AdeKing

It was a pleasure to meet you @JamesF I'm just happy to see it go to someone who will give it that bit of TLC that it needs to get it back in regular use. I'm really pleased to hear about the outreach, I think that would be a great use of it. I'll keep an eye out for the renovation thread. Ade

PM sent. Just need to find it. Ade

I picked up a used one from Shaun before Xmas and it's getting far more use than I expected it to. Excellent get splitting doubles. Enjoy using yours.

Get yourself a copy of "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards and read it through. Very good introduction to imaging and gives tried and tested kit suggestions to avoid expensive mistakes. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

I have the older gold version of the standard ED120, which I was fortunate to pick up used and is an absolute peach to use. I agree with Paul, optically they are identical, but the Equinox does have a nicer finish, nicer, heavier tube and the sliding dewshield makes the OTA shorter (if that is important to you). I'm not sure that I'd pay an additional £441 for a new one, though I might be persuaded to pay a bit extra for one used when the differential would be somewhat less. With that £441 you could buy yourself a new 3-6 Nagler Zoom or a Pentax XL Zoom or invest in a Single TV Nagler or Delos or Panoptic and still have change . If I had the money to consider the Equinox new, I think I'd personally opt for Option 2 and put the £441 towards a nice premium eyepiece to accompany the new OTA. If you do opt to invest in a TV eyepiece, be warned that you might develop Black & Green Fever, which others on here tell me can be quite contagious, not to mention expensive . However, as with everything astro, its a personal choice. Choose whatever will make you happiest and whatever will get the most use.

Nice box (and contents) and having just looked at the Hobbycraft website, reasonably priced. I know where I'm headed at the weekend.

Very nice, I hope you get as much enjoyment from yours as I get from mine. Ade

I'm glad it's not just me @Alan White, my wife lives in perpetual fear of hearing the sound of tinkling glass whenever I enter the kitchen. I've managed to drop the ED100 onto wet grass and had a couple of near misses with the ED120 so far, mainly down to me forgetting to properly tighten the dovetail clamp after balancing the OTA. I have a foam filled flight case for my eyepiece collection but use soft cases for whatever I'm observing with for an evening. I'd love a nice wooden box but alas, much to my master carpenter grandfather's disappointment, I'm not even capable of hammering a nail in straight.

I was intrigued by this solution when I read "Starlight Nights" by Leslie Peltier, though given the vintage of this book it was pre-computers and so obviously lacked the modern goto part. Shame there weren't any drawings or photos of his setups in the book.

I mostly tend to sit (or perch if I'm observing low down). I have a couple of observing chairs, one (Mey Observing Chair) for at home and a second (Geoptik Nadira) for when I go out and about. They are pricey, but I was fortunate to get both as presents (at different times). Found that the Geoptik one needs a bit of padding so got a memory foam garden kneeler. As @LukeSkywatcher says, I find my eyes are more relaxed when seated and it definitely helps with maintaining correct eye position. But if I'm going all over the sky on a session I tend to stand as adjusting the chair for each target is tiresome.

It was lovely and clear for about an hour and a half between 17:00 and 18:30 here then your clouds turned up @DaveS. You didn't have to be so generous with them........ No, really you didn't.

Love the polished finish on the Moonlite Steve. I picked up one of the steppers attached to a single speed Moonlite for my Starwave f/11 which is tad under mounted on the EQ5. Its made a huge difference to the useability of my setup. My example has unfortunately got quite a bit of backlash in the stepper gearbox, but by listening to the noise coming from the motor, I know when the backlash has been taken up and the focuser is about to start moving again now I've used it a few times. I'll be interested to hear how much nicer it makes your viewing experience with the f/15, that must be a Looooooooonnnnnnngggggggggg tube, what do you have it mounted on? Ade

Managed just short of an hour on some doubles before rain and cloud stopped play. Good to get out nonetheless.

This post on CN suggests that a 2.5" Moonlite Focuser is required and that if you contact Ron at Moonlite that he can tell you which of the 2.5" flanges will fit. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/676749-skywatcher-150mm-ed/?p=9761913 The post also suggests that an extension might be required to reach focus because the Moonlite focuser is shorter than the stock focuser. In my experience, Ron at Moonlite has always been very helpful and extremely quick in responding, even responding to me on a Sunday. However, I'd recommend that you get details of the correct flange from Moonlite then place a custom order with FLO. It takes quite while for Moonlite items to arrive, but you avoid all the complications of the import charges and the Royal Mail ransom admin charge.

Only Alt AZ goto mounts that I can think of are: AZ GTi as suggested Skywatcher Synscan AZ Goto (or Celestron equivalent) Skywatcher Star Discovery iOptron AZ Mount Pro The tripods on the second two are flimsy as you like but you could mod an EQ5 tripod to fit easily enough. IOptron AZ Pro mount is considerably more expensive than the other three. You could have a go with my AZ Pro and AZ GTi to compare next time you're down in this neck of the woods. Ade