Ricochet

Put the diagonal (angle prism) into the focuser and then put the 20mm eyepiece into the diagonal. Start with the focuser at one end of travel and then wind it all the way to the other end and see if there is any point where it is in focus on the moon. If you are looking at stars rather than the Moon, turn the focuser whatever way makes the stars smaller. They will be in focus when they are at their smallest, you cannot enlarge individual stars. Does the draw tube of the focuser move in and out when you turn the focuser knobs?

The diagonal in these types of telescopes are often mentioned as a weak link so replacing the supplied one with a decent 1.25" star diagonal would be a good upgrade. Similarly, the eyepieces could possibly be upgraded, particularly the 10mm and for planets I suspect you could use a 5mm with that scope, so a new 5mm or a 2x barlow and the 10mm/its replacement would give higher magnification. The telescope looks like it probably has a 1/4" photo tripod hole in the dovetail so either a more stable photo tripod (that you might already have) or an astronomical mount with a vixen dovetail would reduce vibrations.

It will be a much, much better telescope than your current one. The only downsides are that it will also be much heavier, which potentially could put you off from using it, and that when you have a Newtonian on an equatorial mount, you will have to stop to rotate the tube in the rings when you move to a new object or the focuser can end up in positions that are difficult to use.

Yes, they are very good eyepieces and one could easily be an eyepiece you never feel the need to upgrade. I believe they have similar optical quality to the Vixen SLV, but with a wider field of view, which makes them heavier and more expensive.

What is it that you're looking for help with? The question is a bit vague really. If you're looking for help finding targets to observe them the book Turn Left at Orion is a good place to start. Given the size of the telescope, the binocularsky newsletter is probably also a useful resource.

Bigger gathers more light but the telescope is heavier and more difficult to carry or transport. 6-8" can be carried as one piece, 10-12" and you will need to carry the base and OTA separately, anything larger and you probably want a truss based design you "build" each time.

Get the doughnut under the cross hairs and then align the primary, those are the only things that matter.

Where in the above photo is the doughnut? I can't actually tell if I can see it or just the reflection of the hole in the cheshire. Is it where I have marked the red dot in the photo below? If so you need to align it with the crosshairs of the cheshire, that I have marked in green. It looks like you might have been trying to align it with the reflection of the spider vanes instead.

Generally: Decent cold weather clothes. An observing chair. A proper red light torch. Specifically for my dob: A high quality, accurate cheshire. A baffle to mask the edge of the primary mirror and tighten up star images. Baader Clicklocks Primary cooling fan RACI finder Counterbalance system so it can cope with heavy eyepiece changes at (almost) any angle.

I think that is a bit of an understatement. Imagine having to keep rotating a big 250pds every time you switch objects. Even having to hoist it on and off an eq mount at the start and end of a session could be enough to stop it getting used.

Bear in mind that although a full size dob sits on the ground, it is still too low to stand at to observe. You should factor in the cost of purchasing some sort of height-adjustable chair. I use a drum stool with my dob, but ironing chairs and specialist astronomy observing chairs are also used.

If the diagonal really is a 0.965" fitting, then I would use the excuse that it it is broken to return the entire telescope for a refund. You can then put the funds towards the cost of a larger, better telescope that uses standard 1.25" accessories.

I've been looking at the same series of monopods, however, I think the carbon version is the one we want as it is taller. I'm not sure about the usefulness of the foot as smooth horizontal panning isn't massively important and it just adds something to accidentally stand on. If anyone has used the foot and found it to be advantageous I would be very interested to hear their findings.

Ouch, that is an unfortunate event to say the least. If Meade won't even confirm the shape of the mirror, then I guess they have not given the focal length of the mirror either (the focal length of the primary being different to the focal length of the telescope). As such it seems quite a risk to try to get one made that has the correct features. I think that unless you can find a second broken SN10 with an intact primary to combine the two scopes, purchasing a new telescope will be the best option.

You have bought a very good telescope. There is no eyepiece that is "too good" to use with it. The advice already given with regards to eyepiece options is good, but be aware that there are two "200p" telescopes; the f5 Explorer 200p and the f6 Skyliner 200p which will affect the magnification and exit pupils given when used with a particular eyepiece.

Without knowing your budget, the 4mm Nirvana gets good reviews without being massively expensive. There is also a 4.7mm ES82 currently available in the classifieds section of this forum if you are happy buying a second hand item. The 5mm BST Starguider or Celestron X-Cel LX would be other good alternatives, or the Vixen SLV is available in 4 and 5mm options. Alternatively, other users on this forum have reported good results by using the 7.2-21.5mm Hyperflex Zoom with a decent 2X barlow. Having said that, you should be aware that Jupiter and Saturn are very close to the horizon and only visible for perhaps an hour at the moment which will limit your ability to view these objects at the moment. This leaves you with the Moon and Mars (which is now moving away from us and appearing smaller and less interesting). As such you may be better off looking at eyepiece focal lengths more suitable for viewing DSOs as a first purchase or in addition to a short planetary option.

