews.co.uk/PlanetScopes.htm

57 minutes ago, Alfian said:

A problem with the Celestron 130, because the native finder is built in (and not very good) it doesn't have the kind of shoe that most optical finders use. When I had the 130eq I found the easiest solution was to fit a Rigel Quickfinder which is a reticule type red dot finder. Its base sticks to the tube using the (very) sticky pads privided. Its lightweight and a bit plasticky but it works very nicely. Although I have long parted with the 130eq the Rigel is still going strong years on.

I agree with Ian - the Rigel Quikfinder is a good addition to this scope:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

I use on on my 12 inch dobsonian and it's lasted years. The battery seems to go on for a long time as well, as long as I remember to turn it off at the end of a session !

I agree about the need for a finder. I used the Tele Vue Sol Searcher:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/lunt-solar-accessories/tele-vue-sol-searcher.html

47 minutes ago, Pixies said:

This is the first year I've been using a telescope and in some ways I feel a bit spoilt! First Neowise (although that didn't really need a scope) and now Mars.

Yes - it's all downhill from now on !

Only joking !!!! - this hobby has kept me occupied for 35 plus years so far and I've not even scratched the surface of imaging if I want to try that at some point.

29 minutes ago, JacobiteJake said:

Blimey John, now that looks great, is it the top of the range one from Sky Watcher, the espirit I think it's called?  The tripod and mount looks like it could withstand a small earthquake  Do you find it's fairly easy to keep onto a target manually, I hope so as it's just more cost buying a motorised mount and tripod.  I'll keep scouring ebay, facebook marketplace and the classifieds on here but I'm not getting my hopes up finding a 102 or 120 ed anytime soon   Best start saving some more me thinks  

The scope is a Skywatcher ED120 Pro. The gold and cream colour scheme was used by Skywatcher when these first came out which was over 10 years ago now.

You can buy these and later versions on the 2nd hand market as an optical tube (ie: no mount) for around £650 I think. They do come up from time to time.

I don't tracking the manual alt-azimuth mount quite straightforward even at high magnifications. I do use mostly wide angle eyepieces though, which helps in this.

A driven (not GOTO) mount that would carry this scope is actually not too expensive if bought used. I have a nice Vixen GP equatorial mount driven on both axis which cost around £200 on the used market including the drives. The Skywatcher EQ5 mount would do the job as well.

12 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Desperate for some clear skies just now.

Is that a camera you are using?

No - it's a saved image from the Mars Mapper site tweaked and re-orientated to match the view through the refractor.

Had another clear patch so I've soaked up more martian magic for the past 30 minutes or so. More cloud again now but I'm not complaining. These views were really excellent.

Didn't last long did it ? - big patch of cloud has now covered 80% of the sky !

Good to have a scope that can be popped out and used more or less straight from the house. Got to grab those precious clear patches !

Just a quick report.

After 3 days of more or less constant rain and cloud here I have a reasonably clear patch of sky over me and I've stuck my Tak FC100 out to catch Mars boasting a 22.5 arc second disk.

Steady seeing is enabling 225x - 300x to be used to real effect and the surface details are outstanding I feel.

The south polar cap has dwindled to a tiny spot of white now. The southern half of the disk is a mass of dark features with a clear pale rift slicing diagonally though them around the central meridian. I think this is the Hesperia region ?.

Further paler areas bisect the darker areas to the south with a darker region around the southern pole.

Many other named features on show as well I'm sure. 

Quite possibly the best views of Mars I've ever had just now

I can highly recommend an ED120 refractor. Mine has a Moonlite dual speed focuser which is a delight to use:

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

 

6-months? Clear-out overdue, John? 
Certainly something I need to do.....

🙂

 

 

Before the pandemic struck I was planning a very substantial clear out to fund some travel. That's still the plan in the long term.

1 hour ago, paul mc c said:

Cheers John,i will do that,how did you contact him,i cant get anything on the site to make contact,thanks for letting me know.

The e.mail address to use is webmaster@astrobuysell.com

I'm sure that it's OK to post that here because it's on display on the UKAB&S website.

I've heard back from Paul at the UKAB&S website. Apparently my IP had been blocked for some reason. He has asked me to check a couple of things and then he will unblock my IP address.

Very odd but very helpful from Paul. First time this has happened in all the years I've been using the site.

I've not actually logged onto the site to post any adverts for the past 6 months which is a little unusual for me.

So hopefully that will be sorted soon. Maybe you need to e.mail Paul, Paul ?

51 minutes ago, spanglysparkly said:

I am really not technical and I just wished there was something that I could get that was in between, so I could set up quickly and be able to take photo's of what I'm seeing.  Not sure I want to be backwards and forwards with loads of stuff. I've got turn left at orion which is so easy to follow. I also have making every photon count but it was really above my level. I will go back to it at some point and have another go at it....

