johninderby

No. They buy in from several manufacturers. ES doesn’t make their own eyepieces so you will see the same eyepieces under a few brand names. The Opticstar 82 degree eyepieces are the same as the ES for example. https://www.opticstar.com/Opticstar-Ultra-Wide-Angle-XL-Eyepieces.html

I got fed up of waiting for the ES extender and came across the Altair version and very happy with it. 👍🏻 I’m sure that the Svbony barlow will be great value for money though. Like a lot of their stuff.

Harrison has the Altair version of the 2x extender in stock. https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-lightwave-2x-flat-field-tele-extender.html#SID=564

Yes exposed holes was my concern although not a deal breaker. Just fill the exposed holes with some black button head bolts.

The focuser was the old SW crayford. Same design as the SW refractor crayford which is still available. Not that hard a job to fit the TS baseplate. Just need an electric drill. Put masking tape on the tube. Position the baseplate on the tube and drill the new mounting holes then with the mounting bolts in place draw a circle on the tube to match the hole in the plate. Remove the baseplate. Then comes the tedious bit. Drill holes using a 3mm drill bit along the circle. Lots of holes.Then by wiggling the drill bit join up the holes. Not difficult but just tedious as mentioned 😁 Then file the hole so it looks neat and tidy. The TS 1.25” crayford looks interesting. Wonder what the mounting hole spacing is? Perhaps ask TS to confirm the spacing to see if it would be a bolt on. The worry I would have is if the base is smaller than the stock SW one.

Using the TS baseplate you can fit a few different crayfords to the 150 although a bit of surgery is required. The hole in the tube is too small for a 2” focuser so you will have to enlarge the hole and drill new mounting holes. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p3701_Base-for-Newtonian-focusers-for-tubes-with-D--160-205mm.html You could also fit the SW replacement crayford but again would have to enlarge the hole in the tube. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-focusers/dual-speed-crayford-1252-inch-focuser-for-skywatcher-explorer.html I did fit a crayford to a 150PL using the TS base plate.

I just find it easier to enter stargazerslounge into the Google search bar and then the terms you want to look far. example “stargazerslounge for sale XW pemtax” Returns better results than the forum search facility.

Baader Optical Wonder. Perfect for the job.👍🏻 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-optics-cleaning-protection/baader-optical-wonder-set-cleaning-fluid-and-cloth.html The cloth is washable so lasts for ages.

Seems like a decent scope but perhaps not quite as good as the newer triplets. 🤔

Sold under a few brand names but here’s a review. https://deepspaceplace.com/ed127.php

Great stuff. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 And plenty of help and advice here when you start using your new scope. 🙂

A low priced refractor like the ST80 will indeed have CA on the planets and moon. More expensive refractors (APO refractors) don’t suffer from CA but are way out of your budget. The ST80 is best suited to lower magnifications.

Your Skymax 127 may already have an SCT thread if it is a newer one.A recent change.

The CC is very solidly built with heavier gauge materials than the mak. The primary mirror looks thicker as well. Also the top and bottom dovetails are pretty heavy being thick CNC made ones and the Losmandy plate is a hefty chunk of metal on it’s own. The build quality of the CC is what most first notice about the CC.

This vid will show the size of the Herotage 130.

Welcome to the world of “Price Creep”. 😁😁😁

Have to agree the Heritage 130 will show the most for your budget and unlikely to need collimation https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html Otherwise its the ST80 on the AZ3 mount. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/skywatcher-startravel-80-az3.html

So it looks like a choice between the Heritage 130 and an 80mm refractor on a simple AZ mount. I’ll have a look around for an 80mm refractor and see what is available within the budget and let ypu know what I find.

Beta testing the AZ100 GOTO upgrade at the moment so of course the weather is rubbish. 🤬🤬🤬

The CC should do very well for lunar and planetary imaging due to it’s excellent resolution and contrast.for the aperture but not suited to DSOs due to it’s focal length and narrow fov. Bit it is nice to see a competatively priced alternative to the mak and SCT. The more choice the better.

Information overload is rearing it’s ugly head. 😕 I think you need to go back to the beginning and redefine your needs. Pressing the reset button so to speak.🙂 OK to redefine your needs. New budget? Ease of use? Do you WANT a traditional refractor or are you letting yourself be talked into something else? At the end of the day it’s your telescope (and your daughters) so you make the decision not well intentioned others. I would suggest taking a look around FLOs site again and choose a few scopes you really like and forget cost for now. Once you’ve identified a few lets us know and then we can make suggestions of scopes that are in your budget based on what you really like.

A repair mission would be possible if NASA got the billions in funding that would be needed but might be cheaper to build a new more advanced telescope.

A bit of useless info on the Bortles 🤔😁 The ancestors of the bearers of the Bortle family name are thought have lived in ancient Anglo-Saxon England. They were first found in either the settlement of Birtle in the county of Lancashire or the settlement of Birtles in the county of Cheshire. The names of these places are derived from the Old English word bridd, meaning young bird or nestling, and indicates that the places were originally known as nesting grounds for birds.

Simply too far away as it will be at the L2 point unlike Hubble that’s in a low orbit near the earth. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/webb-l2.html

Surprising how some scopes are useable without any cool down although they will actually get better after a while. 🤔