Neil H

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

10 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I dont think so have you extended the legs 6-8 inches should suffice. can you post a picture of your OTA in its rings they may be too far forward leaving the back end lower than it should do.

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

40 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Sounds like you need a pier/tripod extension.

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

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

To confirm it's the secondary shadow, put the moon in the center and pull back from the eyepiece.  The black fuzzy patch should become a sharp, black circle.  If you move your head around relative to the eyepiece, the black shadow will move around the face of the moon following your head's motion.

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

1 hour ago, John said:

Are you using a newt Neil ?

Could be the secondary shadow.

Yes OO VX8L

18 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

The secondary shadow will become more apparent at very low magnifications, such as you might get with a 40mm eyepiece, which is very long by eyepiece standards. At twice the mag, ie a 20mm, that logic would dictate the shadow disappears, which seems the case here. Short version: it’s just a property of the optical system.

Cheers, Magnus

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 

On 31/03/2020 at 12:10, John said:

Star testing can provide some helpful information but for it to be really useful I think it needs to be done under good seeing conditions, with the scope fully cooled, at high magnifications, and with knowledge of how to interpret the results.

This seems a helpful piece:

https://popastro.com/documents/PA_jan-mar2009_p12-13_telescopetopics_startesting.pdf

 

 

 

 

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

Hi FLO do them 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/catseye-collimation-tools/catseye-infinity-xlkp-autocollimator.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/catseye-collimation-tools.html

Hi lovely photo , I was gutted I got up at 4 am setup but there is a house in the way so could not see it at all 

I am so glad you posted a photo so I can at last see it thank you 

That sounds great I don't mind not having the WOW moment, just love this hobby 

Well got up at 4am set up , well I could see the wall of a house behind me , looks like my WOW moment will have to wait for now 

That sounds great can't wait for that WOW moment