Rob Sellent

@Paz: with reference to a 2 scope combo, from my own experience, I've found the most pleasure using the largest refractor I can comfortably afford, mount and use most often, twinned with the largest Dobsonian I can comfortably afford and use most often. In my own case, this happy medium is a 4" frac and a 10" dob. From use of a TeleVue 76, a Vixen Fl-102s and a Mak 127, I feel the 127 is a compact, easy to mount scope giving nice, colour free views on a very sensible budget. In terms of performance/£ ratio, the Mak 127 is a fine telescope, costing much the same as a single premium eyepiece, for example. Nevertheless, I don't feel it's a fair comparison comparing such a scope to a decent apo. If there is any deficit in the apos' light gathering capacity this is more than made up for through the apo's superior contrast, sharpness, colour correction and quality of the visual image. I feel this visual definition is significantly superior - as is the cost - with the apo and this depends chiefly on the better quality of the optical system.

I'm not sure what tripod your Porta II is mounted on, but I feel the mount and aluminium legs is a decent small scope mount and good for grab 'n go. Although everyone's millage will differ, I feel it handles reasonably fast (f6s/f7s) 70mm and 80mm fracs but I'd be nervous mounting anything more. You see, it's not always the weight which will affect the mount but also the tube's length and angular momentum. I've never owned one, so all this is just from memory recall when out with other astronomers. With your budget and mount in mind, and my own intolerance, I think I'd be happy with something like a TS-Photoline 72mm, SW 72ED, WO ZS71 etc. I also feel something like a TeleVue 76 would be a good match but you'd have to wait on the secondhand market for quite a while until one cropped up. It may be a good idea, then, to set up another thread along with this one, asking folk of their weight/angular momentum/tube length etc exeperiences with the Porta II.

I think this kind of 'scope' wouldn' take itself too seriously....

That's disappointing to hear Just to rub it in a little further, I'm currently enjoying almost a month of cloudless blue sky days and warm, jasmin scented evenings out with the 4" . That doesn't mean the Sun has been doing its magic, this year has been a pretty dull one

I feel remainders after death are reminders that we loved those who have now gone but we must try to let go of most of their things, as we learn to 'let go' of those we loved. I know this sounds callous but for those who still live, deciding what to keep when a loved one dies can be incredibly overwhelming and emotional. Our heart is already broken from the death of a loved one and now it is wrenched further as we face the cruel burden and the terrible guilt of sorting through their private belongings and memories. In view of this, in view of those who will still live after I go, I try to keep my clutter to a minimum. Every twelve or eighteen months, most things get chucked or sent to charity. Scale models, paintings, sketches, note books, log books, journals, writings in general, are simply binned. Nothing is sacred. I'm only just in my fourties but have kept this habit ever since my father died some thirty years ago and if there is concern about a legacy, a gentle whisper from Benjamin Franklin will bring me back down to Earth, "If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Perhaps your astronomy journals will be of benefit or a pleasure for future generations. Perhaps they could be tweaked and turned into an excellent guide or insight into the adventures of a stargazer. Perhaps there will be a legacy worth keeping. I don't know. But I do know every person has a legacy. It may not be something we can write on our tombstones, but we all have an impact on this world. If that impact can be of love and of being good to people and other living creatures, then surely that will suffice and would be a wonderful legacy of one's life's work to leave behind.

@joe aguiar, although they both go by Evostar, the OP might be referring to the achromatic rather than the ED

Welcome to forum, @DENISANNA I think you'll find SGL a good place, full of friendly, knowledgeable and generally decent folk from all over the world who also share a joy for astronomy and science. Good luck with the finder scope but I'm sure following the link from @Knighty2112all will be right . If not, just let us know Look forward to meeting you on the boards .

Nice bit of DIY, Stu and should work better in terms of balancing on an azimuth mount. Performance wise, how do you rate something like the TS Photo Line , Altair, Lunt, William Optics (modified Kummings/Sharpstar?) scopes? Do you think they hold up well to the other fracs you've owned (TeleVue, Takahashi...Vixen) or do the more premium brands (US/Japanese) still have something more to offer?

I have to be at peace to observe. Nothing on my mind and nothing to worry about. When younger and living in the cities and towns, I tried observing in local parks or dark pockets of scrub land but the experience was too disquieting. Even when I was on my own, I was never really alone. At night in the cities it is not the ghouls and ghosts that break up the silence.

