ScouseSpaceCadet

This is the battery I use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TalentCell-Rechargeable-6000mAh-12000mAh-Lithium/dp/B0713T4XT9 Although mine was bought quite a while ago on sale so only cost about £40... Along with a decent Lynx Astro power cable and a molle bag you can add another £30. It may be more financially prudent nowadays to go for a dedicated small capacity astro dedicated lithium battery. If you have access to a mains socket, then a 12v 5a adapter and an extension cable is the cheapest option. Both mounts will fit to just about any photographic tripod with a 3/8s bolt fitting or the usual astro tripods using a 3/8s adapter. The steel tripod in the pics is the Skywatcherl 3/8s fitting, 1.75" steel tripod released as an upgrade after these mounts came onto the market. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html Check out the dedicated AZGTI thread. They're an incredibly versatile & fun mount to use. Just don't expect immediately flawless gotos. Like any computerised mount they take some practice by the user to work well. Regarding the AZ5, the only draw back when teamed with these Maksutovs is the narrow field of view can make star hopping difficult. A 9x50 finder scope would be complimentary.

The Skymax 127 is fine on either the AZGTI or AZ5 (I use both those mounts plus the 127 see below). The bare OTA's dovetail bar is on the bottom of the tube in relation to the focuser and finder. Whereas the telescope bundled with those mounts has the dovetail to the right. That is the only difference. The former does however make a red dot style finder a little difficult to use. A RACI finderscope on a long stork does work out, or as some people do, attach a Telrad finder. I did own a Skymax 102 with the dovetail on the bottom config and stuck with the RACI finder. I've no experience of the eq 3-2 however I suspect the mount should cope OK with the Skymax.

Welcome. 😀

Hi from across the pond. 👍

Nice pics. 👍

Welcome back. 👍

Belated hellos... One of my better decisions was not buying the Celestron Hobbie Killer 130. Joining SGL saved me from that dubious purchasing choice. Don't give up there's a telescope out there that will suit you. 👍

Been too ill to concentrate on reading or anything else. Cough and chest has not been too bad but feel like I had the bejeezes knocked out of me. Dizzyness, aching legs, extreme fatigue, fever, shivers, night sweats, slightly abnormal oxygen and high blood glucose. ☹️ Feeling slightly better today. I'm thankful for three vaccine jabs. Imagining the potential illness effects without that protection makes me shudder. Thanks for the good wishes. 👍

Common sense suggests the fov shouldn't get wider because the rear ota hole size isn't increased and the focal length including the reducer adapter will be a little longer. However I'm probably wrong... 🙄 Unfortunately I was struck down by covid the day of that post so have missed some decent days and nights to test. The family are holding me prisoner in the bedroom! 🤕

Those findings are not surprising. We know how difficult scrambling around in the dark can be. Even CCTV is pointless unless manned 24/7. Thieves simply wear dark clothing and cover their faces. The proliferation of cheaper to run, bright LED road and street lighting is no substitute for police patrols. Approx four years ago we suffered a targeted early hours break in for the keys of my partner's new car. Our cul de sac is very well lit, with one of the LED street lamps a stones throw from the driveway. Our back garden was much more illuminated back then too. The thief exploited a (now closed) weakness in the house security. A new BMW around the corner was stolen not long after. After a year or so and a string of targeted car thefts, the whole gang was eventually jailed for several years. I believe by chance a passing police patrol stopped one of the kids the gang was paying to do the robbing while he was handing over a high performance car he had just stolen during the early hours to the next link in the chain. The gang was eventually rounded up. Good grassroots uniformed policing followed by decent detective work once they got a sniff won. The same goes for the crazy LEDs lighting up the 40mph urban dual carriageway near my house. The vast majority of accidents on this stretch of road have always happened during the day time! Usually during busy periods at a particular couple of junctions where people slow down too abruptly to turn or drivers pulling out into oncoming traffic. All the like day time night lighting does is encourage people to speed late at night on virtually empty very well lit roads. There is a notorious roundabout a mile up the road where last year two fatal crashes occured at night. Both caused by drugged up drivers speeding in high performance cars hitting the lit up like Christmas roundabout. No amount of street lighting helped because the drivers were simply irresponsible. They and their passengers paid with their lives. Light pollution aside, with the cost of energy spiralling upward, councils really need to take another look at lighting policies. Even if just switching off or dimming every other light after a particular time or during the week when late night traffic and pedestrian activity is at its lowest.

