fifeskies

Aled asked about magnitudes The apparent magnitude of an object only tells us how bright an object appears from Earth. It does not tell us how bright the object actually is as a big bright object far away will look dimmer than a less bright object much closer. Its a logarithmic not a linear scale Absolute magnitude is defined to be the apparent magnitude an object would have if it were located at a distance of 10 parsecs ie all at the same distance which lets you compare how bright they are when beside each other The lower the number the brighter the object is. Mag 1 are bright stars , mag 6 cant be seen by most people unaided Galaxies like M81 are Mag 6.8 , too dim to be seen by naked eye M51 is Mag 8.4 so is a LOT dimmer a difference of 1 Mag is about x 2.5 brightness 2 Mag is (2.5 x) x ( 2.5 x) or x 6.25 this means M51 is about 5 times dimmer than M81 which is why it is a lot harder to find in smaller telescopes.

It wont be too long till M13 the Hercules cluster is back in the night sky (at a reasonable hour , its there now for night owls) This will be a good target for you to try. M44 the beehive is good for the varied colours in the stars but it is an open cluster whereas M13 is a nice tight group.

Like Nerf_Caching just said above as I said well back probably be a better idea to target M81 and M82 " M51 the whirlpool is dimmer than the (relatively) nearby M81 which is easier to find and has a companion galaxy M82 which is smaller but can often be seen in the same view with low magnification eyepieces. " It is tempting to try to chase the objects we see in the glossy colour images from nice big telescopes but it is better to explore the capability of the scope you have . There are always good things to enjoy with any size telescope. "

Aled I would say M51 whirlpool is not one of the easier targets with a scope of 100mm aperture , especially when we are in (bright) summer skies. Also the "seeing" has not been great of late due to a turbulent jet stream above the UK last few months making it more difficult. You will also need to allow 20 to 30 mins for your eyes to dark adapt fully before chasing a dimmer DSO. Is there any light pollution around you as a Bortle 4 sky can still be ruined by nearby bright floodlighting.

Nothing beats going out and just seeing what you can do with the scope you have. Take the time to get to know how it all works and there are some good summer targets to enjoy. It is of course summer with short darkness and bright night skies (I am now in twilight until august ends) Winter is always a joy when Orion comes back as there is so much to see in that area of the sky , not the least of which is the Orion nebula and its close companions.

there are a lot of factors to consider and what works well one night may be hopeless another start on low mag to find it and try higher mag until its getting less good , often x 100 is about the best you can hope for unless its a very good night. this is why it helps to have a range of eyepieces covering different mag and what works well for 1 object may not be as good for another

for DSO you need to get used at how to look at them as well looking directly at them middle of vision you are less sensitive by looking slightly off centre (averted vision) you can see them better , just needs a bit of practise

magnification is obtained by dividing your telescope focal length (yours is 500mm) , by the eyepiece focal length. so for your 25mm eyepiece mag = 500/25 or x 20 for the 10mm mag = 500/10 or x 50 (corrected my maths error 500/10 = 100 ??? in what galaxy is that then)

As miguuel87 says if you want to chase deeper galaxies you will need to be buying a larger aperture telescope but get a feel for things with your perfectly good first scope, (beware the aperture fever though , enjoy the scope you have it will let you see plenty before changing to another ……….. says the person who went from 90mm to 150mm to 200mm to 250mm within a year …. all second hand , they were bargains ….. honest)

the barlow will indeed effectively change your 25mm to an 8mm , but this will dim down your galaxies by 9 times as well (3x wide x 3 times height so spread out 9 times thinner) be good for the moon though which has plenty brightness to spare

You have good dark sky and a very capable scope that should let you see the DSO like M51 and M81 as long as you have a nice clear steady night. Your 25mm eyepiece will give you 20x which is the one to use for finding the galaxies. Both the 10mm and the 25mm are "starter" eyepieces and you would benefit from upgrading these. The zoom will be good for brighter targets like moon and some of the star clusters but is less suited to DSO.

You are lucky enough to have good dark skies and that is a great first telescope. Use the 20mm eyepiece (20x mag) to look and you will certainly find M81 and on a clear night M51 should be visible. Use stellarium (free) or a free phone app to help locate the area of sky they are in , both these are well placed at the moment being high overhead where there is less distortion and the sky tends to be darker at this time of year. the supplied eyepieces are very much starter ones and benefit from upgrading. Your zoom is good for brighter objects like the moon and globular clusters but less suited to DSO. When I started out I upgraded my supplied 25mm , probably the same one you have , to a better 25mm. I got a Celestron X-cel 25mm second hand and it made a big improvement especially looking for galaxies, these are available fairly often on here or other similar sites. With that telescope you have do not be tempted by anything much over a 30mm eyepiece as the exit pupil will be too wide for most eyes and you will be wasting light. I use a premium 30mm eyepiece now for locating galaxies.

