Schorhr

Hi, unless someone has bought it very recently, you are probably better off just asking FLO :-) I would asume it's still the case.

Budget overview eyepiece 30/32mm Plössl (Seben 14£ but doesn't have a eyecup, can be built out of pipe isolation foam) and/or 20mm erfle eyepiece (19-20£, smaller exit pupil ideal if you are close to the city.) 40mm 1.25" Plössl doesn't make much sense, small field of view, too large exit pupil, and same field as a 32mm. If on a tight budget, stick with the 25mm kit ep. 'Deepsky eyepiece' (2-3mm exit pupil) 12 22€ erfle or 12-15mm "goldline" 66degree apparent field of view "Planet eyepiece" Modified 6mm gold line 66degree, you can modify it to around 3-4mm. HR Planetary from 35£ or so works better, TMB explorer or ts ed if you can afford it. If your barlow is an achromatic one, does it add noticable color fringe/chromatuc aberration? I have the Seben 2x achromatic barlow, very decent for 11£, not as good as a eyepiece for high mag. 6mm plössl might work for you, costs less then 10£, but the eye relief is verrrry short. I have the 4mm seben plössl, the short eye relief makes unusable IMHO. A bit cheaper would be 30mm plössl, 10mm and 2mm barlow, but I would save a bit instead. The 3x meade/bresser barlow (17£) I have has horrible chromatic aberration. If you want better eyepieces, especially at f/5, you could take a look at the explore scientific 82deg eyepieces.

I have a CLS filter, basically not as narrow banded as UHC. It's only useful with some nebulae, not galaxies. I would suggest getting an eyepiece with 2-3x the aperture ratio, I use a 12mm Seben Erfle. Does not get as dark as the 8mm HR-Planetary, though it's the shortest of their Erfle series I would recommend. I like the HR Planetary that are a bit similar to the BST, though the larger field of view is nice. If I had to choose three eyepieces, 24mm ~68 degree 12-15mm TS ED / BST or 15mm 66deg uwa Astrozoom in the range ~4-6mm as those zoom's apparent field of view does not get smaller (astrozoom.de) or on a budget the 6mm 66deg uwa with the film can mod But even with the cheaper eyepieces I'm having a lot of fun, I would say the step up to those would not be as great as to the ones I have compared to the kit eyepieces. Having more eyepieces can be nice, especially when seeing and light pollution conditions change. But usually, I just put three eyepieces in my jacket and take the Heritage outside. Covers 95,4% of all objects ;-) As said, for deepsky a exit pupil around 2-3mm (10-15mm eypiece) will give a good contrast, dark sky background... But of course some smaller DSO just need a tad more magnification, under 1mm exit pupil it just gets dark though while only a little more detail is gained.

For the heritage, these cheaper solution work well Overview a 30-32mm plössl under good conditions and a limited budget = or a 20-24mm wide angle eyepiece under some light pollution (smaller exit pupil) See http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/fieldcompare.jpg Seben 30mm (no eyecup, pipe isolation is one way to fix that, available via ebay or amazon as well) http://shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?p=b3JnYT1zZWJlbiZncm91cD0xJmxhbmc9MSZjdXJyPTE=&action=products&mode=view&id=161 http://shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?p=b3JnYT1zZWJlbiZncm91cD0xJmxhbmc9MSZjdXJyPTE=&action=products&mode=view&id=197 I use this one more then the plössl in the city due to the smaller exit pupil, the 30mm 's exit pupil is a bit large for light polluted skies. Or perhaps the 24mm BST/ TS ED, even Explore Scientific (though heavy) if you are not on a budget. I have both the plössl and the wide angle eyepiece (different lable, looks identical judging by the 12mm wide angle I do have from seben.). For higher magnification the 6mm http://www.ebay.de/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903 I was suprised that the quality was not much different then the HR Planetary, the sometimes reported kidney beaning of the 6mm was fine when I used the eyecup. The upside of the 6mm is that you can change the distance to the bottom element with a old 35mm film can to test how good your heritage mirror is - http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/WIN_20140527_223234-1024x576.jpg -prior to buying a 3-5mm for planetary use.(You may need to shorten the tube via flextube mechanism depending on the length ) Trust me, the positions of the planets will be better again, hang in there ;-) Inbetween you could either use the KIT eyepieces or consider more of the 66degree eyepieces, or TS ED / BST Explorer, or just upgrade with erfle if you can live with the outer field being not perfect at f/5. Stay away from sets, often just a bunch of overpriced plössl and never matching the telescope kit. Plus Plössl under 10mm have awefully short eye relief. 3 good eyepieces go a long way.

