RT65CB-SWL

Hi, good morning @Bivanus and welcome to SGL.

It will be an interesting read, especially the TeleVue v Svbony.

Hi @AstralFields and welcome to SGL.

I agree with what @F15Rules says. That said, I own three Ortho’s. One is an unknown 0.965” at 6mm [used with a 1.25” adaptor]. It was the only ‘upgrade’ purchase I made when I used to own a Prinz Astral 500 refractor. The other two are Circle-T [volcano top] 1.25” at 6mm & 12.5mm.

What setting? The sachets I purchased were placed in the microwave [600w] on a paper plate as per the instructions... and the sachets split after two minutes.

Hi @phantomgod_06 and welcome to SGL. I am not into astro-imaging/photography at present, but if you could include what equipment, i.e. 'scope, camera, etc., you are using, then that would help. Some 'newtonians' tend to focus 'off the bat' others you have to do a little bit of tinkering or add an extension to the focus mechanism.

Or the ‘Red Pill/Blue Pill’ scene from The Matrix...

The ‘only’ EQ/GEM that ‘works’ for me. I regret selling mine.

Congratulations @Richard N Many years ago, I was attending my local astro. society/club public outreach event. One member slewed his ‘scope [a five or six inch refractor] on Jupiter and then M57. These were ‘visible’ during daytime hours. It was surreal viewing them in a blue sky.

Agreed! Though I do not own a Bresser 127mm or the 5” Intes Maksutov’s, I have a Meade ETX 105 and the Celestron C6/SCT. The C6 is extremely versatile. SCT accessories are plentiful. Try finding a focal reducer for a Maksutov is a mission in itself, and the rear threaded port are not an SCT thread. Thankfully, adapter rings are available to convert them to the SCT thread. The collimation screws are at the rear end on a Maksutov. On the ETX series, they are hidden and enclosed in plastic part of the tube. Therefore to collimate an ETX, you first have to remove the main OTA and find something suitable to mount it on whilst you tweek it, as a dovetail bar is not attached to the tube or has provision for, apart from two 1/4-20 brass threaded inserts on the plastic mirror cell and if you over tighten the dovetail fixing screws, then you have to be somewhat inventive should you wish to attach one. Image above of my C6 and ETX105. Note the Jubilee hose rings are holding the dovetail to the ETX.

Hi @RIPM and welcome to SGL. I do envy anyone that has the mindset to design and builds a telescope to their specifications, etc. Not only that, it is personal, satisfying and humbling too!

Hi @CosmoCartoons / Calum and welcome to SGL.

I have a 70mm refractor, (a TeleVue Ranger), and 20x80 binoculars, (Revalation Astro). A telescope will always theoretically show more detail than binoculars, unless they are dedicated astro-binoculars, (i.e. 45deg or 90deg. e/p port, swappable eyepieces, etc). Dedicated astro-binoculars tend to be very expensive too… and you would need to purchase a heavy duty tripod and mount as well.

There were discussions about dust clouds limiting the magnitude of Betelgeuse, instead of it going supernovae. I at the time, thought that it was dust. Would be interesting to read what other SGL'ers think.

Simply put, red preserves your 'dark-adapted' night vision. It takes the human eye about half an hour to become 'dark-adaped' and less than half a second to lose it! Some Android OS & iOS apps have a function to change the display from monochrome (B&W) and/or colour to red in increments or in one touch. Alternatively, you can purchase a sheet of red/ruby transparent film and apply it to your smartphone, tablet or laptop screen.

I 'dislike' GEM/EQ mounts. The reason... because of the EQ1. The 'best' EQ mount I have owned and used was the Vixen GP. I regret selling it. I have an obsession [not the ‘scope brand] to dual-mount and it was not quite suitable for the 'scopes in my collection.

I have a larger sibling... the DS-2102AT (only the tube). It’s not to bad for a beginner, but does suffer from chromatic aberration when viewing the Moon and brighter planets, i.e. Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. A few other niggles are... they use a horrible sticky grease on the rack & pinion focuser... plastic. don’t over tighten the thumbscrews on the focuser/draw-tube eyepiece port... also plastic. I am waiting for some M4 brass threaded inserts and insert them in the eyepiece port, because on one of the two, the thread has been stripped. the mount and tripod are not that great either. I use mine on an AOK-AYO or Tele-Optic Giro. Both are manual ‘T-style’ alt-az.

Hi @Astrobobo and welcome to SGL.

I know the images are pretty much c-r-a-p, but £20.00GBP secondhand for a tube that is mainly ‘thin’ aluminium with a plastic R&P, I am not going to let it get me down or beaten. Trying to focus with one hand and smartphone on other hand ain’t easy.

Hi @Ravi Hegde and welcome to SGL. As previously mentioned, chromatic abberation is the curse with achromatic refractors. To give you an example of what it looks like, below is an image I took last week [Wed. 24 May 2023 @21:26BST] of a five day old Moon, using my Meade DS-2102, an 18mm eyepiece, iPhone 12 handheld over it; mounted on my AOK-AYO and Manfrotto 055PROB tripod. It is the purple halo along the eastern edge. The image above was taken @22:51 on the same day/night, with same equipment. As you can see, the darker the sky, the more pronounced it becomes.

Part exchange or sell it to the Martian’s... Apologies... I couldn’t resist it! 😜

That's the conundrum with owning more than one 'scope on a dual/multi-mount setup!

M6 for the end holes (these are not threaded). M4 for the cone adjustment screws at both ends. 1/4-20 UNC or 1/4” BSW at the centre and offset.

Fantastic images @wookie1965 I spent a couple of hours this afternoon... and for some reason, I could not focus to produce any images.