PEMS

Suppose that the bottom answer is the scope was not intended for astrophotography. The mechanics of it just will not allow the image from the mirror to fall on the camera sensor. The scope as it stands is set for visual, as a barlow is intended for visual also I would expect that whatever image the barlow forms will also not allow the image to fall far enough out for the image and sensor to coincide. If it did then the barlow would not work with an eyepiece. The usual change required is to gain access to the base and by whatever means the mirror cell allows move the mirror, with or without cell, up the main OTA. The will move the prime image outwards and so it should then allow the image and sensor to coincide. I gather that around 20-25mm is usual but never having tried it I could be wrong. Others may have a better idea. This could raise the problem that the light cone from the mirror will now exceede the size of the secondary. It will also mean that an eyepiece is then too close in and to swap back to visual you would need to purchase and fit a short extension. Yes you have a scope and an Eq mount and a camera. More exactly you have a visual scope and you want to use it now as an imaging scope. Usually suggested that people separate visual and imaging. Some scopes can do visual and imaging without alteration but they seem to be not usually reflectors. Reflectors generally appear to have less focuser travel and that is the main reason. To oscillate from eyepiece to camera you need a wide range of focuser movement. And in general on a reflector that is not available.

Seems Talentcell do or did one. Only UK seller seems to be Homeloft. Will warn you they are not inexpensive, also the delivery date is around 3 weeks at present it seems. Amazom.com have them but will not post to UK. Only other alternative I can see is the Tracer 12v items, then a car plug that allows you to change voltage. They are around if you search. However I suspect a Tracer and fitting will come to similar to the Talentcell and no idea how warm or hot the adaptor may get.

I would say the first aspect is to understand that the "Goto mount" is exactly that. It will goto a target. It is not automatic, it will not set itself up. It will not generally get its own data. You, the operator have to do that. And that is where "problems" occur. People attempt to cut corners. The Az GTi is a small mount, I would not put a 102mm on it. I have steadily watched the maximum size scope used increase. An 80mm ED refractor (or achro) I might try on it, however only might. It is also a bit odd in that it started as a simple Alt/Az mount and Skywatcher added an equitorial operation and suddenly it became an equitorial AP mount. I suggest you stay with the idea that it is an Alt/Az mount. People do use it as an equitorial and I have seen some "outstanding" claims made for it. Honestly have read 4 minutes and 5 minutes images claimed as taken, and on a mount that cannot actually be polar aligned overly well. With that ability who needs a guide camera, or solid equitorial mount with polar scope or software. Goto is nice, with the application of common sense, and the understanding of what it can and cannot do. Maybe people are too used to a phone and PC that basically do everything for them and expect a goto mount to be the same level. If you go manual then look for something that is in effect wide field and easy to use. You have to find everything, you also have to track everything. The tracking of a goto is I would suggest the big bonus. Getting something in the centre may take a minute, but then just tracking it for 3 to 5 minutes is really the nice aspect. Remembering that as magnification goes up your field of view goes down and so objects drift out quicker. The tracking with a Dobsonian mount is "easier" in a way as you are generally attached to the scope and eyepiece. So as you look you learn to follow at the same time. However it has to be learnt and that takes time. Sometimes little other times lots. Would also suggest you add a location for yourself as the darker nights are coming, restrictions are being relaxed, clubs will start meeting and someone near you may have the mount to look at and get an idea of its operation.

I like the title. 🤗

Being honest I have never found the "Star Atlas" as shown in the second from last image useful. A page of small dots just never works with my mind. I doubt there is an "easy" way other then to just get out side and work around teh sky and jsut see what you can make out. Even knowing a fair number of stars and constellations I have to orientate myself first, then I have just a 50% chance whatever I want next. Some are related: Cassiopeia to say Perseus. However the only way I can find say Lyra is to find 3 bright stars and work out which is or should be Lyra. Hercules is worse for me, that one is a case of "That must be Hercules". If wherever you are going to is dark then be aware that nothing looks the same. Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, Cassiopeia, Perseus all "disappear". They sit in the band of the milky way and it swamps them. For Cassiopeia you are trying to identify 5 stars in band of say 200,000,000 stars. Not easy. The one you try to find is The Plough/Dipper/Ursa Major. Then use that for navigation. Pointers for Polaris and Ursa Minor, Handle for Arcturus and so Bootes, pointers the opposite way for Leo and the top 2 stars of the pan bit over to Capella and Auriga. Just be aware a dark site is initially utterly confusing. For constellations I have heard people say find a childs guide to constellations, guess 6-8 year old stuff.