Hi, also check the used market here or in a US forum. Again, plössl under 10mm have very short eye relief; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vixen-Optics-NPL-6mm-Plossl-Eyepiece-1-25-Super-Sharp-39202-/351143299518?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51c1c589be http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6mm-Celestron-Plossl-telescope-eyepiece-/291219338810?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ce06763a or as mentioned http://www.ebay.com/itm/Achromatische-Barlow-Linse-BA2-2x-fuer-Teleskope-31-7mm-/200607942106 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Skys-the-Limit-1-25-2x-Achromatic-Barlow-Lens-Metal-Bodied-/380569583507?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item589bb6ff93 ATTENTION I am not aware of import duties, taxes and the duty-free limit of small items over there, but if that is an option, There's probably a local source of these, they where sold under different lables/colors. http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ - seems like under $200 just some tax applies. Might depend on if you declare it as telescope eyepiece, microscope equipment or other optics, always worth looking into. But check the official gov sites, too. It's allways a good idea to buy locally... Especially if you can't wait to try it out :-) I saw the 6mm 66degree eyepiece at a US telescope shop, but of course, twice as much as from the UK/three times as much as from china. The better deal, as said, are the 6mm 66deg eyepieces. 116x is OK, not as dark and over magnified as the 4mm eyepieces often sold with these kits. 0,65mm exit pupil is also O.K., and if that's to dark on some faint objects, use the 10mm eyepiece. according to http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ the eyepiece from the UK http://www.ebay.com/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item20c36a1577 costs around US$46 ("Duty result is nil because the total value of the products does not exceed US$200.00") so same applies for the Plössl or barlow, though I would imagine there is a similar inexpensive source in the US (surplusshed.com? Craigslist?) The 6mm 66deg costs around 30-36 dollars at Aliexpress, but of course you have to check the seller reputation and ideally use a prepaid credit card or so. Also make sure the telescope is collimated, using a dust cap with a hole or 35mm film can. At least the secondary mirror should not be completely off or the primary mirror tilted, etc. (Prevent touchingthe surface, and even if, don't clean it though without reading a guide on how to clean telescope optics as the front surface mirror coatings are very delicate)

Hi there, I started with a similar telescope (different brand).:-) I don't know how sturdy the celestron mount is, this was always the limiting factor for my set, and especially when using higher magnification. Sadly, this is for many starter sets and many beginners give up frustrated - not because the optics are bad, but due to cheap accessoires and the lack of literature on how to localte galaxies and such. Higher magnification is not everything, with 700 mm focal length a 10mm eyepiece will give you 70x (700/10=70) and the other eyepiece 35x. I also reccomend getting "turn left at orion" as it helps you find things, explains a lot, and shows you what to expect. The andromeda galaxy, m81/m82, the ring- and dumbbell nebula (later the magnificent orion nebula), star clusters hχ persei, m13, the coat hanger and many more become visible even with lower magnification. The best result for deep sky will be with an eyepiece with around 2-3mm exit pupil (exit pupil = eyepiecemm devidedby focalratio) (focal ratio equals telescopeFocalLength devidedby Aperture) So while the 20mm eyepiece gives you little magnification, it will still show you a relatively bright image with a dark sky background, giving you more contrast for deep sky observations. Smaller objects such as the ring nebula or star clusters may benefit from a bit more, say, 70-100x. A few Objects such as the orion nebula, open star clusters (plejades!) actually benefit from low magnification. Don't spend a lot of money on accessories now. Was there a barlow lens included? (a tube that comes inbetween telescope and eyepiece, increasing magnification by typicaly 2x). I would also suggest not going much over 100x. But despite better eypiece quality, 8mm may be a bit too close to what you've got. Seben germany sells cheap plössl, and while their telescopes get a lot bad reviews, I find their plössl and erfle eyepiece a great deal given their price, and they seem identical to those I have from other sellers with a better reputation. Seben/Orbinar ships internationally, they have a lot of offers on ebay. Their Plössl cost around 9-16€ or so, 8-14£ I guess. The problem with plössl eyepieces though is that the eye relief of those otherwise great eyepieces gets very short under 10mm. Some find 6.5mm still useable, so this might be the budget option. Another is the 2x achromatic barlow for 13,50€/11£(?), actually this one was better then the Meade/Bresser barlow I got for 20€. A barlow will decrease the contrast, it introduces chromatic aberation / color fringe to the system. But I find it still acceptable, and solves the issue with the short eye relief. They also sell a 12mm erfle for 22€ (19£?) that has a bit short eye relief (the 8mm will probably too, but I don't have that; The 20mm has a nice longer eye relief). The 12mm plus barlow may be a great combination for that type of telescope. If you want to spend a bit more, the 6mm 66degree eyepiece can be bought for 23€ in china or 32€ (w/shipping) in the UK (27£), 40€ in germany. http://m.ebay.de/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903 It has some kidney beaning but I do not find it bothersome, works well when using the eyecup. This is a wide angle eyepiece. The moon (almost) fits completely into view at over 100x. Keep in mind planets will never appear huge, not even in a larger telescope due to seeing of the atmosphere. Galaxies will mostly remain faint smudges in the night sky, a larger 5-6" telescope (130£-230£ / 160-260€) will show a bit of detal in them, a 8" dobsonian (330€) will start to show spiral structures of some galaxies, individual stars of star clusters down to their center, and greater detail on planets, too... So don't spend 200£ on eyepieces ;-) Save the money. I observed a very long time with just three (halfway decent eyepieces) and that will show you a lot. For the 76/700 this could be -A 30-32mm Plössl or 20-25mm wide angle eyepiece to show more field of view, giving a better orientation and makes finding things via star-hopping easier -A 12mm -A 6mm or similar, or a barlow So for now you could simply ad one eyepiece as you have two close to that, and add better ones laterr. More magnification will rarely make sense with a small telescope like that, and adding more steps inbetween does not really enhance the experience. For example, 70 and 80x will barely be different in both magnification and exit pupil (the amount/diameter of light exiting the eyepiece)

