banjaxed

Hi James, I live near Southport which is about 20 miles from Preston. Maurice

I have tried goto and IMO you spend more time setting up than you do observing. My scopes are now all manual and I can set up and start observing in a couple of minutes. If you have a decent finder scope and/or a rigel finder it is very easy to pinpoint most targets. My observing has been a lot more enjoyable since I went manual, but I know we all have different opinions.

Hi Peter, As you can see I have managed to change my photo. My wife is a wizard when it comes to computers so I was asking her how to send the photo to you when she just changed it for me ???? Thank you very much for your help. Maurice.

The pic is on my pc so I will try and send it to you. I followed the instructions given in another thread and tried downloading and also drag and drop but neither worked.

No it is under 400kb.

Can anyone help?

Hi Philip, welcome back to SGL.

I have been trying to change my cover photo and after following the instructions it does not change. The photo is well within the specified size and content so I do understand why it is not changing. Any advise please.

You tube has some very good videos on how to use your telescope.

Hi Nick, welcome back to SGL.

+ 1

Thanks for your suggestion but I don’t think I will be playing with the focuser any more than I have to, don’t think I could spare the time 😀

Being consumed by curiosity I just counted the turns on the focuser and it was approximately 30. Little wonder I thought it turned forever 🙄

Thank you for your reply, maybe it just seems to turn forever 😀

Been meaning to ask this question but keep forgetting. How can you tell when you have reached the full in or out focus when the focus knob seems to turn forever, it has me puzzled. Maurice.

Thank you for a very entertaining read.

IMO there is not a great deal of difference in the scopes but the mounts do differ. I have tried GoTo systems and have come to the conclusion that manual mounts with slow mode controls are far simpler and easier to use as you spend more time observing and less time figuring out problems. Just my two pence worth.

Hi and welcome to SGL.

Hi and welcome to SGL.

Had a few clear spells last night and did a comparison between the Dob and the Mak and was surprised that the clarity of the images were not that different. Thinking back on my short astronomy observing sessions I realised that for one reason or another I have not actually observed a full moon. The crystal clear sights with my Dob have all been of crescents so my disappointment with the Mak is not really a fair comparison. It is just another reminder that we never stop learning new things about this amazing hobby, and would like to thank you all for your help and advice.

Hi and welcome to SGL.

Good idea, I will do a comparison on Sunday or Monday which are the next nights forecast to be clear.

The mount has a 3/8" thread so you need a 3/8" female to 1/4" male adaptor.

As Ivor said the finder and scope have to be aligned. Focus your scope on an object as far away as you can then adjust your RDF so it is pointing at the same spot.

With the help of an extender I managed to gain focus on my artificial star and to my eye it is very close if not spot on collimated. Thank you all for pointing out that my expectations were possibly too high compared to my 8" dob. This probably has given me aperture fever and I believe there is no cure. 😀