I much prefer very simple, low tech setups that I can put out and bring in within minutes and also move around the garden reasonably easily. I have tried some GOTO / computerised setups in the past but they were not for me so that's why I've stuck with simple dobsonian or alt-azimuth mounted scopes with little or no setup up complexity / time.

It's also why I've not gone beyond mobile phone snapshots taken though the eyepiece or snaps of the sky with my DSLR on a tripod. When I've dabbled with imaging through scopes the accompanying power / setup requirements have not been the way I like to do things so I've not pursued that.

There is room for a wide range of preferences and approaches in the hobby thank goodness and endless equipment options to support this, budget allowing. The trick is to find the one that works best for you so you keep coming back for more

5 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Told me to log into their back up site last week, did that and it’s never been so quick!

I got that last week as well and the backup site worked fine.

Clearly they have been having some issues there recently. The latest seems more selective though.

Still not working here from either laptop, browser etc. No reply from the webmaster as yet.

It was fine yesterday - I posted a number of items for sale !

I'm a big fan of dobsonians having owned them through 6, 8, 10 and now 12 inch apertures over the past couple of decades. I'm purely a visual observer and happy to find stuff myself and track by nudging. I've used up to 400x and more without particular problems and the large aperture at relatively a affordable price really opens up the deep sky. Not shabby on the planets either !

My 12 inch dob takes just a few minutes to pop outside and around 30 mins to cool down.

I do use wide field eyepieces which are nice when using a manually tracked scope.

Might not be what you want to hear though ?

Not working for me. Tried two laptops with different browsers and Windows versions but does not work on either. Just get a dialogue box citing an IP address issue and the 401 message asking for a logon and password. I didn't do this but I have e.mailed the admins of the website to see what is going on.

I have owned on of those Lunt scopes but I didn't image through it.

On question 4, I would suggest that a zoom eyepiece is very useful. I used a 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom with mine but the Baader 8mm - 24mm is also a very good zoom:

I used my Lunt 50 on a simple undriven alt-azimuth mount but a tracking mount might be needed if you are imaging with it.

Here are links to the zoom eyepieces that I mention:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-zoom-eyepiece.html

While the scope is easy to use in terms of viewing with it, observing in H-Alpha does take some practice to be able to tease out the finer details.

2 minutes ago, Alan64 said:

I'm seeing at least two versions of the Gskyer 70/400 online...

If you have the kit on the left, then transferring the telescope to another mount will be easy, in seconds.  If you have the kit on the right, you will need to remove the "bar" that connects the telescope to the present mount, and purchase tube-rings and a dovetail-bar, as the kit on the left is equipped.  The rings...

https://agenaastro.com/agena-telescope-tube-ring-2-9.html

...and bar... https://www.ebay.com/itm/120mm-Telescope-Dovetail-Mounting-Plate-for-Equatorial-Tripod-Long-Version-BLK/193530516415?hash=item2d0f5153bf:g:NgsAAOSwcZ1cB4ON

In either event, this is an alt-azimuth with slow-motion controls...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/570395-USA/Vixen_Optics_3992MINI_Mini_PORTA_Manual_Altazimuth.html

Or, if you'd like to track the objects, and with either slow-motion controls, or automatically with a motor-drive possibly...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1291504-REG/explore_scientific_fl_exosnanot1_00_exos_nano_eq3_mount.html

Incidentally, I have a Barska 70/300...

But I found out shortly after its arrival that it has an effective aperture of only 30mm, and at f/10.  I'm in the process of opening it up inside to enable the full 70mm of light-gathering aperture to be utilised; a bit of DIY there.  Therefore, I would not be surprised if your own is also operating at either 30mm or 40mm of aperture, as well.  This a little-known problem with these short-tubed refractors from China, so I'm spreading the word.  I'll be using my own as a finder-scope for my relatively blind-as-a-bat Maksutov.

 

I think the left hand one below is actually an 80mm F/5. Another version of the ST80:

The right hand one is a clone of the Celestron Travel Scope 70 / Orion GoScope II 70mm

Of the two I would much prefer the 80mm if that is in budget.

No slow motion controls on either though.

25 minutes ago, Shepdog said:

Im in the U.S in Kentucky ..i saw some diagonals for 15 or 20 dollars...will they do?

We need more information - can you provide links to them ?

26 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

Which ones of these eyepieces accept a Dioptrx? Don? Anyone?

This Cloudynights thread might help a bit Steve:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/634406-all-eyepieces-makes-and-models-that-can-take-tele-vue-dioptrx-lenses/