wesdon1

@Beardy30 Oh right ok great, so you know exactly what you're buying. Ironically, you saying you regret selling your 8" SCT, well I'm currently looking for an 8" SCT myself, because I already own reflectors, Refractors but need a scope with the much longer native FL like SCT's and Maks have, because I want to really improve my Planetary and small DSO imaging! Just the damn cost of larger SCT's and Maks! They're eye-wateringly expensive! LOL. I did actually strongly consider buying the exact 6" Mak you mentioned but as is often the case, my aperture fever demands nothing less than 8 inches aperture! 🤷‍♂️😂

@Beardy30 No experience with it but it looks a great setup to start out with, plus as you mentioned, a great price for an SCT Telescope! Just one thing, are you aware that SCT type telescopes are only really good for Planets, splitting stars, Globular Star Clusters and the smaller Galaxies and Nebula? They won't do much for large Nebula or large galaxies? That aside, Celestron are great quality and the Starsense tech looks brilliant for beginners, helping them find their way around the sky without needing a GoTo setup.

@Mr Spockhaha oh dear! "Cloud Watcher" That is definitely the term that best describes what us folk in the UK should be known by! I never shut up complaining about the clouds/weather to family friends! haha!

@Dave Smith LOL yes sorry Dave I should have qualified my statement regarding the general public being able to "afford" the solar gear necessary for such works! I was just expressing my amazement about the fact that 50, 60, 70 years ago, you needed the financial resources of an entire COUNTRY to be able to afford the equipment needed to produce works even 25% as detailed and impressive as the works produced by amateurs today!! LOL. It's incredible and we're all spoiled rotten with what's available to us today!!

@Dave Smith My goodness Dave these images and animation are breath-taking. To think nowadays the general public can afford gear capable of producing solar images as detailed and sophisticated as this!? I sooo cannot wait to get my own solar gear! Just amazing Dave! Clear Skies and Kindest Regards, Wes.

@LondonNeil yes the satellites are cool to see, but if you ever decided to start taking pictures of objects in space, you will quickly find the satellites annoying! LOL They cast long lines across your pics! Yes the astronomy apps are brilliant for atleast telling you the general area you're viewing in the sky and what objects to look out for. There are so many free ones! best of luck, hope you find the hobby as rewarding as I have my friend!

Yes Neil, exactly that, just use your lowest power EP you have, find focus on any star, then slowly sweep around the sky and see what you find. I love doing it, especially when I find something really pretty like the open and globular clusters! You will also notice a LOT of satellites whizzing through your view as you go! When I first started out, I was convinced I had seen a UFO whizzing by! LOL. Then I obviously learned of the many hundre4ds of satellites up there! I'd also suggest you experiment with different size EP's and just find what you like best. Regarding Jupiter, that's my fave planet Neil! I never tire of looking at it! So I'm not too surprised your 8.5 yr old was so happy viewing it! ( he/she has great taste impo! 😜😂 )

@Bugdozer Yes castor is a lovely system, I've seen it a few times, really pleasing to view!

@LondonNeil Hi Neil, and welcome to SGL! The above advice is great, so I can't improve upon that. What I would suggest you also try Neil, is something I call "blind searching" ( only myself, I've never heard anyone else call it that!? LOL ) So basically what I sometimes do is simply point telescope up and start searching blind with a low power EP, like a 25mm, or better a 30-40mm wide field EP. As I'm looking through EP and slowly scanning randomly across the sky, I often find beautiful open clusters, sometimes globular clusters, and also brighter nebulae etc. It's incredible when you come across said objects and the sky is awash with stars! Also, another technique people use is "splitting" double/triple even quadruple stars. It requires higher power EPs so you'd be best trying to use a free star map application on your smart phone to find a "star" that is actually oftentimes a double star system, or even treble and more, and with high power EP, you "split" the stars so they're each individually visible. If you get a good "one" you can see gorgeous star systems with Blue, Orange/red, yellow individual stars, its really pretty and pleasing to see! Best of luck Neil and kids! Clear Skies from Liverpool! Wes.

@Dave Smith beautiful images Dave! may I ask, exactly what solar 'scope and filters/attachments did you use? Reason I ask is I've wanted to get into solar for a while now, and wondering roughly what I'll need to capture data similar to yours Dave? Thanks, Wes. * Sorry Dave, I forgot your gear is listed below images. Still if I may ask, could you please give me a some general pointers regarding the cheapest gear I'd need to at least start to capture data approaching the level I assume you're at Dave? Thanks Dave!

@Mr Spock Mate it's even worse for me! I have lost count the number of times I've seen clear weather/clear forecast, carried all my heavy gear down all the stairs from my 3rd floor flat ( big heavy HEQ5 mount, SW 200P Newt. reflector, rucksack on my back with all cables, Laptop, Cameras etc etc, a big flask of hot coffee squeezed into my big coat pocket, ALL carried at the same time!! and then ALL back upstairs at same time!! I fear theft/vandalism, so never leave my gear unattended to go back upstairs for other bits! ) I spent over an hour setting up, then the damn clouds have rolled in!? In Liverpool, I have had about 5-6 nights outside since mid June last year!! I absolutely hate the weather here in northwest England!! 😤

@Mr Spock I wish other sites were as grown up and civilised as this one. The language and behaviour you often see on other sites just sully's the website and makes for an unpleasant experience.

