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Yes, taken with the Nikon D60. Prime focus. Just a beginner at all this imaging lark. RTB

Superb afocal pics, I was out in the wee hrs as well, sitting in work in front of my computer like a zombie at the moment!!!!. RTB

A few prime focus pics from this evening. RTB:D

Welcome to Stargazers Lounge Joe, you've come to the right place. RTB

Congrats on spotting Jupiter, I was viewing it myself this evening in between the clouds. Stunning .... though I was getting the same, fuzziness or boiling effect when viewing. Moons were all there, in tow, little spots of light. Definitely one of my favs. RTB

I also have a Skywatcher Explorer 150pl and I am really happy with it, as a first scope I think you've made a great choice. My own scope shows stars with diffraction spikes when focused fully which I think enhance the view. Arcturus is a great star to view, highly recommended. I agree DSO's are a nightmare to find for the beginnner especially at this time of year. My advice is to be really patient, I spent weeks looking for M81 & M82 and still haven't spotted them!!!! However when you do finally land on one like I did a week or so ago with M13 you'll be blown away!!. Great report. RTB

May have posted this in the wrong section... If i have apologies. RTB

I have a Skywatcher Explorer 150pl to which I have attached a Nikon D60 DSLR. I purchased a T -Ring which on removing the eyepiece holder lets me attach the camera directly to the scope which has allowed me to take a few pics of the moon. http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-lunar-solar/82638-few-beginner-prime-focus-pics-lunar.html However.... My problem is when I keep the eyepiece holder in, using a T Adapter to hold the camera , I can't reach focus. Similarlily , should I want to use a barlow lens for more magnification I cannot get to focus. Focus only becomes attainable whenever I attach the camera direct through the threaded T-Ring. Any solutions? Thanks in advance. RTB

I love timelapse photography, I have seen a few stunning timelapse pieces on youtube. It's something I'm gonna make an attempt at at some stage. The moon piece is really good, 40x ? I take it that's 40 images all running after each other. Over what period of time did you take the pics? Can you preset your camera for that or did you have to take the exposures individually? Sorry for all the questions!!!! RTB

A few pics taken this evening before the clouds rolled in. Still quite early , taken about 10pm. ISO 400, 1/340. Prime focus method. Nothing spectacular... but a start!! RTB:)

Had everything set up , raring to go looking for M57. However, clouds have rolled in so have given up for the evening. RTB

Thought I'd share this pic with you all, nothing spectacular , just thought it came out pretty well. Quick pic taken with my NIkon D60. RTB

Was glad to finally get off the mark with DSO's !!! For a while there I thought I was doing something wrong!! M57 along with M81 & M82 are next in line!!! After that? , gonna try for a few prime focus pics of the moon over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting. RTB

Welcome to the forum.... RTB

My interest has never really waned , was just getting more frustrated as time passed not getting any DSO's. Light Pollution, time of year, time of night etc I'm sure have all made their contribution to the frustration. I have spent some nights right up to 2.30 , 3am and still not spotted anything. But thankfully, my patience has paid off!! M81 & M82 are two targets which I've had trouble locating, I'm in the right area , I know that, but they remain elusive!! RTB

