joe aguiar

sorry I didn't say I spray paint not paint with regular paint and paint brush or roller so it has never flacked off even years later. also never the inside BUT only the outside joejaguar

yep I agree not everyone knows about that reflectors can dew up and getting a dewcap can help joejaguar

scope looks good the only thing I do but I may be picky but its manilly for looks is paint the dewcap whatever colour the scope is. maybe its just me not sure anyone else does that so its its white I spray paint it white/orange spray paint it orange/blue = blue etc joejaguar

hey wes that's a good info on seeing venus b4 it gets dark. you cam also try a moon filter to knock down the glare, theres one called polarizing moon filter where u can control a wheel to block 5% to 35% bloackage. there give u more control normally most others are set at 25% or 35% bloackage BUT I wouldn't buy it if you don't already have it. But if you have a regular moon filter try it cause it works the same way, when the moon light it too much we use it to stop down the glare. see if that works joejaguar

yep theres so much to learn, iam probbally a newb when u compare what we know to what we don't know and whats left to learn out there. joejaguar

maybe Alan and few other pros can join and say if they remember any more. The only 2 I can remember of top my head is 1604 which is the crab nebula was documented by humans. And 1987a which was also witnessed in of course 1987 but that was only if u were in the southern hemisphere. Up here we cant or didnt see it. Neil there are 2 threads going on about it going super nova in the solar observing section, not sure u wanna take look and join that if you like. Joejaguar

Nah good minds think a like Just on my way to work just reading few threads b4 I get there Joejaguar

Damn Alan I guess we were both typing at same time and some parts are pretty similar. Altho right now I'm typing from my phone which took me a good 15 min to type that Joejaguar

Ok first I dont have that planisphere but I'm not sure y it has too much info?it really should just have the constellations. What I used to do at the start is a couple hrs br I start to observe I dial the planisphere to say 8pm look and see what constellations are at good viewing and then open my night watch book to that constellations and see what objects to look for. I sometimes also dial again to let's say 10pm see how the sky has turned and pick a 2nd constellations to look objects in. For me it took one full year of observing every clear night seeing how the stars and constellations move slowly per couple nights, that after a yr I didnt need the planisphere. I could now recognize them by just looking at them. After I finished night watch book I went to a large map called Orion 600 or it's called something like that. As per the star going super nova that would be one of the greatest events. There only has been 1 or 2 stars that went nova that we saw with our eyes, well I guess that's close. Many people have captured super nova in images of other galaxies, but to have one this close and as big as this one would be something. The problem is it's still 642 light yrs away so even if it did explode last yr we wont see that explosion untill another 641 yrs from now. Which we will all be dead. So unless it exploded 600 yrs ago already we may or may not see it. Joejaguar

I like the 80mmST BUT right now I have a 102f/5 as my white solar scope and just a wide field scope. joejaguar

so I have done a video on this scope if you would like to see for the xmas time gift giving and buying. I do a couple issues with it tho 1-at the price its the same price as a meade 130mmf/5 Polaris model which comes with a eq2 mount and tripod. And I think this kinda set-up cost more over a particle board base. I also think the eq version put the ep at a perfect postion. Also having manual slow motion controls is better then pushing by hand at higher power PLUS later add a simple single drive and it tracks by itself. The SW heritage 130 also needs a good table or stool AND a shroud AND a think dewcap since its all open AND being its the same price is where I am liking it as much. IF it was $229 to $249 then all that stuff goes away BUT since its at same price by the time u add that stuff it will be amlost $100 more then the eq version. anyway if you still like that scope here my point on the video joejaguar

ok I will revise my post didn't see your budjet of 150 to 170 so it may come down to the SW 130 flextube, at 5.1 its decent large and its a parabolic mirror BUT you will need a shroud since its an open tube and MAYBE a dew cap since the I think the 2nd mirror may dew up. we just talked about this on another thread going on right now. you will still need a fold up table or stool, and it should be kinda solid or it will vibrate the scope and image. So take this into account on your price joejaguar

I think u should consider a 6 sct it's still lighter and smaller and lighter then the 130mm sw flextube. I have both. The 6 sct is 7 lbs U can use that base if u want on the sct. Myself I thought this already and I will try the 6 sct on eq2 or celestron gt mount. Both of these mounts r rated for 10 lbs so by time u add rigel 1.25 diagonal and ep it will be 8 or 9 lbs. Pretty much at limit but doable. I'm not looking for rock solid but as large as I can get for lightest package. Again if u dont like the tripod mount way use the flex tube mount then. At one time I did do a 80mm f5 refractor but it cant compare to a 6 inch, unless u want a wide scope for scanning milky way stuff Joejaguar

