JOC

I hope you enjoy it.

@johninderby Ooo.....is that what you've been funding recently 😄 So I got the 4.5mm one of these - thanks @johninderby. So now you all know what I'm waiting for 2nd hand, BUT whomever has it for sale please don't offer it up for a few months before I've saved up again. Don't they look nice? Not quite in the same league as a box of green and black, but I still think they are nice. NB. I refer to this as my 'posh box' I keep all the others in a different box and they are handy if I have visitors round or do some STEM work with the telescope.

FWIW when I tried making a dew shield from a camping mat I found the added weight was too much and it affected the goto performance.

Yes, many patio furniture covers are well up to spec if you pick the right ones - the ones for stacks of chairs as above would be a good shape and size. I've got a chimnea cover over my Dob - though not outside, but again you can get really good quality versions of those as well.

I bought one of these intending to use it for a telescope, instead it got co-opted for its designed purpose to hold two wheelie bins which is about it's size. They have a built in floor and your brother could use it for his bins once your scope has finished with it. It's been in the garden for the last three years and I've never seen a trace of rain inside. You can also get from Amazon and ebay - mine came from the latter. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Keter-Store-It-Out-Max-Plastic-Garden+Wheelie-Bin-Storage-Beige+Brown---4-x-5-ft/p/119796?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=&scid=scplp119796&sc_intid=119796&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-5jUiaLg5wIVibHtCh0V_QKkEAQYASABEgLSQvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you have a mobile phone with GIS turned on for a few minutes an application called synscan init 2.0 will usually provide all you need for setting up goto systems will all the figures in the right order inc. All the essential leading zeros and plus or minus desinations that you must make sure you include. It might be worth a try.

LOL Mind you I was thinking more in terms of someone actually owning 101 different EPs!!

I was scanning the thread titles and saw Eyepiece 101 and thought, 'my word someone's bank balance has been hit hard!!!'

I've got an 8" Dob and on a good night can get to x240 - I've never seen E and F either.

It's not just an optical illusion is it - those are huge - yes?

Don't laugh, but still as a novice observer the answer is 'ones that I can find!' Seriously I haven't observed too many objects yet, but I think my favourites so far have been the ring nebula - just the coolest thing in the sky, the blue snowball (something I can actually see colour in, Alberio coloured double star and Lyra - the double double and I have split it as far as 4 stars clearly. I've also got a soft spot for the trapezium in the Orion nebula, but I still can't see more than about 4 stars in it. Oh and it goes without saying the planets - Saturn and Jupiter are obviously cool and the moon and sun. I think this qualifies as all the easy to find/easy to see objects LOL

I'll have wait until the clouds clear to count, but on this web site https://www.nightblight.cpre.org.uk/maps/ I am literally on the cusp of 0.5-1 and 0.25-0.5 Nanowatts/cm2/sr I am not entirely certain what the scale means, but I guess it is fairly good, though I could have real words with the numbskull that put up 4 flood lights about 1/4 mile down the road recently which are now all I can see at eye level and in through my bathroom skylight window. O-III Filter wise I have one of these Optics ones https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uhc-oiii-visual-filters/oiii-filter.html However, I have no idea how good it is vs. more expensive ones.

It has been suggested that my Baader aspheric modular 31mm might be useful to view the veil in the summer. However, to do this I'll need an O-III filter and my O-III is 1.25mm. The Aspheric is a 2" EP, but has a 1.25mm cone to allow it's installation in both sizes of focussers (my own focusser is 2" or 1.25 with an adapter). Hence I can put my O-III filter on the Aspheric, but only with the 1.25mm adapter. With the adapter in place I guess I loose a significant part of wide field of view of this EP. If this is so then I have a different possible EP I could use a Celestron Omni Plossl 1.25" 32mm which will obviously take the O-III filter directly. So which will I get the best view with? The Baader aspheric 31mm with 1.25 adapter or The Celestron Omni plossl 32mm

With such help I might just be encouraged to have a bash at this. I do recall once viewing Alberio and clearly viewed the two differently coloured stars. I had no idea that it was part of cygnus. NB. The advice on EP choice is hugely helpful to beginners like myself - with many deep sky objects it is difficult to know just how big or otherwise they actually are.

I've absolutely no idea - err........I'd have to find Cygnus first! I'll check on stellarium the next clear night when I'm out and see if I can find Cygnus. That ought to be doable as I can see how it might look like a big swan.

I've got both those and a goto and I am similarly frustrated and although I haven't made huge efforts I have on occasion gone looking for it at the right time of year and given up.

I find my 8" 200P Dob is happier at around x200 and maybe x240 if the conditions are really good - I don't get much use out of my 5mm XW Pentax - despite is being an excellent quality EP as with the 1200mm FL this gives x240 which I find is at the top of what works here in my bit of the UK.

Maximum theoretical magnification may not be what you get the best view with. I have a 5mm in my box (1200mm focal length) giving me potentially 240 X magnification. I try it and rarely succeed. Many times smaller is sharper and far nicer to view the planets with. If you haven't already done so I would commend the scrolling through of this thread and viewing the pictures on the first page:

Have you followed this guide yet - http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/ I tried all the various videos and other instructions, but get a Cheshire collimator and do everything Astrobaby says and in the order instructed and you will succeed - even I managed it.

If you are in the UK you might find that something given x200 and as an absolutely maximum x250 might be about all that's usable due to atmospherics.

Those are great buildings.

The OTA and mount together behind the door in our locked PVC porch (like a mini conservatory), the paraphernalia (EP's, finderscopes, power cables in boxes in the lounge stacked inconspicuously next to the computer - and that is what takes the time - the OTA and mount is quite doable to chuck outside quickly. The rest of the kit requires that I shift the computer chair, dismantle the neat stack raid it for what I want, walk it all out through the house, go back for what I've forgotten, set it all up with the scope, go back again for the power supply, then go back again for what I've forgotten, repeat several times, then at the end of the night put it all away again and fit all the EP's back into their 'cases' and find all their plastic covers etc. to go with them. I do have a shed that I'm waiting to put up for the telescope, but I can't decide in the garden where to put it as my favourite location for the telescope has no room for the shed and I have the bug bear of loads of trees around the garden. One day I'll get the shed up and then maybe I can keep everything out in the garden!

Chimnea and/or BBQ and/or picnic furniture covers from the well known auction site are inexpensive, come in a complete range of sizes and make wonderful dust covers for telescopes. You might want to get one to help stop spiders taking up residence.

You might find this thread useful - my 200P DIY solar filter and lots of ideas from others in the pictures too:

Try this thread in it is my 200P solar filter made from Baader film and those of others: