cletrac1922

My Skywatcher ED80 came in it's own hard case travelling case I put together a foam insert case for my EQ mount, which purchased from my local astronomy shop Have made up a separate case for eyepieces, and other sundry items, again with slotted foam insert Use canvas zipped bag, which got from local camping shop to transport tripod for EQ mount John

Welcome from land down under John

Mine only came with a soft cloth elastic cover Shower cap might cause moisture dew to condensation to build up inside the tube Old pillow case, and ockie strap do the same

Welcome from land down under Just visual would not go down the track of Goto Dob Last Wednesday night was out with astronomy club doing presentation with club belong to for scout group adjacent to home, using my 250mm collapsible dob Used manual dob, and just laid laser pointer along wedge for spotting scope, and went to Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, jewel box located within Southern Cross, Butterfly located within Scorpio Hope of assistance John

Down under we have an annual book title Astronomy year book Covers things buying and caring for scopes, sky maps by season, astronomical events such as sun and lunar eclipses Been published every year since the early 1980's, and is the holly grail for astronomers

Welcome from land down under, where experiencing light free unpolluted skies John

Welcome from land down under Firstly when comes to any scope choice, there are 2 options Am I going to use just for observing the moon, planets and other deep sky objects, then first weapon of choice is a dob If intending to venture into Astrophotography, then need a scope on a EQ mount which will allow you to track object imaging Then go for a Skywatcher ED80, on a HEQ5 mount John

Welcome from land down under Great when younger members of family involved Couple of nights ago, my 6yo grandson phoned me He said, Poppy, Poppy, check out the moon, bright star beside it Told him, that was not a star He responded back Then poppy, has to be Jupiter then He was correct Last Saturday club belong to did public viewing night, foreshore Goldcoast Had Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars overhead End of the night, played around with filters on Mars, and when used #8, light yellow filter, and 12mm eyepiece, able to see icecaps on Mars

James Just using for visual currently Time prohibiting venturing into AP Sure some of the other guys will There is some on our club website Just click on Event Horizon, monthly newsletter John

Daithi Firstly welcome from land down under I just use a car jump start unit, get from any auto spares outlet Have run my ED80 on EQ5 for 3 or 4 days at star festivals, and not an issued Mine has dual 12 volt outlet, and can charge my Android phone at same time, as use SynScan Wi-Fi adaptor and APP to control my EQ5 John

Andy I use 17mm wide-angle and 15mm wide-angle when out with club doing presentation with schools and scouts groups, as gives better eye relief on my 10" dob Currently looking at a Baader 8 - 24mm zoom eyepiece, which gives a better eye relief Find my 10mm, which came with my dob, has a lot smaller eye relief Hope have not confused you Lot of people think smaller is better, not always the situation John

Rolan Just use as is on my ED80 with SynScan APP Have not tried using PHD Was reading an interesting article other night, as one of my fellow club members is having issues with his Celestron https://github.com/OpenPHDGuiding/phd2/wiki/EQASCOM-Settings John

James Agree with Galen about Skywatcher HEQ5 mount with ED80 Last Saturday night, was out with my astronomy club, and we conducted a public viewing night, on the Goldcoast foreshore, and had between 600 and 700 people come through during the night End of the night, we played around using different filters viewing Mars You can also get a glass solar filter for the ED80 as well Attached pic shows my ED80 on EQ5 mount, with solar filter I also use a jump start pack, as power source for my EQ5 mount Can also now get a Wi-Fi adaptor, which uses mobile device to control EQ mounts, and have recently purchased one John

Keith Welcome back from land down under John

Rob Saturday night played around with filters on my ED80 with Mars The #8, light yellow, could see polar caps using a 12mm eyepiece Initially viewing raw, and had about 10 people having a view, when said hang 5, try something different That is when screwed on the #8, and rezoomed, and Mars was totally different Couple of people who the viewed with the #8 filter, commented best view they seen all night of Mars Give it a go with different filters John