Ya I agree I dont think I would get one under 6, now probably nothing under 8mm Joejaguar

with that scope and the eps you will see Jupiter and its moon even at the lowest power BUT as said above Jupiter and Saturn are pretty much gone for now BUT will be back in 6 months. try the moon maybe orion nebula etc see what your apps says. I kinda like night watch book and it was 20 pags of charts that shows every kinda items in what constellations etc to start looking for. Also not sure u know most new people don't understand the order of using the eps in what order some think u use the 4 then 12 then 26 When its the opposite. First use the 26mm then 9mm then the 6.3 of course you need to focus until its clear normally the image will keep getting smaller to focus. joejaguar

agree that's just too much power for that telescope I would say 10mm ep or 9mm ep which is 70x power to 77x. that may not seem high but remember that you will have to keep moving the scope as you look throught it. The higher mag you take the scope to the faster the object moves in the ep. A lot new people don't realize that. At 77x power I would say the planet will be out of the field of view in 90 secs at about 200x it will be ou of the fov about 30 secs at 300x maybe 15 secs anyway and since your got AZ2 it manilly manual move by hand scope. The sky conditions may not aloow u to go much highter anyway 2nd issue as u see the lens on a 25 or 20mm ep is semi good size, then the 12mm lens is ok but much smaller on a 4mm ep the lens is a pinhole. also if you do buy ep I don't think u need better then plossl ep might be $15 to 20UK about. joejaguar

yep sounds good joejaguar

I don't think its really that bad of an idea to get the 2" 40mm ep even tho its only 52 fov and here y ok first u said u got a plossl 32mm so it has a fov of only 50 degree and a power of 37.5x in the 2" 40mm ep the power will be 30x so image is smaller and fov is more not to mention the extra 2 degree fov more imporatanly the 2" ep has a field stop of about 57mm where the 1.25 is about 27mm so I think you will still get a true field of view by about 1 full degree ormore 1.9 fov compared to 0.72 I got a 2" 32mm meade super wide 68 fov and a 55mm 2" meade super plossl 52 fov both japan made and both work good I guess depends on price for 68 UK that's decent, a 31mm naglar in cdn is $800 before taxes. you could go for the es 68 degree fov if u really think 52 is too small, that's kinda half way between both fovs? joejaguar

hi I been away for few days OK now that I know it was a gift from GF THEN DONT sell it that's a slap in the face. If you just bought it then maybe that be your best best BUT since its a gift and u already got it use it as it is and see how it goes The rigel is a really really good idea tho later if you upgrade take off the base with goo gone and use it on your new scope. Same with ep if you do upgrade then to plossls or super pl then keep those and give all original stuff with scope if u sell it later. Try using the 5x24 finderscope on the moon its ok but once u try other things then u may see y its soo hard to use that kind. ONLY then if u cant find anything then consider getting it. I ALMOST consider it nessary. If you cant find anthing in the sky then most people just leave this hobby. I also recommend getting a plainsphere and a good book like night watch. This book also has 20 pages of maps with maybe 150 items in constellation to star looking for. joejaguar

yep its a common problem but not too many people think it is cause its a reflector IF the 2nd mirror is close to the opening on hot dewy nights it will get dew. I just use a dewcap and that should solve the issue for maybe 3 to 4 hrs max if you obseve all night it may have to be powered but for me 3 hrs is more then enough. joejaguar

I guess carbon brush is right try that see what happens OR call where u bought that from and ask them what they think if cleaning it is ok or should u send it back. Only reason I say that is if u try and make a mess and then send it back they will think u did that and then it may void any warrenty so try calling 1st if they say go ahead and cklean it then try it joejaguar

cause the longitude lines go from pole to pole from a point to being spread out at center then to a point at the other pole. Does that make sence? so your alignment could be off cause that let me see if I can post a pic also do you know its common for alignment stars to be off 5 to 15 degrees? and u have to move the scope to put it in the ep and push align?Just wondering in case you are just hitting align when the scope stops moving then you are not on the star it wants. Goto are not that good. only after it says success then it will put objects in the ep joejaguar

that's what I was gonna say the only parts that get outdated is where the planets may be at in a certain constellations lunar and solar eclipse and meteor showers all else should be ok joejaguar

I have the sw 80 app and I have the 2 inch diagonal as he said it's a medium focal ratio scope so there are times I use a 2 inch ep to view low power wide extended objects. Plus as guy above says it has the adptor to use 1.25 size too. If your in a tight budget u can do 1.25 and get 2 inch later. Also look at the used market they pop up. U can also get them in regular reflective or enhanced it doesnt have to get 99% dielectric. I have seen brand new in box 92% diagonal for $50 cdn that about 30uk Joejaguar

good news then joejaguar