johninderby

Yes one of the jaws had jumped a thread. Two screwdrivers and was able to force the jaw back into place. Seems to be OK now but will have to keep an eye on ot if it jumps again. 

Astroshop ships to your location I think.

https://www.astroshop.eu/telescopes/bresser-maksutov-telescope-mc-100-1400-messier-ota/p,44004?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=44004&utm_campaign=1911&utm_source=&utm_content=

I also have one of these although it’s started having problems with clamping the eyepiece as the jaws aren’t closing evenly... Maybe taking apart and cleaning needed? 🤔

To throw something else into the mix there is the Bresser 127 mak which is actally 127mm aperture not the 118. / 119 mm  actual aperture of the Skywatcher. Slightly longer focal length as well. I’ve had a couple of the Skywatcher 127 maks which were very good but the Bresser performs a bit better optically probably because of the longer fl and bigger actual aperture. The Bresser tube has micro baffles machined into the inner surface instead of the paint on a smooth surface of the Skywatcher. The Bresser has an SCT fitting.

The downside is the Bresser is more expensive than the Skywatcher however just performs that bit better. 

Easy and very cheap to buil your own EQ platform. There’s not a lot to one really.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Equatorial-Platform-for-the-North/

One of these cheap Ikea storage boxes works well as a sun shield.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/droena-box-black-30219281/

Not the postman but picked up this 21.5” monitor from Pcworld for 59 quid for use with the new microscope. New microscope camera arriving tomorrow. 🙂

Without knowing your exact budget I would recommend a small dobsonian type telescope. Lightweight and easy to use for a beginner although this one is also used by more experienced observers as a portable little quick set up scope. An excellent performing little scope.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

Take a look at this one and let us know what you think.

The 16” dob will win on the views it can produce however you also have to consider the convieience factor. The 180 mak will be a lot more convieient to set up and use. I used one on a Skytee II alt az mount and it was just so quick to set up. Also being long focal length cheaper eyepieces perforn well.

On the downside the mak will take a while to cool down and produce it’s best views but it is small enough to leave the OTA in a shed or garage to cool down. Also maks are dew magnets and this can be the biggest downside. 

Replaced my 180 mak with an 8” classical cassegrain which has zero dew problems, quick cool down and takes higher mag than the mak. Performance is in a different class to the mak on lunar / planetary and reminds me of my old 12” dob.

So the mak would not compete with the 16” dob performance wise but would compliment it and would get used a lot.

1 hour ago, Alien 13 said:

Are there any good glass filters for camera lenses, I need a 77 mm one that fits the filter thread.... 

Alan

Seymour do one but can’t find it in the UK but you can order from Amazon.com and they will deliver it just like any Amazon purchase with no,customs to deal with. Not cheap though.

https://www.amazon.com/Helios-Solar-Threaded-Camera-Filter/dp/B06X6B32KB

RotherValleyOptics does the Seymour cell with the rubbish seymour film in it. Suppose you could always replace it with Badder. The film Seymour uses is ND5 not 3.8 as you would expect in a camera filter.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/seymour-solar-threaded-camera-solar-filter.html

If you want a yellow sun with Baader film simply use a yellow eyepiece filter. Also gives a tiny bit more contast. 🙂

With a regular frac up to 150mm heat is no problem with a wedge. The glass at the front doesn’t get warm as  the Sun's light is not yet concentrated/focused at the objective end. Neither does the focuser. All the heat such as it is goes into the wedge. When I’ve used a wedge  no part of the scope except the wedge gets even warm.

Yuri from TEC telescopes recommends using a wedge with TEC refractors.

Think the Baader solar film is the best available so would probably be a bit better than the ES film. Tried the Seymour film that gives a yellow sun but chucked  it in the bin after one use. Just rubbish compared to the Baader.

 The problem with glass filters is that they aren’t optically flat unlike the Baader film so have more distortions. An optically flat piece of glass is horrendously expensive to produce and the cheap glass used by Orion, Thousand Oaks etc isn’t optically flat. Zeiss used to make proper optically flat glass solar filters but even second hand they can go for £1,000.00 and up. 

24 minutes ago, Adam J said:

So to be clear this allows you to put a HEQ5 on to a Eq6 tri-pod or is it the other way around?

Yes lets you fit an EQ5 / HEQ5 mount on an EQ6 tripod.

Probably better to just loosen the rings just enough to rotate then. 

These are the perfect solution but ££££££££££££££ 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀

https://www.buytelescopes.com/search?category_id[]=all&q=Parallax+Rotating+Rings

One aspect to street lighting and safety that would be effective is dimmed lights on most of the road and regular lighting at intersections. That way it’s more obvious that you are approching an intersection. 

Can’t remember where I read that though but seems like a good idea.

yes just unscrew the eyepiece holder from the body and the filter is screwed into the bottom of the holder. 

Here’s a pic from someone elses thread that shows it.

The continuum filter is stacked with the ND3 filter in a single screw in filter housing so it can be removed and be replaced by a standard plain ND3 filter. You must never use a wedge without an ND3 filter fitted.

The housing gets warm but not too hot.

Performance is the same as the Lunt wedge so I’d only ever buy a second hand Lunt wedge.

The difference is noticeable but not a huge difference just a bit better.

There are proper bearings but a bit pricy

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1646_Azimut-Roller-Bearing-for-Dobsonian-Teleskopes-D---320mm.html

One of the reasons I now recommend the Bresser dob over the Skywatcher is it has proper alt and az bearings.

Perhaps magazines should just accept that they aren’t the best place for images to be seen and concentrate more on equipment reviews and how to articles etc. and have a website to properly display images. They could then show a web address for an image along with the printed photo.

Perhaps a first time submission section for beginners would help. 🤔

One problem to be aware of with using a lazy susan bearing is it will turn too freely. You may want to add some friction. I found using teflon pads as in a standard dob setup and shimming to just add some resitance to turning helped and made the movement smoother.

The problem with trying to use the baseplate from one brand of focuser with another ficuser body is that most focuser bodies have slightly different fitting. This begs the question why don’t all focusers have a common size of fitting? 

A question for Steve.

Any idea on availability of the dual fit saddle for the Rowan AZ100?

Thank you Keith for your comments and some good points made. Always interesting to hear the view from the “other side”.👍🏻