Pixies

FLO have the Heritage 150p showing for delivery in 7-10 days! Perhaps you could contact them and get them to confirm when they are expecting them to come in.

I believe it is normal. The Heritage150p is similar.

That's fine. Sometimes it's frosted, sometimes it's mirrored. It's just the rear face of the mirror. I assume it's working OK?

FLO are showing the Bresser 150 planetary dob as in stock in 7-10 days, and it shows up in their new 'In Stock Telescopes' section. It's a little bit over-budget, but worth consideration. However, you might need to confirm with FLO whether it can be delivered with Santa. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/bresser-messier-6-inch-planetary-dobsonian.html

Be aware that this is what's known as a 'Bird-Jones' design. The hint is that the tube is shorter than its focal length (1000mm) and it's called a catadioptric when it looks like a reflector. The primary mirror is spherical and there is a correcting lens built into the focuser, to fix the spherical aberration caused by the mirror shape. This isn't a problem in itself, but these starter' type scopes are built to a budget and the saving is in the quality of the optics. I have used one and it's ok - but that's about it. Another acquaintance has one and it's awful. Everything is distorted and it's very hard to collimate accurately. I'd say it's OK for a starter scope, but you will be limited in future upgrades (such as eyepieces) as you will be stuck with the correcting lens in the focuser - which is a bit like a cheap barlow lens.

Right - going to do the washing up

Every time they say 'Starship', I hear this in my head (unfortunately):

If it's anything like last night, you need to look out for a ring of condensation appearing around the rocket body, just above the bottom fins. Once that appears (from loading fuel), it's about 30-45 minutes to go.

I believe the flextube is heavier than the equivalent standard Skyliner, it's just the former packs up smaller. Do you know the Bortle rating of your local area? Mine is 6 (close to 5) and the 8" dob is fine for a lot of targets. Sure, faint DSOs will always be better at a dark site, but I can still see, Andromeda, Bodes's galaxies, Orion Nebula, even the Dumbbell nebula. It's great for the planets, too. And it's not that heavy, if you ask me. If you can keep it somewhere near the back door, it's a 5 minutes job to set up. Here's a good post about the slightly larger sized Bresser 10" (grab and go!): Of course, if you are in a 2nd floor flat, please ignore the above.

I'd go for the Bresser. The dings won't affect the view.

I can only see them if I stand on a table (using binoculars). I have a new (to me) tripod, so I might end up on the table with the Skymax 90 during the next few weeks. If there's a clear night near the conjunction, I might try finding a high point to the west of Edinburgh. Hopefully the tier3 rules (Scottish) have been downgraded by then.

The Orion Nebula is an obvious target and will be visible in your scope. You will need a dark sky to get the best of it though. There are some good open clusters in Auriga just now. M35, M36 and M37 will be nice.

Try "Awesome Astronomy", too.

Sounds like a tumbling satellite. I've seen a few - some with the naked eye. As for cold weather. I can recommend a podcast called "Actual Astronomy" - it's 2 Canadian chaps just chatting about visual astronomy (twice a week) and I find their descriptions about observing at -20degC makes me feel that I have less to complain about when there's a hint of a frost around! https://actualastronomy.podbean.com/

A bit rattley box arrived for me this morning, so I got a bit excited thinking I had forgotten about something I had ordered! A little disappointed it wasn't astro-related. But if I drink it all at once, I'm sure I'll order something I'll forget about by the next morning! (ps - not really disappointed)

