fifeskies

There are a range of ways to mount Binos on tripods Many binos have a hidden threaded screw hole under a cover that fits into an L mount , or you can use stretchy straps (or bungy cords) to fit them to it.. some ideas here binocular tripod adapter - Google Search

Remember it is always possible to get very good condition used eyepieces at a saving from the new price. The usual caveat of only buying from sellers who you can check are genuine applies here. I have purchased all my premium eyepieces used , some on this forum. All have been well looked after and in pristine condition. BST starguiders are a common item on this forum for sale page, (but you need to be quick as they sell fast). The bundled 25mm eyepiece is usually the better one from the included pair supplied and is handy to get your scope on target , then pop in a higher power better quality eyepiece to enjoy the detail. Don't worry too much at first , get to know your scope and what it is you like to view best. The best eyepieces for planets and globular clusters double stars etc will not be the best choice for nebula, so work out what you most want to spend your time enjoying. (and if you end up with an eyepiece that you don't like then you can sell it again without too much trouble as long as you look after it well)

My first venture to the dark side As another reassurance that buying from established members offers a good way to obtain quality used items (as long as you use common sense to avoid the scammers), today the postman dropped off my signed for package with an Astronmik 12nm Ha filter. Thanks Andy. Heavy gloomy clouds here but expected some clear skies this full moon weekend , so ideal for a first attempt at some narrowband imaging. Will get my cleaning fluid out to remove the few bits of dust and get it clipped into my Canon DSLR then wait patiently for the clouds to part and the fun to begin.

It is a nice easy telescope to use , I am sure you will soon get the hang of it. An excellent first choice , welcome to the slippery slope of buying telescopes.

Sounds like the threads are possibly NOT the exact same, there are differing thread pitches for the same diameter. Some are 1 thread per mm , some 1 thread per 0.75mm (and a few other odd sizes sometimes), Typically they go on a turn and then bind when mismatched. Occasionally they will engage one way but not the other , (e.g. smaller pitch might go in a female bigger pitch but not the other way round if pitches are very close , eg a 0.6mm and a 0.75mm pitch mismatch. Especially if thread manufacturing tolerance is poor. Never "encourage" them to screw in as they will be hard to separate again and leave the threads distorted. DONT smear grease, it will only end up on the glass elements as smudges if you do and is a pain to remove. (specialist graphite powder is better but I don't even recommend that, properly clean matched threads should screw in with minimal effort) All is not lost however if they are differing pitched threads as there are a selection of adapters that have 1 pitch on a side with the other pitch on the other side , allowing you to convert to join parts together. Also for adapting 50mm to 48mm , etc etc. this is handy to read through Astronomy Threads Explained (agenaastro.com) various styles exist but they mostly look like below (this one also adapts diameter)

I have both 8 x 30 and 10 x 50 binos you see a lot more in the 10 x 50 , great for scanning the sky for interesting objects , but they are a lot heavier and I tend to use then leaning on something if using them for any length of time. For comet Neowise last year it was far far better in the 10 x 50 Also quality varies a lot so get a decent set , preferably ones you can try out. Have you considered a small telescope , depends on how interested you are but Bortle 4 offers a lot to see and a small Dobsonian is not that much more expensive than a good pair of 10 x 50's but will reveal so much more. the 8 x 30 are good for the odd walk up a hill however as they fit in a pocket.

Newtonian telescopes can be a little confusing when people have only seen refractors before , but they are good telescopes for beginners as they are such good value.

After all the recent very valuable warnings about buying second hand items lets not forget there are plenty reliable sellers on here who give genuine opportunities to acquire some well looked after kit at reasonable prices. Just be sensible who you buy from. Thanks Chris for the ZWO colour planetary camera , just need some clear nights to try it out.

They must all be out observing under the pristine clear UK skies 🤪 and too busy to do presenting.

Guiding will make a big difference to what you can achieve. My processed image is still a bit below what I would normally aim for and needs more integration time. I only spent about 10 minutes processing it (in GIMP) and there are a number of steps that can be used to improve it further that have not been done yet, but shows what you can get without spending too long on it. It is worth cranking up ISO to get some quick exposures to have a go with , and early on with new gear it is better to get some enjoyable results fast to encourage you to keep going. I only use ISO 6400 for initial setting and platesolving to a target, but it is always good to see your target pop out on the first test frame before setting off on a set of exposures at the better ISO settings.

