Louis D

Download and learn to use Stellarium to familiarize yourself with the sky and what's up in the sky on any given night at any given time in any given direction. Also, become familiar with the Caldwell catalog and Messier objects. These two lists tend to cover the majority of the non-solar system showpiece objects in the sky that are good for beginners to hunt down and observe. Beware though, most galaxies and many emission nebula are difficult under light polluted skies, especially in an 80mm scope.

I've got some "throw away" Kellners that came with scopes, and they're actually not that bad. Sure, the view is narrow and the eye relief is super tight, but they're decently sharp across the central 25 degrees or so. I'd give them a chance before tossing them on the scrapheap. If I were to buy Plossls, I just get the GSO/Revelation/Astro Essentials because in an achromat, you're unlikely to see any difference between them and the NPLs.

I'm thinking of buying a house in the mountains of southeastern New Mexico after I retire. Less humid and cooler summers than Texas, pitch black skies (Bortle 2/3), and mostly clear nights. The food? Well, I'll take Texas barbecue and Tex-Mex over their Southwestern cuisine any day. I speak New Mexican well enough, I guess.

Why not? The worst outcome is loss of dark adaptation for a time. You may need to adjust the brightness down a bit to find the level that works best for your eyes.

Sounds like New York weather. I lived upstate for 6 years, and the weather was awful to say the least. Even clear days were beset with smog that made clear skies look gray. I didn't get into astronomy until I moved to Deep in the heart of Texas. The stars at night Are big and bright Deep in the heart of Texas The prairie sky Is wide and high Deep in the heart of Texas

Thanks, I was wondering if the rotator's top thread was T2 because I couldn't find anything about it on Lacerta's site. Also, I totally missed your newer thread. Thanks for the pointer.

Try shining a bright flashlight (torch) onto a piece of white paper and stare at it to force your rods into the active state then quickly look in the eyepiece at the Orion nebula. I've managed to catch a brief glimpse of green coloration using this technique with an 8" Dob.

@johninderby I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm thinking about getting the 2" version. You mention that you direct attached the 2" to 1.25" adapter to the rotation adapter via the thread. Which adapter are you using? Thanks!

If you're handy at building things, you could rig up an observing chair similar to this:

SkEye app works pretty good as well for push-to usage. You'll just need to rig up a phone holder starting with a car phone clamp to attach it to your scope.

Well, if you've got a counterweight rod like the following image: You could get a green laser sight and use the rifle barrel clamp to attach it to the rod. You may need to wrap something incompressible around the rod to build it up the correct diameter for the clamp (1 inch). That's how I attached one to the handle of my DSV-1 alt-az mount.

I guess it's no surprise then that Moonraker Telescopes is based out of the UK.

I truly pity you UK based astronomers. Perhaps you could consider moving to the Australian Outback for more consistently clear skies? 🤔 We've had plenty of pretty decently clear nights here in Texas. I've just been a bit too wiped out by the whole holidays thing to do much observing recently.

Generally, the 7.2-21.5mm zooms and the 8-24mm zooms generate the most favorable reviews. Svbony has a new line of eyepieces direct from China generating favorable reviews on CN. I'm not sure if the 7-21mm is the same as the SW version. The 8-24mm is definitely different from the Celestron/Meade/SW/Agena version. You'll have to hunt around to find who has any zooms in stock.

Just about any pair of 8x porro prism binoculars would perform well under the stars handheld I've found. Due to the jitteriness of the image, it's impossible to distinguish high end binoculars from lower end ones at night. If you can tripod mount, a pair of 15x70mm bins are very nice for observing large open clusters like the Pleiades and Collinder 70 in Orion's belt. Apart from them and a few other large clusters and rich star fields, binoculars aren't particularly engaging as astronomy tools. You will be able to make out the moons of Jupiter, see the elongation of Saturn due to its rings, and have a bit better view of the moon, but that's about it. I also use them for comet hunting and observing. They'll always be handy to have around for daytime use as well, so it will never be money wasted.

However, the focal lengths marked on many zooms are not very accurate and should only be used as guidelines, not gospel.

I have no idea why you'd want to double the focal length from 1500mm to 3000mm and halve the speed from f/12 to f/24. The 127 Mak tops out with an 8mm or so eyepiece with a 8mm/12=0.67mm exit pupil anyway. Zooms perform very well at f/12, as do the BST Starguider line. I'd probably suggest either an 8-24mm zoom plus a 25mm BST Starguider or 8mm, 12mm, and 25mm BST Starguiders. The US version of the Skymax comes with a 2" 28mm LET which isn't too bad from what I've read. I don't know what type of 1.25" 10mm and 25mm eyepieces the UK version comes with, so I have no idea of their quality. Are you looking to buy the US or UK version?

Get at least a 50mm RACI. I mounted a 60mm RACI to my daughter's 127 Mak. Sometimes, the view through it in dense star fields is far more engaging than through the main tube.

Everything Skywatcher is more expensive over here than in the UK.

I was going to say as well, on most nights in my Bortle 5/6 skies, I can readily see the reticle against the background sky glow once dark adapted.

Well, the older Synta Maks didn't come with an SCT thread at the back. You had to add this adapter to do that. Now, they come with the adapter already installed. How do I know? I've got an older one for me and a newer one for my daughter. That SCT thread on the newer Maks is easily removed to reveal the original threads of the older versions. The newer version also comes with a 2” visual back, 2" 90-degree star diagonal, and a 28 mm 2” LET eyepiece.

Like the 12.5mm Celestron Microguide Ortho and 12mm Meade MA Astrometric?

Since it's still a parabolic mirror, do you need a coma corrector, or is it a really slow f-ratio?

Perhaps you just need to replace the battery in the fob? I had to replace the 12V, 23 amp A23/MN23 battery in my wireless flash transmitter module this last Christmas. It turns out they're also used in wireless garage door opening key fobs. You might check yours to see if it is similar. They look like half of a AAA battery.

Sure, but how well do SCT corrector plates stand up to common carrier shipping? This is but a small sampling of images I found online (mostly on CN). Most were damaged in shipping. I couldn't locate a single image of a broken Mak meniscus corrector. I rest my case.