Roy Challen

Sounds amazing, it's raining where I am but I don't have my Daystar with me anyway🙄

Good job! Did the mount come with it too? I can't remember my Japanese manufacturers marks right now, but it looks like a Yamamoto, perhaps someone with better memory than me can confirm. It should be pretty good at night too.

Very cute, if you feed it and look after it, it'll grow to be a TOA 150 one day😂

Great picture, and a lovely area too.

For overall quality and telescope holding ability, my Tak 90S has been is 100% reliable. Every time I think about selling it, a little voice says 'don't do it'! For when I don't feel like lugging the Tak out in three stages, my Vixen Polaris is my preferred option. And when I travel abroad, my Altair Mini AZ does a great job. Over the last year though, I've got really into Ha solar observing and my Solarquest mount has been perfect for that. You just turn it on and it works every time. I think that covers everything!

Fair enough. Mill Hill Observatory do tours, but possibly only in the evening. Well worth it though.

Does it have to be space-related? If not, ditch the car, take the train into London and go see HMS Belfast. It's easily my favourite 'tourist attraction', and you can have a few drinkies afterwards for catching up.

Truest thing I ever heard! Although you don't need to throw the furniture out, just buy a bigger house! Being visual only makes things easier, being lunar and solar (almost exclusively) makes things easier still. However, portability and seeing still determine what gear goes outside on any given night or day Ultimately, what you do is determined by your own circumstances, and you'll get to learn what they are through experience. You could store non-critical items in a shed.

Is it a coincidence that the two Celestron 30mm Ultimas that were on ENS now seem to have sold? Was considering one myself, thought they were a bit pricey at £100 each, but maybe not. A fine eyepiece that I should have held onto...like many others😂

Tring Astronomy Centre is probably the nearest actual shop to London. Not in the tube zone but only 30mins on the London-Northwestern out of Euston. Harrisons are within the M25, but I'm not sure if they have a physical shop.

I don't have any vintage eyepieces at the moment, other than this lovely Meade RGO. The second one I've had, not had the chance to have a decent look through it yet, but the first one was a cracker, as was the 10.5mm I had too. I truly regret selling my CZJs, best EPs I've ever owned.

Probably not. The Tal 100R has a bespoke screw on diagonal IIRC. If you mean 100RS, then yes, it'll be fine.

What are these? 😉

Doesn't look too bad, I would try again on a night of good seeing allowing the scope to fully acclimate. Is that 'bite' in your star test images due to the crack in the secondary? If so, I would change the mirror.

Ooh, lovely, Steve. No need for anything faster than f10! Mine are f16+, f15ish and f10

Love a nice achro, although I must confess to having acquired a Mak, and last year I had a Tal 1 newt.

I was at my skintest when I first got into astronomy 20 odd years ago. Oh well nothing's changed there then😉 Seriously though, the choice and price range of equipment available now has never been better (supply issues notwithstanding). It's the same in most hobbies, the point at which you're past the 'entry level' is in my opinion solely down to the person doing that hobby. To some, my gear is still entry level. I do agree that recent price increases won't have helped things, but buying second hand is always a good option.

Watched it, missed it at the exact moment it disappeared...🤦‍♂️

First light for the Skymax 90, BCO 18mm and RGO 7mm. I had the Skymax mounted on a new-to-me Altair Astro Mini AZ mount, on my First Horizon tripod. I had already balanced it and let the scope cool down outside for a while. Found the Moon easily even without having the finder aligned, although I did align it while I was there. Using the TV Plossl 25mm first, nice and sharp as expected, but I could see the seeing was a little off. Perhaps this explains the tiny yellow fringe on the lunar limb. I don’t recall seeing it when using the Tal 100. 18mm BCO. I have very rarely ever bought an eyepiece brand new, but I did get this one new, from Harrisons Telescopes. Like the TV plossl, this ortho is very sharp, and comfortable to use. The full disc of the moon still fits within the field of view. Excellent detail along the terminator. No yellow fringe, or any other false colour. 10mm BCO. Again, a very sharp eyepiece, but this one was second hand and could do with a clean. Still comfortable to use, but tonights’ seeing limited its use. 7mm RGO. The seeing didn’t allow this eyepiece to really shine. I have had one before so I know how good it can be. Still reasonably comfortable for me. Altair Mini AZ. Very simple to use, needs good balancing to work effectively, but once balanced is very easy to track the target even at high mags. Surprisingly stable, there were slight gusts of wind this evening, hardly noticed them at the eyepiece. At about 18:10, I noticed a star close to the limb that looked like it was going to be occulted. I have never actually seen an occultation before so decided to wait for it. It was slow going, and I kept checking the time to make sure I had it exactly. At the critical moment I glanced at my phone, and when I got back to the eyepiece, it had disappeared! Ah well, at least I had the time down - 18:38:48. I checked Stellarium for the star, it was 99 Tauri. After that minor disappointment, I packed up, satisfied with the rest of the session and very happy with my super lightweight setup. First image is through the Televue plossl, the second through the BCO 18mm.

Great stuff! Glad someone got this on camera, I haven't been able to get a view at all☁️☁️

I have the same tripod for my Polaris, it's for Newtonians so that the eyepiece is at a convenient height when seated. Not so convenient for long fracs, I put breeze blocks under the feet to raise it up a little.

Just got the same mount myself, and is that a 3LT tripod I see? I also use one although it is a little bit wobbly, my Horizon 8115 is much sturdier but doesn't fit in my rucksack.

Interesting project, astronomy doesn't have to be expensive!

Also, do you have any eyepieces? You definitely need them. Try them without the barlow. Usually these scopes come with 25mm and 10mm eyepieces. Try the 25mm first, without the barlow. BTW, why have you got two barlows?

Ahhh, I see now. Good job I don't image, get me into all sorts of bother that would🤣