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I've just seen this news and am completely shocked. No age at all. RIP.

Dusted this off tonight after a long period of inactivity. (Not because I was going to have my first go at imaging, only to find BOTH batteries dead, oh no 🤣🤣🤣).

The Clear Outside app tells me I'm in bortle 6, but I'm not sure about that. Not that I'm an expert in this 🤷‍♂️. I'd describe our lp as, challenging 😄

That's very good, well done those people. Just returning to our hobby after maybe 15 years or so. Just looking up from my backyard, I used to be able to see the 7 main stars of Ursa Minor easily. Can just about see 3 now. Quite depressing really 😟

@mikeDnight. Brilliant, that explains it perfectly, thank you.

Thanks for the reply 👍. I've heard of this meridian flip so I'll have a look into it. Was just a bit odd that the mount did almost a full circle. Still found the target ok 😀

Ok, so we finally got clear skies so I was able to set up and have a go. It worked just like you said 😀. Didn't get objects centred but things seemed to be pointing in the right direction. Much better tonight. Took a bit more time and care over alignment and it worked ! Which leads me to stupid question number 2. So to test it out, I just chose objects I can see, M45, M42, Aldebaraan, etc. Now when I pick to go from Pleiades to Jupiter, I can see the direct route, but the mount moved the scope all around the houses. It got there eventually but seems a long way round to do this. Is this normal, or should I be altering some setting in the controls ? Loved seeing Jupiter with its 4 moons strung out either side of it. Forgot how good this hobby can be.

Thanks @malc-c, that's kind of what I thought. Just had visions of me pressing go and the whole thing grinding as it tried to move 😳.

Ok, here I go with the daft questions. So I've got myself a Star Adventurer gti and have yet to use it in anger (this weather 🤦‍♂️). I've never used a computerised mount before and want to check something before I potentially bust it. I have a manual GEM. To move the telescope around by hand, you unlock the axis clamps, find target and then lock them and use the slow motion controls for finer adjustments. Do I have the axes clamped before dialling in an object ? Sorry if this seems a really dumb question, I've watched a few videos but can't see any mention of this.

Cheers for that 👍. Beacon Fell is on my radar for sure. Not a million miles from where I work, so it's a good spot to go straight after work.

Very good, if only. 😀

That's another fantastic shot. I know I've bought the scope but I'm just going to start off by using the dslr at first, see what I can get with that. When it stops raining 🙄 I'll need to get the extras to be able to use the scope. You must be really encouraged to see what you can achieve 👍

Just bought that kit myself. If I can get anything like that I'll be well pleased. Think it's fantastic for a first attempt 👍

Thought I'd done this already, years ago when I first happened upon this fine forum, but apparently not. So, Hello all 👍. Regained my enthusiasm for the hobby recently, hoping to have a go at astrophotography. Living in the Bolton/Wigan area, light pollution is best described as feral 😄. Hoping some other local folks have some darker sites they can recommend. Cheers 👍

If it ever stops raining, I might even get to use it.

Can I just get this out of the way and apologise for the continuing bad weather. Just ordered mount, telescope and other shiny things from FLO. Sorry folks 🤦‍♂️

Went there for my 50th, really interesting place. My birthday being in August though, we got the midnight sun, rather than northern lights 😄. Was weird leaving Oslo at dusk and seeing the sky getting lighter. Went to Ivalo, Finnish lapland just before covid hit. The clouds finally lifted on our last night and we had great aurora views. Just to add, Longyearbyen being the main town is probably well lit. And as mentioned, the bear problem is definitely there. Saw snowmobiles with rifle holsters 😲

Just saw that, brilliant.