Cosmic Geoff

There are two SE mounts: the 4/5 SE and the 6/8 SE.  The 4/5 SE mount is smaller and has a built-in wedge for equatorial mode (probably less useful than it sounds). 

These mounts are intended for visual use and are quite portable.  The same OTAs are available with other mounts, some more suited to imaging.

IIRC 'No Response 17" means that the mount is not responding to the handset.  Could be for any reason, but if one of the mount chips is fried, well that could explain it. That chip does look fried.

You have captured the moons but the planet looks over-exposed.

It looks totally out of focus.  I suggest you focus with a 25mm eyepiece, pull the eyepiece out by 6mm, refocus, and then insert the camera.  It should then be in rough focus.

Alternatively, just wind the focus knob in the direction that makes that donut smaller.  You will then need to reduce the exposure time.

The 10mm eyepieces supplied with these kits are notoriously bad.  If you replace the so-called 'Super 10" with a 10mm eyepiece of better quality, you should be able to split e1 or e2 Lyrae with your telescope.

The Red Spot is not easy to see.  I don't think I ever saw it visually with my 127mm Mak, but it showed up very clearly when I imaged it.

I assume that the viewing angle captured by the smartphone does not match what you see through the eyepiece.  Have you tried a lower powered eyepiece, e.g 32mm instead of 25mm?

For serious results you need to buy a dedicated planetary imaging astro camera, but unless you get one with a big sensor that won't cover the whole moon either.  If you have a DSLR, try attaching that instead, without eyepiece or camera lens.

There is plenty of information online.  Or look at the images in the Planetary Imaging section of this forum and see what kit & software were used. Or buy the book "Guide to High Resolution Lunar & Planet Imaging" by Dave Eagle. (www.star-gazing.co.uk).

You will not need to guide unless your mount fails to cope with a highly cropped region-of-interest.  You will probably need to buy a dedicated planetary imaging astro camera - DSLRs are not ideal.   

The visual back of my Celestron 127mm Mak has a male T-thread.

I think you need to step back and do some basic research on the construction and use of astronomical telescopes, before you think of making one.  Also look at reflecting telescopes (Newtonians).

For instance, you mention buying an objective lens of 150mm (6 inch) aperture.  I think you should be sitting down when you check the price of this, assuming you can find one to buy.

If you have to buy the optical components, it will almost always be cheaper to buy a second-hand telescope than to make one.  A modest aperture will suffice to show Saturn with the rings projecting on each side, e.g. a 70mm aperture refractor.

Given the age of the telescope I suspect that the chance of being able to buy a replacement part is nil. A skilled machine shop should be able to straighten it out for you, if you can find one in your area.

You might be able to replace the entire focus tube assembly, if you can identify a modern one which is compatible, but that could be expensive. People often upgrade the focusers on modern scopes.

As for the focus, telescopes are generally constructed to give them a useful focus range when particular parts are attached. For instance, my Startravel is designed to focus with a diagonal and eyepiece attached, and to attach a DSLR a t-thread extender tube is required.  It is quite common to discover that for attaching cameras you need to shorten the tube (Newtonians) or add extension tubes (refractors).

I bought a T-thread set of extender tubes which in combination offer various lengths of extension.

1 hour ago, Redterry said:

Celestron explorascope 114az currently half price currys £89.99

Polaris 130md reflecting £99 second hand

Celestron powerseeker 127eq

£135 second hand.

Some of these could put you off astronomy for life.

You should buy from a specialist astronomy retailer. 

Astronomy is not a cheap hobby and you should be prepared to spend for something that performs well and is not a pain to use.  The 130p dobsonian quoted above would be a good choice to start. 

I have the ZWO ADC and it works well.  If you are undecided which brand to buy, toss a coin.

41 minutes ago, gamermole said:

Thank you so much for your reply, do you know whether a 2x barlow lens would work with this telescope? ive found a 6mm eyepiece online if not.

The highest power eyepiece I ever used with my 127mm Mak was 8mm.  Forget the Barlows and buy a decent 8 or 10mm eyepiece. The higher power eyepieces supplied with these kits are notoriously not much good.    When I bought decent eyepieces of 8 and 10mm for my Mak the improvement in performance on double stars was marked and obvious.

Why would you want 12v or 13.8 volt regulators/converters?  I have run mounts directly from my LIFEPO4 power tank for years without incident.  The actual output voltage versus discharge state of these batteries can be found on data sheets.

I have a Celestron LiFEPO4 power tank which already has USB ports built into it, not to mention handy red and white work-lights.  Note that a "12v" LIFEPO4 battery will require a specialist battery charger - mine came with a 16 volt charger.

