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

I have a pair of Helios 8x40 Nature Sport WE binoculars which I find to heavy to view stars etc as they are dancing all over the place.

I am interested in buying a monocular which is less than 1\3 of the weight for stargazing. Any  comments or advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Chris P

Out of interest where do you find those detailed light pollution maps of the UK ?

Chris P

Thanks for everyone's advice and comments. Unfortunately Albireo is not visible with the naked eye even when Cygnus is overhead due to light pollution. I have tried looking for it with 8 x 40 binoculars but without success. Is it easy to find with a 90 mms refractory ?

Chris P

My daughter works for a charity shop and they have had a donation of the above telescope. She has asked me to have a look at it and see whether it is worth anything.

I opened  the box and inside I found a 3 legged wooden tripod., telescope, a counterweight and a small 5x finderscope. However there does not seem to be any sort of mount for attaching the telescope to the tripod.

Would be grateful for any comments or advice about this telescope.

Chris P

One of the reasons I wanted to buy a telescope was to observe the colourful double stars. Just read in July edition of Astronomy Now magazine that Albireo ,s wonderful colours will be washed out to some degree in a light polluted area.

it would seem pointless to buy a telescope for a light polluted back garden., If this is the case.

Chris P

Thanks again for everyone's advice ,comments and recommendations. Been thinking about this over the weekend. I am still torn between a short focus refractor or a small Dobsonian reflector.

Ideally Before committing myself I would like to have a look through each type of telescope. If there any members on the forum who live in the Exeter/East Devon area who would be willing for me to have a view through their telescope,  I would be very grateful.

Thanks again

Chris

Thanks Ricochet. I would prefer the 100 p because it is smaller than the 130p and also the tube is enclosed rather than open.

Chris P

Thanks again for all your replies. Just looking at the Skywatcher catalogue , just noticed the Skywatcher Heritage 100 p which is well within my price range.

I looked at the review by Sky at Night magazine and they seemed to think that it was good buy. Obviously it has limitations but it seems ideal for me.

Any comments or advice gratefully received.

Chris P

Thanks to everyone for their advice and comments. I note your recommendation Alan for the Skywatcher Evostar 90mms reftactor.

In fact my daughter bought this for me 5 years ago as a combined 65 th birthday and Xmas present. I selected it as I was advised it was suitable for towns with bad light pollution.

I found it too long and bulky for me to carry in  and out to the back garden.

Also I never got to grips with the equatorial mount.! It never seemed to move in the direction I wanted it to.

The other telescope that might just be in my price range is the Skywatcher Startravel 80mms refractory on an altazi muth mount.

If anyone has advice or comments about it , I would be grateful to hear them.

Chris P

Further to my post about the Skywatcher flexible 130 p, I am now looking at a short focus tefractor. I am 70 years old so can only manage to carry a fairly lightweight telescope into my back garden.

I am interested in viewing the moon, double stars,  bright planets and the brighter star clusters.

I am looking to purchase one of the following

Celestron  travel scope 70

Bresse r Classic 70/350

Skywatcher mercury 705 70mms.

I understand that these telescopes have limitations, but they the only ones in my price range.

Any comments or advice would be welcome.

Chris P