FLO

Ta-daaaah! 😊 Bresser Messier 10" Dobsonian Telescope

That was a recent change, only week or two ago. I am not aware of any other changes. HTH, Steve

It might feel that way here in the UK but, as far as I know, Bresser don’t own Explore Scientific. They are Explore Scientific’s European distributor. Similarly Explore Scientific distribute Bresser products in the US. We don’t currently stock the 10” Bresser Dobsonian but, after reading your enthusiastic endorsement, it sounds like we should 🙂 Steve

Ian joined us nearly a year ago. He is well & truly part of the team now. Like he's always been here 😜 Steve

Hi Anne, We are a UK retailer 🙂 We always make available to our customers discounts or promos that are made available to us. So if you see a price or promo in another country that is not available here in the U.K. please contact the manufacturer to request they make it available through U.K. retailers. HTH, Steve

We agree. It was overdue. We agree here to 🙂 I will make enquiries when we reopen Monday. Steve

Check out these reduced price promotions from Lunt Solar Telescopes 😀 Lunt LS50THa B600PT H-alpha Solar Telescope £1,321 £1,045 (Save £276) Lunt LS50C Compact Double-Stack Filter for LS50THa £1,357 £1,198 (Save £159) Lunt White Light Herschel Solar Wedge £339 £260 (Save £79) Offers subject to availability.

Officially the telescope doesn’t exist, though Synta are clearly beta testing one (perhaps the Austrian retailer knows one of the beta testers). It is not clear yet if it will come to market. HTH, Steve

Our photo shows the current/latest version with welded top-plate. HTH, Steve

We can, of course, but a premium power lead won't compensate for a duff power supply 🙂

It is the power supply that concerns me 😁 Seriously, most mount faults can be traced to a duff power supply. Do you have a good one you can use for testing? Needless to say if I am wrong then we will happily arrange collection / replacement. HTH, Steve

Ah. Oops. 🙂

I don’t need a wooden case for my eyepieces, but I’d happily buy one 🙂 Steve

I am confident I didn’t say that 🙂 Though I fully understand someone choosing to pay more for premium craftsmanship and engineering. I.e. a fountain pen, not a ballpoint. Steve

No offence or flattery intended. It is only that American woodworking is generally, I think, different to European. For the european market we probably wouldn't add so much carved detail. Interestingly, when it comes to machined astronomy hardware, the reverse is true. I.e. American-made ADM accessories are plain and functional when viewed alongside similar European products. European-made equivalents tend to have bright anodising and rounded edges. Not better. Only different 😇 Steve

I wonder if they are a little too 'American' for the UK market. If someone in the UK is reading this, who works in wood, and is interested in manufacturing eyepiece cases and/or observing chairs. Please contact us 🙂 Steve

Firstly, we apologise for the delay in getting this up and running. We decided to wait for the launch of the new Starlight Press Midi filter wheel so we could have 7 filter positions rather than 5 before fully going 'live' so as not to need to create new flats etc.. In addition Grant who is running this project moved house and was then sick for a number of weeks but, we are almost there now Our friends Colin and Dave at Pixel Skies have made this excellent video showing the kit being installed and commissioned in the observatory. It is a good example of the level of service all Pixel Skies customers receive when they send their kit to them in Spain. We are currently collecting our first proper set of data on the Leo Triplet as a test run and hope to have some data made available in the next few weeks - weather dependent. More updates to follow very soon

Atik are offering their Atik One CCD camera bundles (camera, OAG & GP guide-camera) at significantly reduced prices! 🙂 Atik One 6.0 with OAG and Atik GP Kit £2,619 £2159 (Save £460) Atik One 9.0 with OAG and Atik GP Kit £2,989 £2339 (Save £650)

No. That Celestron warehouse supplies non specialist retailers, like photo shops, departments stores and Amazon. The one supplying specialist astronomy retailers is in Leighton Buzzard. HTH

They have today reopened 🙂 They have a large backlog of orders to work through and sales increased significantly while they were closed (lots of astronomers taking advantage of the lockdown and the especially good skies) so it will be a while before Sky-Watcher deliveries are back up to speed. Thank-you for your patience, Steve

Wasn’t chasing a sale. Honest 🙂 Was only responding to Jkulin’s advice. Steve

You would save 5p ... 🙂 Steve

Aaah. It’s a secondhand mount. Now I understand your situation. I know the board design was updated recently but I’ll be surprised if the original is no longer available. Unfortunately Sky-Watcher’s UK distributor has closed (Covid-19 concerns) but will likely open in a week or two. If you still need one then, please email us for price & availability. HTH, Steve

That is my understanding too, though it is difficult to be 100% sure. Some Vixen models were/are manufactured by Synta with final assembly and QC by Vixen in Japan. Steve

Thank-you. I agree, of course. Telescopes and mounts are scientific instruments, not plug-&-play devices. They are best purchased from a specialist astronomy retailer able to provide advice and support. Also, when a telescope is purchased from a specialist astronomy retailer the owner will stay in the hobby longer so is more likely to buy accessories and upgrade. None that I can share. Though I will say UK specialist astronomy retailers were not included or present when the decision was made. FLO and Celestron have a long and successful relationship (FLO is Celestron’s largest UK specialist astronomy retailer) so I won't criticise them. There has been no falling out between FLO and Celestron. As far as I know the same is true for their other UK specialist astronomy retailers. If Celestron later choose to make the telescopes available again through specialist astronomy retailers then we will happily stock and support them. HTH, Steve