I think it's just the nature of language rather than any undertones of defence. At the top of this page 6, for example, I asked a question about what is it that keeps visual observers interested. It was a purely rhetorical question, for I've been a visual observer for more than a decade and understand very well what keeps the mojo alive. Perhaps some of the answers could look like justifying something that has no cause to be justified but I don't think that is the case. It's simply the way the written langauge is expressed when asked such a question. Therein, I feel the use emojis are useful when we can't deal with each other face to face 😁

Wow, Bristol...home of Bansky, Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Gloucester Road, Park Street, Montpelier, Stocks Croft, open farms, amazing cafés, bars and people. That whole area (Somerset, Avon) is one of my favourites in the whole of all my travels around the UK. I haven't lived in England for getting on for 30 years, but fond memories, or the gradual disappearence of them live on. It might be tricky for you but it might be an idea to drop a line to BAS in Bristol and ask to attend one of their open nights? I'm sure you'll find really friendly folk who can show you their scopes and you'll be able to get a feel of them and the kind of things you'll be able to see? If I'm not mistaken, @Johnis a member and is also one of the most respected visual observers not only in the UK but in the English speaking world.

You'd do better downloading the free planetarium, Stellarium and play around with its settings and read through something like this each month. I've had a thought and although I agree with pretty much all the advice in this thread, I think @happy-kat has hit the proverbial nail on its head. Save your budget. By the time you've priced in postage costs, basic accessories, along with a scope and mount, a total budget of £150 isn't going to go far. The good news is the stars and planets aren't going anywhere soon. If they're not visiable now, they'll soon be back. In the meantime, you could learn the winter and autumn constellations visible from your site, and if you fancied, following the insight and advice from Binocular Sky (also a member here on SGL), get a nice set of binos to go just a little deeper and see a little more

Aye, light pollution is the bane of astronomy There are typically two types of light pollution. Light trespass and skyglow. There's not much one can do about sky glow other than trying to find pockets of darkness away from urban areas. Light trespass is where we can gain some control and make a more positive approach to our observing. If possible try to block all intrusive light from your sight and site. On a micro level, an observing hood is a great aid. Flocking the inside of a Newtonian (if you have one) as well as fitting a large yoga-mat shield over the end of your scope may help in blocking stray light from getting to the objective lens. Another thing I find extremely useful is a pirate's eyepatch . I observe with it on my non-observing eye and when I need to pull away from the scope, I slide it over to my observing eye. Another tip is to use a regulated green or red torch. These are all relatively cheap fixes and can't do one any harm. On the macro level, erecting light-blocks and shades is extremely effective. I live in a small village of under 400 inhabitants, so the sky glow isn't too bad but I do have a huge 9m or 10m street light out back With the aid of PVC pipes and black sheets, I've made myself a couple of light shades that pretty much close off all the street light's glare. I've two of them and each measure 4m by 2m. I stick them in the ground at angles and they rest on a sliding gate. If it's too windy for them to hold up, I figure it's too windy for observing Here's a simple sketch of the kind of thing being used: Needless to say planets, the Moon, brighter star clusters and double stars don't require dark skies. And with a little effort at the eyepiece even planetary nebulae and globular clusters hold up reasonably well. Light polluted skies also offer the great excuse of going bigger and getting oneself a big Dob

Thanks for the interest, Stu It's quite a simple process, but perhaps a tad laborious. I divide a circle into 4 or 8 equal sections. This helps with plotting stars which I find quite difficult. I don't use a tracking mount, so in order to plot stars as accurately as possible I try to use at least 2 key stars that I can push the scope back to at all times. Each of the star plots have this feature. For example, the first sketch above has 4 key stars at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. The third sketch just has two, at 1 and 9 o'clock. When sketching I also try to take account of star light intensity/size and colour. Back inside, I take a photo of the sketch, load it into Gimp, convert the photo using grey scale (not black and white) and feather the edge so it has an effect like looking through the eyepiece. I think the sky background could be a tad darker but it is never black in my eyes. Then I create a 'layer' and just re-plot the stars directly over the top of the original stars using various tones of grey and add color if necessary. Finally, I get rid of the original 'layer' and am left with the sketch. I've only practiced this method a few times and wouldn't bother if the consumption was only for my use. Each year, I fill note books of sketches or descriptions from observations but throw them out at the end of each year. However, I feel for SGL if I'm going to share a sketch or two, I should aim to show what I'm seeing through the eyepiece. I haven't worked out how to do averted vision but I'm on the case

