KP82

The 80mm f/6 triplet from Altair, TS Optics or Tecnosky. Sharpstar 76EDPH could be another candidate. Esprit 80 also.

Excellent plan. But I'm pretty sure you won't sell it. 😁 Have you thought about replacing the Tak cradle with a pair of tube rings? You can then attach a handle or another dovetail bar on the top to improve handling and prevent flexure in the ota.

The steel lens cell of the LZOS adds substantial amount of weight to the scope. Among the premium brands I believe APM/LZOS scopes are some of the heaviest. For example, my APM115 weighs 8kg whereas a slightly larger aperture TSA120 is only 6.7kg. I suppose the weight difference is partially downto different metals used for the lens cell. However I've never read any reports of pinched optics on the TSA120.

Congrats on acquiring one of the best 5" scopes in the world. Are you going to keep it in an unheated obsy in order to minimise the cool down time?

Thanks to JeremyS and the others that provided the sketches. Found the nova last night with the bino.

I've been using it on a Hercules 2.5" Alt-AZ on top of a Manfrotto 055CL. Very portable. I can literally lift up the whole rig easily by grabbing the centre column of the 055CL with a single hand and move it anywhere.

Among those eyepieces that came with your scope, keep the 25mm and ditch the rest. Like others have said the stock 10mm isn't of high quality. The MA 20mm has bad distortion around the edge of the view due to its optical design. The 10mm erecting is for terrestrial use with a refractor. The 6.5mm plossl has an extremely short eye relief, not comfortable for extended period of use. Go for BST starguider 8mm and 12mm as suggested by the others. The theoretical max mag of your scope is 300x, but the usual seeing in the UK will hardly allow anything more than 200x most of the time. To view Mars you need to wait for its opposition (next one in autumn 2022) and use somewhere between 200x and 250x. As for Jupiter and Saturn, I personally go between 160x - 190x.

I've got the Altair 72EDF which is basically the same scope as WO ZS73. It's a wonderful little instrument, feeling very solid and well built. I've only used it for terrestrial, widefield and the Moon so far. The views were crispy with no false colours. I'll also be using it for widefield imaging with my TSRED279 reducer when I get a chance. I've added the WO 120mm handle saddle myself and the whole package works out to be cheaper than the WO ZS73. The Altair Deluxe version also comes with a better 2.5" focuser. The scope is back heavy, so for balancing it has to be slided foreward quite a bit in the saddle to counteract the weight of the focuser + diagonal + eyepiece (or camera + flattener). The reason I've bought the saddle handle is that I can mount the guidescope/finder towards the front in order to make balancing much easier.

If you plan to get a 4" ED eventually, my suggestion is don't bother with a 90 Mak unless you can find a really cheap used one. It should be ok on the AZ3 as it's a really compact and light scope. To complement your frac with a Mak for high-res planetary views, I'd suggest a 6". If Skymax 150 is out of your budget, you can always go for a 6" f/8 dob instead.

7x50, 8x42 and 10x50 are the most common for binocular stargazing. They can double up as general purpose/nature bins. The Olympus DPS I is very good value for money. The only downside is probably the lack of weather sealing. Personally I love my Vixen Ascot 8x42. It's very comfortable in the hands and offers a beautiful 8.2 degree wide fov.

There are a few universal reducers that work with the Esprit 100 such as the Riccardi and TS APO reducer 0.75x. You can find user feedbacks about these combos on CN.

I was referring to using the AZ5 with a 4" ED doublet. The Manfrotto 055 (I've got a 055CL myself) will be overloaded in this case.

The AZ3 is now the weakest link in your rig. That would be the first upgrade to look for if I were in your position. If you get another scope for high mag on this horrible mount, their performance would be seriously hindered. If you're going for a Mak, I'd strongly recommend getting it with the AZ5 as a bundle. Then you can get rid of the AZ3. The 4" ED doublet comes as OTA only, so if you're going that route, make sure you sort out the mount first. It needs an AZ5 on a steel tripod as the minimum.

