ScouseSpaceCadet

You do not need to spend massive amounts of money on camping gear to be comfortable and equipment usually lasts for many years. Do you have a physical impairment that prevents you from camping, you have not camped before or has a bad experience put you off? If you already have a car, camping is probably the best way to get yourself under dark skies regularly. Also, some astro camps (and many campsites generally) do have pods and static caravans to rent should you be really opposed to sleeping in a tent, however some camping equipment would still be handy, like a good sleeping bag and cooking gear if you manage to grab a pod.

I did the same, buying a red Stellalyra 220mm vixen and a couple of screws. The scope came with a black medium vixen bar already fitted. Evidence! 😀 This second bout of COVID (just done a test🙄) has not sent me nuts... 🙄

Chaps... I did take the scope out and remove the wrapping paper before collapsing back in bed where I am now... Handle on top and a vixen dovetail on the bottom. 👍

A Stellamira 125 ED f7.8 refractor... The Oklop case is nice... This telescope did not arrive with the advertised losmandy plate, rather a vixen dovetail bar. Perfect except I bought a vixen bar so will need to return it. I have been destroyed by a virus this week so cannot really be bothered having a proper look... 🙄

John, please remember this is a family forum! 🤣

CO has been my third choice for quite a while now. The Met Office plus the Weather&Radar apps do the job. I've found the latter's cloud radar reasonably accurate. This last few days both apps have accurately predicted the weather. Today here has been very warm and the sky is clear but the wind is blowin' a gale! At least the washing is dry. 👍

The thing is I'm sceptical but inexplicable stuff does happen when you don't have a camera or phone in your hand. Noone else apparently sees it and no other reports of the thing you saw exist... You can see where I going with this... I doubt the huge fireballI I witnessed late one evening around 11pm in 2020 was a anything other than a meteor or burning space debris but it was travelling across the sky for at least a minute. The fireball passed through my binocular view while I was looking at the Coathanger and I ran into the house for my phone. Not one report in a newspaper, nothing reported on an any astro sites and no personal evidence as by the time I grabbed my phone and ran out the fireball had started to dip over the house roof before I could focus. Anyone else casually looking up would have been rooted to the spot it was that spectacular and obviously not an aircraft. As already stated I'm not suggesting this was a crashing alien spacecraft but attempting to illustrate random stuff does occur that is missed by the masses and gone unreported. If I had reported the sighting would I have been the only person to spot it or does a shadowy military dept somewhere have the occurence on record? I'll never know. I have no evidence to prove what I saw but it did happen... We all likely read the same ever changing facts about the universe and who knows if a species elsewhere over the course of several billion years has not developed technologies capable of breaking physics as we know it? What if the interdimensional multiverse type scenario is a real thing? Or any number of other theories? There are far too many questions to ponder. Right now I'm more concerned about the current war on European soil, climate change and other stuff directly affecting myself, this country and neighbouring continent. I'm staying open minded with a healthy dose of doubt and sceptism... I'll only concern myself with aliens when the mothership turns up to collect their mates... 😱

Observing has reintroduced me to reading and learning outside of work. I've been reacquainted with the great outdoors. Camping was a distant memory. Now I'm out under canvas a few times a year enjoying fresh air, great scenery and under cooked sausages. 😄 The above comes with a renewed interest in our indigenous wildlife. I've learnt the northern midge is a formidable foe! Socialising with like minded people without finding it necessary to spend time in dodgy night clubs is probably a bonus too... 🙄 Astronomy has not cost a great deal. With reserved spending of maybe £3k at most over the last few years on observing kit and camping gear, I don't feel massively hard done by if the clouds are sticking. Finding this hobby has been a wholly positive experience and despite finding the challenging weather frustrating on occasion, giving up observing is unimaginable. Those few cloud free nights each year make every book read and penny spent worthwhile even under light polluted skies most of the time. Basically, stop moaning, remember why you look up, enjoy those times you can and do something else when you cannot. 😀

Life will be thoroughly enhanced by my new SGL camping mug! 🥳

Great report Ratlet. If observing slouched in a chair, the above pistol grip and a very cheap used Manfrotto aluminium monopod works for me. After some practice there's little to no shake with the 10x50s mounted. The combo also works with the 15x70s although they're not so comfy as target altitude increases. The above was a memorable Orion constellation/m42 session with the 15x70s and the monopod. Perfect. 😀

Yes, I'll probably return home and raid my kids' piggy banks... 😀

I'll have the Altair 102ED on the AVX again and my eyepiece case... plus, stuff... Let's hope we have a nice September...