I'd be wary of buying secondhand if I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking for and how I could distinguish between the good from not so good. Other than that, there's no hurry. This is a great site and you can keep on asking question, posting up possibilities you've found and sounding out opinions and options etc. Might also be helpful to run through a number of questions to help hone your pursuit: where will I be viewing from? where will I store the gear? how are the sky conditions in terms of light pollution etc? if I need to carry the scope/mount etc is this easily done from the storage area? what do I expect to see (Hubble vs visual expectations etc)? do I have budget for the other bits and pieces which might become necessary (cheshire, atlas, warm clothing, an extra eyepiece, etc)? what kind of weight and size would I be comfortable with? Finally, two astro-related quotes I like: a poor man cannot afford not to buy quality buy in haste, repent at leisure

I can see many benefits of using night vision gear for astronomy and I feel that the pioneers who have gone down this avenue will argue that it is possibly one of the best astro purchases they've ever made. Perhaps as the years drip by, interest will increase and as with most things, prices will drop further and just as importantly, the secondhand market will begin to see movement in night vision gear.

Hi Tracy and welcome to SGL If I had a budget of £500.00 and I was mainly interested in seeing a bit of everything but not too bothered with astrophotography, then I'd go for an 8" Dobsonian. The Dob will offer you 200mm of aperture, so in terms of resolution will resolve detail more than any other scope within this price range. It will give you low-power rich field viewing for gorgeous star fields and open clusters and with reasonable dark skies you'll be able to view galaxies, nebulae, globulars, and so on. You'll also get some tip-top views of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Moon and it will also train you in the relatively simple art of collimation which will stand you in good stead as a general astronomer. If that weren't enough, it also leaves you around £200.00 to use as you see fit. You will get more than sufficient magnification on objects (limited like all the other scopes on atmospheric conditions and aperture), it already comes with a good solid mount, so in effect you're placing most of your money in the scope's aperture. Like a refractor, it isn't susceptible to dew formation, so techniques such as dew shields and heater strips become unnecessary as they would necessaily be for Maks and SCTS, but unlike an achromatic refractor, you'll get more aperture and you won't get chromatic aberation. Furthemore, it won't take as long to cooldown as a Mak or SCT and on good seeing nights should give really nice contrasty views on planets. There are a couple of downsides to the Dob. Some folk find collimation annoying but to be honest, it's really no more than a little tweak of the mirror every session. Some folk don't like diffraction spikes when viewing bright objects, you'll probably need a seat to sit on so as to avoid bending down to view objetcs and with a focal ratio of f5 these scopes are more demanding on eyepieces, so you will probably have to spend a little bit more on quality eyepieces than you would if you had a longer +f10 scope. Inch for inch, then, Dobs are a lot cheaper than Refractors, Maks or SCTS and because you can afford more aperture for less, you're getting more resolution, brighter images, and the possibility of going deeper and seeing more. To get an idea of the Dobs size, this site is useful. To get a relative comparison of sizes to other scopes, this picture is useful. Note, the 8" Dob's footprint is a tad smaller than it is for a mount necessary for a Mak 127 or 4" refractor and weight wise is probably heavier than these two scopes but can be split into two manageable parts. For a first time, all round, general purpose scope to help you enjoy the wonders of the night sky, I really don't think you can go wrong with an 8" or if expenses allow, a 10" Dob. Hope that helps a little