ISO 200 is the best setting but will mean longer exposures which is fine if you have a tracking mount or are guiding. My Canon has best setting at ISO 800 (600D) and at that I use 120 sec subs on the Pleiades (with my 4 inch ED scope). at ISO 200 this equates to 480 sec (in my scope) , which I could do as I often image at 360 sec subs. If you cant expose that long without trails then by all means crank up the ISO but I would limit it to 800 or 1600. Remember you wont see a lot in the single frame and will need to stack then stretch to get a final image. below is a single 120 sec frame (at ISO 800) compared to a stacked and stretched version (20 subs)

The HEQ5 works very well with APT and PHD2 guiding.

I use USB over Cat5/6 , never had any problems with it. take a look here StarTech 4 Port USB 2.0 Extender - For Sale / Swap - Stargazers Lounge

You don't say what mount you have. I use Stellarium combined with APT (on my NEQ6pro) Using Pointcraft in APT to centre on targets works extremely well , you can then platesolve and use the "Sync" button in APT to correct the Stellarium telescope crosshair icon to the exact target. From then on I use the "ctrl 1 " function in Stellarium to select my target (easier than going through the list in APT targets as I have a custom Stellarium horizon so can select targets not behind trees or buildings from the Stellarium Screen, and can also easily see how far I am from a meridian flip to decide if I want to image the target, the Stellarium Oculars function also lets me see if its a good target for the scope I have on the mount) Once there if imaging I will use pointcraft again to get exactly centred so that images from sessions a few days or weeks apart can be stacked.

The Rosette will appear as long as you are on target but does need significant stretch and curve tweaks to bring it out. +1 for using APT and pointcraft to get spot on target as there will be nothing in a single frame to let you see where it is. 90 sec is on the low side for the Rosette but here are 2 photos of mine from the Rosette at 90 sec exposures, Taken with my Skywatcher Equinox ED80 (with reducer flattener) I used DSS to stack about 16 subs as I recall for the first dark image The 2nd shows the nebula processed for 2 mins in GIMP , I did not process further as I could see I needed longer subs and more of them. these tutorials might be handy GIMP Astrophotography Editing Tutorial - YouTube Orion Nebula (M42) with a DSLR, Start to Finish, Pt. 2b - DeepSkyStacker and GIMP - YouTube

Vixen SD103 S Canon 600D ISO 800

If you don't buy the 4 inch now you will only end up buying one later 🙄 Its very hard to stick to just the one scope because a range of sizes/types allows you to cover all the kinds of targets out there. Either scope will get you into the hobby so don't fret too much over it. There is nothing wrong with either scope. However in my opinion for visual use a good 4 inch ED is a great place to start and it remains portable enough to take out to dark sites (on holiday etc) (remember when we could go places before Covid 😱) I don't expect to ever sell my 4 inch ED. Other scopes have been and gone until I got this keeper.

No it wouldn't ! 🤪 I love my 4 inch Vixen (103mm), compared to my 80mm scope the extra aperture makes a world of difference for visual, planets in particular. The 80mm holds its own for wide field photography though.

Surely the title should be "Something is afoot" 🤪

SD103s and a DSLR, was that with a reducer or the native scope? @Alan It was with the native scope (image cropped). I have been trying to acquire the new SD HD kit for my Vixen which is a 0.79 reducer and field flattener combined kit and is rumoured to be superior to the previous reducer. None to be had anywhere. I don't see much distortion out to the edge of field with my DSLR in the Vixen, but it is the smaller APS-C sensor. I cant say what it would be like with a full frame camera, but I image without distortion issues native on the smaller sensor, at least as far as I can see. See you have a OOUK 10 inch as well , mine is the CT10L

So most of us are supposed to stay within a few miles of home, some of us shielding can't leave the house.Claustrophobic yet ? Well last clear night I was taking photographs of something 205,751,888,000,000,000,000 miles away.So that's one way to think about the lockdown restrictions. I hr 20 mins of the Leo Triplet with my SD103S , 360 second subs. Canon 600D astromodified DSLR This is a reprocessed image (in Gimp) from the one I posted a few days ago , I think this one is far better).

I'm just storing this pier , mount and Telescope in the attic of my summerhouse. The opening slot is for ventilation.

Tell them the summerhouse is to be a Georgian model

That's not "too many sheds" it's ................ "too small a garden"

That's not "too many telescopes" It's .............. "not enough dry sheds"