Neil H

plus 1 on the EQ mount I have had 3 telescopes a 114/900 then 150/750 and now 200/1200 first two manual mounts took a bit of getting used too but after a few goes got easy to use , my telescope I am on now 200/1200 on an HEQ5 go-to mount , may be look second-hand your get a lot more telescope for your money this set up cost me £700 in total New is about £1400

That's sounds like it may be worth a go

Hi John mine is open like your but fan is a lot bigger about 1/2 the size of the mirror I will apologise John it's the same size now I had a good look at it

Hi John are they not worth getting it working Hi that's cheap battery that's a good idea

Hi everyone does any one know what lead i need to plug in to fan ? Also i know the fan is 12volt but i am sure i read some were a 9volt pp3 works ?

Hi the telescope is long 1200mm so the tripod legs are at there lowest , it may be what Wookie1965 said M81/M82 were over head , the only extension I can find will add loads of height , so I will try and get the telescope balanced higher I. It's rings by moving the dove tail

Hi I have an Orion Optics 8 inch telescope they are really nice and do hold Collimation well

Hi Paul the OTA is back a little in its rings to balance it ( you do balance it with the heaviest eyepiece in )or is that wrong , the only thing I can think of doing is to add weight to back end so the OTA so it will balance more towards front of rings It hits the top 1/4 of the leg . I can't change leg angle because of the leg spreader Hi thanks that may be a way round it but I need to be careful I don't make the telescope to tall as my wife uses it as well

Hi all I hope your all well and keeping safe tonight I asked the mount to go-to M81 as it slewed round it got to a point where the telescope bottom hit the leg of the tripod so messed up the alignment Will adjusting the slewing limits stop this ? I am worried about adjustment as I may mess the mount

Hi I have the HEQ5 mount , I use polar alignment pro app , first go to compass mode place your phone on the floor get it on North then place the front leg marked North on the north Now put on the mount go to polar alignment on the app click on daytime alignment fit your phone to the mount and adjust to get it polar aligned , now your ready to check alignment once Polaris comes up , the app is fairly good it's only ever about a deg of so out The app does everything , North compass , level to level the tripod , polar alignment daytime and night will show you the position of Polaris in the polar scope

Hi Simon I have the HEQ5 if I want to look at some thing manually I use hand control to move telescope under its own power to the object so it knows were it is and will track also you can ask if to tell you what your looking at if you dont know like me

If you have money paying out £63k on a telescope would like me buying mine at £50 same with cars some drive £30k motors others drive £150k motor if you have the money it does not feel as your paying a lot Also think of the bragging rights your have with a £63k telescope

Hi Paul so glad you made it outside , get you had a lovely evening , tonight is ment to be nice too

Hi yes it does that's how I got the photo of the hazey patch at the side of the moon I learn some thing new every day from the best teachers in the world

Thank you both for the reply Your life savers so glad I not got to clean the mirrors

Yes OO VX8L It is only with the 40mm 20mm or 15 mm does not show it

Hi guy just been out looking at the moon if i use my 40mm omni eyepiece there is a strange hazey part in the lens bang in the middle so i tried to clean it and its still there so i got out another 40 mm plossl and its the same there is a hazey mark in the middle of the view so i put in a 20mm and no mark so i dont think its on the mirror but i may be wrong So now down to you all what do you think is wrong If you look at photo its the mark just right of the moon

Was all clouds but I still set up glad I did turned into a clear night and got to see it amazing sight

Update.......Hi John that link you posted was really good , I did star test tonight and it was spot on ,so very happy I got the Collimation right

Hi I only have the one telescope so it's my most used lol , I love the hobby so much I don't mind setting it up just for 10 mins of gazing

Hi Chirs welcome to the best forum with the nicest members

Hi the mirrors make the telescope flat mirrors are cheaper than parabolic mirrors , but also what is the tube made from some are tin pricy ones are aluminium or carbon fibre , then you also have the mount some mounts are £1000s Best value are dobs you get a lot of aperture for very little money , I went EQ mount as the tripod is more usable for me as a lot of my dark sites are not level ground , I got all my telescope second hand , the one I have now is an Orion Optics which has top class mirrors and a HEQ5 mount , cost new is £1400 I got it for £600 So keep looking on this site on the for sale section , also look on astro buy and sell UK , if you see something your interested in add a link and the members on here will tell you if it's good or not But while your waiting sort out what you have and start to learn how to use it , lots of people start this hobby with binoculars you can see more than you think you will

Hi and welcome to the best forum

Hi save your money that would be no good for a camera it's ok for visual , for AP your want some thing along the lines of 130PDS with the HEQ5 pro go-to mount or if you want a bigger telescope like 200PDS your need the NEQ6pro If AP is what your really want to do pop down to the AP section loads to read up on just don't buy a visual telescope it won't do AP as well as the AP set up

Hi I had that size of telescope they are not bad once set up right , the eyepieces are not good , so I upgraded on the advice of members on here and it made a difference to the telescope, later I upgraded the telescope to a 150/750 F5 fast telescope the better eyepieces came in to there own with the better scope , I then upgraded again to a 200/1200 Orion optics telescope and the eyepieces I still use on this telescope , so the out lay on the eyepieces was so worth it , so if you can go to the BST your not be wasting money and your be ready to later upgrade your telescope