Clive are you taking the Starfield 102? I'd love to have a peek through it.

I will involuntarily do very well in that competition. 🫡 Unlike the pub quiz... some reading up required. 🙄 Being easily pleased I'm quite excited since I've not been camping this year. Kielder Starcamp on the 11th October is booked too. Four nights with the end of season midges... To celebrate I just bought an SGL camping mug. A former coveted twenty year old mug mysteriously disappeared from a cupboard... 🤔

Damn you're quick mate I was logged on within a minute and 33 was gone. For your sins, there is a snoring fart machine booked into 34b. 🤣

Next stop, a two page spread. 😀

Well done @AstroNebulee for getting a Milky Way image printed in August's Sky at Night magazine! Admittedly a small corner of the letters page but in print nonetheless and a fantastic image too. 👍🎉

I already have an Orion Dynamo Pro 155wh power tank but during the Amazon sales last week the Jackery 240 was offered at 40% off. This was a genuine saving as I keep an eye on the prices of these things... so unable to resist £104 off, the 240 arrived today... That's all my camping and astro power requirements sorted for the next few years. 😀

£500 will get you an 8" Dobsonian with spare change and you should see a great deal more detail. However, you have not described the eyepieces you're using. Besides poor collimation, bad eyepieces can drastically ruin the view. As Louis D, Nik271 and DirkSteele have already mentioned, a 130 mm f6 Newtonian should be performing better than you describe. Like many others, my first telescope was a 130mm Newtonian and it was that good for me I was inspired to try other telescopes because of curiosity rather than because the instrument was 'bad'. I remember my first view of Jupiter knocked my socks off and Saturn was a 'wow' moment too. Before you go spending money on another telescope really check the collimation is spot on and you have one or two suitable mid range eyepieces rather than relying on the packaged eyepieces.

Mount a Heritage 130P on the AZGTi on top of a 1.75" steel tripod. The AZGTI does come in a package with a 130PS but unfortunately one cannot buy these telescopes new separately from the mount. However the Heritage 130P is similarly specced and will work fine. Put the money saved away in the astro kitty for nicer kit in the future.

Since changing jobs and not working nights, I sleep better than I have done for years. Astronomy does not get in the way of that rest because I'm simply no good to anyone without at least 6.5 hours sleep. Living in the urban jungle, light pollution restricts observing but I do miss that sweet spot of around midnight to 3am when the city outskirts are quiet and the sky is a touch darker, so in the months either side of mid summer, if I have a day off and the forecast is good then I will stay out late and try to have a power nap before a late nighter but there's no staying up all night.

I bookmarked these last year and totally forgot about them... Then@Live_Steam_Mad suggested this item may come in handy at Kielder Starcamp... Presenting likely the largest available ski pants in the UK... I warmed up in two minutes trying them on earlier I almost had a funny turn! 😄

There isn't a right answer. The only solution is what suits the individual. Usually after some trial and error that can become quite expensive....🙄 I have a Celestron AVX mount others would consider grab and go however for me the overall weight and set up time excludes that mount from the grab and go definition. To compliment the above I own both low weight capacity manual and goto mounts. The manual mount with slomos was my first mount and how I learnt to star hop. This mount is my super quick setup solution but the powered AZGTI is also great paired with a small telescope for solar system observing. The AZGTI Point and Track facility cuts out the need for other alignments and you can relax, sketch, read or go brew a cuppa without needing to nudge or reacquire the target. If you have a (very) small telescope, want to do some solar observing (with suitable filters), spend an hour on the moon or check out a planet without turning knobs or pushing the scope then the AZGTI Point and Track set up time is not far behind the super quick manual mount.

Last night Venus and the moon put on a nice sunset display. I took loads of pics with a DSLR and monopod but have yet to wade through them. A very pleasant evenin doing nothing much except enjoying the sunset, the aforementioned solar system delights and "The Bat" visiting every few minutes vacuuming the midges for me. 👍

Maybe save (imho) unnecessary expense and stick with the phone app? The phone app is more intuitive to use than a handset. Why not set aside an old phone as a dedicated controller? I use an old Samsung S6. If the battery gets low then it's plugged into the power bank powering the mount.