ScouseSpaceCadet

This is one of the space highlights of the year for me. My name's landing on Mars. Just imagine, once terraforming is complete, and all the rovers are housed in the Mars Exploration Museum, a Martian will ask one day, 'I wonder what Scouse Space Cadet* was like?' Ok I know, I know, but we're allowed to dream! 🙄 https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8634/109-million-names-now-aboard-nasas-perseverance-mars-rover/ *Not my real name or rank.

Maybe give Edinburgh's Astro Society a visit. They will probably give you some tips. https://www.astronomyedinburgh.org/ The Go Stargazing website mentions a couple of places about an hours drive from Edinburgh. https://gostargazing.co.uk/regions/south-east-scotland You're probably best taking a friend. It's a massive anxiety reducer. 😀

That's my kind of astronomy! Yes it was enjoyable to watch. Sir Patrick would have approved I'm sure.🧐

+1 For the AZ-GTI if you want super light weight goto. Though if camping on a public camp site, on max speed the slewing to objects will have the other campers chasing you out with pitch forks and lanterns. For that reason I also have an AZ5 alt az mount for public sites.

The 90/900 is sold with the AZ Nano, so unless Bresser have boobed somewhat, and although not the ideal mount for the scope, it's probably fine for his purpose?

If you want to view planets, out of the three, the 90/900 is the best option. The others are widefield telescopes. A 7.3mm plossl and 90/900 refractor will provide 123x magnification. Way below the telescope's recommended max limit of 180x.

I have the Oklop bag for small telescopes. Originally bought for a 130PS/AZ5 combo. The bag will fit an OTA, tripod, mount and accessories. Mine's been padded out with extra bubble wrap and the 120/600 scope sits on the two semi circular polystyrene stands from the original packaging. http://oklopbags.com/product/padded-bag-for-small-telescopes/ I've just bought very nice camera bag just for a Skymax 102, diagonal and finder. It's a perfect fit and cheapish at £35. A Skymax 127 won't fit but you may find something similar elsewhere. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoulder-Evecase-protection-Compartment-Mirrorless/dp/B00WLWG6P8/ref=mp_s_a_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=camera+bag&qid=1589228320&sprefix=camera+b&sr=8-17

Thanks for rambling Stu, some good points... However, those of us who's brains work better without having to mentally visualise the sky the right way up while looking through a straight through finder like our RACIs... 🙄😀

It's possible to get a good view of several DSOs including open and globular clusters, nebulae and brighter galaxies with the smaller end of scopes. For instance my 120mm refractor has given me wow moments from a camp site and whereas at my urban home, I can find several DSOs but they're often of the grey smudge variety. A lot depends on your sky quality. Are you living in a city/town, urban, suburban, suburban/rural border or rural?

The same MZT8-24 zoom eyepiece is sold under several different brand names for wildly varying prices. Celestron, Skywatcher, Seben, Zhumell, Omegon, BST and probably several more.. Shop around for the cheapest. Which at the moment might be: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Starguider-8-24mm-1-25-Zoom-Telescope-Eyepiece/382821209392?hash=item5921ec1530:g:2IYAAOSw5LZcfWSE

Sonmalul, if your heart is set on one of those three with CA as a concern, you only want to use it for mostly solar system and terrestrial observation from home, then the 90/900 is probably the best choice for you. I think you really knew that already. 😉

Ali Express. Just had a look and was very tempted to order the 4.7mm.. Conscience held me back!

There's definitely a degree of subjectivity & difference in perception whatever the numbers say. It will be interesting to read the latest comparisons The past reviews I've read suggested the semi apo filter was the softest, with more remaining CA than the contrast booster, but less light loss and no colour casting. Without having tried the others, that rings true. It would be interesting to see how the semi apo fairs on a longer focal length achro, for instance a 90mm f10 or 102mm f9.8.