Not my experience of Synscan app+Skysafari and Android. So suspect something is a little incorrect in your set up. Android keeps both the Syncan app and Skysafari running. I believe that it is iPad that when you bring up Skysafari that it shuts down Synscan. People say that you can run one or the other but not both. When you brought up Skysafari did you click "Connect" ? It is not an overly obvious button down at the bottom of the screen. I assume that you did perform the goto alignment with the Synscan app before attempting to connect the Skysafari. I believe that the mount has to be aligned first by the Synscan app. Then the mount will know where and at what it is pointed. Then when Skysafari is connected I believe that the Synscan tells Skysafari on what it is centred, the last star of the alignment, and the 2 are in effect then synchronised. Well that is what appears to happen with mine. Find it difficult to say detail as mine just "connects" with minimal input from myself.

Been absent for a few days. That is a beautiful scope. When you said 132 and F/7 it struck a chord. If already purchased then ignore, but although a William Optics 2" diagonal would be nice you do not need a WO as such. I have a Bresser 2" diagonal and at around the £65 mark they are a significant amount less and if at the learning stage one would at least save some money. Too easy to spend copious amounts of money in this hobby. So think carefully. Most 2" diagonals are supplied with a 1.25" adaptor for what are actually the more standard eyepiece size. The WO SWANS will do fine for now. I think the sizes are a little limited 10mm, 15mm and 20mm, I think as I have the set of 3. Will say that I generally use the BST Starguiders. Which I half suggest may be an idea for yourself. Reasonably good eyepieces and a larger selection of focal lengths. Just go and enjoy the scope. You should get some excellent views out of it.

UK_Clubs Appears 6 listed for Surrey, not sure of counties that boarder your part of the county. Sometimes there are clubs just over a county boundry. I gather that Guildford one is quite sizeable and was active. Friend said it is part of the university or at least works with them. Pays to look at 2 or 3 is likely a good idea. As hard to say what makes a good club for one person.

132 and f/7 sounds like it might have William Optics written on it. If so you have beauty of a scope. Take very good care of it if so. You said father was in to imaging if so you may need to locate a short extender somewhere. A camera will have to sit further inwards then an eyepiece. So in order to return to a visual set up the eyepiece position has to effectively be moved outeards a bit. So the need of an extension piece. I would expect one to be in the equipment. If 925mm focal length then for Jupiter start with a 12mm eyepiece, will deliver 77 times magnification. Which will show a reasonable Jupiter. Saturn is smaller and so needs greater magnification so try the same 12mm but I would expect that you would need an 8mm for 115x. Eyepieces cost so post the details of the scope. But if as I think you will have a good time. Would also suggest adding a location as clubs are likely starting to become active again and a club is a good source of information. Edit: Just thought if father was imaging he may not have used a diagonal in the rear of the focuser, basically directly attached camera to focuser. For an eyepiece you need to add a diagonal and that will do the same as the shall entension tube and move the eyepiece out. If no diagonal in use again look for one in the likely assortment of accessories.

UK or England is not +1, it nis GMT or in the setting of the mount UTC 0. You set it to 0 and then tell the mount the time on your watch, and then tell it that DST is in use. Then the mount will take the time you gave it and take 1 hour off for the DST. Do not try to make the compensations yourself, that leads to a form of maddness. And most often a 15 degree error in movements. You may start off with the scope and mount aimed at Polaris, actually you aim the polar scope at polaris not the big main scope. The main observing scope is independant of the polar scope and so the goto aspect. These things have a polar alignment and a goto alignment. Seems the 2 get mixed up at times. They actually are separate. You need to set the mount and tripod up level, or as best as you can. It just simplifies things. Put Polaris in the centre of the polar scope for now. Aim the main scope at Polaris, again it is just a start point. Then pick your alignment star from the offered list and start the goto alignment. With a wide field eyepiece in the mount should go to the star but do not expect it to be in view. The movement to the first star is entirely dependant on the initial setup. The worse that was the further out it will be. Centre it in the finder then centre it in the main scope. Then select the second star and let it goto to that. This should be a better goto. As the miunt will have determined some errors to compensate for from the first star. Polaris in the centre is easy but not the best accuracy. Hopefully the mount will determine the compensation required. Later when you have mastered this you can delve into the real Polar Alignment process and steps, for greater accuracy. Will suggest a location for yourself, there are likely people and clubs near you that will help out.

