Stu1smartcookie

yes i've read nice things about the diagonal ... as for the clamp , the originals were not bad but of course the dual knobs on the ADM are preferable

ADM , Skytee Clamp ...and a 2" Stella Mira Diagonal , delivered this morning by the Royal Mail .

pass the salt please

... true but you cant eat the EP 🤣

Also a sympton of "bad weather Syndrome" as talking about equipment fills the void of actually being able to use it . IMO its a good EP for the money ... just about sums it up

Glad you had a chance to get out and view something.

Walking along the seafront in St.Brelades Bay , Jersey … looking at a second clear sky in a row , without any optical equipment .. I snapped a photo of the moon , freehand when the sky was still blue … I edited on the phone and used a black and white filter which enhanced the contrast a bit .. original added too … couldn’t resist another moon shot

I didn't buy it for planets , that's why I have an 8" SCT .. I bought one (again) for widefield viewing . To me it's the perfect combination ..but of course no scope is perfect and there will be the doubters although I'm not sure why as no opinions were sought.I really like refractors and although I don't dislike reflectors for me they are awkward beasts. ( I have owned many ) . Anyway , not sure why I need to justify a purchase . Ultimately every scope that is bought is inferior in some way .. I suppose in a perfect world we would all buy the James Webb telescope .

I think Elena will nab those , Alan ... i think thats fair trade for letting me buy another one 🤣 Mark , i've got that damn song " my boomerang won't come back " in my head now ...lol

Rob , the scope is a real looker , which does help . I used it last night to look at a few trees 2 miles away and there was no false colour . It WILL show a bit of colour on the likes of Sirius and vega and of course the moon but its negligable and the pure 6" of aperture far outweighs any CA impurities . The good thing is that the glass is listed as japanese and german schott , and is well corrected at the factory ... also you get a small bag of Haribo's lol .

I am well late here but i have just purchased my 3rd 152 mm v3 Starwave ... the first i regretfully sold but i bought it back , but then had to sell it again when money was a bit tight . Now i hve just bought another from Altair Astro ... I love this scope and fondly remember my first views of the Leo triplet through it . And of course , i can do it all over again as its Galaxy season .

My first outing for over a week. Lots of high cloud ( as is the norm these nights) making the moon look less contrasty , but still happy to see it . Tried to look for a few DSO’s but , due to the diffuse light from the moon and the persistent cloud it proved to be fruitless. So just contented to look at the likes of castor and regulus and a few other bright stars . In a normal ( if there is such a thing ) clear night this would be the absolute basic I would expect but we have reached such a “low” when it comes to actually using the equipment, that any patch of clear sky is now seen as a little victory . One thing I did try was my new 6.3 reducer for the Celestron c8 … bought to use as a visual aid for a wider view … probably a bit fiddly when I want to revert back to view planets , but , I reckon it’s a good addition

Coverage in Indianapolis has to be the best so far ... Absolutely amazing .

So, with total cloud cover I , like so many others are being amazed watching the NASA channel ... The total solar eclipse ... Amazing

"Lack the ability" ????? We are surely not worthy ... Honestly , you really should choose your words more carefully .

Well said sir. No Need for me to add any comments really except to say that people i believe get a little frightened of anything that remotely undermimes what thay are doing . IE , someone who has spent thousands putting together a rig which basically does what a little smart scope can do for a fraction of the price . The real problem isnt the tech , its the people who cannot embrace someone with little knowledge who is able to "produce" an image without hours of painstaking processing through a little black magic box . And these scopes will only get better and better . Maybe the astro photography fraternity can't handle it ? One prominent YouTuber actually described the SeeStars as "cheating"!!!!!!! That was enough for me to unsubscribe from his channel .

I think you are right ..and it's ruining the hobby for ALL of us . There are only so many YT videos one can keep watching about astronomy . I hope that we will get some settled weather soon but of course that will coincide with lighter evenings

A good point well made . I had a Seestars but sold it as I didn't feel a connection to the night sky when using it( after the initial euphoria of seeing things that I had only seen before in magazines) as I am a visual astronomer... But the portability is one of its, and the Dwarfs main strengths. I actually still have a Dwarf 2 . These smart scopes have their place in astronomy and are here to stay and will only get better. I think we all should embrace things that promote astronomy and being it to people who are put off by the hobbies formerly stuffy image .

Out for what seems like the first time in weeks … the Williams Optics ZS81 sitting on the nexstar mount .. clouds coming and going but the Beehive looking resplendent. Plaides were nice too … colour correction on the scope is great ( first light for this beauty) . Tracking is better and better thanks to the mounts “sync” control . A good evening

A friend of mine has just told me this very sad news regarding Alyn. I , like everyone , am stunned by his passing . Sending thoughts to his family and friends .He will be greatly missed by us all . RIP

Lol it could be the moon, although nobody really knows what it looks like anymore.

I would like to have a Tak in my collection, but i am not sure even a Tak can cut through the incessant rain and cloud. In reality i am quite happy with my three scopes . Different focal lengths and ratios . I might even get to use them one night lol

The unacceptable side of buying used , i think most of us have had shall we say questionable purchases .I really hope you are able to sort everything out .

Shout out to RVO who without drama sorted an issue and sent out a replacement item all within 24 hours . That’s great service from a company that knows how to treat their customers. Together with Widescreen Centre I find both a pleasure to deal with . The key is being actually able to communicate verbally . Emails are all well and good but they often cannot convey the right tone . And often are perceived to be rude . Well done Adam and the crew at RVO .

Sometimes you define a company on how they put things right . The DPD man brought me two items , a polar scope for my AVX and an Aux splitter ! But I ordered a polar scope and an Astro gadget Celestron WiFi module !!! RVO , were quite rightly full of apologies and were going to send the correct item out … As luck would have it , we are travelling to Yorkshire tomorrow!!! So , a trip to RVO is now part of the route .