ronin

Needs a clean. Dew shield is a little out of shape but not greatly. But there are groups out where you that the sort of specialise in those scopes. Would say salvageable and then useful little addition. Suppose no-one forget an APM 130 ever do they ??

There was me thinking washers were made from metal. :eek:

The flocking is something you could do yourself, I would not expect the inside of the OTA to be sort of white anyway but have known of crazier stuff. Collimation springs, difficult. The skywatcher ones here are likely questionable, but if you went for Orion I would of half expected them to have put in slightly better items. Additionally not sure what the upgrade implies - longer, stronger? What. Light Shield - bit confused, it is a solid tube OTA what light shield? They are generally for a truss tube dobsonian and the one show is not a truss. Suppose that the secondary collimation knobs are supposed to be a bit like Bob Knobs, possibly useful, may make collimation easier. Upgraded Washers? What is an upgraded washer. Guide knob, nice but cosmetic, people have managed for years without one, you would seem to have, and it is actually something I can see could be more annoying then use. It has to be in the right place for you. 5 Hole accessory tray - useful if you have a goto, it is somewhere to put the handset. Everything else I suggest a nice big plastic storage box. Hang a red light torch round your neck. For the $230 I would get the plastic storage box and 3 Astro Tech Paradigms.

The 25mm got a "bad" name because of the habit we have of identifing the "worst". The 25mm is a good eyepiece, very good eyepiece, but someone somewhere at sometime said it didn't seems as good as the rest. Maybe it is not, but it is still good. I use mine in an f/5 scope and it is one of the half set I take everywhere, 5mm, 8mm and the 25mm. Consider this if the 5,8,12,15,18 were 100% perfect and the 25 only 99% perfect is the 25 a bad eyepiece.? They are also still "budget" eyepieces.

If you search "starsense" you will get a number of tales of problems, if you read the US forums you get the same. So it seems there are some hiccups still in the system. Another thing to do is make sure the scope is as level as reasonable and set to the start position again as best you can without going overboard. Alignment is to determine the corrections that the scope needs to apply so keeping them to a minimum is a good idea. Looked up Manchester US and Google maps puts up 5 but not seem well known so I guess not in the location selection options. You may end up going through all the data and having to check each, assuming it is a data problem. Unfortunately it is easy to get something wrong. People often see what they expect. Also not helped by the scope assuming some defaults. Something says that setting your own custom location helps and not just taklng the offered Manchester UK. No idea why I say that, but think it has been mentioned. This means you setting the Timezone also. Also make sure that the Longitude has the correct number of leading 0's for your area. Have read of the input of this going wrong and you end up in mid-atlantic. You should have something like -002 15 (002 15W) and 53 30N. If I recall these are displayed at power up on the handset have at look. When it comes to Starsense you cannot claim the name "Hopeless Astronomer", "Normal Astronomer" is much more like reality. :grin:

There are close to countless options, unfortunately. Not helped by the fact that Starsense seems to be somewhat unreliable. Assuming it is data then check the following: Is Date correct? The scope use the US format of MM-DD-YYYY Not the English format of DD-MM-YYYY If you set it today the scope could think it is December-3rd. Next is co-ordinates. We talk of Lat and Long but the input order has to be Long and Lat. If these are wrong the scope has a location somewhere in Brazil I think. Not aware of a major city in the US called Manchester, but again check that you have a UK location. Preferably set your own custom location of your specific Long and Lat. With your own custom location you need the timezone to be 0, 00, UTC You are right that DST is No, Off at present. What power source are you using? These scopes are prone to going slightly nuts if the power is not adaquate. Sure I have missed something out???????

Sounds like out of focus - the bright circle, Jupiter I guess. The spikes are part of owning a reflector. Also check that you have taken the 2" eyepiece adaptor out of the focuser otherwise you will never get it to focus..

Well that might be why they get the "very low read noise." They take a "dark" and subtract = noise reduction. Also in defence of Sony the cameras are not intended for astrophotography they are aimed at the masses who point and shoot while on holiday and get a load of holiday snaps to send people who do not want to see them. The complaint seems to be that a camera never intended for an astrophotography application and the specialist aspect associated with it is not specifically suited to astrophotography.

Will make sense to someone, but not me either. :grin: :grin:

You set up and then polar align the mount with a polar scope preferably as you need the general accuracy and the mount needs to be polar aligned to operate correctly. You then leave the mount alone and align the scope via the alignment procedure using 2 or 3 stars. There may be two options for this scope alignment: The software may tell you which two/three stars to use, or, The software may allow you to pick the stars. You centre these in the finder THEN in the main scope. The finder and scope should already be aligned to each other but you look through the main scope at something not the finder.

Now do the really painful thing and apply a cost of each item then add that up. Do not scream too loud, especially if you have a wife close at hand who might read the result.

Think I read the problem wrong, so removed as all I would do is cause confusion.

You will find a 32mm plossl useful, the field of view tends to be narrow, also a bubble level to set the thing up with. No idea where you are, UK is little information, but if you were going to Astrofest you could likely pick up a bubble level there. Get your exact Lat and Long and use those as a custom site. Sticking a DSLR on them is not a good idea, they were not built for it and you cannot adjust the balance. Suggest a webcam for planets. If you want to go DSO imaging then the mount is wrong, the scope is wrong - that doesn't leave much. I suggest you look to an imaging rig of EQ mount and a short fast scope. But not a DSLR on the ETX. Set up is in a way critical. I say in a way as the field of view is narrow and for the first aloignment star it slews to is likely to be out of view if it is not Level and North accurately. Hence the 32mm plossl and the bubble level - I use a 40mm plossl it is a teeny bit wider. Also if power is available consider a 12volt dc supply from Maplins, centre positive. They do a couple that are OK I use the L06BR item for home and the L17AR for the car, the white tip fits the ETX.