I have a 72ED and really am not impressed with it. The scope to my mind does what it should but only just, and I expect it to not do things at some stage - I use it for visual and the focus travel is one area of concern. It is wound well in with an eyepiece and you will need more inward travel with a camera and especially a DSLR. William optics seem to have gone very much for the imaging scope approach and so have in many ways targetted their scope at imaging. Just feel you would be safer with a WO ZS73. You also have somewhat dedicated flatteners for the WO items. Never been exactly sure that the Skywatchers are entirely dedicated to their scope or just happen to be suitable. It is an area where I suggest there is a lot less chance of having problems with the WO then with the Skywatcher.

Is the "new" scope capable of obtaining images? On many reflectors the image from the mirror cannot be made to coincide with the sensor. So no image in effect. People will move the mirror up the tube to get around this but that means a full recollimation and hopefully a large enough secondary to accept what is then a wider cone of light at the secondary from the main mirror. Ultimately the 130PDS was made for imaging. So is very likely a safer option. As in it should do the job out of the box without you spending a week trying to get another to do so.

Probably useful: http://www.astronomyclubs.co.uk/Clubs/Counties.aspx 8 listed for W Midlands but if close to a county boundry check the neighbouring one(s).

An Android tablet of about 7" is probably the best idea. You could I suppose look at an inexpensive smartphone and do not add a sim card and in effect use it as a tablet. I purchased a Xiaomi Redmi 7A phone and smaller then a 7" but a very good size and clear screen. Just have to find one of suitable price, you need compass, GPS and Accelerometer as part of the tablet. That way all the user friendly features work and look impressive to other people. One side of Android I have found is that for GPS to be delivered to the mount you have to tell the mount to get it from the Android and tell Android to let the mount have the data. Effectively both ends need enabled. Two aspects of it all I slightly dislike is that to align you have no buttons to feel when looking through the eyepiece and the tablet or phone has to remain with the mount. Otherwise the connection is lost. I dislike leaving a tablet/phone sat on the mount spreader, too easy for someone to pick up.

I use Meteoblue and The Weather Outlook. MB has an Astronomy weather option in there somewhere. One thing you will realise is that they perform an update at about 6 hour intervals. So in 6 hours time the model used can predict a different result. Not massive but different. That High Pressure system for clear skies is push a little away from you and so you get a weather front of warm/cold air over you so cloud. Very easy and with 6 hours updates does mean somewhat strangely that these higher accuracy forecast are very changeable.

The standard 200P will not immediatly allow images, the mirror will have to be moved up the main OTA tube so that the prime image from the mirror can reach the camera sensor. So that would then mean a complete recolloimation of the scope. Then you would need an extension tube to add to the focuser when you want to use an eyepiece. The 200P is I expect at or even over the weight limit for an EQ5 and adding a guide camera and associated items would almost certainly be too much for obtaining a high percentage of good or usable images. You could find that 40% of the collected image are discarded by the stacking software. The 200P and EQ5 package was for visual, not realistically for imaging. For a 200mm reflector you really need to be considering an EQ6 type or size mount.

Having looked around at club locations then you may be in Shropshire but not close to Telford or Shrewsbury. You do not supply more the Shropshire as a location. Have a look at these: UK Clubs Thinking that you may be closer over the boarder the to the Rodington Heath one.

I am a bit West of you but not by much. Shame about the street light, a lot will depend on how receptive the council is. Does not harm to ask.

A 150 will have a long focal length and so an inherant narrow field when viewing. At 1800mm even a 30mm plossl will only deliver 0.8 degrees edge to edge. In effect 0.4 from centre to edge. It seems a somewhat "specialist" scope with that field. M45, M42, M33, C14 are all too big to observe in their entirety. There is something nice about seeing all of an object at one view. Possibly more suited to planetary imaging. Hope the scope is intended to be mounted on a fairly large goto mount, you will I expect need the tracking capability and a fair goto ability to have objects in view. As any target that is missed by more then 0.4 degrees will not be in the view. Guess you were the cause of the thunder and downpour last week then.

Tend to be recommended for planets however the number of planets are limited. 3 of them at times and a moon just about every night oy the year. Still that makes 4 targets. Every scope will within reason allow you to see the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, Mars is more difficult as you need a good scope and high magnifications. A inexpensive 90/900 achro refractor will show Saturn and rings at around 110x so an 8mm eyepiece in a 900mm focal length one. Jupiter is visible at lower magnifications quite easily. Newtonians may not be great for planets, the secondary and associated support structure tends to reduce the overall sharpness. So yes they collect more light just maybe not the optimum internal structures for planets. For planets exclusively you need a fairly sharp image, for DSO's a newtonian is better. As John asked: What do you want to use one for?

