Chris

Hi Andy, you're not wrong, I had the Altair version of the 294 for a little while and ended up using it for planetary and lunar more often and not hehe. I keep winking at the 533mc but I quite like the idea of seeing what I can get out of the 462mc first Ah that's an interesting point, kind of makes sense you would need a larger sensor when guiding at long focal lengths. That's one serious guide can still, do you mean off axis guide cam? in which case it must be a tight squeeze with the optical train with that big a camera body?

That's re-assuring I've not tried that long yet. Obsolutely no filters, darks etc as I was testing out the camera in it's raw state, kind of like a control. I did want to try with the Pro planet filter, I had it out ready, but my laptop ran out of juice and my bed was calling me so I called it quits for the night. Next time I'll try the Pro planet : ) EDIT: I did spend quite a lot of time processing in GIMP which I think helped a lot.

Well it seems to do a fab job on small bright DSO's, I just need to test it on some more challenging targets with proper integration time. I'm looking forward to that

I intended to take some wide field shots of the Cygnus region but there were the usual skyline obstacles to deal with. I settled for a quick grab of M57 with the ZWO462mc planetary camera and was glad I did! I was pleasantly surprised by how much detail I managed to get in the short space of time before my laptop died. I think I'll try some more DSO's with this little camera...and perhaps a full laptop battery next time!

Awesome! I've got my eye on the GEM28 with iPolar for a portable setup 🤩

There is a flattener for the Evoguide. Both the Evoguide and flattener come in within the OP's budget. Also there shouldn't be any vignetting as the Flattener has a 28mm image circle and 533 sensor has a 16mm sensor on the diagonal. So in theory that could work.

It's really great to read how brilliantly you've been getting on with the Starbase and it's perfect now it has the finder, looks ace! Clearly good things come from consuming too many sherbets 🍺🔭👍 Enjoy!

I'm glad the Meade brand has been rescued, it was very sad when they filed for bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see what happens

Very impressive detail!

The 150 f/8 is on my dwindling list of affordable scopes I've never tried, it's just mounting the things despite how cool it would look once mounted. The Evo 120mm is probably the better trade off, and your ST120 is well in the grab and go territory so a great compliment to your Dob This is literally why you can't be into scopes and just have one scope! 😆 Although if I was forced at gun point to only own one scope it would be a 4" f/7 Apo.

A Dobsonian sounds perfect for this purpose. It's more of an all rounder compared to the Mak which is mainly considered a planetary lunar scope, and the Dob has a simple Alt/az (up down left right) mount which is perfect for just plonking down and having a look around. Don't worry about height, my smallest Dob stands about 9" tall! As said you can raise the scope up or lower your self down with an observing chair : )

I couldn't quite remember how you spelled you user name so just went with someone 😂

Someone posted about this a couple of weeks back, so this is just a reminder that a new 4 part series starts tonight at 9pm on BBC 2. It feels like a while since we've had anything spacey on the BBC ? First Episode is entitled "Space, how far can we go" https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wtdj

Cheers Mike! Either Chris or Lockie I don't mind 👍

It's great to see this thread resurrected, more recent SGLr's will get to see this fantastic build It's also a reminder that I should pull my finger out with certain shelved project!

I won't count myself in with the team just yet as I start on the 7th of June, but hearing feedback like yours tells me how rewarding I'm going to find it working for FLO : ) I'm of course biased as a pending employee, but I first realised how above and beyond FLO were when they sent my wife and I a present out the blue when our identical twins were born 7 years ago! I had been a regular customer for 2 or 3 years at that point in time, but still! It blew me away that they thought to do this! Now I'm not saying I'll be including free baby grows with every purchase 😆 but I'm looking forward to doing my best by our customers, or community might be a better word I'd better start revising those bag dimensions! 😁

You're not kidding, I was surprised you got the finder 😆 it's a seriously nice scope though, you must be itching to use it! Good luck for you first light : )

Wow what a purchase! I bet it will knock your socks off for planetary and Lunar. These Mewlon's have the most securely attached looking finders I've ever seen.

Great refractor for those low power DSO views, congrats and enjoy

Hi Roy, Here's a quote from Takahashi America which might shed some light. The optics company in Japan is ScopeTech, and I have slightly more than a hunch that FLO probably wanted to be clear that it's not a Takahashi (just commissioned by Takahashi) hence they placed it in the ScopeTech section. This product did come up in conversation with FLO, but I just need to be a bit careful about misquoting them hence me using words like "slightly more than a hunch" The Starbase 80 is not manufactured or designed by Takahashi Japan. It is made for them under contract by an optics company in Japan. It is sold in Japan through Takahashi's company-owned telescope store, Starbase. In conjunction with Takahashi Japan, Takahashi America introduced this telescope at NEAF this past April. It is Takahashi's goal to introduce beginning astronomers to Japanese quality optics, with the hope that one day they may become Takahashi customers. Takahashi prides itself on being 100% Japanese made, and is continuing that tradition with the Starbase 80. Thanks for your interest! Takahashi America

Only problem is if I sneak one in, I would need to sneak one out....my poor Heritage 150p is looking nervous. I keep making the tactical mistake of moaning about the clutter 😄

In that case I think Takahashi's plan has worked 😆

You know what Roy, I'm not sure about this? It's made by Scopetech of Japan, and I was very tempted by their 80mm f/12.5 and f/15 OTA's achromat offerings at around £430 just for the OTA with finder. I'm not saying the Starbase's OTA is quite up to the same standard, but having read a couple of reports I bet it's not miles off. Adding to that, the package comes with a great looking mount, and 2 Japanese Orthoscopic eyepieces and what looks to be a decent prism diagonal. I think the money probably adds up. I do wish it came with the finder though hehe I don't know, I've probably just got hungry eyes for it as I've not owned a vintage style frac for quite some time 🔭🤩🤣

Nice one charl! and Hazy! when I was a lad I could only dream of it being hazy lol Wall to wall cloud here although on the plus side I don't feel so bad about not having a solar rig.

No problem Nebula can be tricky depending on how dark your skies are, but your 200p Dobsonian is a good tool for the job. You can also try wearing an eye patch over your observing eye for a while before you observe, this will dilate your pupil and let in more of that faint light.