johninderby

It’s called “Paralysis by analysis” when there’s too many options to consider but think you’ll be happy with the scope chosen.

And very happy with it. And in an added twist to the tale I later sold the Opticstar to the same gentleman I bought the ED from and it has now been the basis of a PST mod and apparently working very well.

No problem with vibration but then the Manfrotto 475 tripod will hold 12kg. BTW this is the ED that repaced the Opticstar.

Opticstar AR90S f8.8 on photo tripod.

I’ve had the 80mm and both the short and long fl 90mm versions. Pretty decent optics for an achro and noticeably better than the ST80. Build quality is also vastly better. Not up to the standards of a WO scope but reasonable. The dual speed focuser is usefull and comes with the f8.8 90m. The f8.8 isn’t as wide field but does have less CA. Can definately recoomend these scopes. They’re not perfect but CA isn’t a big problem. Yes it’s there but not that noticeable at lower magnifications. Focuser feels a bit light duty compared to the focusers that come on better scopes but work fine if you don’t put too much weight on them. I only recently sold my 90mm f8.8 as I picked up a second hand ED scope at a good price.

I’m just waiting to see if any Xmas visitors are taken in by the “Tartan Paint” Re: kilts. The cold winter wind blowing through my hair is enogh for me let alone blowing around other parts. Just a thought. Has anyone ever done a dob in tartan?

Don’t you mean chocolate digestives?

What I like about this forum beside it’s friendliness is that it’s OK to have different opinions and even those who only have a very small budget for equipment are treated the same as those who can afford the high end equipment. None of that I’m better than you and only my opinion counts because I have the best most expensive equipment unlike a certain forum I could name.

A tin of Tartan paint. Bought as a joke Xmas gift but I’m keeping it for myself.

Explore Scientific 2x Barlow - Focal Extender 1.25" Brand new unused and boxed. Bought for use with the ZWO camera that I have up for sale but never used. £59.00 incl. UK postage With teleextenders it is possible to extend the effective focal length of a telescope system, resulting in higher magnification for the observation of the moon, the planets or small Deep-Sky objects with the same eyepieces. So you can use the advantages of eyepieces with longer focal length - such as the bigger eye distance and the more relaxed observing comfort - at high magnifications also. These teleextenders incorporate a telecentric optical design that deliveres a excellent image sharpness over the whole field of view and are premium choices for visual observations and astrophotography. The combination of excellent fully multicoating with superior optical design makes the Focal Extenders superior to classic Barlow lenses. Payment by Paypal (buyer pays fees) or Bamk Transfer John

ZWO ASI 290MM Mini USB 2.0 Mono Camera Bought from Telescope House in June this year but just not getting used so it's going to fund other purchases. Save over £110.00 compared to buying new with filter. £200.00 Collected (insured shipping £6.00 extra) Compatible with the new ZWO ASiair The ZWO ASI290MM/MC features the new 1.28" 2.13Mp Sony IMX290LQR / IMX291LQR back-Illuminated CMOS sensors with 2.9 µm pixels. Improved visible light and near-Infrared sensitivity. Supports Full HD 1080p Anti-reflective (AR) optical window. Compared to the standard ASI290MM camera the ASI290MM Mini is considerably smaller and lighter enabling it to fit directly into a 1.25" focuser so it can reach focus with an eyepiece positioned at the same position. Also including a brand new 685nm IR pass filter Altair Astro Planet-Killer 685nm Premium IR Pass Filter with AR Coating The Altair Astro Planet-Killer 685nm Premium IR Pass Filter is designed to deliver sharper lunar and planetary images with Monochrome CCD or CMOS cameras. Unusually for filter of it's type, the Altair Planet Killer has an AR coating to improve contrast.It works by reducing image distortion caused by the atmosphere by passing 685nm and longer IR wavelengths which are less affected by air currents. It also removes background blue skyglow day or night, for very high contrast daytime lunar or planetary imaging. This reduces the blurring effects of “bad seeing” for noticeably sharper lunar, planetary or guide star images, even near the horizon. Especially good for CMOS cameras with high infra-red sensitivity like Altair Hypercam and GPCAM mono cameras. When used as a luminance filter with planetary RGB filter sets, extremely fine detail is revealed. When imaged in the daytime lunar and planetary objects appear against a dark background. For monochrome imaging of the moon, day or night, the Planet Killer Filter is all you need! Another possible application is for auto guiding at long focal lengths, to reduce the effects of air movement on the guide star. This would theoretically produce better information tracking performance because the guide camera would no longer be "chasing" the seeing (air currents) instead of the mount movements. Also have the following brand new unused LRGB filter set available and will sell for £75.00 if bought with the camera (£100.00 seperately) Altair Astro Premium 1.25" LRGB CCD Filter Set UV/IR Block & AR Coating https://www.altairastro.com/Altair-Astro-Premium-1.25-LRGB-CCD-Filter-Set-AR-Coat.html Payment by Paypal (buyer pays fees) or Bamk Transfer John

Another forum I’m on (not astro) has a thread dedicated to what can only be called gross stupidity videos usually relating to flat earh theories or the moon landings were faked etc. Now on the other forum they love laughing at the sheer stupidity of them. Anyway here’s one amusing bit of nonsense recently posted. Maybe you could post similar videos that you’ve come across.

Some things aren’t on the global site but It’s on the UK (Opticalvision) and USA sites http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/az-gti-wifi-go-to-telescopes/az-gti-wifi-go-to-alt-azimuth-mount-head.html http://www.skywatcherusa.com/product/az-gti-mount/

What size cable are you using? With longer lengths voltage drop becomes a problem with small size cabling. Usefull info here. https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable-sizing-selection.html

Would recommend buying this as well.