But looking is doing. Observational astronomy is a joyous activity, with plenty of scientific relevance too if that's your bag. AP is great and I appreciate the time and effort it takes to artificially recreate something that's been done before, but it's just not for everyone...

8" Dob's are easy to store upright in a corner. They take up very little floor space, much less than a tripod. Storing it in a shed is a bit dodgy due to damp over time. There's those here that do so, there's good advice available on how to protect it. Keeping an object in view is with a telescope on a dobson mount isn't any harder than using manual slomo knobs. Binocular shakes can be dampened by simply leaning on or against something, by mounting them on a tripod, or probably most popular for binocular astronomy buffs, a monopod. '...how good can they be?', have a look at the binocular section of the forum. Loads of people either only use binoculars, or have at least one pair to compliment their other gear. It's a hard decision to make, maybe list all the pros and cons on paper then just go for it. You did say you were looking for "something portable and easy to setup" and goto... The Skymax 127 on an AZ-GTI comes in below your budget, including buying a power supply which is bought separately. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

Rejoice! You've released yourself from a lifetime of ever increasing expenditure, hours and hours of staring at a screen, isolation from the rest of society, potentially a funny walk and a nervous tick!

I've been on the 5/5 diet it's great, although there's a concern when in the garden sunbathing, conservationists may drag me back out to sea. As every day feels like a Saturday we've resorted to chalking the days on a wall like in prison movies. The next step will be putting the 14 yr old into solitary. Bliss!

As a Startravel 120 owner, I was lucky to pick up a new unopened 2" Baader Semi Apo filter for half price last year and it's stayed in the diagonal ever since. There's still some minimal fringing on bright objects at higher mags, but it's barely noticeable.

There are more, rather mundane variables to consider. For instance, will you travel with your chosen instrument? If so, do you have a car? Where will it be stored? Are there stairs to climb etc? Do you have any physical impairments which may prevent moving the telescope around or staying comfortable at the eyepiece? Will you get on with manually tracking an object which is a little tricky at higher magnifications? Would you prefer the mount to do it for you? Are you interested in astrophotography? Or visual at first and see how things go? Dobsonians are far from 'technically advanced'. They're the simplest telescope and mount to use and aperture per buck there's no contest but those other considerations above to consider. 'The best telescope is the one you use the most' really is true. Have you considered binoculars? A good pair of 10x50 binoculars, an astronomy for beginners book or two and planisphere will set you back less than £100. My binoculars are used more than my two telescopes. I wish I'd followed Sir Patrick Moore's advce and bought them first!

Sound enough reasoning. It worked for me. The Olympus bincoculars are used more than my telescopes. Enjoy.

Try Open Camera. It has loads of options to toy with.

They work great. I used a RACI and RDF combo on the Dob and when mounted on the AZ5, the Startravel 120. Don't buy a branded expensive one. There was a bloke in Russia selling 3D printed brackets on Ebay but it seems he's stopped. The chinese jobs for around £13 look very similar.

I occasionally mount a Startravel 120 on the AZ-GTI and steel tripod. It's on the weight limit but so far no problems using it. Staying with a 1.25" diagonal and the plastic red dot finder shaves off a few grams. A dielectric star diagonal and Baader Semi-Apo filter along with upgraded eyepieces does improve the view considerably. There's still some very minimal fringing around bright objects but it's not bothersome. John is right about the aluminium tripod, its actually easy to topple the whole rig if you accidently knock the scope and I've read here of people with 127 Maks who suggest that scope is a bit much for the tripod. My Skymax 102 is OK on it though. Tbh if you get the Skymax 127 you may find that's all you need for a while and if you really want another scope, an 8" dobsonian would compliment the Mak.

A good night. 👍

It seems like you need a 102/1300 or 90/1250 Maksutov. Tack sharp, no chromatic abberation, works as a spotter scope, great at high magnification on planets/lunar, stable on a small alt-az mount and won't catch the wind as much as a refractor. Easy to store, comfortable viewing position and around your budget and... and... Sold yet? 😁