Chaplin

Ha, I had fogotten about mosquitos when living in the UK. And I'm a mosquito magnet! Do you have any recommendations for the filter

Hi John Thanks for your recommendation I'll pm you about the mount with some very good news

Hi fellow enthusiasts I'm a complete novice who's got the bug of AP during this lockdown. We are about to move to one of the Scandinavian countries where as you know, it doesn't get too dark during those summer nights. Some advice would be really appreciated so I could pick up my collection of useful filters before we move. Additionally to bright summer nights, I might be in quite light polluted area as well where at the other end of the town is a huge greenhouse what emits a lot of light across the sky (that might be mostly during winter though to keep plants growing) I will have a modded Canon 600d on AZEQ6 GT mount and my targets will be DSOs. I've also just purchased SkyTech CLS-CCD clip in filter - no idea if that was a good idea actually Which filters would you suggest I have in my collection for those bright summer nights and long and dark winter nights (keeping in mind that greenhouse and other city light pollution)? Thank you very much

Thanks @Cosmic Geoff I was just thinking how to get an accurate altitude reading on this mount and the idea of a digital gauge is brilliant, thanks! I guess I'll have to do with that until I can get a new mount and tripod... I think the previous owner has already flipped the azimuth scale disc as it's upside down Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

Hi everyone Thanks a lot for taking time to check out my post. So, I'm very new to all of this - only got this second hand 150P (750mm focal lenght) +AZ4 mount about 3 weeks ago after my wife suggested we'd get a telescope for our daughter. I did some browsing around and thought that spending well under £200 on this second hand setup would probably better than buying something new for that price from Amazon. Since I got the scope with the stock EPs and barlow, I've already got some extra gear: - Baader Hyperion 8mm - TMB Planetary Optical 6mm - William Optics SPL 12.5mm - AstroEssentials Variable moon filter - 25mm stock EP + 2x stock barlow what came with the scope I've spent outside around 5-6 hours over the last couple of weeks , checking out the Venus, Capella and other easier to find brighter stars and constallations. And I've loved it so far! 1) I've used couple of the apps on the phone for guidance but I've really struggled to work things out cause most of the things are upside down etc when looking through the EP so moving around has been a struggle. Any advice how to make things easier when navigating? Or is it just practise practise practise? 2) I've been trying to find some of the nebulas, like last night I was trying to pinpoint the Dumbbell Nebula but had no luck at all. Now, it can be that as it's to the East of me and I'm looking across whole of Manchester (Salford is to the west of Manchester), there's just too much light pollution. Or maybe the gear I have (scope + EPs), aren't good enough, or maybe I just couldn't find it. What do you think, is my setup good enough to see those DSO's? And if you think it is good enough, it's obviosuly my skills what need improving 3) Altough I'd like to be able to learn the skill to find all the objects in the sky, I also quite like the idea of a GoTo mount. Is there anything out there I could fit on my existing mount to make the whole setup GoTo? As I quite like the idea of doing astrophotography in the future, ideally the GoTo system would be good enough to support it. 4) I wear glasses but when looking through the EP I remove my glasses. It feels a lot more comfortable that way, even though it's annoying to take them off and put them back on again when trying to check the app on my phone for some guidance. Am I doing it right or should I be keeping my glasses on all the time and just find a comfortable position to use all my EPs? 5) Range of EPs and barlow. I'm thinking that I probably need another EP on the 25-30mm range, something with a wide angle as I really like the Baader 8mm wide view one I have at the moment. I'm also thinking of buying a branded 2x barlow (is Celestron X-Cel LX 2x good?) to make sure I'm getting a good quality image through it (don't trust the stock one what came with it). Would something like 25mm help me star hop easier? So yes, there you go, a complete novice with a lot of questions and wishes (and not enough money to make it all happen) Thanks