Aled , Welcome to the hobby. It will be necessary to know what scope you have before anyone can give you a definitive answer. It will also depend on your location (Bortle rating for your sky) , you need to give this in order to be able to help you properly You can look up your Bortle value here http://clearoutside.com/forecast/50.7/-3.52 just input your location (it defaults to the FLO location.) Just let us know the Bortle value , no need to post your actual location. Higher values are poorer skies. (you need good dark skies for the dimmest of the Deep Space Objects like galaxies (DSO). generally you want low magnification to find most of the dim DSO I use 40x or 50 x with a 6 inch refractor and an 8 inch Newtonian in order to find the fainter fuzzies , but I have reasonably good Bortle 4 sky here. With smaller scopes you probably will need to start on lower magnifications than this to find the fainter objects , if you magnify them up too far they get spread out and too dim to see. You are unlikely to see eg whirlpool galaxy if you have a very small aperture scope and/or are in Bortle 6 or above skies. , though often a small change in location (not allowed just now of course) will enable you to take your scope out to a site with much darker skies. M51 the whirlpool is dimmer than the (relatively) nearby M81 which is easier to find and has a companion galaxy M82 which is smaller but can often be seen in the same view with low magnification eyepieces.

F C Brundle track is top quality (I used it or my ROR) Not had any problems with it. Once you check its aligned and screw it down is very reliable. Has very low running resistance , a very light push is all that is needed.

Not much leeway on the USB type (5v) adding a diode might just reduce the voltage to the point the LED wont light evenly, or even not at all Some electrosurgery to add an inline resistor may still work , but both interventions might upset the control chip. Another option might be to break the rope into 2 sections with a switch midway. You only need a single pole switch to break the power line out of the 4 wires. (Power , R return , G return , and B return). I have also seen some cheap Chinese inline USB dimmer on a certain auction site , but these wont be available at the moment. Some baffles to block direct light is perhaps a more predictable solution.

I use RGB LED in my ROR and it does operate with a dimming function but even then the low setting was a bit bright. It all runs on 12v lines , I added in a diode and resistor in each colour line to drop the brightness after some basic test bench experiments to establish working values Every installation will be unique and require a specific resistor value You do need to work out the resistor value carefully and be wary of the heat dissipation in the resistor, make sure its within specification , but it works well. I also made sure its all concealed LED tape behind wooden "L" covers so its only reflected light , even dim LED will give you afterimage spots.

I used 4 x 2 beams for the floor and 25mm rough treated floorbords (cheap) overlaid with a sheet of 9mm ply to level it out smooth for the floor mats

Just to clarify , diagram of the floor I used

I used an existing brick outbuilding with concrete floor to convert to a ROR. I made a wooden floor tied into the side walls but not resting directly on the concrete. This wooden floor has a central hole cut out of it and there is a concrete block pier base placed onto the concrete underneath and then a metal Altair pier rising through the wooden floor cut out , pier fixed to the concrete block square direct onto the floor. (Hint: cast the concrete bock pier anchor (with bolts in situ) before fitting the wooden floor. Walking around on the "floating" floor does not seem to affect the scope in any way , any vibrations being damped out by the wooden floor and not transmitted to the slab below. Will also be adding soft floor mats to the wooden floor (mainly for dropped eyepieces sake) , but this will also help dampen out any vibrations from moving around. I can remove the pier and simply cover over the hole with new floorboards if I ever want to move the observatory out , leaving the anchor pier hidden below the floor , and return the space to just a shed.

Telrad is possibly a bit on the big side for an 8se but have seen them used even on small refractors as their benefit for finding is often worth the unwieldy look sure someone on here with an 8se can advise you if they tried one , its little brothers 6se and 4se would struggle to fit one i'm sure but you have the larger one from the series. unclips easily from the base for packing away. pic from web

As a stop gap till you get your replacement some longer screws with nuts on the end would get you working in these rare clear nights we're having just now. You can use some plastic sleeving as a spacer if you need to. An untidy solution but will work. Red dot finders are OK , was the first finder I used , but I also second a Telrad as a good upgrade to the basic RDF.

Not sure of the age of my mount as I bought it second hand. I think I can find the motherboard version from the handset information menu. I will make sure I have the latest firmware just to check I don't have this option available.

Yes I had thought about a red LED on a 9v battery with appropriate resistor could make a handy illuminator , just putting the LED into the polarscope exit aperture. I could use it with my EQ5 mount as well as there is a polarscope in it and its just a manual version with no power input.

I think its down to motherboard version more than handset firmware version , I am on a recent release but still no option in the menu.

I am using the very handy Synscaninit app to set polar alignment. Trouble is the LED illumination of the reticule is so bright I cannot see Polaris with the mount on , and cannot see the reticule with the mount powered off. I switch between on and off to centre Polaris in the alignment circle. I DO NOT have the polarscope led brightness option on my Neq6 mount. How easy is it to put a resistor inline with the polarscope led to drop its brightness down , has anyone else done this modification. (or is there an alternative way to illuminate the reticule with the mount powered down)