The only way you can adjust it is along the axis of the arm holding it. I would expect that it will be central perpendicular to that - unless the arm has been bent. I mean - make sure this bit: is not twisted - ie. the top face of it is parallel with the plane of the end of the tube. It does sound like you have had issues with this. How is it fixed to the arm normally? Is it screwed in? Assuming the above is OK, a good way of doing this is to wind out the 3 adjusters and tighten the central screw, which will gradually bring the mirror back up the tube. Keep going until you have brought it all the way up and it is flush with the bit arrowed above. Then, bring it back down the tube by slackening the central screw and taking up the slack by tightening the 3 adjusters by equal amounts each time. The mirror will move back down the tube but remain parallel with the top bit. Keep going until it is centered under the focuser. yes - loosen the 3 adjusters, or slacken the central screw slightly. This open design makes it easy to see the orientation of the mirror. You are trying to rotate it so that it is 'facing' the focuser. The elliptical shape should be aligned so that the 'long' direction is in line with the focuser. It is shaped so that it appears as a circle in the focuser, when it is facing it like that. This all appears very complicated at first, but once you get your head around what you are trying to achieve, it should make sense. The fact that your secondary assembly could rotate on the arm is a problem that needs sorted though. Perhaps another heritage owner can comment?

Hi, You might want to have a smaller eye-hole. On a Cheshire or collimation cap, the hole is usually around 2mm in diameter. You really need to make sure your view is dead-centre of the focuser. Can I suggest you google "Astro Baby Collimation Guide", it'll really help. But I can see a few things that should help too. Before you start, you really need to make sure that the secondary assembly is central in the tube. Measure the distance from the middle of the centre screw to the outside of the tube in several directions, it should be the same distance in all directions. Also - which only applies to these types of secondary assemblies that have a single arm attaching them to the tube - make sure the outer surface is completely parallel with the outside edge of the tube end. I hope you understand what I mean - that it hasn't twisted around the rod. I can see that the secondary mirror holder is tilted away from the other part (with the screws). Here: and here: This has happened because you have tried to align with the primary, when the secondary was twisted. I would suggest that you try and get these 2 parts parallel right at the start. The 3 secondary adjuster bolts should all be at the same depth to start with, before you try to rotate the secondary to get it looking circular in the collimation cap view. Does that make sense? Drop me a PM if you want a hand

I think your secondary is rotated. It looks like the top of the secondary (in the picture) is rotated away from the focuser. You can see this in the reflection, too. Can you post a picture of the above view, rather than a video. Also, how big is the hole in the collimation cap?

In the meantime, have a read of this:

Not bad for £40 from eBay:

As for using a Cheshire in the dark. As it's likely only a final check while the scope is cooling, just hold a red torch up to the side-window and look for that satisfying annular ring around the eye hole. If it's not perfectly concentric, just tweak the primary adjusters until it is - it's only likely to be slightly out. If it's miles out, perhaps if you've dropped it on the way outside(?) then a laser might speed up the collimation.

Despite the flippant title, this video is actually quite helpful regarding the EQ1 mount and a similar sized scope. But be aware that when setting the polar alignment, he says 'longitude' when he means 'lattitude'.

I must admit, I'm not usually a fan of the moon. Even then, I prefer the terminator shadows from a partially illuminated moon. But beggers can't be choosers, and last night was one of the few clear night in a while. The T adapter had arrived earlier that day, so this was literally the first time I had ever done any prime focus photography. Took a few attempts to get the correct exposure, plus my focusing was done using the zoom in the live view. I had to borrow my daughter's camera, as mine is older and doesn't have a live view or the ability to raise the mirror. I'm still not sure whether the focus could have been better. Any way, many thanks for the comments. I'm glad it's approved of. But I really was wondering if anyone has some constructive criticism!

Those suits would make me look fat, though.

I tried a smartphone video a couple of nights before, and stacked/processed using PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax. I could only get it to work OK with one of the higher magnification EPs (x150 in this case) I was wondering whether the single prime-focus pic could be better focused, to make it sharper. I appreciate that I have 'artificially' sharpened the latter picture. Also, ry as I might to use a wider-field EP to get a complete picture of the moon with the phone, I kept getting a 'shadow' from the secondary as the exit pupil was so big. Not sure if there is a way around this - apart from a proper planetary camera.