ScouseSpaceCadet

A nice combo. The viewing position is perfect if you don't mind standing and the slomos are well placed for use with a small newt. Enjoy. 👍

Stars - Collins Gem Chocca with maps and tiny.

No probs SuburbanMak. I guessed so but used the opportunity to explain my reasoning a tad. Binoculars really are underrated. Tbh if I'm off camping, the Mak is usually regulated to second place behind the 10x50s. When up at Kielder last September, observing with the binoculars left me absolutely gobsmacked. I should have remembered Sir Patrick Moore's sage advice - get binoculars first.

Nice cake. Happy Birthday. 🤳

Some people swear by zooms and moon filters. Others don't. Zooms are not an item I get on with except for day time use and in smaller scopes I find moon filters unnecessary. Everyone's different so be weary of splashing out. Eyepieces don't help if you don't know where to look or what you're looking at. Install the one of the free phone apps Sky Safari or Stellarium for instant access to a sky map and much more. Consider buying Turn Left at Orion. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/1108457568/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=turn+left+at+orion+book&qid=1614694652&sprefix=turn+left+at&sr=8-1 Buy a couple of plossl eyepieces to fill in the gaps between the two you have. 7.5mm and 17mm would be good choices. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-eyepieces/astro-essentials-super-plossl-eyepiece.html That's all you need.

SuburbanMak. The Startravel 102 is probably a nice low power widefield telescope. I had the 120 which fulfilled that requirement. The 102 Skymax was chosen because it fits into a small camera bag, is free of chromatic abberation at any magnification up to its 200x practical limit and is bundled with a Freedom Find© enabled AZGTi rather than the AZGTe. The Skymax is also a fantastic lunar and planetary scope given its size. With the addition of a cheap 45° diagonal and zoom eyepiece the Skymax becomes a sharp terrestrial spotter scope too. From what I've read and drawing on my own experience, these small Maks are more likely to be kept as handy spare grab n' go instruments should the user decide to collect bigger scopes in the future. For now, @DJT1984 borrowing his dad's binoculars has made the right decision. A couple of nice introductory articles: https//www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/stargazing-with-binoculars-a-guide/ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/tips-binoculars-astronomy/ Likely the best introduction to amateur astronomy: Turn Left at Orion A binocular specific book: Discover the Night Sky through Binoculars

With a strict £500 limit, keeping in mind a £30-£50 power supply is purchased on top, there is one system I know of which will show you plenty under the darker skies you have, and allow you to use your camera mounted with an L+bracket for short exposure widefield photography. No telescope required to start taking astro photos. The 102 Maksutov does have a narrow field of view compared to a comparable refractor or reflector, but its small size is great to carry and the long focal length is kinder on cheaper eyepieces. The AZGTI mount is incredibly versatile, and should you wish to experiment, can be used as an equatorial mount with a firmware patch and the addition of a polar wedge. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/sky-watcher-skymax-102-az-gti.html As also mentioned, under rural skies especially, a pair of approx. £60 10x50 binoculars will save you a load of money and offer stunning widefield views. A good way to learn about the skies. Binos, a book and a red torch for a total of £100 will keep you busy.

The beginner to midrange GoTo offerings are generally not as easy to use as the advertising blurb leads people to believe. Mount and telescope position are crucial before you start, then one to three alignment stars are chosen. Usually the user has to know if the telescope has picked out the correct stars, manually adjust and confirm. If choosing more than a one-star alignment, the position of those stars relatively to each other also affects goto accuracy. These systems can even be a headache for experienced users, especially if one chooses the astrophotography route when accurate tracking plays a role in exposure times. Also bear in mind, commited astrophotographers will use an equatorial rather than an altitude azimuth mount. Don't let the above put you off, but goto isn't a golden egg.

The little ST80 and AZGTI is a nice setup. Hopefully this year you will get the opportunity to take that light weight combo somewhere dark for some DSO action too. Fancy a nice galaxy and nebula tour with a GoTo 80mm and M31 filling the field of view? 🧐😀

... and Ed Ting recommends the ST80 Thanks for this thread @SuburbanMak A reminder astronomy doesn't have to be expensive. 👍

Thanks Mark. Please bear in mind, as you can probably tell, I'm not an expert. I've just reported my experience drawing on a little knowledge gained over a couple of years observing. However, there's no doubt in my mind for under £500 the Ascent 102ED is worth it. Considering the next models up are around £750 - £800 do you get an extra 50%+ performance increase for the 50% extra cost? I don't know. That's for others with more money than me burning a hole in their pocket to debate.

