FLO

Regarding eye-relief. If you wear eyeglasses to correct far-sighted or nearsightedness you can take them off when observing through a telescope. Simply adjust the focuser to sharpen the view. Eyeglasses are not required. If however you wear eyeglasses to correct astigmatism then you might need to wear them while observing (mostly when observing at lower magnifications). Regarding optimum eyepiece eye-relief for eyeglass wearers, this varies person-to-person but most find around 15-20mm works well. We and most other specialist astronomy retailers will understand if you buy an eyepiece then choose to return it because it doesn't suit your eyesight / eyeglass requirements. It isn't a problem. HTH, Steve

Sky-Watcher have released a new compact dual-saddle Alt-Azimuth mount for astronomy 🙂 Sky-Watcher AZ-GTiX Dual Saddle Alt-Azimuth Astronomy Mount Stock will arrive at our warehouse early next week.

Here y'go 🙂 Pentax XW 16.5mm 85° Pentax XW 23mm 85° ETA early-mid Dec. HTH, Steve

Pentax have revealed two new XW eyepieces with 85° FOV 🙂 Pentax XW 16.5mm 85° Pentax XW 23mm 85° ETA early-mid December.

Now in stock 🙂

Hi @symmetal, sorry to hear your telescope needs cleaning. I see you received it less than a month ago. I see you have also contacted my colleague. I am confident he, with Celestron, will find a solution for you but please can I ask you - from here onwards - to contact us before disassembling or modifying any part of your RASA-11 🙂 Steve

(Click banner to see discounts). We have have already applied the reductions so discount code not required 🙂 Sale ends 31st December, while stocks last.

Sky-Watcher don't provide max payload spec'. The AZ-Go2 is based on an earlier SupaTrak mount. That too was available with a number of telescope OTAs, the heaviest being the Skymax-127. The Skymax-127 weighs 3.2 kg / 7 lb so the AZ-Go2 max payload will likely be around 3.5 kg / 7.7 lb. Currently Sky-Watcher do not enable the mount to be purchased separately. HTH, Steve

Warehouse 2 is starting to take shape 🙂 It is a long project that (because Nov / Dec / Jan are busiest months) will probably stretch into 1st quarter 2023.

Same here. Probably even more so. We have less land area than you in the US.

I don't think you can see our warehouse via street view. Probably only the entrance to Budlake Units. We didn't fit all our stock in warehouse 1. We outgrew warehouse 1 over a year ago but larger warehouses are scarce in deepest, darkest Devon (property developers underestimated business growth for this area). We built a mezzanine floor in warehouse 1. This helped but wasn't enough so in desperation we purchased four shipping containers to store stock at a local farm. These weren't enough either so we also started paying for 3rd-party warehouse storage on another industrial estate (an expensive option!) and bought a Luton van with tail-lift to move stock to/from every week. Far from ideal! Then, finally, another warehouse became available. Next door to ours! Perfect. So we now have two warehouses 😀 We almost sold the Hubble Space Telescope to a Mr E Musk but he pulled out last minute saying we didn't have accurate user records. HTH, Steve

FLO now has two warehouses! 🙂 Warehouse 2 is longer and wider than warehouse 1. The extra space will enable us to carry significantly more stock and expand our workshop area, so provide a higher level of service. I had intended to post before and after photos but racking (to be installed later this week) and some stock arrived early this morning. A HUGE thank-you for your continued support over the years 🤗 Steve

In the US Sky-Watcher have released an alternate version of their EQ6-R Pro mount: The Sky-Watcher EQ6-Ri Pro. Our understanding is the i version is a necessary response to a shortage of handsets (due to difficulty sourcing components). The i version is same as EQ6-R Pro but does not have a handset (can be purchased separately when available). Instead it is supplied with a WiFi dongle (also available separately). Currently in the UK we have plenty of handsets so we think it unlikely we will see the i version here. The next shipment with EQ6-R Pro mounts is expected to dock December. HTH, Steve

That was their new Pulsar observatory. Essentially a more modern design, easier to transport and easier to home assemble. Otherwise same as original (currently still ongoing). As soon as they give us the thumbs-up we will add it to our website 🙂 Steve

@Don Pensack UK customers pay UK tax (regardless of whether they buy from US or UK). It is a legal requirement so cannot be ignored. If you still believe it is "quite fair" to compare US Tele Vue prices without tax with UK Tele Vue prices with tax then we must agree to disagree. Steve