The balloon ride sounds good, pick one that knows how to land. Friends in Canada (Alberta and BC) advised me against riding a horse (thinking of a trekking holiday) they said it was not as easy as it looked. I said I thought all you had to do was get the horse to understand where he came in the food chain. :eek: Have you nowhere to set up a small refractor for the occasional view but out of the weather a bit? I suppose standing at a window with one might make neighbours think the wrong thing. :grin:

Wondered where you had got to. Sorry to hear about the heart problems, guess you won't be going over the falls in a barrel any time soon. :rolleyes: What are the temperatures like in your bit of Canada? Think another Canadian has sort of been buried under snow. I know that your area can get very heavy falls owing to the effect of Lake Ontario.

A 40mm plossl will not have a 50 or 52 degree view they are restricted by the lower tube that acts like a filed stop, they are normally stated as 42 degrees. So you would be at about 0.71 degrees. A 32mm 52 degree plossl gives 0.7 degrees. There are other options but I think 0.9 is not attainable with the non-specialist eyepiece. The view will be a lot narrower then the 130 and yes it will cause problems, I bought and used a Mak and the first time was a complete waste, I went and bought a 40mm plossl - even that 0.01 degree mattered to me. Simply a 1 degree object will not fit in, you cannot get a 1 degree object in a 0.7 FoV. So M42 is too big, M45 and I guess several others. Try reading theought the Wiki list of Messier objects if it has the object size then take note/count of the number that are sort of 0.5 degrees and above. You can get 2" eyepieces, I have one (not sure how) and boy it is big. The scope is a goto so it should locate the object and at least put it in view. It is well suited to smaller objects, planets, M1, M57 should come out well, clusters (most) should be OK One concern I have is the mount, it looks like an 8SE mount and the 925 could be a bit much. No specific idea if it is the same mount or if it is a beefed up 8SE. I would ask about this aspect if possible. Also if possible see one, an 8" is not exactly light, believe me I have lifted one several times.

Drop a 2x or 3x barlow in the path - this does seem to be normal. There is a good image of Jupiter that used a CPC 9.25 and a 2z teleextender (The TV thing if I have the name wrong) You do need to use a good one for a good final image but assuming you have a barlow at hand give it a try and see how you get on.

A wall is far too close to focus on, you will now have the focus set wrong and the moon will be a blur or worse. Close on a 127 (Mak) will be about 1 or 2 miles away, a wall is just far too much. The focusing on a 127 is via a small bit on the rear this is a fairly fine thread and will take a lot of adjustment, you just have to keep winding. It will take some time, it all moves slowly, it is not easy to access and you will likely be cold. Cannot say if you need to turn clockwise or counter clockwise, try both. The piece being moved is inside the tube and picturing what is happening is not easy. Use the 20mm, but at some time get a 30mm or 32mm plossl. Not sure where you are (guess not UK), there are 5" or 6" flexible items to replace the small adjuster on the rear, they make life a lot easier. Also post in the main forum, Beginners Advice etc, more read it and so more answers and usually quicker.

Manual is at least reasonable, they seem worse now then then, just cannot help thinking that 525x from a 60mm refractor is a bit optimistic. :grin:

I would stick with them for a time, looks a fair enough selection, although I would likely add a 12mm or a 15mm for the medium. This is ignoring the zoom, which I will consider as somewhat seperate. Better eyepieces will improve the quality of the image formed but LP they do not remove. So unless the image you see is poor then no reason to run off and buy more.

On an LX90 the 8 and 12 fit to my thinking, one just below and one just above the f number, I assume yours if f/10. I would have gone for the 18mm over the 12mm for a little less magnification and wider view, even the 25mm. You are going to have the problem of keeping the magnification down on an LX90

The "easy" answer is that they look for an astronomy club in the area they live in and look for a public observing evening. Usually that means they can talk to people and see an assortment of scope and have a look through most of them. Melksham is close to Seend that has the Wiltshire AS there, looks like it is about 3 miles away from them. Cannot see a great deal on their website so maybe they can email and ask: http://www.wasnet.org.uk/ Bigger but further away is Swindon, doesn't seem to be one at Chippenham or Trowbridge. There is a club at Bath, about 8 miles. http://bathastronomers.co.uk/observing/ They say they do not do many public nights - weather - and then describe ones they do (?) Again get them to ask what arrangements are planned. Lived over that way and the weather is basically impossible to be half sure of so I can understand then not planning spscific public observing nights as 80% will get cancelled. Swindon is likely a better option but the other 2 are closer.

If I see something in the sky I have not noticed I can take a dobsonian and point it at the object. I can view it happily and never actually need to know what it is, or to an extent where. It just needs to be visible enough for me to aim the scope at. If I have a goto, then OK I have to set it up, but I likely also would have to go find out what the same object was. You do after all have to tell a goto where to go to. Even if I can goto a nearby star (which I will have to know) then manually slew to the unknown object I can then ask the goto what am I looking at. So with the goto I either seem to have to learn what it is before observing it or can learn from the goto what it is. Not however necessary with the dobsonian in the first instance and not possible in the second. So why the repeated cry of you will not learn the sky with a goto. Learning the sky with a goto seems to be almost a intrinsic function of owning one.

Does not sound like the galaxies in ursa major, I would have said they are not visible by eye these days (too much light pollution), and they would not twinkle, just a grey patch. Does sound more like Aldebaren with the Hyades surrounding it - BUT not sure it is visible at present, and I do not know of similar to Aldebaren+Hyades, there will be some just I cannot think of any. Suspect more information is required.

Should it not be in Observing - Deep Sky not Observing - Planetary however ? They are after all nothing to do with planets. Actually Physics, Space Science and Theories would seem to be more appropriate.