Martthebass

Really nice and informative image. The WR's are something special.

Not easy to tell from the image but looks like a slight pinching caused by over tight collimating screws. Usually more apparent when it's cold. If it concerns you then return it or get it adjusted under warranty. Not uncommon on fast doublets/triplets, my WO GT71 has it slightly when its very cold.

Just picked one of thee up but as I only have one mount, which my GT71 AP set up is currently sat on I haven't had chance to use it. Must sort myself out before Mars goes back to being a single digit arc second dot.

Thanks Adam....no way would I touch it myself, certainly not on a triplet. Images have been sent (via RVO) to WO for comment. Hope it doesn’t have to go back with the current waiting list.

Just over a month into imaging and battling the Yorkshire weather; stray rain drops, cloud, wind etc. Despite what the weather forecast had predicted we got a 2 hour semi break in cloud tonight so I hurriedly set up, did a quick and dirty PA and gambled on the North being most free of cloud. Picked the Iris Nebula as I thought 2 minutes subs would just about be ok and I could avoid setting up guiding. Anyhow managed 54 from 55 subs worth stacking; some amp glow so could have done with a few more darks though.....still learning 😊 WO GT71 with flat 6aiii SW AZEQ5 mount ZWO 385MC pro ASIair pro

Very nice, I was looking at one of these but they were out of stock.

Thanks for this Olly, I promised myself I wouldn’t get too precious about star shapes when I started out on this hobby. After years of purely visual endeavours I’m just happy to see colours and some detail. The only concern I had is if it affected the value of the scope, if that was the case I’d take it in to RVO to be adjusted as it’s still under warranty.

I’ve got this on bright stars on my WO GT71, but in my case it’s at 120 degree spacing and even. I assumed it might be slight protrusion of foil spacers (though I can’t see them so it could be something else?) into the light path. I considered sending it back but I’ve seen a number of Skywatcher and WO small apo doublets and triplets with the same issue so there’s no guarantee of getting anything different....and to be honest it doesn’t look too bad. You can see it on the bright orange star on this image of M76 I took the other night.

You have my sympathy. I've had the same fun with deliveries of bass guitars which couriers seem quite adept at damaging even when packed in hard shell cases and cardboard. Contact the seller, he/she has the contract with the courier (I assume) and should be able to claim the insurance (hopefully taken).

The ubiquitous M13, first go at imaging. Using WO GT71 with ZWO ASI 385MC with assistance from ASIAIR pro. 30 x 60 second subs and no darks. No post processing.

Late to the party but in line with SmokeyJoe above, the finder is pretty much not needed if you go through EQMOD rather than the alignment process on the mount.

That’s a tricky one J, if you really want planets and doubles then magnification is key and Wide field isn’t. Whichever, I’d go 100mm if you want some DSO as well. I use a WO GT71 and don’t consider it a visual scope though granted I think it’s lower FL than the SW ED80. Enjoy the decision making, that’s half the fun.

Like above, I’d probably go for an ED doublet of good quality around the 100mm mark . If you select a slightly longer focal length it should be great on planets and doubles but also have enough aperture for the brighter DSOs at a dark site.

I can’t comment on the suitability with your proposed scope but I’ve been more than happy with the AZEQ5 in my AP setup. With a WO GT71 is a reasonably easy all in one lift and it’s more than stable enough for wide field AP.

Think you did well there Steve, I'm currently trying to source a used 127 OTA (plus finder) Skymax or Bresser for around that.

F7 for me, want to be sure the mount can handle the scope with ease.

Thanks Neil, the lemons always concern me but unless it's a Tak or an A-P then I guess the risk is higher.....however I'm just looking for a relatively cheap G&G without imaging so I'll not be too critical. Hopefully I'll find one that has a decent figure unlike the 120mm Konus Achro I had 20 years ago with it's amazing triangular stars.

Thanks for this Rob. Looks the ticket for my needs. I'll just have to have a little patience until they come back into stock, though I'll put out a want ad and keep scouring the 'for sale' on the off chance.

Thanks for this Mike, much appreciated.

From what I can tell I think most scopes are out of stock.........part of the reason I concentrated on looking at the used market at first.

I've been hanging around for a while to see if a decent Celestron 6 SCT or a 100mm ED refractor came available on the used market but alas so far I've been too slow or the collection only has beaten me. To this end I've been looking at the Altair Ascent 102ED as a new purchase. This will be used for visual use only as I use my WO GT71 for AP and will be used on a SW AZEQ5 mount. Aside from the Sky at Night review I can't find much on the scope so I wondered if there were some impartial users on here who could comment.

Could be dispersion due to atmospheric conditions related to Jupiter's low altitude? It doesn't look too clever visually in my WO GT71.

Regarding WO, I had a GT81 anniversary edition and it was a Crayford focusser. As far as I know all of the latest models are a good quality R&P; the unit on my GT71 is smooth and has no problems.

Thanks for the suggestions, the Astro Accent is now on the list, just wondering how that would compare with something like a Celestron C6? I’d love a dob but I think swimbo would kill me if I took up the conservatory with one, plus my star hopping is pretty dire after years of goto.

After about a year I've finally got the small wide field AP rig set up based around a WO GT71. I gathered along the way that there was no such thing as the 'do it all set up' so I decided that in order to enjoy both AP and Visual I'd likely be looking at 2 scopes...I also found that I didn't want to be constantly reconfiguring the GT71 from AP to Visual and back. In the past, before my hiatus, I'd had both a 120mm refractor on a GEM and an 8" LX200 SCT. I hated the refractor, mainly because of the mount which I found a pain for visual (plus, as it was at the start of the low cost Chinese imports race, it had more CA and astigmatism than I was happy with); I liked the SCT but didn't like lugging it about. In order to have some flexibility I opted for the AZEQ5 mount so that I could have it as EQ for AP and set to AZ for visual so I'm now looking at a visual scope that would be happy on this set up. So far I've been looking at ED doublets in the 100mm range and 6" Mak/SCTs. I'm looking at keeping the budget at <£650 as I want to spend more time on AP otherwise I'll never get to the level of even demoralising incompetence. Does anyone have any advice so I can avoid a costly mistake?