Visitor numbers were lower than usual but this was expected due to cost of living crisis and political uncertainty. Fortunately lower visitor numbers provided us more opportunity for discussion and networking. We had fun 🙂 Exhibitor numbers were also lower, probably due to predicted lower visitor numbers and perhaps some belt tightening. This was unfortunate but provided more space for those exhibitors who did attend, which was nice. I agree. Though to be fair, exhibitors are partly responsible for spreading the word and there were less exhibitors this year. It was two days (Fri & Sat) but we agree here too. Considering the current economic and political circumstances a single day event would have been better. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. If the circumstances are same next year(!) then perhaps IAS will be a shorter more focused event. We do however believe IAS was well organised so want to sincerely thank Graham & Martin for providing us this opportunity Thank-you too to everyone who visited our stall at IAS. It was wonderful to meet you and to hear your enthusiasm, suggestions and feedback 🤗 Steve

We have 🙂 We compare them regularly because we have publicly assured UK astronomers FLO's prices for Tele Vue eyepieces reflect equivalent US prices. Steve

No. It is not. You are comparing your US price without tax with our UK price with tax. On your website you offer the eyepiece for $618 without tax. You compare it to our £669 price with tax. If we did same as you (listed prices without tax) our price for the same eyepiece would be £557. At today's currency exchange-rate, £557 is $622. So a difference of only $4 (£3.58). If we also consider import Duty then our price is cheaper than equivalent US price. I know you know this ... Steve

You have said this before but it is not true. More difficult to source, maybe, but not more expensive. Steve

This year's lectures are presented by: Friday 14th Milissa Gillone 10.00am 11.00am Prof Michael Merrifield 11.15am 12.15pm Gary Palmer 1.00pm 2.00pm Prof Martin Barstow 2.15pm 3.15pm Prof Leigh Fletcher 3.30pm 4.30pm Saturday 15th David Harland 10.00am 11.00am Michael Morris 11.15am 12.15pm Peter Jenkins 1.00pm 2.00pm Prof Nial Tavir 2.15pm 3.15pm Prof Allan Chapman 3.30pm 4.30pm

This year's IAS poster showing vendors / exhibitors. We have no idea what happened to our logo! 😆

FLO will be at the International Astronomy Show 2022 🔭 The IAS was started by astronomers (Graham & Martin) for astronomers and has grown into a major event with excellent lectures and approx thirty vendors / exhibitors. ------- Dates: Friday 14th & Saturday 15th. Venue: The Warwick Suite Complex, Stoneleigh Park, CV8 2LH Tickets: Book your tickets online HERE ------- Our stall is opposite Pulsar Observatories (they are revealing an all-new observatory) so is easy to find. We are there to meet customers (not easy for an online business) and reveal a number of new astronomy products and services: Tony Owens from Shebumi Astro Engineering will reveal new 'modernisation service' for Sky-Watcher EQ8 series mounts (essentially mount upgrade kits, on steroids!). Alverez from AstronScientific and Gary palmer from Astro Courses will reveal two new premium rotators: One for cameras, capable of carrying high payloads, and another that enables four Daystar Quarks to be combined into a single imaging rig. A pre-production prototype of a new StellaLyra Parrellogram Mount for binocular astronomy. Beautifully engineered, this new mount will go into production soon. Hopefully in time for Christmas! Our new Remote Observatory project in Spain is almost finished (will post more soon) so Grant will be showing one of the imaging rigs available for lease. Ian King will be there with iOptron & Paramount astronomy mounts and some telescopes from Takahashi, StellaMira, Sharpstar, William Optics Celestron RASA & Meade ACF. And, of course, ZWO cameras. StellaLyra Dobsonian telescopes. Manufactured for us by Long Perng in Taiwan, these relatively new telescopes have already made 'StellaLyra' a respected brand. Rob (FLO's Ops manager), James (financial manager), Chris (Astro La Vista & Helpdesk) and Daz (SGL) will also be there. All are amateur astronomers. None are sales people (we won't even have a card-reader with us so are unable to process payments). If however you like what you see and think you might buy later, please ask for a show discount code. Also, we hate taking kit home after an event so if you wish to buy (you'll need a smartphone to access our website) and take away one of the display items, please ask for a generous discount. Hope to see you there 🤗

One Astrodymium 2.5" Riser Blocks for Refractor Telescopes (Metric Hardware). Customer Return Didn't suit customers setup. Complete, open packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £25.00 £22.00 (saving £3.00)

One Astro Essentials Flexible Dew Shield for 8" Telescopes. Open Box Used to check measurements so open packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £27.00 £24.00 (saving £3.00)

One Celestron SCT T-Adapter 50mm. Customer Return No longer required. Good condition, open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £22.00 £19.00 (saving £3.00)