Rusted

You captured a lot more structure in the SE prom than I did. My live view was marred by a flat roofer's fishtail blowlamp.

Thanks Stu. My post questioned the difference between the two, 6" instruments, in purely visual terms. Assuming both were placed side by side with the eyepieces at the same angle. I am the owner of assorted refractors up to a classical 7" F/12 as well as a 10" f/8 Newtonian. So I know the severe problems of mounting these long and heavy instruments equatorially. Of course neither instrument would be chosen as a "starter" telescope today. Though they might well have been considered much more normal in the past. The modern amateur astronomer is highly mobile and demands both compactness and lightness.

Those who advocate larger reflectors [than 6"] to beginners, might pause to think how many 8" refractors are in regular, amateur use. If a refractor usually tops out at 6" aperture, then a Newtonian, of the same size, is surely just as valid? I wonder how many here could actually tell the difference if they were brought to the eyepieces of the two types of 6" scopes in the dark?

The centrifugal/centripetal forces place severe limitations on its cargo feasibility. Certainly NOT a human bod launcher.

No wonder the lights had dimmed... Registax must have thought it was a DDoS attack!

Indeed! Try ImPPG instead of Registax. Free, quick and rather magical. With live, on-screen scrumptiousness.

Those are some great images! When you change the GPC the image can get brighter or darker. All depending on the degree of enlargement.

Only 60? Congratulations. When I were a lad.. Seriously? ++++Get a 6" Dobsonian. --- NOT an equatorial mount! --- Nothing bigger! --- Bigger is a physical and mental hurdle against more frequent use. +++ Grab and go outside whenever it is clear +++ Mind blowing on the Moon +++ Great on the planets +++ Small footprint +++ Easily carried +++ Easily stored upright on its mount +++ No cool down time to delay the fun +++ Shows you all you could wish for +++ No neck contortions +++ Hold a phone or camera to the eyepiece to record your views +++ Goes in any car with room to spare +++ Trailer it behind a push bike to a darker, local site? Negatives? None to worry about as you explore the night sky. Learn how to maximize your viewing pleasure and PRACTICE seeing stuff. It's a learned skill! I can still clearly remember my first view of the Moon through a schoolmate's 6" Newtonian. That was 60 years ago. Back then altazimuth mounts were solid cast iron but people were much stronger!

Turnbuckle is the term used for fencing strainers and pole stays. I found a picture of my carport foundation blocks. It might offer inspiration. They sell for about £16 each over here.

Any more mention of the sun being visible to the naked eye and I shall report this as misinformation.

Well, at least you would only own a 300kg monolith instead of the 2.5 tons you feared was overkill.

The surface area of the sides of a buried concrete foundation block must be resisted by the soil when subject to lateral loads It follows that the weight of the concrete alone is not the final arbiter. 15"x30" is not a very large area in soft soil. Most of the sideways loading is near the soil surface. That said, a lightly loaded telescope pier is unlikely to suffer much sideways loading. My 2.2m Ø parabolic satellite dish on a 110mm Ø x 150cm tall pole has a 40x40cm x 1.5m deep hole filled with concrete. 4.5" Ø x 5' tall pipe on 16" x 16" x 50" block in Olde Money. I tapered the hole outwards towards the bottom to resist frost heave. The wind loading it has suffered would make a complete mockery of almost any telescope pier in amateur hands.

Oh, you mean this one? The seeing was so soft [again] that I couldn't focus properly [again.] I was so desperate to get an image I removed the internal [camera protection] filters and the usual GPC on the camera nose. Naturally I left the full aperture Baader D-ERF in place.

Then sink your block a couple of inches below ground level if it is on a lawn. To allow turf to grow over the top.

In case you think I am being a drama queen about overhung mountings on tripods: One of my first astronomical "dramas" was half a century ago. I still have PTSD! I had borrowed a massive, 12" f/7, all steel, skeleton Newt on its welded steel tripod and offset, altaz, fork mount. The whole contraption was so close to the critical tipping point that I only just saved it several times despite the huge weight. A tripod tips along a "hinge line" between any two feet: If the C of G falls outside that line it's usually bad news: Tripod [triangle] shown in red: Note the very short radius to the tipping line. This is why most furniture has four legs:

That thing is hideously cantilevered! Which means the C of G is well outside a typical tripod's footprint. Shiny knobs on dinky little push screws to adjust polar altitude? Before or after the load is mounted? What if somebody feels "lucky" and overloads it? Who reads the instructions? What instructions? Will the household insurance cover the sweeping up the Tak APO glass shards? If an engineer was involved will he/she please to go back to school?

