Oldfort

These are quite neat. I use another Baader counterweight for my C8. It screws into a threaded hole on the ADM dovetail bar. https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/accessories/mount-accessories/counterweights/1-kg-leveling-counterweight.html These can be stacked. Quite pricey though.

I bumped into Dud (not literally) as he was getting out of his Jag in the car park at Kensington Town Hall, for Astrofest. He was getting on a bit by this time (2005 maybe?), but he vaguely recognised me as a regular visitor at Telescope House, and asked me where the car park exit was. If memory serves he was wearing a rather battered leather jacket.

I don't suppose that this will set many pulses racing, but who knows.. The tray of my Berlebach tripod was in need of some tlc, but when I took the metal fittings off, the screws and nuts were in a terible state. The tripod lives outside on a balcony most of the time and it's not always possible to find a dry spot. Hence replaced the fixings, as well as some varnish to the tray (yes I know it's far from perfect, but you should have seen it before) .

In the UK there is BeaconHill Telescopes. They have a range of adapters at low prices. I got an RAS male to 1 1/4 inch adapter a few years back. http://beaconhilltelescopes.org.uk/

Going back to the neighbours lights (sorry). here's a suggestion for something to help whilst your bushes grow higher. Get several metres of black material, and some roof battens. Staple the cloth to the battens, spaced about a metre apart, so its like lots of flags and poles stuck together, and prop this up at the edge of your property when you go observing. I have found this quite effective in the past.

I have remembered that my 5mm eyepiece is parfocal with the longer focal length ones, so there is no point in me trying, since I know it will reach focus, but with not a lot to spare.

I don't know. If I have time tomorrow (Weds) I will try something around the 5mm mark.

I have had success focusing with a TV 17mm plossl, and 13mm Nagler (not much room to spare on that one), but can't focus with a Meade 9mm plossl (5 element, series 5000 probably) or an Orion 12.5mm plossl reticle eyepiece.

I suspect the key is the prism diagonal. They have a shorter optical path than mirrors, so you get a bit more inward focus to play with. I will see what success I have with a couple of other brand eyepieces.

The Skywatcher 50 ED can be used with the Celestron prism diagonal (94115-A), although it may depend on what eyepiece you use, and it gives an inverted image. It's close to the limit of focus with a Panoptic 24, but it does focus. However, there is reasoanable inward travel available with an APM reticle eyepiece, which is a 26mm focal length, I think. I guess other brands will differ a bit.

Can you narrow down your interests a bit? Astrophysics is a broad subject. Wikipedia defines it as follows Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry "to ascertain the nature of the astronomical objects, rather than their positions or motions in space".[1][2] Among the objects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background.[3][4] Emissions from these objects are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics. Any book that involves mostly "formulas and mathematics" is likely to assume a deep backgound knowledge of the underlying physics or chemistry, and also be relatively narrow in focus. For example, a classic text on stellar atmospheres, "Theory of Stellar Atmospheres: an In troduction to non-equilibrium quantitative spectroscopic analysis" by Hubeny and Mihalas, needs understanding of quantum mechanics, special relativity and spectroscopy to name a few topics. The book runs to over 900 pages.

It depends to a large extent on your budget but the Nagler type 6, 11 or 13 mm are really good, and you should be able to get a nice clean one for £160 - 180, used.

The greek letters were assigned by Johan Bayer in 1603, in his star atlas Uranometria. There is more info on Wikipedia under "Bayer designation".

WDS do these. May not be long enough. http://www.wdsltd.co.uk/product/3201/hand-screw-imperial-unc-wds-102/

If space is barely enough for the scope, how will you manage the tripod and head/mount, and maybe finder?

Maybe. Will still have to fix chromatic aberration, but looks like an advance, if correct.

I have bought jewellery (inc gold) and astronomy gear. As far as I can see, neither keep their value (for gold, timing is everything), but there seems to be a better market for second hand astro gear, or maybe I just haven't found the right places for jewellery. However buying jewellery has the spin off that subsequent purchases of astronomy stuff is more tolerated.

When I had a 10" LX 200, I just put it in the boot, of the car and wedged it gently with other stuff. At some point I got one of those foam things that campers put under thir sleeping bag, and put it under the scope. The LX 200 is so solid that unless you drive like a madman, it's unlikely to come to harm.

I started with H A Rey's "A New Way to See the Stars". I still have it. I moved on to Norton's Star Atlas (15th ed.), which I stll have (and a newer edition). What a treasure trove of information.

If you mean the triangular part, it's called an eyepiece or accessory tray. You may find one here: https://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot/spare-parts-for-telescopes.html

GONG H-Alpha Network Monitor

Let's hope it get back to its former quality. I didn't renew my sub earlier this year, in part because the online payment system didn't work (and when I contacted them the alternative method didn't work either), but mostly because I didn't feel it was value for money.

The world of threads and screw sizes is a bit of a nightmare, as I recenly found when trying to get the right screw for an oldish bit of scientific kit. It turned out to be 0BA. For most astro gear my rule of thumb is that if the manufacturer/brand is US then the the thread will be UNC (occasionally UNF), and otherwise metric (coarse).

Rusted and Supernova, thanks for your input. I suspected there was more to see, but I'm a beginner with processing, and I didn't have much time today. I do however have some raw files to play with, and it's good to see that I won't be wasting my time.

My first attempt. Lunt Herschel wedge, TV 76 with 2x powermate, EOS M. AR2740 also just visible.