Gabby76

I have a Baader herschel wedge which I have used for around 15 years now, excellent views. The older Baader like mine uses a multi folded metal screening inside a enclosure as the heat trap. Observing with a 150mm f/8 refractor during the 2017 solar eclipse in USA, I observed for a total of 4 hours (sunspots-eclipse-sunspots) and the temperature difference between the telescope tube and the light trap averaged 3°C. Never more than warm and no danger of anyone being tattooed by hot metal.

That is one of the issues with clouds, when they see you setting up they gather to get a closer look at what you are doing Hopefully you get some clear skies soon.

Good to hear you managed to get the problem sorted quickly.

Hello and welcome Since you are in Canada I would suggest you look for a used telescope here: https://www.astrobuysell.com/index.php Currently there are a couple of good deals that seem to be around your budget. The 80mm f/5 refractor is good for general observing but is more like using a binocular (low power widefield views) The reflector you mentioned as others have said is one to avoid. There is a Celestron 130mm in the buy & sell list though that is a good choice and does not have the issues of the 127mm.

Here are the instructions for mounting the motors. EQ5 Dual Motor Drive.pdf

Unfortunate that the gear has missing teeth, that would have been money off the deal or no dealing on the mount for me. Make a sun filter using Baader Solar film: https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/solar-observation/astrosolar-viewers-and-film/astrosolar-eco-size-safety-film-5.0-140x155-mm.html I would say the best all round filter would be the contrast booster, the others you can purchase as needed. I have instructions for mounting the motors, I will dig them out and send later. The motors have clutches you tighten to track or use the control box to slew the telescope in RA or Dec. No computer or GPS. You can loosen the clutches and use the slow motion knobs on the mount as well, then re-tighten and the mount will track. That image looks about right for a 12 mm (gives a TFOV of 0.6° so just larger than the full Moon) do you have a barlow?

Have you received the telescope yet? The 12mm will work nicely with this telescope and with a 2x barlow will give some very nice views of the lunar surface. Since everyone sees CA a bit differently you may need to experiment a bit with filtering. As dweller25 and bosun21 have said the Wratten light yellow and Baader Semi-Apo filters are good and you can also try the Baader Fringe Killer or Baader Neodymium by themselves or stacked. Stacking the 2 Baader filters is very similar to the Semi-Apo filter but gives a slightly more yellow tint to the view. I also use the Baader Contrast Booster and Baader Solar Continuum filter. If you do not mind a green view the detail it produces is quite amazing.

That looks great Graeme!

The X-Cel LX are a good eyepiece so you should like that one. I personally do not recommend eyepiece kits unless you are on a very strict budget. They are not always the best eyepieces in them. Do you need to wear glasses when viewing?

If you are looking for more information this series of refractor was called Celestron CR150-HD, the series after was the C6-R

Well that is interesting to say the least! The telescope is a first series and has been painted white (they were black from factory) with a single speed Moonlite. The mount is a CG-5 with dual axis motors so not go-to but still nice for tracking. The finder is a add-on as they never came with RACI from factory, but the really nice add-on is the tripod. That is a older Losmandy tripod, probably from a G-8 but could be for a G-11. As it sits I would not be to offended to pay $850 but it is right on the borderline. The 2" Burgess diagonals were supposed to be quite decent as well. Ps: the wooden box is a nice addition as well though I only see one counterweight in the images, the 150mm f/8 package usually comes with 2.

It would depend on which mount it actually is. The CG-5 is a manual mount, the go-to version was the ASGT and you can get the go-to for about 350-375 so it still seems a bit high. If your comfortable with that price you are getting a lot of refractor :)

That is a rare find in todays market! Congratulations on the purchase. I love my TAL 100RS.

Yes but the much superior refractor has been around since 1608! The first and best.

For what you have stated it does not sound like this person is into astronomy, more a seller than a observer who bought it and then looked to see what they were selling for at the time. A collimatable lens cell is not listed on the sticker (which is on the tube) again this just seems to me to be a re-seller. The image is the lens cell from the C6-R, it has 3 sets of push/ pull screws, 2 sets are showing here. The old ones do not have these. Starting out, as much fun as the C6-R is I would hesitate to recommend it as a first telescope. Though the views are great they are large and bulky as I have said. To give you a idea, here is a image of a friend who is 188 cm (6'-2") standing under it. Setting one up is one thing but after a few hours when you cold and tired, taking one down and storing it becomes a task unless you are slightly crazy and love big refractors

If the refractor is the earlier one without the collimatable lens it would be worth less than the one with the collimatable lens cell. I like them so much I bought a second one of these in 2016 while working in Canada (I missed my yard cannon ) and paid $650CND for the telescope with a Moonlite crayford and a manual EQ-5. You will of course see CA on bright objects but they do well for planets/ lunar and deep sky. There are a few of these showing on Astromart with a average price of $350USD but since I do not have a account there I do not know if they are recent or not.

Hello Blueboy, That is a high price for the Celestron C6-R, up until the recent price increase this refractor sold brand new for $800USD. There were 2 models of this telescope, the early one did not have a collimatable lens but the newer did. I would find out which version it is. Back when this telescope was new you could get it and the ASGT mount for $1000USD in 2004 (if it is the newer version) What mount are you planning on using it with? It will need to be a EQ-5 at the minimum. If you have not seen one of these in the wild they are large and a bit bulky, usually more than people realize. Most people converted the focuser on these to the Moonlite as it was half the price of a feather Touch at the time. I would not take that into account for raising the price of the OTA. If you have any specific questions about the C6-R I would be happy to answer them as I have been using modifying mine since 2006.

Just balance things out well and you should have no issues. You can find the balance point of the telescope while indoors and then fine tune it at the mount. I like to put a mark on the dovetail and mount to indicate the balance point when putting the telescope onto the mount.

Personally I would not say the refractor is to heavy for the mount unless you are planning on a AP session. For visual observing it is more than enough. If it helps my 150mm f/8 weights 12,7 kg and the Celestron EQ-5 is rated between 11,4 - 13,6kg It works just fine for visual.

I use both single vision and binoviewers depending on the target. One thing you can try for one eyed viewing is to only look for 30-40 seconds then take a break. This is useful when using eyepieces like a jewelers loupe. Switching viewing eyes helps as well., train them both

Depending on how many telescopes I have out, it is mounted on either a ASGT or Vixen SXP

Refractors always look the part! The Stellarvue achromats can be used to imaging if that is what you are looking for though some work better than others. Here are a couple of examples from a Italian site: http://www.uriland.it/ngc884-x-chi-per-ngc869-h-per/ The was also a photographer/ imager from USA (used the name Leveye on forums) that used a AT 1010 and a later Nighthawk for imaging. I have the TAL 100RS and they are very nice refractors as well though needing a better mount than the AT 1010

I believe that should be the AT 1010. Love Stellarvue refractors, I have had 4 over the years but now just have a Nighthawk Next Generation Deluxe f/6.9 version.

A very nice old piece of kit! A bit of time and it should give some great views. If you want to upgrade the eyepieces but keep things original Antares still produces their 0.965" Plossl eyepieces. Very good and not expensive either.

Astroshop is showing the 18 mm available 15.07.22 and 24 mm available 01.01.23 https://www.astroshop.eu/eyepieces/15_10/m,Explore-Scientific/a,Zubehoer.Allgemein.Serie=82°