Stuff ordered Saturday evening, despatched Monday and arrived Tuesday as expected. 👍

The Skymax 127 is now officially posh with the addition of an Astro Essentials Mak to SCT Adapter, Baader SCT 2" Visual Back and a Baader 2" to 1.25" Reducer Adapter.

Signed up.. along with her indoors, my brother, niece and nephew! My kids are cynical miseries. 🙄

Going rural turns the sky into one's personal playground, so anything and everything! Familiar objects take on a whole new lease of life and new objects are a massive bonus. So for me, a peak at the old favourites to remind me what they should look like and searching out the new. For instance a camping trip last September with 10x50s ticked off several DSOs I've no chance of observing at home with a telescope.

Same here but the kit is still set up tonight. I can't help myself!

I totally forgot about the 1930 ISS pass until the station flared fantastically while I was out in the garden... and immediately thought of you two outside. The sky looked clear here but brightness and transparency are terrible. I can barely see Cassiopeia, only four stars in Leo and Ursa Major is almost overhead but only just discernable. So half an hour or so to set up, get perfect gotos and after another half an hour I'm sitting in the garden chair behind the mount just enjoying the breeze... Kon I hope the ISS capture went well. 😀

A lovely read. Very heartwarming! Good luck for Wednesday. 👍

The Skymax 102 and 127 work really well on the AZGTI, however the 127 will present a brighter image and resolve more Lunar detail etc. Like Bomberbaz I've owned both. They're easy finds used. Cool down isn't much of an issue.

Great stuff. Very strange north level was causing the problems but at least it's sorted . 👍 and Adam, that scope will push the mount to its limits. I wouldn't use that combo but it is up to you... Best combinations are the likes of refractors up to 80mm at f7, 102mm refractors at f5. Maksutovs to 127mm.

The wind dropped, but despite the moon being below the horizon the sky is really bright due to the encroaching spring and light pollution. It's a school night, so I popped out with the 15x70s to have a look at the Double Cluster in Perseus. This one of my favourites and considering I've observed these clusters naked eye when camping, I was incredibly disappointed! The telescope view from my garden is decent and I've been disappointed here by the 10x50 view, which when in the countryside is quite spectacular. However I expected the extra punch of the 15x70s would be a massive improvement. Unfortunately not the case, two faint fuzzies. ☹️

... I don't remember the Skymax 102 visual back clamping screws being so bad. A sideways look at my current 127 has the diagonal flopping! After some research I've come up with the solution below. Those better informed please let me know if this is correct for holding a 1.25" diagonal or is there a better solution? Thanks in advance. Replacing the existing visual back with the below: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-2-visual-back-eyepiece-holder-for-sct-telescopes.html and inserting this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-2-to-125-reducer-adapter.html Ta. 👍

Indeed and unfortunately one of my favourite campsites in Cumbria has huge pitches, all around great horizon views, bortle 3 skies and no leccy. ☹️ The Peak District is fairly central would the old Peaks Star Party venue not be suitable? https://sites.google.com/site/shallowgrange/

An amazing run of four(!) clear nights including this evening, but typically during full moon and a very chilly 15mph wind. I've been out each night for a short period with binoculars, however I really don't like observing once the wind heads past around 10mph. Friday night I took the binoculars out and seeing was great judging by the view I had of M42 through the 15x70s but the moon rising mid evening adding to the light pollution put me off setting up, so I watched that evening's missed astro society meeting on Youtube. I almost gave in last night but scintillation was awful and that persistent chilly wind sealed the deal. So what have I seen this last few nights? Not very much! 🙄

I suppose I fall into the visual only camp, although I have used the mount in alt az mode for some basic lunar photography with a telescope and dslr.

Owning a 4" ED refractor, I had a similar decision to make and due to eye floater issues, decided not to buy eyepieces with focal lengths less than 4mm. Luckily I picked up a 'like new' GSO 2.5x 3 element barlow very very cheap on *bay. It's very good indeed paired with an OVL ES-Nirvana 7mm. Although there is some debate whether this barlow is closer to 2.2x, in reality it does the job admirably and is used regularly. One of my better bargain basement purchases.