A final, final update. 🙄 The replacement ADM saddle arrived this week and after a painless installation, was used last night for the first time. I should've got one of these sooner. The Starwave was solidly held.The sag and rebound when changing eyepieces has gone. Balancing is less precarious. GoTos improved too! Last night, a ninety minute early evening lunar observation and a late ninety minute doubles session left me wanting more. The 4" really shines at the upper end of its magnification limits. At 200-250x the star shapes, colour rendition and lunar resolution are fantastic (to me at least). The Altair has really turned me on to coloured double/multiple stars, which were previously largely ignored. Tonight is forecast to be clear. I know where I'll be...

The sky's a bit milky here but I managed an hour and a half lunar observation before a warm room was required due to not wrapping up enough. 🙄 Thanks for the heads up, most of the features mentioned got a look. Not being a lunar buff, I found the feature below quite interesting to view but not 100% sure what it is. The crater Bailly?

An ADM AZGTI saddle and an Astro Essentials finder shoe ordered. The items arrived via Royal Mail 24 hour signed for. Well packaged and a no fuss transaction. Well done again FLO.

Looking at less costly ED refractors, the Altair Astro Starwave Ascent 102ED looked promising listed at £460 inc. VAT. Incredibly cheap these days but out of stock. I requested an in stock notification and surprisingly a few days later an email was received. The telescope was now listed at £495 but still as far as I'm aware, by far the lowest available price for its class. The item was ordered and delivered in perfect condition the next day. A seamless transaction with no extra communication needed. Thanks Altair.

Thanks for taking the time to review the plossls. My first eyepieces were FMC plossls from Opticstar. Ascension branded but I've seen them elsewhere since sold as generics. All under £20. They were sold when I moved onto wider field brands, but during Mars opposition I found a 6.5mm during a loft rummage and to my surprise it was actually pretty nice in the 102mm Mak at max magnification. It barlowed very well in the 150p and the image produced was crisp and no worse than the closest equivalent - a Skywatcher 6mm planetary eyepiece costing twice as much!

Thanks Mike. Coming from you that's a huge compliment. I'm actually a prospective LAS member. The pandemic's scuppered the voting in process. 🙄

I've done the same, but recently taken to planning sessions and logging observations. Like a proper astronomer. 🧐😁 The prep does make a huge difference. There's no great tech or time taken, just a look at Sky Safari in the directions I'll be viewing, and what will be up at the time. Taking into consideration limiting magnitude from the garden with the 4", which is approx 8.9. I'll also flip through the Sky at Night calender for the month to check that night, and double star tables, or one of the other almanacs in the arsenal. The forum's celestial events section is checked out too.

An ADM AZGTI saddle, followed by the great allen key hunt. Why is it always the last one you try that fits? 🙄 The 4" refractor has fixings for two finder shoes, so I bought another one... Astro Essentials branded. All from FLO.

Clever clogs. 😉😀

I managed a couple of hours. There was plenty of interest along the terminator. However, the highlight was favourable libration revealing Mare Humboldtianum for the first time. Although I do need to double check a map!

Who would have have thought a few years ago, we would be watching on the telly a hi-res video of a landing on another planet. Incredible. It's just all flippin' incredibly amazing. It's too exciting. I'll definitely need sedation when humans land!

Set up on the patio for a no frills lunar session. It's a high one!

Unfortunately that pervading attitude is prominent in other hobbyist forums. Buy what you can afford, don't skint yourself, get into debt or think beginner scopes are not good enough. For instance, a cheap 150mm reflector and a selection of midrange eyepieces can keep you busy for years. Remember, many of those who have been in the hobby a long time have traded up to reach the scopes or mounts they really fancy, having often reached a point were mortgages are paid off and kids grown up. There's plenty too who have gone crackers on a first telescope, spending several hundred or thousands on kit and it ends up gathering dust in the shed.

Planetary viewing with telescopes like a Startravel isn't 'pointless'. Both Saturn and Jupiter were observed with the ST120. The view was probably comparable to a 130/650mm reflector I had. Saturn's rings with a clear Cassini division and Jupiter displaying cloud bands. All great stuff for a beginner. It's about managing expectations. The cheaper entry level 120mm refractor has bit more aperture, but the 102mm more expensive instrument has better everything else and does more than just be a low power widefield scope. I'm not qualified or experienced enough to advise on the difference between FPL-51 and FPL-53 glass. All I can say is the Altair ED telescope out strips the expectations I had for it. I cannot see the point in spending much, much more cash for fancier objective glass that in my opinion, won't actually greatly improve the observing experience, help me see substantially more objects or detail. That debate is a bit like car geeks arguing over whether a Lamborghini or Ferrari is the best, when I'd be happy with either!