ScouseSpaceCadet

There's 66 million people in the country, 1372 confirmed cases and 35 people with previous health issues have sadly died. The likelihood any of us are going to cause an epidemic in a Peak District field is super slim. 😉 At the moment you've more chance of winning a lottery than contracting the virus. Wookie I'm sure we will get chance to look through each others eyepieces...

V. Nice Wookie. Fingers crossed for the weather. Up to now I'm travelling light, with ST120/AZGTI/AZ5 and 10 x 50s but if the other half doesn't come then the dob may get dragged out.

I won the game several years ago before free to play. Gave away 20 billion isk and 5 billion in ships. :) https://zkillboard.com/character/248885645/ The avatar was my cloaky alt Willy. https://zkillboard.com/character/573753970/

An Opticron binocular tripod bracket and Neewar tripod ball head. Combined with a Skywatcher aluminium tripod I had lying around they hold 10 x 50 binos fine.

Seven days to go... How many do we have booked now?

A new head lamp. A step above my usual fiver jobs at £12.99 from Amazon. They feel quite sturdy and more than bright enough. Tested on my teen daughter after school, she was properly blinded and disorientated. Separate switches for red and white so no upsetting people at astro camps. Unless slightly inebriated and pressing the wrong switch obvs!

A replacement tent. The Hi-Gear Enigma Elite 5. 4000mm HH, roomy for two, easy to pitch and cheap! https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15908694/hi-gear-enigma-elite-5-tent-15908694 To be tested in the Peaks next weekend...

The Oklop bags are nice for the price. I keep a SW Startravel 120 plus mount and accessories in my bag for small telescopes.

Well done and congrats. Be careful though, you may become addicted. If Venus was impressive, maybe view sitting down for Jupiter and Saturn! 😉

Viewing Venus for the first time through my 8" dob, I had the same issue. Increasing the mag to 300x removed the diffraction spikes, clearly showing the planet and phase.

Only a 25 minute drive. Definitely on my to do list.

I started out with a 130p variant. It's a nice telescope which will give you hours of pleasure once you get to grips with it. As mentioned above, BST Starguiders are quality eyepieces for £40ish new. I bought an 8mm and 15mm which still get used every session. Buy one or two books for instance; Turn Left at Orion and/or Patrick Moore's Astronomy: An Introduction: Teach Yourself series. Consider a planisphere (basically a map of the night sky). Install a free mobile app. There's several, but Sky Safari and Stellarium seem to be the most popular. Give it a year! At first you may find it takes weeks or months to find objects, but when you do it's a satisfying experience and it gets easier.

I can't believe I missed this very sad news until today. I remember Heather very well from childhood, her guesting on The Sky at Night when a woman on telly talking science was very rare. R.I.P Trailblazer.

Barry through August if you're desperate, staying up late/rising very early around 3am Mars will be passing across the southern sky, rising progressively earlier, reaching opposition mid October. Set your alarm clock. 🧐😁

At 6ft, using a small reflector on alt az, tripod extended to the max and mount extension tube, standing was extremely comfortable. I sold the 130ps, but miss it now just for the perfect standing viewing position it provided with the AZ5. To replace it I may pick up a 150p this year or try a 127 mak. Using a refractor I mix it up cos the back gives out. I try and set the height so at higher elevations the eyepiece matches my eye height while sitting on a garden chair. The dob is propped an extra foot high but needs more height still for me to enjoy it standing for long periods without back ache.

I've used a Startravel 120 with metal 2" diagonal, 2" 30mm eyepiece, red dot and 9x50 finders atttached. Probably around 6kg. Generally the mount feels solid on the steel tripod. Balance is good and the scope swings around like a toy. Focus wobbles are unobtrusive. Viewing the zenith feels safe. The only criticism is at higher elevations is slomo control slippage even with the clutches tightened.The Explorer 130 didn't have this issue, but that scope was a couple of kg lighter. Likely not suitable for a C8, but a nice combo with a C5.

Get yourself booked in. While enjoying the all too rare dark sky well away from the rat race, in the company of the like minded, you're supporting the farming and local tourism industries all at once. Plus it's cheap. Need more convincing? No? Sign up then! Come on folks, the more, the merrier!

I was having the same issue with my 200p. Until reading this thread and tried again this morning... Do not use the 2"-1.25" adapter that came with the telescope. Use the adapter supplied with the collimator. The adapter that came with the collimator only has one thumb screw rather than the two on the telescope's. Wind in the focuser and tighten the focuser locking screw. The result; no collimator slop and 15 mins later perfect collimation.

I found these three useful: Patrick Moore's Astronomy: A Complete Introduction. - Patrick Moore/Percy Seymour. Easy Things To See With A Small Telescope. - Richard J Bartlett Philip's Guide to the Night Sky. - Patrick Moore. All available on Kindle plus old school paper.

I suppose it depends what you intend to do with the telescopes, how quickly you want to get up and running, how much you're willing to spend etc For visual only, the Skywatcher AZGTI would carry either of those scopes I imagine. They're both short scopes, so no balancing issues and with accessories come under the 5kg load limit. Mine carries a slightly over the weight limit Startravel 120 without issue. Powering it is cheap with a £20 24500mah USB power bank and £5 5v-12v converter cable lasting several sessions before a recharge is required. For decent stability though I'd recommend using the purchased separately steel tripod.

There will be enough expertise on hand for advice I imagine, so you should learn plenty more on this weekend. Let's hope Mother Nature is kind to us!

The complete set. I don't feel the need to buy anymore. Just the eyepieces are kept in a pick foam filled water proof small case from Amazon. Everything else is either in the telescope bag or a very small flight case.

This evening i managed to start viewing Venus with a 200p Dob in the twilight for 30 minutes before a tree obscured the view. The glare and accompanying diffraction spikes were a distraction but I could still see the disk. Each time I swapped to a higher mag, the image improved. Finally using a 4mm TMB clone (£15 used!) giving 300x mag, the dimming of the view and resulting image took my breath away. Clearly a planet with approx 30% shadow. Amazing! I had to drag my 20yr old son out for a look. He seemed mildly impressed... Basically the advice here is sound. Set out to dim the view, trying either filters, an aperture stop, or higher mag if seeing is good. Wesdon1 did you try the advice and get a better view?

That's so nice. Very modern looking. I hope it performs for you as well as it looks!

Let's get it to at least 10 tents. The location is reasonably central and having the camp to ourselves is a nice bonus. Having never camped with leccy before I'm quite excited!