The quoted loadings exclude counterweights.  For visual use, you can load the mount up to the rated load (e.g 9Kg for an Eq-5). I put a 203p Newtonian (which weighed 9Kg+) on an EQ-5 and it worked well enough for visual use.  For imaging, one is recommended not to load the mount to its full capacity. I am now using the same mount for EAA with a 102mm Startravel (I had to buy a smaller counterweight), and that works well.

The counterweights on an EQ mount do not weigh the same as the scope and accessories (usually less) as you can position the weights anywhere on the counterweight bar as required. The actual weight needed depends on the physics of levers (q.v.)

1 hour ago, uk_friendly_fire said:

Thanks Dobbie, an idea to be considered. I have a SW heritage flextube 130 and am suffering aperture fever. Naturally I my mindset was get BIGGER. Your suggestion is likely to be the way forward for me if a noticeable image improvement will result.

You do not need large aperture for imaging, unless you want to image small objects at large image scale. Look at the small refractors that some imagers use. Exposure time makes objects brighter.

Is this for visual or imaging use? The manufacturers may quote for visual use, or for both. Suggested loadings for imaging are much lower.

An EQ-5 will take about 9Kg for visual use.  I put a 200p Newt on an EQ-5 and it wasn't too bad (for visual use).

Logically, if you look up the load capacity of an EQ3-2, the load capacity of your proposed combo with be somewhere between that figure and 9Kg (for visual use).

If your aim is imaging with the 150PDS, then forget the EQ3-2 and start saving for a proper mount.

When I had that version of EQ5 I bought a 6 volt lead-acid battery and a charger (the latter intended for R/C gear).  Given the ubiquity of 12v power sources you might consider a 12v-to-6v stepdown converter.

If you don't have the user manual for the CPC, you can download it.

I have a smaller version, and find it particularly suited to planetary imaging, as well as general viewing. I have also used mine for imaging small planetary nebulae. I have fitted it with two finders, a red-dot for coarse aiming, and a 9x50 RACI finder for fine aiming.  The Nexstar 'Precise Goto' menu item is very useful for locating smaller fainter objects.  If you don't have a dew shield (essential in UK) you can buy or make one. (If you have deep pockets, a dew heater ring and black aluminium dew-shield are available. The metal dew-shield looks very smart - saw one at at astronomy show.)

You can hook the mount (actually the handset) via cable to a laptop, which allows you to control the telescope via various programs.

I suggest you read up on Celestron SCT material generally - this may uncover some useful topics and tips.

Check out nexstarsite.com.

Your mount or handset might benefit from a software upgrade, especially if the GPS doesn't work, but remember the engineer's old saw "If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it." 🙂

16 minutes ago, ashes said:

Is there a filter that cuts out the light, especially on brighter night skies too.

Depends what is causing the light pollution. Once upon a time, street-lighting used lamps that emitted a few narrow-band wavelengths easily filtered out. With modern white LEDs it's useless, except that a filter that costs more than your scope outfit might offer a slight improvement.

If you are observing gaseous nebulae, narrow-band filters e.g 'OIII' will offer a distinct improvement.

What is your level of experience? What do you expect stars to look like?

A star should look like a point of light, irrespective of the telescope's field of view, or the magnification. Anything else is scatter or diffraction in the optics.

Maybe if you look for double stars or globular clusters or planetary nebulae you will find those of greater interest. 

The 10mm kit eyepieces are generally acknowledged not to be much good, and deserving of an upgrade of the same focal length.

You need an EOS to T2 adapter, and a T2 to scope adapter. It seems you already have the latter for the SCT.

Some refractors have a T2 thread at the focuser.  Seems your Swift has this, so you just need the aforementioned EOS to T2 adapter, and possibly a T2 spacer to get focus.  

A 120mm APO and a HEQ5 + accessories would be a good setup. Assuming that this is the kind of scope you actually want. What are you going to do with it?

Another thing to consider - keep a cool head and add up the new retail prices of all these items - it does not have to be exact.  Another Sky watcher ED 120mm comes in at about £1400, and the HEQ5 is about £1000.  If you think this offer is a bit too good to be true, don't part with any money till you have checked this out from all angles, and if possible gone to see the items yourself. 

As a guide, astro kit on good clean & working condition typically sells used for about 66% of the new price.

I don't have a freedom Find mount but I have a Sky-watcher EQ-5 Synscan and three Celestron Nexstar mounts.  I've always preferred the Celestron software - it's a little easier to use and has one or two features that the Synscan doesn't.  I have not felt the need of Freedom Find, as though it can take a while for the mount to slew round, I often have little idea where it's going to end up pointing.