At f/8, the 66 degree eyepiece offered by skywatcher, TS and others do an excelent job. They are modified Plössl and come in the flavors 6, 9, 15 and 20mm, a UK store sells them for 27£ or so at ebay.

http://www.celestron.com/support/manuals-software?article=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.celestron.com%2Fc3%2Fsupport3%2Findex.php%3F_m%3Ddownloads%26_a%3Dviewdownload%26downloaditemid%3D865%26nav%3D0%26group%3Diframe ?

Very nice :-) you'll find a Mars globe and the footprints on the moon at thingiverse :-)

Tough decision... I bought the slt as I Don't have a car and it's the largest/heaviest I can still transport. A more universal telescope could be the 130pds on NEQ3, but it will probably be to large all together. If you just want to image small things the 5" mak and SLT or Az can be a nice combination, if you can live with the limitation regarding visual use and deepsky imaging. Also the mount is a bit on it's limit with a camera, but I suppose you plan on using a webcam? Or DSLR? I have the heritage 130p as it's the most portable, imaging with it is possible but tedious. I would not reccomend it if you plan on imaging. The maksutov are some of the smallest telescopes, but have a few downsides. If they wheren't so expensive compared to other soluions, they'd make nice secondary telescopes :-) Other then the virtuoso with tracking, I don't think it gets any more portable then the SLT/Az Synscan, but they are made of a lot of plastic and clearly made for visual goto. Weight and size is a big issue for me too, and I am afraid you will have to compromise at some point. As planets and star clusters are your goal, you probably would not be happy with a small travel eq mount and Tele lens or small ed refractor.

I have the Celestron Nexstar SLT Mount which is rather similar to the Az Synscan. I also have a (smaller) Maksutov. Imaging planets is possible, but visually, you will be better off with a 8" dobsonian, it Shows so much more... And snapshots of the moon are still quite possible. I Do some Video astronomy with the SLT Mount, but Not with the Mak. Too much focal length, "slow" focal Ratio. IMO forget the tracking-only. IF you go for that Type of Mount, you might as well go for goto as well. But there are ways to control the Mount without the goto handset via Laptop, at least for the Celestron i have Seen a few pages on the subject... How about you Get the dobsonian, and either build/buy a eq platform (for basic snampshots, good for planets, only limited for bright DSO) or get a (used) eq mount with small scope for imaging later?. Either way, it's not a bad set, just as allways, most money goes into electronics, and it's not suited for long exposures due to field rotation (unless you build a wedge and fiddle with it, stressing the motors and such)

I hope he secured those screws when mounting the OTA...

Hello Hans, yes, it's nice to meet some "locals" ;-) Gruß Marcus

It can be a bit difficult at first to look, focus and track, but hang in there. Also an eyepiece with more then fifty degree apparent field of view helps.

Hello Hans, Welcome to the lounge! Very nice set-up. Gruß aus Kiel - Marcus