Frank the Troll

Hopefully tomorrow, I will be unpacking some clouds, along with a new 80mm ED frac from TS

Camera is primed and ready

Enjoy your frac, hopefully I will be unpacking clouds tommorow

Perfer the  red

Dont forget to try out the polar align on Sharpcap, Defo worth the £10

It will be the same routine for your EQ3

From someone old school from my days as a serious 35m photographer, I can vouch for old lenses,  and wouldnt hesitate in buying old lenses.  old soligors are worth looking into as well

Opps, just hit the button, expect some clouds shortly  

3 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

That is little brother of those 4" scopes we discussed earlier (better, more expensive versions with FPL-53/lanthanum glass) so it should be very good scope.

You might want to factor in FF/FR as well.

FF/FR can wait a little bit. Cheers for your input

25 minutes ago, spillage said:

The ed80 is going to cost you more but will be maintenance free. If you are thinking at any point to move towards a dedicated camera then I find the ed80 causes some microlensing on my asi1600.

The 130pds is much cheaper but from time to time will need to be collimated and I would say stripped and flocked.

I have no problem with that, the 10" I built from 2nd hand bits and bobs did try to sell it at one point, but no intrest

Ok, think I will settle for an ED 80 to start , so thanks all for your input

This one will let me look around for a PDS at a later stage

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TS-Optics-PHOTOLINE-Apo-Refractor-telescope-80-560-2-25-TSAPO80f7/372887345279?hash=item56d1d1587f:g:3u4AAOSw~XFeAHki

the triplets are a bit beyond my pocket

How would these two compare?

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4964_TS-Optics-ED-102-mm-f-7-Refractor-Telescope-with-2-5--R-P-focuser.html

https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-ascent-102ed-f7-refractor-telescope-geared-focuser-468-p.asp

5 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

The reflectors naturally give refraction spikes on bright stars, refractors don't as there's no secondary mirror supports.

Im more inclined  too refractors as a preference

9 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

To spike or not to spike, some aren't bothered some love some dislike, does it boil down to that for you.

In English please

1 minute ago, Adam J said:

Thats a completely different focal length to a 80/100 ED so what do you want to do with your new scope?

Dipping my toe into astrphotography

6 minutes ago, Fieldsy said:

Do u mean 130pds?

200mm PDS I have a few unexpected pennies

Im undecided on wether to go for an ED 80/100 or PDS

not too bother for visual as I have a 10" dob which I will be mounting on an EQ6

Thoughts please

3 hours ago, Alkaid said:

   You can also de-mount it and put it on an EQ mount (HEQ5 as a minimum I would say) if you want tracking.   You can also get tracking platforms (or even make one if you're handy).

Im currently doing that with my 10" mounting it on the EQ6.  with the base, I  cant cope with lugging it about anymore

Is it possible to polar align with sharpcap and an 80mm f5 scope, or do you really need a 9x50 finder

Cheers

On 10/02/2020 at 20:46, R.frankish said:

I am after a new telescope and have no idea what to get I had the skywatcher 130 and it was ok for a while but I would like things to be bigger when looking at them and to be able to see a few more things 

A bigger scope wont mean you will see thing alot bigger, what you will see, is more detail

Oh dear, he's clearly fallen off the edge, and doesnt know how to get back on

Im curious, as to how he would explain  the phases of the moon

Cant belive I read through this dribble (face in palms)

I would suggest you download Sharpcap £10 for the full version will give you an easy polar alignment tool

Already have Skysafari 6+ & syncanit, not  keen on spending another £30 on another program

I will have to check that out, not put a camera to it yet, I used a pre-drill tube from Orion, so thouhgt it would be different from a SW 10" PDS

Mirror is an F4.7 Its being wasted so have decided to mount it on the EQ6

Hi steve, not sure that would help, ideally I need someone to measure  the 10" PDS  to find the difference too mine

Cheers

Frank