Stu1smartcookie

Hi , brilliant makes me want mine back again lol . Can’t wait to read your report on night sky viewing

Hi James , thats not a great start is it ? ... giving us ALL location envy !!! .. but we will forgive you , a very warm welcome from bortle 6 skies nr .Stansted Airport

A lovely scope , Joe . LoL although i sold mine to another member on here as i don't have the patience,and time for serious astrophotography . Quality gear from Williams optics . ( i'm sure i will buy another one in the future )

Yes , i recently bought a barlow from RVO (albeit 2" ) , which had ED glass . Anyway the point is , there are other suppliers

Check out other suppliers such as Rother valley optics and Widescreen Centre

Yes , i already have a more than acceptable 25mm anyway . But reading your comments ( expert or not ) and others on the forum i think the BST EP's are some of the best out there , for value .

Good info there Heather ... i had put the 25mm in my basket but have now changed it to the 18mm .

Nice report Nik . I often wonder what i can observe between the hour of sunset and the beginning of darkness at this time of year . Venus for me is a 20 minute window which hasn't been that successful so far , mainly due to the seeing conditions at its low(ish) altitude . Of course, with work priorities observing time seems to be ridiculously short, very frustrating . Doubles are a great target .

I’m certainly enjoying using it . A relaxing gaze at the night sky with enough detail to keep you happy . 👍

Ok , so I’ve seen lots of beautiful scopes on this thread ... but I am just as happy as I have collected a scope ( thanks Widescreen Centre) that I have always wanted to own . Yes it’s an achromat and yes I know the limitations but for me it’s a beautiful wide field opportunity to spend a few relaxing hours out in the garden .

Just in time for some nice weather (hopefully) this weekend

lol we must have been writing at the same time

Hi Craig i picked up a RACI (right angle corrected image) finder from FLO ( Astro Essential ) for £45 + del . I prefer finder scopes to red dot finders , but having a right angle one is even better . But it is a question of taste , so to speak . You will see a corrected image in the finder but the image will be reversed in the scope . For some this is disorientating . On a Dob these finders whether they are corrected image or not are very good ... but you will soon get the telrad fanboys pointing out how wonderful they are ( they produce a non magnified view of the sky and "project " a red target where you are pointing . To be fair these are very good . I just prefer the magnified finders .

A great thread , although I am now using an alt-az mount I did take the following photo on an Eq3 with stock tripod . M81 & M82 ... plus two cropped images .

Did the postman bring that ? If he did , then he’s a good chap .. and I will certainly use the Royal Mail again ! Lol 😂

Fantastic , I've been looking for something like this for my WOZS73 . And its got the added bonus of not having to remove the handle every time it is packed away .

in the case of the synscan app you tell it where to go and hopefully it finds it . But thats all down to alignment . This doesn't work like the celestron nexstar mounts which just ask you to point at three objects not having to know what they are .

As someone who really does want to image but hasn't got the patience or the time ( or so it seems ) i would say , try not to compete with others that display beautiful images on here and other forums . Don't set your bar too high . Its a learning curve , a steep one but the principles stay the same whether you are experienced or a newbie . keep your set up simple , at first . I made the mistake of trying to buy everything and not getting good results. Start simple and work up . And the mystery factor is "LUCK " ... we all need it sometimes when imaging I finally got an image of M82 ( my profile photo) which to me will always be fantastic . It was on an Eq3 mount with a 150pds and a dslr so you dont have to break the bank .

Great photo , Neil ... i am glad you are getting proper use from the scope mate , far better than i could have done Stu

Well you've certainly started a lively thread here . I have the same problems as you and probably a lot of others in that i get up at 5:15 every morning , and as such , cannot afford the luxury of staying outside past midnight , at the latest . Factor in the weather and seeing conditions and , basically relying on clear nights on Friday and Saturdays , it does tend to frustrate and annoy in equal measures , but , we are a resourceful bunch in our hobby and observing what is in the sky at any time , yes , even before its dark is something we can do . As mentioned on here earlier , the Moon comes into its own and becomes the "star"(pun intended) of the show as its a wonderful site , especially when the light starts to fade . Lighter skies can actually be seen as a positive challenge . Try to see stars before they are visible with the eye ( using a goto helps ) . Of course there is one star that is always around during the lighter evenings and of course the daytime .. more and more people are observing the sun or so it seems ( proper filters please folks and all other precautions should be taken ) . Whilst the inner planets are visible its a great opportunity to at least catch site of them ( as has been said ) , especially little Mercury , which is usually out of sight hiding in the Suns glare . Of course its not as good as viewing in the clear darkness of night , but , we have to deal with what we have , and as such need to embrace the chance to even see something in the skies apart from endless cloud Stu

A Prime example of making the most of the equipment .

Unfortunately the way our weather is going you might need a couple more !😀 I’ve nearly exhausted every astronomy channel on YouTube in the last two weeks .

Hi Joe , i had one of these but (stupidly) sold it i used it with an az-gti , i bought this one to sit on a nexstar mount . The reason is , i use a zs73 on this mount and with a 1 1/4" diagonal the focuser is extended quite a bit , thus the diagonal would hit the mount hub when getting close to the zenith . so with this option the scope sits directly above the mount and is counter weighted on the bar ( which will be reversed ). I hope it works lol . update .: found that one of my old counterweights fitted ( with an m8 bolt ) so I will be returning the counterweights on Monday .. I think it’s a great set up now .. maybe I need to lower the counter weight a little as it’s a bit lighter than the scope .

Ordered from TS Optics , Germany, Monday morning .. arrived this morning at 9:45 ... great service .. I then popped into the Widescreen Centre and picked up a couple of counterweights !

Start observing , what you CAN see from your site ... the Moon is a fascinating object to view , catch a glimpse of the inner planets Venus and Mercury , you wont see detail but you can see the phases . Planning is key ... something i never realised when starting out . Just scanning the skies is ok (ish ) but you want to know what you are looking at . Mind you with skies the way they are this month i think living in a bortle 8 you have an advantage , after all just think how frustrating it must be living in bortle 3-4 and total cloud cover