EdG

oh, and I have tried turning the tube round to make it easier to view (although it is slightly nerve-racking doing it). Hmmm, the more I think about it the more viewing on the grass makes sense 🤣🤣🤣

Funnily enough I found the balancing the scope pretty straightforward, I was surprised at how easy it was to balance. The finderscope is pretty good (gives good magnification) although I think it is about 6ft high at times 😃 My old scope has a Telrad on it, but it is on solidly, I think I would need a crowbar to get it off. When the weather picks up again I will give the scope a go on the grass, will need to put some marks on the grass so I can set it up in the same place each time 😊

Thank you - I don't feel so silly now 😃 Now I just need to work out the best place to use it from. Although I would prefer to us it on the patio I think it is a bit close to the house (the chimney got in the way of viewing Venus last night). So might need to be the grass to get the best view. What I never realised I would need while using a telescope is a set of small step ladders to reach the Finderscope 😃😃😃

is it a forgivable error that after getting a new Skywatcher Explorer 200P EQ5-Pro Synscan (my first ever equatorial mount) that it took me ages to discover to slew the scope properly you need the brakes on 😃