I posted a quick post this evening titled 'Connector Problemss' http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/82296-connector-problems.html#post1240222 Just a few beginner problems, nothing major, but enough to start and get me a bit frustrated with this hobby. Problem 2 from the post was my main annoyance. Getting lost whilst star hopping etc because I keep losing myself whilst trying to locate DSO's. To the point where I have not seen any as yet .So I purchased a erecting prism to try and help the problem. Anyway... you can read about the prism problem in the other thread. Needless to say yesterday evening I had packed up everything and headed back in around 11.00 pm a bit disappointed that my new purchase had not worked or fitted the way I expected. Back inside I picked up TLAO, opened up Stellarium and located M13 and decided enough was enough, I'm going to spot this before I go to bed tonight!!!. Headed back out again armed with only binos and grabbed a deck chair out of the garage and started again. After a while the skies darkened further... (surely this hasn't been my problem all along.... cringe ) and I slowly but surely moved from Arcturus , located Gemma at the Corona Borealis , located the Keystone and Zeta , Eta. Moved South of Eta and trained myself on the area for a good 30mins or so. Convinced I was seeing my target through the binos (maybe I was hoping I'd seen it) I dragged the scope out for the second time that evening. Shortly after 12am I was positioning my finderscope on Eta, ..."let's get this right.... view is inverted in scope so if I'm looking to go South it's actually North in the scope..." After about 10mins of slowly moving about , through my 25x eyepiece , it suddenly appeared, YES!, never have I got so much pleasure from a tiny blur in the view, yes I'm a genius - Patrick Moore eat your heart out!!!! Stunned , viewed it for about 45 mins or so, the view just got better, especially when using averted vision, the general shape of the cluster got a lot better and i'm sure I could see points of light. As time was closing in on 1.30am and thinking of work in a few hrs I decided that I should pack up for the second time when I noticed an extremely bright object in the SE sky, surley it was'nt Jupiter at this time. I had previously had to set the alarm for 3.15 am for my last glimpse a couple of weeks ago. But sure enough, Jupiter and 4 moons in tow looked even better than before, maybe the darker skies helped but at times the banding was clear and Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto , were clear , defnite points of light. A real bonus and an excellant way to finish off my evenings viewing. Definitely my best nights viewing since I took up this hobby. Patience has paid off at last!!!!! Sorry for the long post, but had to tell someone!!! RTB

Cheers Tony, Just back in from 2nd session with the scope, what a difference a couple of hrs makes to your mood !!! Best viewing session I've had to date as an beginner!! Will post a review in the morning. RTB

Yes, when held direct at the focuser, the prism gives a perfect view. Do you mean replace the finderscope? If you are I can see the benefits , but my problem seems to be getting lost when I have to view through the focuser and eyepiece . Maybe it's my starhopping technique that needs improving not my scope!!!!

I thought that was the sort thing that I had bought? 90 degree erecting prism. What's the difference? Forgive me if I'm sounding like the village idiot on this one!! The frustrating thing is that the prism gives me perfect focus and image when held directly into the focuser!! If I could just get something to attach to the thread of the focuser!! The piece provided seems to push the prism to far back to achieve focus.

Hi everyone, I've had my scope for a few months now, really enjoying my new hobby, slowly but surely picking up the basics, not without problems as you'll see , but having a blast anyway. However, I recently decided to hook up my DSLR camera in order to try and take a few pics, nothing major to start , just a few shots of the moon etc, you know what every beginner decides to do. This is where my problems start..... Problem 1 I have a Skywatcher Explorer 150PL , F8 , Reflector scope which I'm very happy with. My camera is a NIKON D60, had it for a while. I purchased a Nikon T Ring and a T adaptor from FLO (great service as always). Everything clicked and fitted together the way it was supposed to , however I could not get right to focus with these connectors all in place. However, Just using the T Ring my camera fits directly onto the focuser thread perfectly and focus is fine? Did I buy a T Adaptor for nothing? Problem 2 Going to sound like a right plonker now but, I tend to get myself in all sorts of problems starhopping simply because of the inverted view and the compass points being in different positions through the eyepiece!!! (Start off okay but a few jumps and I'm lost!!). So in order to solve this problem I purchased an erecting prism, fitted pieces together this evening and a similar problem to my camera, I cannot get focus. I unscrewed the 'connector' and literally held up the erecting prism to the focuser and was able to get a clear focused view with no problem. However it won't physically attach or screw directly to the focuser. Do I need another attachment ? Hope you can understand my ramblings and maybe someone can shed a bit of light on the problem. Would collimation have any bearing on these problems? I noticed this evening before packing everything up that my scope needs collimated again. Thanks in advance guys:confused: RTB

Ashenlight's got the right idea, a few beers would definitely take the chill off!!!!. Saying that , I was out to 1.30am this morning , with tee shirt!! Looks like the same tonight, it's a scorcher in Northen Ireland today. RTB

LOL.... No I don't charge!!! have not got round to purchasing a case for eyepieces etc, so that was the safest place to place them at the moment!!!

First image is my favourite. Great pic. RTB