If you have a scrap metal yard in your area see if they will sell you some 6" steel pipe. Find one with a flange if possible. Very commonplace. A local engineering shop, or even a garage mechanic/welder, can tack a scrap metal plate on top. Ask who does their welding. The scrap yard may do the job for you for the price of a pint if you ask nicely. They have cutting torches to shorten pipes too. Getting it home will need a trailer or van. Or you can carry it in your sports car with a warning flag on the end. Concrete blocks spread the load because of their very large surface area. The mortar sticks them together over the same, large area. Concrete blocks, of typical dimensions are immensely stiff compared with smaller section of steel or wood. I fought with a 6' tall [above ground] 4" steel pipe pier with a heavy flange on both ends. My BIG mistake was desperately avoiding concrete in the hole. I tried large stones in the very deep hole and even added small stones. Nothing worked and it still shook like a leaf. I filled the pipe with sand. Nope. Then I filled it with concrete. It as now too heavy to lift without aid and it still shook like leaf when touched! My present pier is a flour legged pyramid and about 14' high. Built of sawn finish, genuine 100x100/ 4"x4" on a 3m square base. The feet are bolted to buried, concrete carport foundation blocks with heavy [supplied] brackets buried in self-stabilizing sand & gravel. The brackets lift your timber off the ground and provide height adjustment. The pyramidal form is stiff. Particularly when clad in 18mm/ 3/4" exterior plywood. I might be quite unhappy if I inherited a whopping great concrete foundation block in a rented property. Or even in a bought house. My carport foundation blocks are easily dug up in half an hour and carried away. Along with my 2 story, timber observatory built on these same blocks. These blocks are dirt cheap in my local big shed discount DIY store. More expensive in builders merchants. The come in different sizes and weights. Bung four of these blocks in a hole in the ground with a little bit of spacing between them. Back fill with self stabilizing gravel stamping well with a length of 2x4 timber. [This gravel contains a little clay to bind the particles together] Build your 4x4 timber pier off the brackets and tighten the galvanized bolts firmly. Clad in exterior plywood if you want "posh."

Thanks. Today's sun was another rare glimpse after storm Malik. The seeing was so soft again I couldn't focus properly.

It's true. I just need a better window cleaner!

We have had so little sun, for so long, that I was grateful for anything barely recognisable as solar in origin. By this time the sun was low over the roof and half hidden by thin cloud. I took a slight risk and removed the internal [camera protection] filters. Baader 35nm H-a and Beloptic KG3. 160mm Baader D-ERF still safely in place. Stop laughing at the back!

"Taking Denmark by storm" appears on half a dozen different adverts on news websites. Somebody should have copyrighted it globally. If only to stop its wholesale abuse. There is nothing new about overpriced, undernourished telescopes with infantile claims. They have been advertised for at least 60 years. Exchange & Mart? Plastic lenses? There was a time you couldn't trust Hong Kong Cardboard boxes let alone the contents!

For me? No. 💪 But I am only 75. Here's a picture of me: "When I were a lad:" 👴 I train regularly with loads of 10kg bags of compressed wood briquettes for the stove. Typically 10 bags at a time: Lift from the stack outside into a shopping trolley. Drag the trolley inside [uphill with camber] to the checkout. Pay and drag the trolley back outside. Cross the sloping car park [with camber] while carefully avoiding crash test dimmies. [sic] Unload the trolley into the boot. Drive home while practicing wheelies. Unload the boot into a wheelbarrow. Push the wheelbarrow to the shed door. Usually 2 trips with 5 bags each x 15 meters. Unload the wheelbarrow and carry the bags over to the stack. Bring them indoors as needed. 20 meters. Too much information? Well, you did ask.

Good idea. I use barbel weights for under 2kg and 5kg weight lifting weights. Anything heavier is hard work! Inexpensive too compared with buying commercial mount counterweights. I discovered that so-called "Olympic" weights have 2" [50mm] clearance holes for bigger shafts. Other weights had smaller holes. Choosing your weights can save a lot of drilling or turning.

I addition to the excellent advice so far.. imagine the scope [or dewshield] sweeping the inside of the dome. Ideally the top should be concentric. If the pier is too high the dewshield may hit the top of the dome or any inward projections. I had that problem with my 7" f/12 in my 10'/3m dome. Had to remove the huge dewshield. Saddle offset, relative to the polar axis can soon find the limits of your dome with a long refractor. The dewshield sweeps circles to the east and west of center. I like to be able to see the distant horizon [woods] with my refractors. Just to be able to test resolution. If you can't get that low then you will always wish you could.

The problem with equatorial forks is that lateral, tine sag cannot be easily corrected. When I were a lad.. I made a matt black, Formica laminated, plywood fork for my [entirely home made] truss 8.75" f3.8. Alas, it was before photography had been invented for the impoverished amateur. The trick is to make the bends really beefy. Not your usual [very amateur] two bars stuck on a crossbar. Here is an example of a well designed fork: Much like my own in form but mine cost peanuts: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petr-Kubanek-2/publication/242570411/figure/fig2/AS:298531953889281@1448186972225/The-D50-telescope-on-its-equatorial-fork-mount.png