rockystar

One thing to check is that you are managing to bring stars into sharp focus? They should be pinpoints of light. It's a common beginner's mistake with this scope to use both extension tubes - you only need one of them. Mars will look a bit mushy at the moment, as it's so low down. You know when you look at the road on a hot day and it looks wavey- that's the effect of looking through a lot of unsteady atmosphere. As for your finder, if you have 2 screws and a sprung pin on the holder then you should be good to try aligning, but do it in day it's much easier. If it still doesn't align, then you could try losening the screws of the shoe and seeing if it will twist a bit before tightening.

Yeah, most likely a set of tethered sattelites

Your binos have 80mm aperture, I don't know the exact values, but it will probably be about half the light capture of the 120. I know you said you don't want a dob, but your logic is a bit flawed - they are very quick to set up (plonk and go), and they don't take up any more space than a 120 frac + mount. A 150mm dob will give you about another 20-30% light gather over 120mm. However, back to the frac, I wouldn't worry too much about the focuser if you are just using it visually, it will be fine- you can always upgrade it at a later date. Have a look at something like the skywatcher AZ5 to mount it on. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe-alt-azimuth-mount.html

I've emailed FLO, see what they say

Bought and fitted. They are a vast improvement over the original supplied versions, just a couple of things: 1. They are thicker than the originals, not a bad thing (The originals were thin and flimsy), but the caps no longer fit 2. I wish they had been available before I super glued the originals (done to 2 of my 3, 1 before I got it), as I've just spent an hour picking glue out of the threads.

Be aware this can be a very open ended question without some constraints. EP costs range from £20 for a simple plossle with a narrow FOV, heading to many hundreds of pounds for (so called) exoctic glass with very a wide FOV - and many, many options in between.

I'll be there in a tent, yeah it will probably be cold in the evening, but then we'll all be out with our telescopes £18 for EHU, or £15 without.

Imagine the light coming in to the telescope as a cone, if it focuses at the point of the obstruction, that will then be projected onto the mirror at the same angle that the light is coming on from, as a shadow.

The constancy of light is due to the fact that all observers (regardless of their own velocity) will measure light as travelling at the same speed. The actual figure they record will change depending on what medium the light is travelling thorough. It travels slower through water, which is why you see the "broken" straw effect. You are correct that gravity causes time dilation, but as mentioned above, it's due to it being a crowded place in the core of the sun. The photon itself doesn't experience the passage of time, due to the fact that it is travelling at the speed of light.

People post some rubbish on youtube. Well done you though for trying to find an explanation

Yes, they sent me to David. I've just had an email from David, confirming that he's had a delivery but only distributes to trade. He then sent me a link to FLO: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-morpheus-rubbermetal-foldable-eyecup.html

Unfortunately they won't deliver to the UK. I've been in touch with David Hines to see if he can get some, but I haven't back since he said he would look into it nearly 4 weeks ago. Maybe if others get in touch, he may have better luck getting hold of a batch. I love my Morpheus EPs, but those flimsy eyecups let it down a bit.

Yeah, maybe. My first 3 "proper" eyepieces were 24mm 82 degree ES, 14 & 6.5mm morpheus. The 14 is great and gets a lot of use, but I rarely used the 6.5 and was always after something inbetween the two. Now that I have the 9mm, that also gets a lot of use on globs and PNs. The 24mm ES is also great, and I don't feel like I need anything lower powered, and with 82deg FOV it is nice and wide - I just wondered though that if I had the 17.5 morph, would I still use this, or would the 17.5 be enough? I'm not planning on getting the 17.5 though, so maybe this is a better alternative.

I use the baader morpheus range with my 200 dobsonian. I really like them. They have 17mm of eye relief, and 76 degree FOV. I personally wouldn't get a 3.2mm ep. I have the 6.5mm morpheus and it doesn't get a lot of use. 17.5, 12 & 9mm would be my choice ( if I was to start again) FLO are excellent vendors and have a very good rep.

https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/rubbermetal-foldable-morpheus-eyecup-(m43-threaded).html They don't ship to the UK though