Your telescope is supplied with 26 and 9.7mm Plossl eyepieces. The 9.7 will have a quite small eye relief which requires your eye to be quite close to the to of the eyepiece, hence the fact that your rubber eyecup is much shorter than the Morpheus eyepiece pictured above. If you buy any extra eyepieces shorter than your 9.7 I would recommend not buying Plossls as your eye will have to be even closer. Look for something advertised as having long eye relief, such as the BST Starguider range. With regards to holding your head in the correct position, you are correct that it is practice that you need. The width of the circle of light that you have to look through is called the exit pupil, and this is the same for all eyepieces of the same focal length no matter the quality or expense of the eyepiece. The formula to work it out is Exit Pupil = Eyepiece Focal Length / Telescope focal ratio (5.26 for your telescope). Longer focal length eyepieces have a larger exit pupil so you may find it easier to practice with your 26mm eyepiece and then once you are comfortable with that, move onto the shorter 9.7mm eyepiece. Another thing that you can do to sit down while observing rather than stand. This will increase your stability and make it easier to hold your head in the correct position. An observing chair with an adjustable height is best for this, but in the first instance I would suggest trying any sort of chair you already own (and can take outside!) to see if you prefer this method of observing.

Magnification is telescope focal length divided by eyepiece focal length so the smaller eyepiece will give more magnification. However, as John says, there is an optimum. Different objects respond differently and for planets 4-5 might be the optimum with your scope. For DSOs you will probably be looking at 10mm and longer, depending on the field of view required to see the object. With regards to "clarity" you will also find that the quality of the eyepiece also plays a part and more expensive eyepieces may yield better results. This will probably require some experience on your part to spot though.

I would suggest that you look for a 4 or 5mm eyepiece to start with and see how you get on with that. I would suggest that you look at something like a BST Starguider or a similar eyepiece that has good eye relief. Purchasing a plossl for instance would be a very uncomfortable viewing as your eye would have to be very close to the eyepiece. If you let us know your budget for an eyepiece we can give some more specific advice. To use a barlow with your telescope you put the barlow into the focuser instead of the eyepiece, and then put the eyepiece into the barlow. Barlows are typically sold as 2x or 3x. Higher numbers are available, but these are specialist photographic items and not useful for visual astronomy. If you use a 2x barlow it will double the magnification that a specific eyepiece and telescope combination gives. This is the equivalent of using an eyepiece that has half the focal length. This means that you could buy a 2x barlow and use it with your 10mm eyepiece instead of the 5mm Starguider I suggested above. However, the 10mm eyepiece that is supplied with your scope is not the best so the 5mm Starguider will most likely give better views than your 10mm and a 2x barlow. If you have a large enough budget, you will probably want to also replace your 10mm eyepiece fairly soon. I can't say I've ever heard of any fake equipment being for sale. Most of the astronomy equipment available is produced in the same factories and then rebranded so you will often see the same item available under several different names. If you buy from a reputable retailer like FLO, the sponsor of this forum, you won't have any problems with fake or substandard equipment.

There is a second hand section on this forum, which in my experience is the best place to buy second hand gear. Alternatively I have also had good results with https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/index.php and eBay but I think both of these tend to be a little more risky in regards to scams or equipment not being quite as described.

The mount provided with that telescope looks very cheap and flimsy to say the least, I'm not surprised that you are having issues. The telescope appears to have a standard vixen dovetail so any mount with a vixen clamp (i.e most mounts) will work. However, your telescope has a fixed dovetail on the bottom while most alt/az mounts are designed for a dovetail on the side. You may find that dismantling the telescope to drill new holes in the side for a side mounting is required to get the eyepiece and finder into a useable position. One exception would be the Skywatcher Pronto mount, which is a similar "telescope on top" mount. You may find that you can tighten the altitude clutch on your mount so that the friction is low enough so that you can still move the telescope, but that the telescope does not move of its own accord. You may have to adjust this depending on the approximate angle that you are observing at due to the way the telescope weight shifts over the mount. Usually you wouldn't tighten an axis down to lock it in position, but perhaps with this particular mount you will have to.

Probably to do with the altitude of Jupiter at the time of the review more than anything else. Eyepieces are a good investment so long as you purchase decent quality eyepieces and choose useful focal lengths.

At a glance I would say that the planets are too close, the scale and position of Jupiter's moons (all three of them) is wrong and that either Jupiter or Saturn is upside down.

It sounds like you might have the tension set too tight. There is a bolt that goes down through the centre of the rocker box and connects it to the base board that it turns on. By trial and error you will find that there is an optimum tightness level for the bolt. If that still does not give you satisfactory results some people like to cut a load of washers from the sides of plastic milk bottles. These washers are then added between the base board and rocker box on the connecting bolt. You want just enough washers in the stack so that the stack of washers starts to take some of the weight of the telescope. Again, it will require trial and error to determine the optimum number of washers in the stack for the smoothest motion. Also, we have just had a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, meaning that they appear to be very close, and can even be seen at the same time in eyepieces with a suitably large field of view. For my location it is looking like tomorrow (24th) might be cloud free enough to have a look at them, so perhaps it is the same for you. They are both extremely low at the moment so you would need to find a location where you have a clear view to the south-west (i.e. nothing as high as a house for a few hundred metres) at about 4-5pm if you want to try to catch this event.

I found that a 7mm Celestron X-Cel LX was a very good choice for planetary views using my 8" dob. For DSOs, you'll want something like a 12mm (Starguider or X-Cel LX will work well) and then something about double that for wider views. A 24mm ES68° would do well, but be above your budget unless you can find something second hand, but you may want something with a slightly larger field of view (I did), so you would need to be looking at options that require a 2" barrel. I've got a 28mm Nirvana in that role, but I'm not sure if they are still available new anywhere, perhaps TS in Germany still do one.