John

Things can get big and heavy with 2 inch barlows (Powermate in this case):

Are you intending to barlow 2 inch eyepieces ?

That looks an improvement over the dual axis set Michael.

I spent a couple of hours playing around with my GP mount this afternoon (which is a Celestron branded one like yours). I have a Meade LXD55 drive set and controller somewhere which is supposed to fit on the GP's, EQ5, LXD55 etc so I might have a go at fitting that in place of the Synta dual axis set that is currently on there. Trouble is, I don't want or need GOTO. I would like a neater set of motors though.

The project has been running since 2015 with the permissions being considered in 2017 and approved towards the end of that year. Worldwide astronomy organisations did raise concerns at the time but the decision was still to go ahead. I believe the project gathered additional impetus when the US military took an interest in it.

By all means sign the petitions etc but in all honesty I don't see any chance whatsoever in stopping this programme now.

I don't cut and remove the foam from my cases. I've found that I can break the foam around the outline of the eyepiece then press the eyepiece down which leaves an impression that the eyepiece then sits in held in place by the foam in the lid. If you change eyepieces (which I used to do a lot !) you can pull the foam back up and then repeat the process for the new eyepiece size and shape.

It's kept my cases going though many eyepiece changes

Big refractors need really big mounts and really big refractors need enormous mounts. Refractors larger than a 150mm need to be permanently mounted in an observatory or similar IMHO.

59 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

... Something needs to be done before they are streaming across the sky everywhere. Presumably once they go offline, they'll be left in a decay orbit to gradually fall out of the sky and burn up. Who knows, but it's a right mess.

Too late to do anything about it I think - they have approval to launch 12,000 of these and may extend that to 45,000. 

Apparently they will be bought out of orbit and allowed to come down in a "controlled" manner in around 8 years or so,

If it is the Celestron Starpointer Pro, this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/celestron-starpointer-pro-finderscope.html

you would remove the foot part and that will leave a clamp rail that should fit onto the bracket attached to your scope that the original finder was supposed to clamp onto.

This person has fitted one to his Celestron 5 inch SCT using that method:

24 minutes ago, Beardy30 said:

Yes I explained what I had but hope they should know as I bought it from them ! 

I meant folks on this forum.

If you put your scope in your signature folks who have not followed your threads will know what you have.

33 minutes ago, Beardy30 said:

Hi just a quick question..one dealer has told me with come with a suitable base plate to fit to my scope another said I need the Baader Universal Quick Release Finder Shoe / Base to fit it ?? Conflicting advise ? Can anyone advise ? 

Is this for your Celestron 8SE ?

(some folks might not know what you have )

I've added green arrows to this pic showing where the only threaded section of these rails is. If the threads have stripped or are not present in yours then a replacement is required:

25 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

Regards it being way off I have replied to your other thread and described how to set it up. They are not set up ready to go when you buy them as everyone's scope will be different. You need to adjust it using the adjustment screws/wheels to align to your scope.

Quite right - 1st thing you need to do when you get a scope - adjust the finder so that what the red dot points to is as exactly as possible what you see in the centre of the eyepiece of the scope.

Distant targets such as chimneys and telegraph pole tops are useful for doing this in daylight. The target needs to be many hundreds of metres away though to get an alignment that also is accurate for stars and planets.

Starlink satellites:

Thanks Andrew - I have the 12 inch dob out at the moment so I'll take a look

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

I hear what you say about a sharp and contrasty view but for me the lack of ER would straight away make me turn off. I was viewing the sun the other day using a 6mm generic plossl and it really wasn't fun, this was on a gti goto mount too.  I wouldn't like to use the same setup non driven. (NB: since bought a decent zoom for solar)

I am one of those who likes to sit at the eyepiece and not unduly struggle to get a comfortable position at it and just let the photons fall upon my retina without having a constant battle to centre the object in question. Maybe this makes me a lazy gazer 😄

I have taken my dob up to near 250 using the Nikon with their 102 fov and 16mm ER and still find that a pleasing experience.

I'm the same now Steve.

I used to put up with tiny eye lenses and very short eye relief but I prefer some comfort these days.

They are planning on increasing them to 12,000 in number and possibly even going as far as 42,000.

Starlink - the plan is to launch 12,000 of them eventually possibly extending to 42,000 .....

5 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I believe they're about to launch a load more, too

James

The target is 12,000 in total with a possible extension to 42,000 !

The Earth now has a ring.....

Just been watching them passing beneath Leo. Dozens of the things and brighter than I was expecting as well.

c2020 F8 Swan is in Sculptor at the moment at magnitude 7.8 according to "The Sky Live":

https://theskylive.com/c2020f8-info

Try and find the constellation of Cancer - it is between Gemini and Leo. There is a lovely star cluster called "The Beehive Cluster" in Cancer which should look nice at low magnification with your scope.

Also, in Gemini there is another great star cluster called Messier 35 (M35). Another nice sight in the small scopes at low power.

Cancer:

Gemini:

This is what I use for my 12 inch F/5.3 dobsonian:

I have tried laser collimators including the Baader and Hotech ones but the above has consistently worked and the scope star tests well after its been used so I'm happy with it  

Thats odd.

One of those two rails should have threaded holes though it. I seem to recall that the screws should go through the rail with the unthreaded holes and screw into the holes on the other rail thus forming a clamp

Don't they work like a clamp, with one side having threaded and the other with unthreaded holes ?

There is a mix of sizes, brands and cost in my cases now: