JOC

Get a T ring for your camera, they are not too costly and make attaching the camera really easy. It's a question of what you really want to do. Imagers see a question about taking pics of the night sky and often seem to automatically assume that everyone wants to track sky for hours and hours of subs, and stacjing and multiple filters to obtain their stunning results. However, not everyone wants to do this. I just wanted to have a play and see what I could achieve with what I had and modest possible additional outlay. I can attach my camera to the focus unit as we have been discussing and also to the back of my Morpheus EPs and can take the moon and have a bash at the larger planets. I've also learned how to take a pretty decent picture of a constellation with just my camera on a tripod and had a play with stacking exposures. I therefore have photos good enough to impress family and friends who don't really know what it could look like and I have fun with it. Isn't having fun what it is all about?

@bottletopburly that was exactly what I did, took apart the 1.25 adapter and you do indeed get the ideal ring needed to connect to the camera T ring 🙂 My avatar moon was taken with that setup.

I have a 200P flextube. With no adadpters other than those supplied with the scope I just added a T ring to the front of the camera body (I have a Canon Rebel T3 (1100D)) and this goes into the standard focus unit with one of the supplied rings and I get focus without issues. HTH

Don't buy a cheap one. My mother was tempted by a magazine picture, but object projects no resemblance to actual star constellations on the ceiling. Instead it is just a disordered array of white blobs.

Ah, then there is a good chance I've looked at it without even realising. It's no doubt like many of these DSO vastly enhanced in magnification and visibility by astrophotography. I tend to only see the trapezium nebula area in Orion and don't really have much idea of all the other interesting things around it.

Is that what they call the 'Horses head' nebula?

How about 'Taken from the photographers own house or garden'?

I made a really strong cardboard holder for my solar film into this I added properly formed metal small 'eyes' (cheap kit off ebay). Into these I place a number of the really small bungee hook ended cords that you can buy, and use these to hook the filter onto various locations around the telescope. I think this is a useful precaution to help prevent them falling off accidentally - that's why I've mentioned it. As above I also keep mine in a old plastic cake box by itself and inspect it prior to use. I don't have a wedge, but one with a home-made filter might want to consider the bungee route to fastening it to the telescope if losing it accidentally is concerning.

I wasn't going, but I'm gutted for the organisers and everyone else involved. I enjoy it vicariously just reading about it on the forum and will miss the commentary this year. Hope some of you manage to hook up else where and that the organisers don't have too much extra work with the refunds.

Then it sounds a very good idea in your situation. I'm sure I've read about people getting some use out of a moon filter to also place some contrast on the brighter planets. NB. if you ever wish to view the sun you will need far more specialist filters (just in case you felt tempted I thought it as well to state this!).

There is a lot of sense in this. If you want to improve the viewing experience then why not sell the current scope and put the cash and that from Santa's present into the purchase of something like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html - keep an eye on the second hand advertisments in the buy and sell section of SGL and you might be surprised at how cheap decent telescopes 2nd hand can be. The telescope you have purchased probably cost £70+ from what I see online, the astromaster kit is another £50+ There is every chance of a much better telescope turning up on SGL in that forum for not a lot more investment and then you will really improve what you can see. NB. If Santa hasn't been shopping yet for the Celestron Astomaster kit in preparation for the future I think you would be better off investing in one £47 BST starguider EP than all the things in that box.

Hi @Ricochet looks like you could be right and faulty memory on part - however, I have satisfied myself and found where the memory came from: Startlight 1's comment - 5th entry down. It was when I'd tried to use a laser collimator which apparently did have a correct orientation. Looks like you are good to go with a Cheshire no matter which way it's put in providing you've got enough light for it. I do still think it needs to be an accurate central fit in the EP holder though.

I managed to find it in my 8" one on a couple of occasions and in that it does indeed appear to have a blue hue.

If you want colour some of the stars give nice visible colour that you can see. Albireo in Cygnus is possibly the most well known. It is a double star and each of them is a different colour.

I respectfully disagree - MIGHT need to be viewed by filters is a better way of putting that. I have viewed the moon through my 8" reflector, my 8cm refractor and a pair of binoculars and have never needed or wanted a filter.

Or maybe these if you live in Yorkshire Poor Yorkshire!!

Can any of the regulars help please. A few years back when I was struggling with collimation I'm sure someone explained to me that there was actually a correct method of inserting the Cheshire collimator so that it it was neatly balanced between some reference marks on the rest of the scope and that this made it central for use. Was I imagining the advice? I am struggling to find the thread if any one can shove me in the correct direction this would be great. Cheers!

Follow Astrobaby - the guide starts off by getting the spider central IIRC. You can do it without the collimation cap, as I suggested from my own experience. It is possible to see when you have it right when all three clips just disappear out of view - the fit is that tight, that providing you can't see any it will be central See above - pity mine isn't out at the moment I'd be able to take a photo, but perhaps someone else will chip in.

At the moment I'm falling short of finding the thread where it was mentioned. However, IIRC there are marks/screws on the EP holder and marks on the Cheshire I think one on one item and two on the other, and the notion is to get the single mark between the two on the other object so the Cheshire is balanced at the midway point. Currently annoyed I can't find the info quickly, but I'm sure the orientation of the Cheshire in the EP has a correct method - perhaps others will chip in if I can't find it.

DSO's always seem a bit problematical for me in terms of EP. The issue I find is the sheer range of sizes that they are and the range of visibility in the sky. I often think that there is probably not a one size fits all DSO EP out there! I have a full range of EP's still struggle to find many of them!

That's what I thought. That is the most highly respected guide anywhere for collimating a telescope - anyone that follows every step to the letter no matter how daft it sounds should be successful. In addition folks like you and I are lucky as the guide is written using the same scopes as we have. Sometimes you have to loosen the centre screw of the secondary to get the outer three to move, also make sure your spider is central as described in the guide. I find when I make the final tighten on the secondary screws it has a tendency to just give a final shift to the mirror, there seems no way around this on my own scope so now I assess what the final movement will be and account for this when I position the secondary. I find a key thing is the bit about being able to see the clips that hold the primary. Actually on my system the clips are literally just out of view, but despite this is is easy to tell when they are central as all mine are just about disappeared from view to the same degree. Finally it is worth noting that there is an approved orientation for the Cheshire in the EP holder - you may or may not have caught up with this instruction, but it can make a difference if it is not correctly oriented.

That sounds a Sterling effort, it was bright, but considerably brassic down here, heaven knows what the top of a hill in a tempest was like. It looks like the later beer transit somewhat made up for things.

If you check Astrobaby's guide http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/ you will find her perfect collimation still leaves the visual view of the mirrors slightly off centre as your's are - this is fine - I left mine off centre in the same way and had no issues.

The moon should do fine, alternatively could you get the scope upstairs and do it and then not knock it before you get it downstairs. I find that you don't even need to be spot on with alignment, providing you know just how far out you are and in what direction. Moon, a planet, a socking great big star (providing you can find one to start off with) anything can be used - just make sure you don't pick an aircraft!!! LOL

I'm curious - what made you pick this ^^^ model? FWIW you may not find the moon filter beneficial - it depends on your eyes. Some people swear by them and say the moon is too bright, but I've got an 8" mirror with far more light gathering capacity than you and filters I could use on the moon, but I much prefer my moon the way nature intended and do not find it too bright to watch comfortably. You may also find that you don't get a lot of use out of coloured filters - I soon got fed up with screwing them on and off the EP's. Possibly your best route is to see what you can do with what you have, then when you get a hankering to improve things your best investment might be a different scope, maybe a 200P Dobsonian which is what most beginners get a lot of use out of.