I think £150 is going to be a tight squeeze for a mount and telescope It's probably worth having a look at our site's sponsor, FLO for ideas. They're reputable, trustworthy, always happy to help, give great customer service, unbeatable prices and are based in the UK Personally, for that budget I would recommend a Dobsonian telescope. Something like the Heritage or if you could stretch your budget, the Skyliner 150. Dobsonians are Newtonian scopes mounted on a very simple yet robust wooden base, so in effect you're placing most of your money in the scope's aperture. This means you'll be able to go a little deeper and resolve just a little more. From experience I do feel that as with most things in life, in astronomy you get what you pay for. Buying a cheap telescope on a cheap mount will get you a cheap telescope on a cheap mount that will probably cause more frustration than joy. In terms of astronomy, the 5" or 6" dobs are not that big and relatively easy to set up and use. In the budget range they are going to be more solid than a tripod mounted telescope. The only limitation is that these scope are probably not too suited to astrophotography - but getting into astrophotography is another ball game and prices are seriously more expensive. With a Dob, you do need to budget in a collimation tool called a Chesire, you might need a star atlas of some sort (you can always print them out), and you might need a red torch. You will also need to bend down to look through these scopes. The Heritage will probably need a table to place it on and the 150 a chair for you to sit on. To get an idea of the scopes' size, this link is helpful. Good luck in your quest and let us know your thoughts

Welcome to SGL, Pho What kind of budget were you looking at?

Thank you for your kind comments

Lovely set up, @Tenby2 I've had my Lunt 60 - BF 1200 for what must be getting on for a decade or so and not a problem to date. Although very specific in what it can do, I feel it does that very well without fuss or cables. After a few years, I did upgrade on the focuser, a Moonlite in red. I lived with the stock focuser for about 5 years and was prepared to live with its quirks since the scope is wonderful. There was never a serious problem with the original crayford, but after a while I did find it sagged a little with the use of heavier eyepieces like the Delos and there was some slight back-and-forth 'play' in the drawtube. Regarding eyepieces, I've experimented with Panoptics, Plossls, Delos and Naglers and yet curiously, have found that my favourite eyepieces for the Lunt have been zoom eyepieces (currently use Baader Mk IV) which I think are very useful when solar observing in general, and Baader's Genuine Orthos. For a little swot up, I've found John Wilkinson's New Eyes on the Sun a decent introduction to general solar phenomena. Wilkinson covers the most prominent solar topics such as photosphere, chromosphere and corona activity, eclipses and transits, space weather, and there's a chapter on basic observing in white light, H-alpha and CAK. Each chapter is explained in an easy manner and should answer many of the typical questions that arise from the solar observer without going into any mathematical or technical detail. The web also has some worth while reads worth looking into. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Sun is a good online read to the newcomer of solar astronomy. It offers an excellent foundation for the never-ending quest for knowledge and it's free. If the best telescope is the one you use the most, then my Lunt 60 must surely beat all the others hands down. The mean yearly average of sunlight where I live is about 7hrs a day. Not all of those days are cloudless but I guess I'm fitting in an average of 300 h-alpha sessions a year. Look forward to hearing your opinion on your own wonderful scope and finger's crossed all will be well for the Mercury transit this November 11th

Just a few sketches from an evening out with a 3" frac. A little overcast tonight, but still an enjoyable session.

Hiya Jake and welcome to SGL Maybe this picture can help? I think it's easier to do the star hop naked eye and then once you're confident, try using binoculars or the finder of your scope. If you can try to head out around 23:00 hrs and look south-east. Hopefully, you'll be able to see the Square of Pegasus up in the night sky. From that corner star, Alpheratz, count 2 stars along to your left and then 2 stars up and around that area will be M31. Depending on your skies, you may also be able to see M31 naked eye (I see a fuzzy patch of light from my Bortle 4 back garden, for example). Needless to say, if you can't see those 2 stars that hop up, let us know and we can work out a way to hit the area using our fists, thumbs and fingers 😀 For a rough idea of what M31 would look like in a small scope (around 3"/4"), here's a little sketch. In this sketch, about 2/3rds between M 31 and 6'clock is M 110 and the smaller smudge just above and to the left of M 31's core is M 32 (hope I got that the right way around ). Needless to say, your own orientation may be different, but it gives an idea. To check out your average light polluted skies, this site is worth a look. And if you haven't done so already, Stellarium is an excellent free planetarium software. Look forward to meeting you on the boards and good luck with your hunting

I've raised a suggestion along this line in the newcomers thread. If there's interest, perhaps we could run a few visual challenges Speaking of challenges, I've heard imagers say on a number of occassions that one of the problems with visual observing is that under average sky conditions there are only so many targets that can really be seen. After a few trips around the Sun and looking at them a few dozen times, what then? So a question for longer term visual astronomers, what maintains your interest and mojo?

JUst out of interest, what filter did you get and what scope are you using, @Skywatcher130?