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Astrophotography isn't easy at all. It's a very steep learning curve, especially on the processing side. If you put a lot of time and effort in you will get rewards. I personally didn't have the time to spend on it.

Mounting it near the top is the norm. I had the same scope as you to start with, the RDF is truly terrible :-) Good luck with the Rigel, I had the telrad on the 130EQ, it looked very big but it worked very well.

Thanks Naemeth Reeny, I am passing on the very useful info. Spec-Chum - Actually my friends daughter was asking about splitting alpha Ursae Minoris :-)

I forgot about that one Spec-Chum, good call. I will put that one forward as a suggestion. Cheers, Perry.

Morning all , A friend at work is looking for a starter telescope/binoculars for under £60 for his daughter to help her develop an interest in Stargazing. I don't believe you can get a decent telescope that cheap.I have told him that the minimal he should spend on a telescope would be around £130 for the Skywatcher Heritage. Is there a good pair of "Starter" binoculars for under £60?/What is the best power to go for? Thanks, Perry.

It sounds like you have a very good setup too Emad. I have an 1100D and Backyard EOS, I will give that a go on the telescope. I know it will be a bit heavy, but it may be alright if I am just using it for remote viewing.

It seems a weird hobby sometimes doesn't it :-)

Hi John , It sounds like you have a very good imaging setup. I had to spend a lot of time in the garden when I was imaging. On the plus side I made friends with a lot of Hedge-Hogs.

Hi Emad , did it work well? Was it worth doing?

Hi all , I know a few people control their GOTO telescopes using Stellarium, especially the telescope I have now - the Skymax 127 AZ goto. I just wondered if many people control their setup from inside the house using a webcam as well? I'm interested to know what issues people have had with this type of setup. I know there is approximately a 5m limit on the length of the USB cables. I have a Phillips 900NC webcam which I believe is comparable to approximately a 6mm, so I know I will be getting a limited view of things. This kind of setup would be very handy for me, as I have 2 young children and it would be so much easier controlling the whole thing from indoors where they could keep warm and look at the laptop screen. I'm not sure my 3 year old daughter actually knows enough to move her head around a bit above the eye-piece to see anything. Thanks for your time, Perry.

Nice one Jason.

Just seen the additional post Schorhr, thanks for the links, that looks like a very good option.

Thanks Schorhr. That sounds like a good option as the mount/tripod looks a bit flimsy on the Skymax.

Thanks SteveND , good tip. I did used to get a lot of condensation while I was out late.

Thanks Steve :-)