ScouseSpaceCadet

Thanks for your thoughts... I've taken advantage of FLO's offer to polish the ota to remove the (very minor in my case luckily) tube ring imprints and it's being picked up tomorrow. Otherwise I've been very happy with the Stellamira's performance, although the scope has only had three outings due to poor weather and work. The ota was taken to Astrocamp unfortunately that long weekend was a washout. The combination of aperture, focal ratio and low weight combined with the nice optics and focuser is perfect for my needs. There's absolutely no need for me to keep more than one telescope now, so I'll very soon be selling my Altair 102ED, Skymax 127, AZ5 and AZGTI. Sometime next year the AVX will go too as I aim to simplify observing and replace that with an alt az mount. Hopefully the weather will be kinder at Kielder Star Camp in October. I really want the Stellamira 125 to render me speechless under those dark skies. 🧐

Those of us with less faith bugged out this afternoon... My tent started dripping water in places around half ten this morning and when I popped my head out after that deluge subsided, Ade and Mike next to me were packing up prompting me to feel less of a sissy so I joined them. 😄 The most tranquil time I had was while walking to the toilet block at six this morning, the rain had stopped for a bit, and clouds had parted somewhat so the only three daylight naked eye objects left in the sky gave me a little show, Venus, Sirius and Jupiter. As usual a very well organised camp with friendly enough people but that must be the most sustained rain I've camped under. Almost constant rain ranging from drizzle to crackers deluges with some thunder and mist thrown in. I hope the faithful have a better night tonight and don't get too wet packing up in the morning!

I assume you do realise Mr. Sunshine you have opened a huge can of worms. Have you have initiated marital negotiations regarding the purchase of a 20" dob and an observatory? 😄

The Startravel 102 is sold in a package with the azgti so it should be fine. The mount does not cope well with longer scopes.

"What did you see tonight?"... A red light head torch reflected off the interior of a wet tent!

Driving through a cloud twenty minutes from the camp was ominous... 😱 Arriving at 4.30pm I got damp setting up, dried off & changed clothes... The scope and mount have been left in the car. If there's a miraculous weather change I'll stick with the 10x50s. The camp wi-fi does seem much better this time.

Damn... the people camping either side of me aren't going. I was only joking about the snoring! Seriously though I am sorry to hear Neil and Tim can't attend. I'm currently gathering everything into inconvenient piles around the house ready to pack into the car tomorrow morning... The weather forecast is very iffy but then is it ever any different down there? 🙄🤔

These lights spill light everywhere... 🙄 I requested a shield and at the second attempt the council did fit one. A huge improvement - a dull glow spilt sideways rather than so bright, shield your eyes... You can just about see the shield if you zoom in a bit... I was actually very honest, explained the light should not be shining horizontally into my property 10m distant and it is ruining my hobby. Although that may just be luck and complaining it's stopping you sleeping might be better... 😉

I had a travel Mak 102 with Skywatcher AZ5, aluminium tripod, OVL 7-21 zoom, 25mm Vixen NPL eyepiece and 2 diagonals - a 45° erecting for day use and a 90° dielectric for night. All except the tripod and mount fitted in a cheap Amazon sourced camera bag. It was a nice experiment and worked well but I found binoculars less faff so dropped the travel kit idea, sold the 102 plus zoom and a year later bought a 127 to sit on an idle AZGTI for at home use... 🙄 That set up is now on the expanding soon to be for sale list. Fun and quick to get going but I have three scopes and three mounts when I only really need one scope and one mount... 🙄

Done

Both Cwmdu Astrocamp and Kielder Starcamp offer wooden pods. A step up from a tent and you can take a heater. Also Cwmdu offers four cottages to rent just off site and Kielder has a static caravan adjacent to the tent field. The early Autumn camps are not *that* cold though. I do not use a heater. The Spring camps however are right nippy!

Ultimately do what's right for you but camping for several days can be enough faff without taking and looking after all kinds of astro gear. I suggested the C8 purely because it's the largest aperture you have, but if you prefer using the 4" then I doubt you will be disappointed under dark skies. The CG5 was chosen for its tracking. Sharing an eyepiece is much easier when you don't need to nudge or turn a slomo but a manual alt az is ultra reliable unless you're very unfortunate...

228 miles Paul. I'm not going to Kelling though. Cwmdu in September and Kielder in October. Both an hour less driving than Kelling.

The C8 on the CG5 plus binoculars. There's only so much kit you can use at once and the less you need to manage the better... I've taken two scopes on a couple of occasions but always end up sticking with one. It's no great burden to share the eyepiece with a friend and can be fun. Last year I was v. happy at Cwmdu with just the 102 f7 on the AVX on the one great clear night and on the second very patchy night, the 10x50s did the business from outside the tent. Also four other people got to look through my telescope and I managed a good peep through three others. This year it's the Stellamira 125ED and AVX plus binoculars.

Steve I noticed mine has those blemishes but so slight I only noticed at a certain angle and in a certain light... 🙄 Is the paste cheap and the polishing process stress free and easy?