Thanks for sharing your findings. I'm glad to hear the TSRED279 actually works with the 72ED doublet. That will save me from the hassles of replacing it. I don't mind its T2 connection as I've got both T2 and M48 T rings as well as a set of extension tubes. BTW have you tried a T2 to M48 step up adapter with the TSRED279? I thought going from a smaller connection to a bigger one shouldn't cause any issues like vignetting unless you're using a full frame camera. You could always factor in the optical path of the adapter and adjust the M48 extension length in your existing imaging train.

No, I split mine up into three parts, scope + camera + guiding, mount and mini-PC + power + usb hub. If I leave the scope on the mount, it will be too heavy to carry. Total setup time is about 30 - 40 mins including PA with polemaster and PHD2 calibration. And about half of that to pack up at the end of the day. My goal is to have a small obsv built in the garden eventually.

I actually emailed TS Optics directly about useable reducers/flatteners with the 72ED doublet. I've got the Altair model which is essentially the same scope as the TS and WO. But because I've got one of their 2" reducers (TSRED279 which had been used with my larger scopes until I got the Riccardi), they are happy to help. They've confirmed that any reducers/flatteners which are designed specifically for 60 - 70mm scopes will work with the 72ED. This includes the WO Flat73A. They've also said that correctors designed for larger scopes such as the Hotech SCA, APM Riccardi and many other universal 0.8x/1.0x 2" - 3" including my TSRED279 will most likely not work. They haven't tested every single one of them, but this is their experience so far. I'll give the TSRED279 a try anyway as it has a M54 thread that works with the focuser on the 72ED without any additional adapters. If it turns out what TS have said is true, I'll replace it with an Altair 60-70mm reducer.

I use my dob if my primary targets of the day are DSOs. Otherwise I use my 107 frac on the iEXOS-100 for pretty much everything else visual. Tracking allows a very relaxed experience at high powers often used on the Moon, the planets and doubles. Also the sometimes awkward eyepiece position isn't so bad when I don't have to constantly nudge the scope or turn the slow-mo cables to manually track the targets. My 72ED is used for terrestrial and widefield sweep. This is when I prefer a manual alt-az mount to a motorised one.

If you've already got a working 150PDS for imaging and you don't have unlimited budget, I don't quite understand why you will want to replace it with a frac of similar focal length (but less resolution due to smaller aperture). You won't gain anything from that. My advice would be a shorter widefield frac instead of TSA120. Esprit 80 or various other 80mm f/6 triplets are good choices. If you must get a Tak, FSQ85 or maybe even wider FOA60 or FS60 will get my vote.

As you've already got a 400mm camera lens, I believe the best option for you is to get a SW star adventure for your camera and lens to take pictures while buying a 130 or 150mm dob for visual.

A 9mm Morpheus would make more sense. An 1.4x-ish difference in focal length is often used when choosing eyepieces.

Have used mostly for terretrial and a little bit on the Moon. I really like its compact size and solid finish. Smooth panning in the azimuth. But because of the ball bearing rollers + friction based clutcher instead of the conventional worm drive, the mount is quite sensitive to balancing in the altitude axis which could be an issue if swapping between eyepieces with big difference in weight. Also the payload capacity is way overrated both on RVO and Hercules own websites. Because of the sensitivity to balancing I'd only recommend the mount for short refractors and all kinds of cassegrains.

1/4" UNC is about 6.35mm. This is the most likely candidate for your 7mm measurement.

I've used this page as a guide for measuring the size of missing bolts and nuts while repairing my Tasco EQ mount.

You can find various types of bolts and nuts in all kinds of thread size both metric and imperial here: https://www.wdscomponents.com/en-gb

A 60 - 70mm ED doublet should work well on your current Star Adventurer. However since you've already been using a 300mm camera lens (even though it's a zoom), you won't gain much on the focal length (image scale) with such a scope. The Meade 80mm achro will produce pretty bad CA despite being f/8.8 as cameras are more sensitive. It is also quite slow and lacks a field flattener. You could give it a try, but generally speaking these achros are only good for narrowband mono imaging. The most popular low cost step up from camera lenses is the Skywatcher 80ED. The various 102mm f/7 EDs are also good choices but substantially more expensive. Also these scopes will require a new mount. You might get away using an EQ5 with the 80ED, but I'd recommend HEQ5 Pro as a minimum.