Roy Challen

Hi Phil, welcome to SGL. Nice collection of Tals you have! With regards to the focuser, if I recall correctly, it is a rack and pinion with a short amount of travel. You could fashion some kind of stop block at maximum focuser travel. This would be at the the end of the rack part of the focuser, it's a bit difficult to describe accurately without having one in front of me. Be aware of limiting travel even further though, on what is already a very short travel focuser. Or just be careful when focusing! Either way, enjoy! Hope that is of some help. Edit: Just remembered that the rack runs in a channel (I think), so a stop block wouldn't work. Maybe a grub screw fitted right at the end of the rack would prevent any further rotation of the pinion?

Identical experience here. A talk or two is interesting and informative, and probably the best way to spend a cloudy night with fellow enthusiasts, but nothing that can't be obtained from the internet. But being able to try different equipment, where else can you do that all in one night? Or be shown how astro-imaging is done? Or a workshop on how to collimate, clean, maintain scopes and other equipment? All that experience in members', and they want to sit down and listen to a speech they've probably heard before!

Me too!

Well done Rob! I too have done some actual astronomy tonight (as opposed to the armchair variety), for the first time since late 2016/early 2017 - so long ago I can't even remember!. I spotted 46P in my bins from my overwhelmingly light polluted garden, averted vision only, but definitely there. Thought it would be rude not to have a quick look at the Hyades and Pleiades whilst in Taurus, the latter nicely framed in my field of view, and the former needing just a little scout-a-round. Finished off with a look straight up to check M31 is still there. It is. Although it was a very brief session, it was very enjoyable and may see me out again later for a better look at 46P, skies permitting.

My Dad sold his 100R recently, got £180 for it although that included the mount, tripod and crate. It's a nice scope, I'd keep it unless you're desperate for the money.

Yeah, I'm waiting for 'my' Borg miniachro to come back to me at some point, preferably with the Baader Zeiss prism I sold it with!

I reckon there's quite a few of us who have done/are doing that! It's probably the same bunch of eyepieces doing the rounds too. I swear I have bought an ep or two (the same actual eyepiece, that is - not just 'another one') that I had sold a few months earlier - TV plossls are a good one for that! Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to track them to see who and where they go to next?

With all the technology available today, why wouldn't I want to be here now? Maybe a 76mm frac or a 150mm 'flec' was the pinnacle of affordable tech back then, but most people would disagree now. There is probably a greater requirement for better planning (travel, work, life in general, etc.) , that for some may outweigh the convenience of back garden astronomy, but certainly for me, it is part and parcel of the hobby now as I only tend to observe when on holiday (under really dark skies!).

Sounds like you already know what to do!

This is true. I just came back from two weeks in India of which one night only was cloud free, and that was in Delhi. Quite disappointing for astro considering how far south I went. Oh well, next time maybe.

Got up at 4am for a quick look through the bins, couldn't see it at all. Went back to bed after 15 mins of searching. I'll try again tomorrow morning if it's clear.

Ok, no problem.

Hi, I have a Tal 100 that will meet your requirements. Let me know what you think. You'll need to be able to collect it though!

Makes sense if the performance is equal to or better than Vixen SLV and the price is lower. Can they do that? Let's see...

Teddy was definitely blown away!