I have owned the the 130PS and it was a great introduction into astronomy. The telescope has a fixed primary mirror but a collimatable secondary mirror. I found collimation being slightly off was not noticeable unless I increased magnification, so I suggest you check this before doing anything else. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/rigel-125-aline-collimation-cap.html https://inter-static.skywatcher.com/upfiles/en_download_caty01424817556.pdf

If those thoughts and feelings are important to you then yes they matter. I'm sure there are plenty out there with similar thoughts, especially amongst the likely very large amateur sub group of stargazers who love their time under the stars and appreciate what they're observing, yet have no particular desire to measure or photograph anything... Similar to you I've found observational astronomy has led to some existential introspection and without doubt has resulted in a positive effect on my well being. Nearly every time I'm out is a mindfulness session. It's still a hobby though. 😉

That site looks great. Easily accessible for us northerners too. I like the blurb on their website. At least they're dark sky aware: "Dark Sky Stargazing We have enormous skies at Fforest Fields. When the conditions are right, stargazing with the naked eye can be an absolute treat. For those with a taste for astro-photography we can offer some of the best darkest skies in the country. We sit on the edge of the Elan Valley where there are also places to seek out to stand and stare."

Tonight I enjoyed my first extended observing session with the Stellamira 125ED f7.8 doublet. Equipped with a quality red dot finder and a matching red Altair Lightwave 1.25" dielectric diagonal, the telescope balanced perfectly using the Celestron AVX 4.5kg counter weight. On this occasion I went with the 1.25" diagonal because during a recent brief session ended by cloud, a 2" diagonal clipped the tripod legs. I had a couple of close shaves tonight. For peace of mind I'd suggest mounting this telescope on a pier or mount capable of using a pillar extension. Unfortunately I believe Celestron do not market an extension pillar for AVX. 🙄 Otherwise, roughly polar aligned and using a 2 star align plus 1 calib star, the mount goto worked flawlessly, placing every target within my 7mm Nirvana ES eyepiece's field of view and tracking each object as expected. Starting at 2320, the temperature was in the mid teens. No coat required, a track suit top kept the light breeze off and me comfortably warm. I noticed seeing was steady with little scintillation, however transparency was poor, the sky remaining a grey hue. Bortle 7/8 urban sky. I started at Albireo, with my shortest focal length eyepiece, a 4mm Vixen SLV providing 243x showing off the blue and yellow colours with tight diffraction rings. Onto the Double Double. A Vixen 6mm SLV for 162.5x really showing off these doubles. M27 was very faint but I could just make out the shape using one of my favourite eyepieces, the 7mm Nirvana ES. Gamma1 Delphini a double with a separation of 9" and curious colours. My colour deficient sight registered the primary as yellow with a greenish secondary. Globular cluster M15 had a surprising bright core and even twinkled somewhat in the 7mm Nirvana. M2 looked larger than M15 however with a less distinct core and overall a more diffuse appearance. Midnight arrived and the jewel of the solar system Saturn accompanied by its largest moon, Titan graced the eyepiece. A wonderful sight despite the poor transparency. I had to back off the magnification for a really crisp view. Sticking with the 7mm Nirvana again at 139x. Still during steady moments I managed to pick out the Cassini division and the different hues of atmospheric bands. Twenty minutes was spent on Saturn then back onto my west to east tour. Zeta1 Aquarii, sparkling white jewels with a 1.7" separation. Perfect through a 5mm SLV at 195x. Down to the pale blue/green dot, Neptune. I've had better views using scopes of similar aperture. The planet being rather low on this occasion plus the seeing conditions did not do the planet justice. Onward to another easy double, 61 Cygni at 32" separation but nonetheless stunning orange companions. Flogging a dead horse I tried M31 and did not have the best at home observation of our neighbouring galaxy. The Double Cluster was terrible, again the light pollution and the murky sky conditions did no favours. It is possible with this sized telescope to get a decent view on the city outskirts but not tonight. Finally, at 0050 I felt like I was making too much noise on a Monday morning so finished with Eta Cassiopeia. To my eyes, a gold primary and orange secondary. Overall a very enjoyable session. The longest I've had for many months. I'm far from expert, however optically the SM125 doublet performed as expected, exhibiting very high contrast, with no obvious spherical or chromatic abberations. Mechanically, the focuser although a bit stiff compared to my 102mm ED refractor, was precise and objects snapped into focus. The focuser's rotating and locking mechanism was also really nice in use. The dew shield is a bit stiff when sliding. Any tips to improve this would be appreciated. At home deep sky observations are primarily doubles and the telescope left me feeling it is fit for purpose. I'm very much looking forward to taking the SM125 to this Autumn's astronomy camps (and hoping for a clear night or two!).

At least you're visual only and free from AP problems; tangled cables, crashing computers, fizzled PSUs and sausage fingers...

Pointing at the moon while jumping up and down excitedly shouting 'ugh ugh!" is a vital part of my observing ritual. 😉

I had to laugh... 😄 There will always be stargazers. Despite encroaching light pollution I'm sure the hobby has never been more bouyant due to the plethora of easily accessible information, clubs, societies, forums Iike SGL and relatively cheap high quality gear. Astronomy is even now commonly taught in schools. Real time mk.1 eyeball observing brings the universe alive like nothing else. Year by year watching the changing tilt of Saturn's rings, Jovian moons orbiting as you watch, the movement of the lunar terminator, every two years spending hours observing the rotation of Mars and so on. All these observations and many more really hit home we're part of a dynamic universe. I'll only give up when I can't physically manage or the cold starts penetrating my old bones.

An Oklop Padded Bag for Small Telescopes is crammed with diagonals, finders, sky maps, almanacs, pencils, notepads, batteries, a planetary cam, cables, a compass, small spirit level, etc. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-bags-cases-storage/oklop-padded-bag-for-small-telescopes.html Eyepieces are kept in a separate foamed lined hard case.

At the very least the AZGTI will not perform very well and at worst break... I've tried that combo...

They're a fun widefield refractor but a one trick pony. Not very grabby or goey to me hence why I sold it. I wouldn't knock the SW120ST but don't expect to enjoy heading past 100x magnification or using a titchy mount. 🙂