moggi1964

I always enjoyed using my 6mm TMB/Burgess planetary on whatever scope I owned including my 10" SCT as well as my F/6 dob. Not a particularly expensive eyepiece but 60° FOV if I recall and comfortable to use. I used some Televue Plossl's some years back, nice glass but I found the FOV to be too narrow on the higher magnifications. I did try out some of the Explore Scientific eyepieces when they were about to be released and they seemed decent and good value. I think FLO has them in the UK.

Here's a picture of a customer 152 setup from back in 2009. And then a picture of one mounted as a 'guide scope' on the beast. If I recall, the beast sold to a chap in South Korea. I hope he had a good back 😀

It's not clear if you have looked through a scope of this type and size before but if you haven't perhaps the advice from Mike Q is a good place to start. I have come across two types of people who get a furst look through a telescope: Type 1: WOW! That's incredible. (I include myself in that group when I first looked through my Orion 8" dob). Type 2: Is that it? You mean that little spec is a galaxy, looks more like smudge. Are you sure it's not a smudge? I've seen pictures of Saturn, what else can you see? I would hope you fall into the first category or at least grow into it. Anyway, just sharing a thought and an experience. Both scopes look good to me btw. Accessories: eyepieces of course. A collimator. Some form of finder, I like the little red dot type but also use a small finder scope. A large order of patience, you can never have too much of that> Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Thanks. I have toi say I found the software part of imaging to be the real challenge despite having access to some of the people who wrote the damn things. I think in the end I just tired of the time involved. It's the same with my photography, I do a bit of contrast, white balance and a little tweak here and there. If it isn't how I want it in ten minutes then I just move on. Once I sell my visual Astro gear I'll invest in a tracker and maybe an old converted DSLR. I have a lot of reading and research to do. Thanks again for your thoughts and insight.

When I lived in New Jersey the summers seemed almost a waste of time for any kind of decent skies but the winter skies could be great. Well, great if you were willing to stay outside viewing in minus 10-12c. Part of the reason I went to imaging as I could set the whole thing up in advance and then control it from the kitchen. The wife told me I was cheating 🤪

Thanks! I had a good education from a few talented astroimagers. I hadn't considered the mechanical variety and I'll certainly take a look at the Skywatchers. A friend of mine used a small iOptron for wide field so I'll probably have a look there as well. I feel like the tech has probably moved in some since my imaging days back in and around 2010-2013.

I sued to do some imaging with my WO110 and Tak mount and a small SBIG camera. These days I don't have any imaging equipment and am not looking to go back to the 'good stuff'. I do have an Olympus M4/3 camera and would mind doing some planetary and wide field stuff on a lower budget than the Astro mount type setup. I've seen a few different options on the market and had a browse through the threads here but is there a preferred option? Here's my first ever nebula shot.

Never owned a Tak scope but did invest in one of their mounts some years ago. A beast and beautifully crafted.

I owned an APM105 that was given to me in lieu of wages when I worked for APM America. It was a fantastic telescope. I also loved my WO110mm which just looked awesome. My favourite though was my first scope, an Orion 8"dob which opened my eyes to the night sky and helped introduce me to a man who became a good friend, Bob Moore who organises the NEAIC. That's my son btw in 2008.

I used to use a marine deep cycle battery in a custom-made box that was fused and had various outlets on it. It was heavy but the box was bungeed to a small troller with big wheels which made it useful for star parties. I would run a go-to mount; dew heaters; and imaging camera from the setup as well as the laptop for imaging. Seemed to last forever. This was about 10 years ago so technology may well have moved on since then.

Ahh, thank you. Those are very reasonable requirements and I'm not one for 'padding' to meet a quota so I'll see what wisdom I can add on the various threads.

Since moving back from the USA in 2015 I have simply not made use of my Astro gear. I have returned to photography (regular not Astro) and so it's time for me to move my stuff along to someone who will use it. I have listed a few items on Astrobuysell and on the UK photography fora I am a member of but am looking for other suggestions. I used to sell on Astromart and Cloudynights in the USA so wondered if there are equivalent fora here (I don't see a classifieds on here). I do have an EBay account here in the UK but that can be more hassle than it is worth. I appreciate any suggestions you can put forward. Are there any Astrojumble sales in the NorthWest that anyone knows about? I have been to a few photography ones but can't see any Astro ones. BTW: in the US I ran Astrolaugh.com which Astronomy sold t-shirts and was known on the fora there as moggi1964. I also co-ran APMamerica. Thanks for looking.