Mark at Beaufort

What a useful thread. Like Rob stated above I have never seen the 1145p Avant - what a great set up to have the advantage of both alt/az and eq on a nice 4.5" scope. In addition I have not seen the Celestron Inspire range before and the 90az looks an interesting buy. I also enjoyed the video. So Chris I think you have a hard choice before you.

Thanks for starting this thread Chris. I have been asked to give a 45 minute talk on beginners scopes and what you can expect to see at a whole day conference being held in July to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. I like the beginners statement made by FLO on their website - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html For my part I still believe that the best beginners scope for the money is the Heritage 130P

Had a look in both WL and Ha about an hour ago. Nice sunspot in WL but in Ha its showing some activity. Very bright plage so hopefully if the sky remains clear we will be able to get a longer look.

I notice that the unnamed sunspot has now been recorded as AR2736. This is a statement on SpaceWeather.com.

Thanks Alan for the 'heads up'.

Yesterday I received a new 10mm Celestron Duo eyepiece to mainly use in my PST+ DS and the 80mm finderscope. The unnamed sunspot has an active region with some nice plage. Some small amount of activity around AR2735. There is a filament nearby and a few proms around the edge. In White Light AR2735 (remnant of solar cycle 24) is nearly at the centre. The other is an unnamed sunsport with 3 areas - why no number? Anyway its good to view activity in both WL and Ha. Photo attached showing WL set up with PST in the background.

Hello Adam The tripod is a photo tripod made by Cullmann (German) - its quite a few years old. It has 3 sections. I guess any reasonable photo tripod will work. The mount is an Andoer video tripod ball head from eBay and cost me about £21 about a year ago. The saddle is from my old SkyTee 2 mount which I changed to ADM saddles. The Heritage with an eyepiece + 9x50 finder weighs between 3-4 kgs and the system just about works. However, something like this mount would work better - https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/starwave-mini-az-mount.html#SID=568 - but it costs. Hope that answers the question.

Robert - I agree with Neil's answer re your question on an O-III filter. Like Neil I use an Astronomik O-III which is expensive when compared to the cost of the Heritage. There are many different O-III filters on the market at various costs. I believe that the Castell O-III is one of the better filters for the money if you don't want to buy an Astronomik. By the way I have a 2" Castell for use in my 6" Newt and 12" Dob. https://www.365astronomy.com/Castell-OIII-Deepsky-Filter-for-1.25-Inch-Eyepieces.html

Great upgrade Alan and the photos show the procedure if anyone has any doubts. Brilliant.

Gavin what a fantastic setup.

Gert I experimented for the best position and the photo shows IMHO the best place. It a standard finderscope bracket and I simply marked and drilled the tube and connected with small nuts and bolts. With the RDF and the finderscope its easy to find objects. The shroud which improves contrast is made from neoprene. Hope that helps.

Thanks Alex - I often felt I should buy an orthoscopic EP to use with the Heritage. I might look around for a S/H EP although the Vixen SLV looks to have some good reviews.

No problem Chris I was going to offer to amend if required. Nice little scope for £70 - good luck with the sale.

Chris I am confused by the title 'Heritage 100p' then you advertise the Vixen EP.

The main reason for this was because Steve and Grant were at an Admin/Mod meeting sorting out various issues including the next SGL star party