devdusty

Hello. I have recently purchased the Sky Watcher Mercury 705 refractor on an AZ3 mount. The azimuth adjustment knob seems to be under the tripod head, but it is almost impossible to access. Also there looks like no way to move the telescope in altitude. Would be grateful for any advice / information to sort out these things.. Thanks. Chris

Thanks for your suggestions Heather. I have got a small tripod, which my daughter bought for me from the charity shop where she works, but I don't think it will be strong enough to support an ST 80 .! Chris P

Thanks for all your replies. My budget you asked about Stu is very limited ,only 120 pounds, with a stretch say 150 pounds, which would put the ST 80 beyond my reach. The next option would be the Mercury 705 ( 70 mm), which comes with a 45 degree erecting diagonal. Is this a reasonable telescope?. Chris P

I am interested in buying an 80 mm travel scope, which I can use for both astronomy and birdwatching. As it seems to be fairly portable, I can take it to a dark sky site, as my back garden suffers from light pollution, and surrounded by houses and trees. The manufacturers seem to be Celestron, Orion, and Meade. Any advice or information would be useful. Chris P

Bortle 8 skies down here in Exeter, Devon. Chris

I have tried to find M13 in Hercules with 10 x 50 binoculars from my urban back garden ,but with no success.Another item required is a tripod to mount the binoculars to keep them steady enough. Chris

Hello Stu. My sky is bortle 8 and I struggle to see stars dimmer than mag. 3.5 with the naked eye. For instance Megrez mag.3.3 in Ursa Major is virtually overhead at present but is very faint. Chris

Unfortunately Alcor is not visible from a light polluted site. I think people should qualify the comment that it is an easy naked eye double from a dark site.! Chris

Only 3 stars seen. Exactly the same as the last 20 off years.! Chris

I am interested in buying the above, which seems to be in my price range.Has anyone any comments or advice. I was thinking about a small reflector but there appears to be several posts on the forum about problems with collimation. Chris P

Looked out at 7.00pm tonight. Sky was dark and clear. Venus easily visible in my 10 x 50 binoculars but Neptune mag.7.6? Not visible. Chris P

Hello. You will probably need a tripod for 10 x 50 binoculars , Also it depends on your light pollution. If like me your naked eye magnitude is only 3 to 3.5 you will probably reach magnitude 6.5 with these binoculars. Chrisa

I would like to join an astronomy society .Unfortunately I don't have my own transport and would need a lift to the nearest one. I did contact them but they had no members living in my area. I did manage to visit when they had an open day, but apparently they had no groups doing observational stargazing only using telescopes and cameras for photos. Chris

Thanks again for the replies. I have a tripod adaptor bracket. All I need now is a reasonably sturdy tripod. Can anyone recommend a tripod for 50 pounds or less ? Chris P

Thanks for your replies.The topic heading was monocular for stargazing but when I typed it in it changed to Binocular for stargazing! I was interested in observing with a monocular so any advice or thoughts about that would be welcome. Chris P