If the front end is like the 72 ED then the front has a small retaining ring that holds the lens cell in place. I would expect that all it does is push the cell itself down against some circular stop ring in the OTA body. And has no real or great impact on the lenses themselves. I say none as if you managed to really make the effort no doubt you could have some effect. The ring has 2 slots diagonally opposite on the ring. The best you can do is get some illumination and a long narrow bladed screwdriver insert the blade carefully into a slot and carefully and gently drag it round clockwise to tighten it up. I say "long" as on the 72ED the dew shield seems fixed so you need something long enough to cover the length of that. If the 80ED dew shield is removable then remove it as it would make the task immensly easier. Canot think of an available tool for the task, or at least one specifically. I would think that Synta have some items made for the task. Also they are likely tightened when the dew shield is not in place.

I generally go by the maybe simplistic idea that a magnification equal to the aperture very likely defines a good point. Many will go higher, however what I have seen usually means that the image quality begins to drop off at that point, although likely not on the good apo triplets. You are however then getting into the rather specialist areas. The rather easy way to get Mag=Aperture is just to drop in an eyepiece equal to the focal ratio, that combination also delivers a 1mm exit pupil. In a way you do not need to think a great deal, a somewhat useful situation at times. There are always exceptions, so the above is based on a middle of the road, average type scope. A good triplet apo will go beyond it easily, whaereas a fast ST80 achro will struggle. As I expect one of the Bird-Jones type reflectors and also the small but again fast reflectors. Some beginners ones are f/4 and that is I would say too fast. If the scope is average and reasonable then you may well get 20% to 25% more, an 80mm f/7 or f/8 I would say will deliver 100x. However I doubt more without dropping detail. Then it becomes how much detail sacrificed to a bigger image.

Will say that you still need to turn them off when speaking to people. They may be red but when you look at a person they are still close to blindingly bright. And basically uncomfortable to the person you are shining them at from close quarters. This is often forgotten. Seems that the assumption is that they are red so it is OK to shine into someones eyes from 2 feet away. Being honest it is not. That is one area where a torch wins out. You can forget about a head torch, you cannot with a hand torch.

Which Nikon? The F mount has a flange distance of 46.5mm, the S mount has 34.85mm, the I mount has 17mm and the Z mount has 16mm. So 4 options and all different . Going to assume that it is an F mount and is therefore 46.5. You need to supply the Nikon camera type or name or whatever, D5n00 usually, To get to 55 you need another 8.5mm, which is not a lot. Need to know the thickness added by the M48 adaptor. If that is greater then 8.5mm then you cannot get the camera sensor at the correct position of 55mm from the appropriate face of the flattener., since camera body and M38 adaptor already exceed 55mm. If the M48 adaptor adds less then 8.5mm then subtract the M48 thickness from 8.5mm and set the flattener to that value. So if it adds say 6mm you set the flattener to 8.5-6 = 2.5mm. If the M48 adaptor is greater then 8.5mm and you are having problems that i likely the reason. If you have one of the newer mirrorless cameras then I would expect you need a selection of spacers to move the camera sensor back sufficently. Really need the camera model and the M48 thickness that it adds.

I suggest getting the scope and ignoring the "photo's taken with it" bit. They very probably were not. It is the wrong scope for imaging. If 70mm and 700mm then a 30mm plossl will give you around 23x in magnification and that delivers a field of close to 2 degrees. Unfortunately a little too small to see all of the Andromeda galaxy in one go. You really need 3 degrees for that and you will find that 4 degrees is better. A 4 degree field comes out as around 12x and so a very long 58mm eyepiece. Which does not exist as well as I am aware. Andromeda is often wanted and asked about but the size of it means that relatively few scopes will fit it all in in one view. Using inexpensive eyepieces you need a magnification of around 12.5x for 4 degrees, and with the "long" 30mm plossl that means a scope focal length of 350-400mm maximum. The advantage of a scope is you can purchase, and so change, eyepieces to get the best magnification and field to suit more objects. A set of 20x binoculars will not realistically show Jupitier's banding where in the scope indicated a 12mm eyepiece will. 12mm giving 58x. Advice here is do not go thinking that a 5mm will do more as the image will be bigger but very likely the image of Jupiter will be poor. For 20x binoculars you will also need a tripod or monopod for stability. Small additional expense but an expense.