Chris

Thanks so much everyone! I feel so incredibly fortunate to be given the chance to work within the astronomy community, especially at FLO! I literally feel like a kid at Christmas who has has just received a non department store telescope! I've known for a few weeks now, but I think it's only just really sinking in! I was a bit stunned to begin with lol A massive thank you to Steve and Grant at FLO! and to the my fellow supportive SGL members 🙂 I'm looking forward to giving it my all! 🤩

Martin must have helped so many of us over the years, and he always gives such sage advice in a very personable way. Wishing him all the best and the wonderful retirement he deserves

I had a similar experience with regards to stars when testing the stock SR eyepiece in the Celestron First Scope recently. Stars were not great, not even when bang on axis. I think the BCO 6mm will work really well though. They're not the most comfortable eyepiece I've tried, but optically hard to beat for the money The 18mm BCO was my favourite because it had the comfort and eye relief.

If they were not sold as spare or repair I would also return them ASAP. They've arrived not fit for purpose and (as Steve mentions) any attempt to repair them would void your warranty. Binoculars seem to be at the forefront of the expression 'you get what you pay for'. I've learnt this one myself the hard way.

I've heard the ADM clamp is almost a must do upgrade. Nice! I need to sort out a solar setup myself....then definitely not sell it in the autumn for the third time 🤣

I've got to give it to the AZ-GTI and yourself for doing a good job of blending a classic refractor with a modern goto mount. Looks great!

Impressive! I've done a bit of daytime Lunar imaging, but I didn't even know daytime Jupiter imaging was a thing!

It must have been terrifying trying to keep everything exactly square when sawing, so I'm glad you had some help with that! Brilliant result, well done, enjoy!

For faint fuzzy's it's all about the aperture:

They look just the job for those of us who erm? somehow? accumulate numerous telescopes....I just don't know how it happens?! 🤔

Very nicely processed, Dave I've heard good things about the 553mc like no amp glow worries.

Glad you got sorted, you were in safe hands Any chance of a first light report once the clouds clear off?

The thought of a 6" refractor as a finder did make me smile, then again I guess it is when you consider the focal length of the 16" SCT!

Yes indeed, pixel scale is a function of focal length (which is why we need match cameras to telescopes)I did have this in mind, only I thought they were playing with the same focal length. Having looked at the question again, Noah has 1000mm (2000mm x 0.5 with the reducer) and Jemima has the native 2000mm I'm still not sure who the winner is? is it the person who's arcseconds per pixel best matches their seeing conditions 🤔 If it's Jemima, I hope she wins a massive mount and obsy for that telescope! 😃

This is such an open ended puzzle Olly has put forward 😆 Who wins? I guess that depends on what assumptions we make! I assumed it was DSO imaging because this is Olly we're talking about here, and I also assumed the camera was the same, so the same arcseconds per pixel and same binning etc.

Excellent right up! : ) FLO have the AZ gti mount heads without tri[pod in stock, and I'll be giving them a lot of thought over the weekend. I'm also smitten with that new Starbase 80 classic refractor package FLO have just added to their site. It's a gateway drug to Takahashi's lol

No worries It's a classic and classy looking scope. Should be a very good grab n go lunar/planetary scope, and maybe some doubles and brighter DSO's I've been away and read a couple of user reports and owners seem to love it for what it is. I can imagine chilling out under a waxing Moon with this scope, a hand full of Ortho's, and a glass of wine. I once wanted a bespoke Moonraker refractor for that role but I reckon this scope would also fits the bill!

Sounds like a plan! If I may? What's your opinion of the AZ-GTI? I'm looking at putting together a portable rig that can at least track, and I'm torn between the AZ gti and the iOptron Skyguider Pro.

Nice buy! Did you get a tripod with it? I can't see from the photo's? Also consider getting a 0.96 to 1.25" diagonal or adaptor so you can use modern 1.25" eyepieces (if not included) The SR eyepiece stands for Symmetrical Ramsden, and they were fine for their time, but eyepieces tech as moved on in leaps and bounds since, so the SR might leave you wanting more cheese Gromit 😀

Hi Jock, good spot! I was rather pleased to see FLO adding this to their site too Even though the Starbase 80 is contracted out rather than made by Takahashi themselves, the quote below from Takahashi America shows that the Starbase 80 is intended to get people into the Tak ecosystem. Therefore it makes sense that the Starbase 80 would need to be decently put together, with nicely figured and mounted optics etc in order to achieve that goal. I also don't think they would throw Ortho's at bad optics 😃 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

My word, I've just noticed these appear on FLO's site! it looks like Takahashi have thrown the budget conscious a bone Plus it comes with two nice Ortho's I notice. What a classy looking grab n go setup, I think I want one! https://www.firstlightoptics.com/scopetech-telescopes/starbase-80-refractor-and-mount-package.html EDIT: Well it's made in Japan and has the livery even if it's not strictly a Tak.

If the aperture increaser consists of a separate mirror and tube twice the size, then I think Jemima has it 🙃

Something like this Rainbow Optics RST 300 (I'm assuming that's the same mount as the TTS 300?) would work from a payload and portability point of view https://www.firstlightoptics.com/rainbow-astro-mounts/rainbowrobotics-rst-300-mount.html Did you define a budget? If the above is out the question and it would be for most I should imagine, maybe re consider an EQ mount. I'm sure you could get one to cope with a C14 for around the 4K mark so that might be a solution. Either that or re consider a second hand Meade LX200 14", but obviously then repairs are more of a worry without any warranty. Does it have to be a C14? They do have a lot of mirror flop. Just trying to think out the box

I know the mount I linked previously was crazy expensive, but I've used Meade LX200 14" SCT's back in my Uni days, so I've seen them with my own eyes. They're impressively massive! lol The ones we used at Uni (not sure if Hert's Uni still have them or not?) were mounted on massive fork mounts aboard massive industrial welded wedges. Just Googled it and this is the one I used for a few years, the pic doesn't give the scale of the thing justice...fond memories

It's a real shame they don't make an AZ version of the Skywatcher EQ8 as that might have been a good compromise. It's painful financially I know, but if I was thinking of buying a scope that currently retails for around 8k new, I would go all out on the mount to make sure the OTA was safe. Great if the AZ-EQ6 is up to the job, but I've owned a couple of EQ6 class mounts in the past, and from that experience I would have thought something like a C11 would be the max in real world terms?