@bosun21 Oohh ok I understand, and I'm sorry to hear of your fathers passing. Thanks and sorry for such a long message! Kind Regards, Wes.

@Ags LOL loved how you described the clouds mate! made me giggle! 😂 We can all relate to the little things constantly ruining our night skies here in the UK! 😩😂 On the subject of the 50mm RACI, I have often just grabbed my 50mm finder scope and scanned the skies, and it's really surprising what you can see with such a simple small optical instrument! Many many Stars and even brighter nebulae!

@Elp I am already saving up for the 120 triplet mate. For my personal circumstances it is the best balance between weight, cost, size and with a bit of luck the quality will be good too! That being said, a fellow SGL member has the smaller 103 triplet and he says it's ace, so I should be good I think!

@bosun21 Aww ok I apologise for misunderstanding you mate! Thank You my friend! *I know this is totally off subject, but if I may ask, are you a Bosun aboard a sailing ship by any chance? Reason I ask is many years ago, I went sailing aboard a now recommissioned ship called "The Sir Malcom Miller" We sailed for two weeks around the English Channel, Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea to name what I recall. We stopped off at various ports in the aforementioned areas. It was the residential section of my Gold Duke Of Edinburgh Award, and it was an amazing experience, albeit very hard work at times! At one point we were stuck in a force 9 gale! With 7-10 metre high waves to contend with! Incredible when we got a pack of Dolphins ( or maybe Porpoise's?? ) swimming ahead of the bow of our ship! We had just come through another awful storm and those Dolphins gave everyone aboard a massive boost of energy and morale, it was incredible! They really are healing creatures in my personal experience! I am asking you this simply because your name on here is Bosun21? I'll understand if you don't want to answer such an off topic random question! LOL. Kind Regards, Wes.

@paulastro Thanks for that very helpful response Paul! Also, I'm in Liverpool, UK so quite far away unfortunately, but thank you so much for such a kind offer Paul, I was pleasantly taken aback! Thanks! After reading these responses, I'm definitely buying the 120 triplet model, because I've wanted a good triplet with plenty of aperture for a while now, and finding the ASKAR 120 means it's now affordable for my typically limited funds! I will of course write up and post images in the coming months and share my experiences so other members know exactly what I found! Regards, Wes.

@vlaiv Thanks Vlaiv, that's a very insightful take on the threads question! From what I'm learning from people, it really is NOT too good to be true, so I'll be saving up for a few months and buying the 120 Triplet model! Regards, Wes.

Thanks Elp! I actually questioned my own thinking, thinking it was just me being over-sensitive to what I read! lol. But I do believe he meant no offence. Thanks mate! Regards, Wes.

@The60mmKid haha I liked this reply! Thanks mate!😂👍

@bosun21 LOL I sensed a bit of "you telling me off for wasting time writing a thread about something that's already been discussed" ?? Haha! Joking aside, it did kinda offend me, but I do understand what you were trying to tell me! So absolutely no hard feelings my friend! Kind Regards, Wes.

@Zermelo Yes sorry, I should clarify that I meant accelerating and decelerating in the horizontal axis, relative to the car and road. Thank You for pointing out my unintended ambiguity! Regards, Wes

Hi all. So today I found this beast of a 'scope, a 120 triplet apo, which as you all know triplet refractors are very expensive because the glass to make them is so expensive etc! Askar 120 APO Triplet Refractor | First Light Optics My question is...is £1499 for a 120mm triplet apo just too good to be true?? has anyone had a chance to test this particular 'scope out? They also do a 103mm, a 140mm and even a whopping 185mm aperture version!!?? the 185mm is circa £5k, which is a similar price to sky watchers 150 esprit triplet model. What are peoples thoughts on this 120mm triplets price?? If it's even fairly decent, I would argue it's the bargain of the decade!!

I haven't watched the vid yet, but based on my own experiences, I'm almost certain the tyres tread is actually accelerating then decelerating rapidly during each full turn/circle relative to the road and vehicle. Think about it...imagine a white marker at the 11:45 clock position on the outer edge of the tyre, now imagine it in roatation...it will speed up relative to the vehicle/road as it passes 11:45, then slow down as it goes past the 12:15 position, then approaching 12:45 it will start to speed up again ( again, all relatively speaking ) and so on and so forth. I've actually often wondered, how much effects does the earths orbit around the sun get affected by whether it's heading towards and away the core of our gaslaxy, during it's full yearly orbit? because the exact same principles apply here with the tyres rotation/velocity relative to the vehicle and road. You are sometimes moving towards the core, and sometimes moving away, which in Newtonian classical mechanics should have an affect, albeit small, on the relative velocities...?? That's my take folks!

@Telescope40 Mate I've seen a few 6inch MEADE LXD55 SCT's for sale on eBay and the like during the last couple of years, and I think I might have even seen the 8ich'er's that you're after? They were the white painted versions too. Furthermore, I notice that in general, the MEADE SCT's go for less money than their equivalent sized/spec'd 'scopes from other big manufacturers like Celestron, Skywatcher etc? ( I obsessively, almost daily via my phone to and from work, search eBay and the like to see what 'scopes and other astro gear are for sale, and so I have developed a good sense of what's trending, what the current going rates are for particular types of gear like OTA's, full setups, EP's, Astro-cameras etc etc etc ) So if you would like me to, I will keep an eye out for the scope you're after and when/if I find one, I'll PM you on here? Let me know mate. Regards, Wes.