John

Its not a good time to try and observe galaxies - it does not really get dark at all. Even when they can be seen, galaxies just look like very faint, and often small, patches of hazy light. Any light pollution or moonlight really washes them out. Stars still look like points of light even with a scope and lots of magnification. They are just too far away to be seen as anything other than that. You just see more of them when you view with a scope. The best deep sky objects to look for at the current time are open and globular star clusters which are much less affected by light pollution and the lack of darkness at this time of the year. There are also some decently bright planetary nebulae on show. The Ring Nebula in Lyra (small so easily overlooked) and the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula, which is larger and should be noticeable with the 25mm eyepiece. Dark skies help with those as well but they can at least be seen.

These are chinese clones of the Japanese Widescan ultra-wide eyepieces. Even the Japanese versions, which cost a lot more, were not too well corrected in F/8 or faster scopes. For £30 or so they give you an idea of what an ultra widefield is about if you have a slower scope but I would not pay more than that for one.

It's not you, it's the solar cycle: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/207-observing-solar/ There have been a few outbreaks of spots over the past few weeks, but very sparse. Over time, it will get more active.

SGL and UK Astro Buy & Sell are the two best places to look for used astro equipment I think. The Tele Vue Delos are excellent as well but do cost a fair bit more than the Pentax XW's or Baader Morpheus. The main thing when they do come up for sale is to be quick off the mark. They tend to get snapped up quickly if the price is reasonable.

Good initial report Chris. Interesting that you had issues with the finder - other early adopters of this scope have found something similar:

I think Louis is about right here in the UK as well. The scope is a very early Orion Optics newtonian on one of their early equatorial mounts. It is the sort of scope that someone who knows scopes well might buy for a relatively low cost as a refurbishment project. It has some potential but does need quite a bit of work.

I can list the focal lengths that I find the most useful with my 12 inch F/5.3 dob - focal length 1600mm: - 21mm - 13mm - 8mm - 6mm - 5mm With the longer focal length of your scope you could probably do without the 5mm. Just have to decide what the best ones that you can afford are now

The most important thing is to make sure that your finder scope is as accurately aligned with the view through the main scope as possible. Don't assume it is out of the box !

That result looks good to me Neil I can't really help though because I'm at a similar stage with astro photography - very 1st steps ! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to pick up some tips myself, if thats OK ?

Is this your first scope ?

Very good, traditionally designed, quite heavy, 6 inch F/8 newtonian on a strong equatorial. Some features are a little quirky but they are very good performers as Stu says. The eyepieces are better than the usual stock ones supplied with scopes (especially the 25mm plossl which is a gem). Looks like the equatorial mount needs to be setup properly but the condition overall looks pretty good. If you have to carry it up and down stairs you might want to think again but if it be kept near or at where you observe it is a very good instrument.

I might set the 130mm triplet up tonight for this and some other challenges

Hyperions show quite a lot of astigmatism in scopes faster than around F/7.

If you go for ultra (82 degrees) or hyper (100 degrees) wide eyepieces you may well need a coma corrector to get the most out of them with an F/4.5 scope. The Baader Morpheus won't be perfect right to the edge but might be a good compromise choice. Other accessories that you might find useful would include a Telrad or Rigel illuminated reticule finder to compliment the optical finder and a light shrouds to keep stray light (and dust) out of the optical path. Collimation tools are going to be important as well.

That's what I use. Very secure

Indeed. I was observing the Ring Nebula last night and 3 went through the field of view in a period of just a few minutes. It must be frustrating for the imagers.

A UHC filter passes the O-III and H-Beta lines so they do sometimes help with H-Beta emitting targets.

It is possible to shim an objective cell and a focuser to introduce some tilt, if it is needed to achieve good collimation. It's a bit trial and error but it can be done.

And bands to fit around around the eyepiece and heated wires installed behind the secondary mirror ........ I'm very glad that it's not an issue here.

What dobsonian do you have ? They can provide pretty good planetary views. I was rather surprised when I first got an 8 inch F/6 dobsonian (GSO) in that it delivered better planetary views than my C8 SCT was ! My current 12 inch F/5.3 dob gives stunning views of the planets when they are nicely placed.

I had a nice view of this one with the ED120 last night as well Also a first view of Pi Aquilae this year as it cleared the tree line. A tight but even brightness pair. Currently 1.4 arc seconds separation I think ?

That's a relief - I don't want the Rowan boys to set Hypno-Disc onto me

I'm not saying that it is at all John.

So a different high capacity design is required if my niche is going to be filled perhaps ?. In the past their have been mounts such as the Bray Tablet (UK made) and the Giro XXL (German made) that have provided simple but really well made and high capacity alt-azimuth solutions capable of holding the sorts of loads that the AZ100 is capable of. Maybe everyone wants slow motion controls and DSC capability these days though so the simpler approach would not find a market Probably a topic for another thread though so I'll shut up about it now

Initially I seem to recall that it was thought that it might be priced somewhere in the range that I mentioned John.