ScouseSpaceCadet

Last night I attached a ccd camera to a f7 refractor and tried my hand at planetary imaging... Behold, I give you Lord of planets, the mighty Jupiter... 😁 I've a lot to learn and also totally devoid of embarrassment!

Money's tight for a lot of people atm and there are unfortunately plenty of chancers. Another thing to consider, up until recently many were reluctant to travel. It took me months to sell an unused 200P dob for a giveaway price. As Geoff said, the mount alone is not particularly aspirational. You would probably get a fair price you want if you sold the whole package.

Many people still put down feeling ill to 'just a cold', and besides that a significant (even potentially the majority now) of infections are passed on by asymptomatic carriers.

As an organiser of any gathering it's not impossible for anyone who catches the virus to point the finger too. Ther are too many variables and uncertainties to consider. There's still around 700 people a week dying and 200,000+ infections each week. Covid definitely hasn't gone away. Social distancing and mask wearing are not as prevalent unfortunately and the population is increasingly fatalistic.

Do not do it. The dominant Delta variant spreads like wildfire. Edit: Two or three mates who are double vaccinated and taken recent tests I'd say go have fun in your dark site but not what you're suggesting.

Well within budget and relatively lightweight. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150i.html https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/sky-watcher-star-discovery-p150i-wi-fi-telescope-review/

Take it. If the sky is pristine, that weekend you didn't take the kit will be etched in memory forever! If the weather is not so good, nothing lost except boot space...

You may not need to spend quite as much for a "notable improvement"... I bought Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50 to replace my Olympus DPS-I 10x50. The difference is actually more than "notable", it's blinkin' obvious! A much brighter view and more detail evident when pointing at the moon for instance. After Steve Tonkin recommended them I decided to try these and I'm glad I did. Also the bag is better, the strap is better and they have fixed objective caps. Steve Tonkin's review

Depending on the size and shape of your garden, plus your observable sky from various positions, you could maybe lay a dry viewing area. When we had a new patio laid in our small urban garden , the NW corner of the garden also had nine flags laid next to an extra high fence blocking a street LED. The western view is restricted somewhat but the rest of the sky isn't so bad. It's the darkest part of the garden, and just far enough away from the house to avoid central heating exhausts etc. The flags have been marked with the tripod leg positions. I'm toying with building a small, just big enough to sit in, insulated astro shed not much bigger than an assembled 2" tripod next to the paving, so I can pick up the assembled mount and move it a metre or so to the observing position, with a folding table, chair and red light.

Hah thanks. Kids' play but I've not done it before. 🙄 I was surprised at the level of detail and got rather excited. 😁 Several movies recorded so lucky imaging here I come. I should have used the Mak but tbh I didn't know if the £15 Ebay camera even worked properly. 👍

Feeling like a proper astronomer, live stacking Jupiter! The Altair Astro Starwave Ascent 102ED, attached to a GSO 2.5x ED barlow, Starwave 1.25" diagonal and a super cheap used Opticstar PX35C Coolair ccd cam. Mounted on an a Celestron AVX. It's a great night but works beckons in the morning. I don't want to pack up! 🧐

Just a thought, but will storing scopes upstairs become a tiresome chore? My initial storage was in a loft office and on occasion I couldn't be bothered going up and down two flights of stairs with the kit...

Great mugshot, how much time did you do? 😉 Seriously, a very impressive image (the Rosette that is 😁). I'd be massively proud of that. Maybe one day... Congratulations. 👍

Jeremy, as someone who wouldn't know optical perfection if it punched me in the eyes I congratulate you on your purchase. You will undoubtedly find something to look at... Galileo managed quite a bit with his 38mm... 😉

Monday night the clouds cleared as the tripod was lifted back into the conservatory. Last night I didn't set up due to cloud then looked out at 11pm. Probably the best seeing for ages. 🙄 No wonder imagers are cranky!

As safe as anywhere else in the sticks. You should be fine. Just don't start observing in a military training area. 😁 https://gostargazing.co.uk/stargazing-event-search/ Type "Brecon" into the search box. There are a number of recommended stargazing sites.

The weight actually caused the AZGTI to droop a touch, so I resorted to a 32mm plossl as a cheap alternative wide field ep. However the 4" frac is nicely over mounted on the Celestron AVX, so I've not noticed balance or tracking issues when swapping out the 24mm hand grenade...

I really like the Altair branded version, but I'm easily pleased. 🙄 The only negative for me is it's about twice as heavy as my other 1.25" eps. Not an issue on a hefty mount but it did cause balancing problems with th AZGTI.

If this Opticstar PX-35C Coolair CCD planetary camera actually works properly then it was a bargain for £15...

That extra .5 might make all the difference. I'd read f7 was at the very lower limit of excellent performance which put me off. A shame because that's the only Takahashi item I can afford! Unless they make biro pens too? 😉 Dean's comments regarding the Skywatcher dielectric diagonal being a touch mushy in his SCT are interesting. I have one, so I'll have to road test it vs the Altair diagonal at some point.

That was a good call. Blanketed with cloud. 🙄

Thanks for taking the time to add your experiences. Mounting mine on a Celestron AVX has improved observing immensely. No hint of focus vibration is a welcome novelty. 😀 I feel relieved I bought the Altair diagonal after reading your thoughts on the Tak prism. I did hover over that for a while.. £500 for a nicely engineered telescope with mildly exotic glass was for us two at least, a good buy. May they serve us well for years to come. 👍

It's clear enough to set up but the forecast says no... I will procrastinate for another fifteen minutes or so...

Open clusters are great to observe with smaller aperture telescopes, and under light polluted skies. Favourites when out camping with just 10x50s. Great sketches. 👍

I've only had one mishap, with my favourite telescope though... A dew soaked 102ED was gently placed on a partially full accessories bag that was in turn sitting on top of the telescope flight case. I turned around to walk back out and clunk... and an immediate sickening feeling as a I turned back to see the scope on the conservatory floor. On inspection not the slightest mark and next use collimation was still the same. Soft parquet flooring, a full 2L diet lemonade bottle sitting next the case and solid engineering saved the day. 👍 I feel for people who have worse mishaps, that feeling in your guts when that expensive scope goes clunk is horrible!