Astronomist

This is the same problem I experienced renovating a 114mm F8 newtonian a while back, in the end I removed the secondary and reached into the tube with a long pair of needlenose pliers to grip the nut (someone else had to undo the screw as I couldn't reach). This might be more tricky for you however as your tube is narrower than the 114mm... maybe a good excuse to avoid the gym for a few weeks?

your images never cease to amaze Kon! A fellow Wiltshire dweller here also suffering the appalling weather, Its looking bad as far ahead as the weather forcast goes unfortunately.

Welcome to SGL! Just done a quick search for pictures of the telescope, As far as I can tell there are 3 screws on the side of the mirror cell as with most telescopes, however some cheaper scopes such as this may have a bead of glue as well. You could try gently twisting the mirror cell (after removing the screws) as it might just be stiff. In my experience most newtonians require a little persuasion to get the mirror cell out of the tube as it is usually quite a tight fit.

Hello and welcome to SGL!

Welcome to SGL!

Looks right to me, just make sure the mount is pointed approximately north and you should get reasonable tracking accuracy. unless you are doing astrophotography with a motorised mount polar alignment is not all that critical. As an aside, I found the EQ2 RA and DEC setting circles are not really worth the hassle, IMHO they are fiddly to use and innacurate. looks like you have lots of nice dark sky in Iceland, enjoy!

My forecast is looking pretty grim too.

Really cute! Seriously, i can imagine there might be a market for something like this, kind of a premium alternative to a skywatcher 100p. I would buy one for sure! Secondary collimation does look a bit fiddly though, and I'm not sure how one would go about mounting a finder...

Some eyepieces have a thread concealed under the eyecup for this purpose. Almost any astro camera ( ZWO, QHY, ect ), as well as a DSLR, can be used in this way with appropriate adapters.

I have been enjoying a few clear nights recently, the weather forecast seems to be predicting clouds when there are none. Although maybe that's their method... If they predict clouds every day they will be right 90% of the time.

64 square metres! Those are some big satellites. At least it will make it hard for them to launch 5000 of them like they have with the dreaded starlink. Really good image by the way!

good thing you live quite a long way from myself and Stu!

looks like I might get clear skies tonight as well! Please don't order anything astro-related this evening...

Thanks for your advice @bosun21, I did as you suggested and the ring hasn't come loose again, so it would seem that the problem is solved!

Last night I was observing saturn, trying out my new stellalyra 2X 2" ED barlow. At one point I removed the barlow due to a period of poor seeing, and then when I replaced it Saturn had dissolved into a rainbow coloured mess. I quickly traced the problem back to the screw ring that holds the optics in place. However, I have noticed that the ring doesnt stay tightened up. My question is: How tight should the it be done up? I am wondering if overtightening could cause pinching, similar to the mirror clips of a newtonian? thanks in advance for any advice given.

I have the bresser 10", the main selling points for me were the half round dobsonian altitude bearings, which help maintain balance with a wide variety of accessories, and the Hexafoc focuser, which is a cut above those that skywatcher/celestron use. I cannot comment on the GSO (stellalyra, omegon, orion) dobsonians as I have never used one, But the stellalyra one does come with a nice finderscope (the one on the bresser is borderline unusable), and a dual speed focuser as standard. best of luck with your choice!

One point that I don't think has been raised yet: the skywatcher skyhawk 114-1000 is a barlowed newtonian (bird-jones) design, which means it has a spherical primary. This design has aquired a reputation for blurry views, read about the celestron powerseekeer 127 for some horror stories regarding the bird-jones design. This is not to be confused with the skywatcher skyhawk 114 f5 or 1145p models, which have conventional parabolic optics and are good scopes. My recommendation for you would also be a Heritage 100p or Zhummel z100, my first real telescope was a 100p and I really liked it, super portable and pretty good optically. Best of luck with your choice!

I am also currently undertaking an equatorial platform project For my 10" F5. With regards to motors, the usual choice is to use an EQ1 or 2 RA Drive , which are speed adjustable, and very affordable. If you are looking for great accuracy however you must look towards stepper motors and drivers (not sure if onstep can cope with platforms or not). Good luck with your project!

Sounds good, I will have a look at this when it gets a bit closer as I enjoyed 2022E3 last year. Just a shame it has to come at the cloudiest time of the year.

Just recieved a Stellalyra 2x 2" ED Barlow. It is replacing my celestron omni 2x barlow, which was really good for the price, so hoping this will be even better! On a less positive note it came with lots of clouds, gale-force wind, and torrential rain (sorry to anyone around the salisbury area). Who knew something so small and cheap could cause so much bad weather?

the bigger the diameter of the sector the further away from the south pivot the sector must be. And yes the south bearing is often replaced with a sector.

+1 for the bresser dobs. I have the 10" and it is great, the big altitude bearings do make good handles, especially if you wrap them in pipe lagging. Also it has a ridge around the base of the tube, which is handy for storage standing it on the mirror end. Generaly I just store mine on the mount though.

That's just hilarious, I see further down the page it says the 'astrophysics enthusiast' called the meteorwrong an 'astrology discovery' and said the meteorite was going to be carbon dated... maybe he isn't such an expert after all.

This one is directly across the road from my house, and illuminates my favourite telescope set up position. One of these on a street near me has had its bulb painted over black (possibly a local astronomer- anyone want to confess?)

really nice images! I will have to try this when (if) I finish my eq platform project. Mine probably wont be accurate enough for 10s subs though