ScouseSpaceCadet

Possibly the best bedroom window shot ever. Hah. 👍

Observing meteors never gets old. Nature's freebie fireworks. I've not viewed a red one. Lots of common white streaks, a very bright green once and a fantastic white fireball streaking across the sky last year. That one actually startled me as it initially streaked right to left through my binoculars before I excitedly continued watching naked eye. I hope you see many more, and that pesky satellites don't ruin your pics!

You should be able to see the brightest galaxies - m81 and m82. They will both fit into the 25mm field of view as tiny smudges. Individually through the 9mm a little more shape to them. Later in the year, Andromeda's core should be easily visible when higher. This time of year globular clusters will be visible as smudges. Using the 9mm and 5mm will darken the sky and you may resolve some stars within globulars m3, m13 and m92. The planetary nebula M57 is doable. You should be able to see the ring, but the central star unlikely. Try it toward the end of April onward around midnight. Avoiding nights around full moon. Cross emission and reflecting nebulae off the list for now. A UHC filter may help but I wouldn't encourage you to buy one just yet. You will probably have more luck with those using 10x50 binoculars on a clear night. Your 130mm and eyepieces is capable of splitting some smashing coloured double stars. Don't neglect those. Worth a look. Install Stellarium or Sky Safari on mobile for tips and tours.

Brilliant!

Nice moon images... Not fantastic, but all I have. Taken spring 2020 with an old Samsung S6 and a 150p. Weather permitting, this month lunar images will be cracked out by the dozen since recently purchasing a dslr and getting to grips with stacking etc.

I know mate, that's city skies for you. With for instance a 4" refractor, the view is even worse than that image. Just a smudge, which is why I rarely bother with DSO observing from home. Just a peak at a glob or bright galaxy now and again if the sky is very clear in the vain hope they resolve a bit more. I've observed in bortle 3 and 4 skies a few times now and even a pair of 10x50 binoculars or 4" refractor or mak blows away an 8" dob from my garden. 🙄 I'd be happy to visit Snowdonia with you mate. It's a lovely area. Every year we drive through there for a short break near Aberystwyth. One good thing to happen this week is I've sought and been granted permission by Lancashire Wildlife Trust to observe at a nature reserve thirty minutes drive away. I just need to let them know I'm coming and pay £2 to park. The approx. SQM mag/arcsec2 is 20.23 . Not exactly dark skies but a result compared to a home 18.8!

The Baader semi apo filter worked for me with the ST120 but the contrast booster is supposed to be the better one.. Stopping down the aperture works well using the hole built into the objective dust cover, especially if lunar observing. That's as low cost as possible.

Fencing and brick work as scientific aids. Great. 😄 To be honest I picked up the tip from Astronomy and Nature TV on Youtube. Iirc it was an AZGTI review.

Since downsizing to a 4" f7 ED refractor I haven't been disappointed. DSO observing with my previous 8", 6", 5.1" reflectors and 120mm f5 achro refractor was slightly underwhelming due to the light polluted skies so I'm not missing anything in that respect. What I have gained is a pin sharp lunar, planetary, double star and wide field views. Magnification can be pushed past its limits somewhat, punching through the lp. CA and diffraction spikes are not issues. The scope is easily mounted and quick to set up.

Hah. The garden is very nice indeed, but the curtained hot tub made me think of the film Boogie Nights. 😀

I was imagining moustachioed men wearing denim shorts and sunglasses in the dark. Bikini clad babes with Farah Fawcett hair, the champagne flowing like tap water. A chap wearing a beanie and padded gilet with a telescope under his arm stumbles in, "Is this the star party?".

Coincidently a few days ago I imaged (using the term very loosely!) M3 with a dslr & Skymax 102. Stacked from 10 x 8 second subs. Now the picture is a poor shadow of a dso image however it's just about how M3 looks in a 8" reflector under quite severe light pollution i.e. bortle 7/8 sky quality 18.8ish.

'Keep things simple.' is my motto. 👍

With the AZGTI I assemble mount and tripod then check level via the mount bubble level, then add and balance the OTA. Once complete, level the OTA north by pointing it in the direction of polaris, then step back a bit and check the OTA is level against the house bricks, or rear garden wall. Job done, gotos in the fov of a 24mm 65° eyepiece every time and tracking is fine. One point regarding alignment, acquire and centre the alignment stars in a 25mm then swap to a 12mm (or 10mm if that's all you have) for fine tuning before accepting. North Level Alignment is always used, unless I'm keeping things super simple and utilising Point and Track.

Ahhhh! Thanks. 👍

Very nice... How is the double Skywatcher extension tube on the berlebach working out?

If you already have a decent photography kit, maybe just stick with that and a suitable mount.

I've just bought a used mint condition and low shutter count 450D for <£60 on Ebay. Happy with it for that price. I believe the 600D is very popular, especially because of the flip screen. "What is the best?" really comes down to how much you want to spend and how deep you want to dive in. In my case it's not spending much to have a dabble. Trevor Jones started with a 450D and hosts a very popular Youtube channel: https://astrobackyard.com/canon-rebel/

Sucks Barry. Over the course of a year or so I have sent two polite requests via their repairs web page without reply, then several months after the second, sent another last week. This time, straight to the point and simple, "Light trespass to the rear of xx xxxxx. Please fit a shield." Hey presto, done without me even noticing until darkness fell. There are now no shadows cast by me when walking around, I don't need to close one eye coming in and out of the house and the astro corner is darker still. Keep trying.

Fantastic blinkin' news here! I have just walked toward the conservatory to check the sky. It was unusually dark in there, so I thought the LED street lamp causing most of my local light problems is broken (yippee!). Well I went out to check and through the binoculars could see a big rectangular shield covering the whole side of the lamp! It must have been done today. This has taken a year and three requests. The last one being last week. Brilliant! Don't give up if trying. 👍 The unobtrusive glow above was once a blinding lamp.

You teased out quite a bit of detail from that tiny disc. 👍

A second one of those, stretcher, oxygen and a stiff tot of rum... 🙄😁

The AZGTI isn't a one trick pony like the Star Adventurer. It's a bona fide GoTo mount while being very small, light weight and versatile. There's loads more videos and a search on the forums will reveal plenty of info.

Oooh Manfrotto gear, how posh am I? Maybe not... a very used but cheap, clean and working Manfrotto Art 134 monopod. Extending to 163cm, with the adapter and bins added it is perfect for my 6' 1/2" height.

Dave's set up looks more sophisticated than Chernobyl. His button will be bigger and redder than a soviet reactor AZ-5! 😉