rwilkey

Hi there and a warm welcome from me too. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi there, and welcome, the question of observing quasars and black holes are the subject of professional telescopes, however, galaxies and planetary nebulae etc are well within the reach of amatuer telescopes. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi SSR and a warm welcome from me. I would recommend a refractor on an alt-az mount for low maintenance and ease of use. Something like this to get you into the hobby: https://agenaastro.com/sky-watcher-102mm-startravel-alt-azimuth-refractor-telescope-s10100.html Please note that many telescope suppliers are out of stock at the moment and if you order you may have to wait awhile to get a delivery. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Bob, a warm welcome from me way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Paul, a warm welcome from me way down south. That's a great picture of the Moon, one of the best first timer's I've ever seen, well done. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Baldy Man, a very warm welcome from me way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Andy, welcome back! Clear skies are just a dream now, I think, but enjoy the journey and let us know how you get on.

Hi MB, a warm welcome from me too, way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi there, welcome from me too. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Carl, welcome from me too from way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Gaz, welcome from me too way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi Mark, a very warm welcome from me too. Good luck & clear skies!

Might be a bit heavy or cumbersome in a short tube refractor, though good for a 200P Newt?

I have just realised, the SPL's are currently out of stock at FLO, try elsewhere or in particular the second hand market, here: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

Hi Wibblefish, the BST StarGuiders recommended above are excellent all-rounders with good eye relief. Avoid plossls as generally they have short eye-relief esp. the higher mags. If you are thinking of Moon and splitting double stars I can think of nothing better than the William Optics SPL's, which have 20mm eye-relief. The 12.5mm for the Moon (52x) and the 6mm for medium (separation) double stars (110x). These will be enough to get you started on your most desired targets. The SPL's can be found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics-eyepieces/william-optics-spl-eyepiece.html Good luck and clear skies!

Hi there and welcome from me way down south. You should have lots of fun with that kit. Good luck & clear skies!

Hi there and welcome from me too, like Gordon above I am purely visual but use a primary program PS, where the 'Adjust' column is very useful for improving images, esp. the 'Curves' facility, I have often used it to improve astronomy images for my website (Swindon Stargazers). Maybe you have this in PS Elements? Good luck & clear skies!

I agree with John, the Neodimium filter is a good one and the first I ever bought, never looked back.

Hi Vasilis, a very warm welcome from me too, that's agreat telescope you have there, one of the best, you will not be dissappointed. There's always plenty of time to buy extra items, but instead get used to using the scope and the eyepieces that come with it. Good luck and clear skies!

Hi Deb, welcome from me too, way down south. Good luck & clear skies!

I didn't cut them, it is the 'Baader Hyperion and Morpheus Eyepiece Case' where the foam is already cut, found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-and-morpheus-eyepiece-case.html

Hi Walker, welcome to SGL, I hope you find it useful. Do check the barrel size of your current eyepieces before you buy any upgrades. Good luck & clear skies!

New telescopes come packed with clouds haha! Good luck and clear skies with your shiny new telescope!

Hi Gary, welcome to the forum, you may find either eyepiece a little bulky for the 102 Mak (does it have a 2" visual back?) but both ep's will work well with the SW 150 PDS. Do you wear spectacles for viewing? This will make your choices a little more sensitive, as the ES ep's tend to have short eye relief (the distance of the eye from the ep), in which case ep's with long eye-relief are better, also it would help us to know what targets you want to view, bearing in mind that the ES 24mm is a low power ep (31x on your SW 150PDS, 54x on your Orion 102 Mak). The Baader 8-24 mk iv is a jack of all trades and this, I suspect would be a good choice for a beginner (at 8mm the ep would give you a comfortable 162x on the Mak, which is a great setting for the planets and Moon. Good luck and clear skies!

Hi there, try this 'society search' link: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/locator.html Good luck and clear skies!