Ratlet

Any chance you could post a picture of it? Sounds interesting

Thanks for the heads up! Your stellarium might be overly optimistic, but I had no idea. Frames nicely for both of them with my 8mm starguider on my 102ed. Looks like I'll be getting up early for that one.

I'm also an innorel user. Works really well, but more wobbly than a Steel tripod, but I think it weights about the same as a steel tripod leg.

Astroimaging on the west coast of Scotland! Does pixinsight have a midge removal feature? I'm in the same boat, over in Angus, still it only gets darker from here!

You could use the 102 as a finder for the mewlon. But what about the finder for the 102? It's Takahashi's all the way down 😂

Yes. In my experience it usually comes +/-3 days of the full moon. The forum has integrated notifications about good lunar observing conditions as all the imagers start moaning about the syncing of the two a couple days before.

I would steer clear of the AZ5 for what you are looking at. It is very much wobbly bob at anything apart from low power. From my experience over mounting an az5 it depends very much on the scope and the tripod as @Elp said. With my 130pds it's okay, but the similar weight 102ed it vibrates too much for my liking at anything over 80-100x. Might have to pick up that az4 though. No need for the tripod, but those legs look like a fast track to a parallelogram mount to me, but realistically it's the skyt2 that'll be next.

It's surprisingly effective. Found it really good on the moon and it can do a decent job on dso provided the data is okay quality.

I'm wondering what that dark blue bit is between sunrise and sunset. Must be an update as mine doesn't have that feature.

I thought "Helping spend other people's money" was the forum tagline 🙃

So good we'll say it thrice. BST starguiders for sub £60. Love them in my 10" dob and my 5" newt. The 12mm and 8mm get a good workout for dso in mine.

These: https://www.printables.com/model/471145-standardised-2-telescope-astronomy-eyepiece-filter Are borderline indestructible. If you lack a 3D printer I can rattle off a couple. Just need the thickness of the filter. Also available in 1.25" https://www.printables.com/model/368783-standardised-125-telescope-astronomy-eyepiece-filt

That's a nice board. Are those cherry keyboard switches?

Lol. That is my daughter. It's her job to point at things for me 😂

I use the svbony handle. This is the 203mm version. They also do a 135mm version. I'd compare buying direct versus from the official store on AliExpress as there can sometimes be a big price difference. I love my handle.

That looks a bit bigger than 60mm ,😂

Fabulous sketches. Really feels like looking through the eyepiece.

I think I've seen more observing reports in the last couple of weeks than the first 6 months of the year. More than makes up for the lack of dark skies up here and is fairly working my appetite up! Keep them coming!

A couple of flexible couplings, one for the focuser and one for the EQ platform. Also pictured is a cautionary tale from AliExpress purchased mini breadboards: When you order 2, make sure the pack size isn't 10. In my defence they were priced for 10 about the same as a single one in the UK

You planning any solar with it or purely for nocturnal activities?

This far my ST80 which I managed to get into a backpack sized setup including mount and tripod. At some point I'm planning on testing breaking down the 102 to see if it can be made back packable.

Mine is 650g without cables. 50g of that will be the dovetail adapter, Mine is 5th generation.

I've got a nordic style hat with ear flaps and tassles my mam bought for me years and years ago and rotate one of the flaps over my left eye when observing. I also find it much more comfortable observing with both eyes open. I don't know what it is but I find it much more tiring having to hold one eye shut.

I'll have a weigh of mine. I like the fact they cost next to nothing second hand.

I use a nuc. Current plan is to mount it like this with my guide cam ahead of the nuc. Might need to modify the 3D printed NUC bracket for more clearance. Failing that I'll stick it on one of the scopes finder shoes. I'm using the 210mm handle and dovetail on a 102ed f7