Starwatcher2001

Oli, I think you may get an answer if you change the title to include "Skywatcher 250mm Flextube info needed". Someone with that scope is more likely to see your question. Setting down to observe is certainly much better and relaxing in my experience.

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us. I'm strictly visual, but love to see the amazing images that folks on here capture. Looking forward to seeing yours amongst them in time. Hope you get plenty of good clear skies.

Welcome aboard SGL Stefan. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL Thomas. Good to have you with us. You're in the right place for help and encouragement with that first image. Enjoy the journey.

Welcome aboard SGL Roy. Good to have you with us. Hope you find the observational side of astronomy both fun and relaxing. There's something quite special about looking at the skies with your own eyes, rather than through a screen. I dare say your background and understanding will enhance that enjoyment.

Welcome aboard SGL Si. Good to have you with us. Hope you enjoy using your new scope and observe lots of cool objects up there.

My eyes are pretty poor and I need glasses all the time. I've got varifocals for normal use and a pair of single prescription glasses for VDU work. A month or two ago I needed new glasses and thought long and hard about what I needed for observing, varifocal, fixed, or maybe even contacts. I didn't give the frames a lot of thought, except that they'd hold the right depth and shape of lens. I'm not a follower of fashion and tend to pick the first pair of frames that look like they'll do the job. It's embarrassing to admit this, but I didn't realise that some types of frame stand further away from the face than others. It never even occurred to me! (In my defence, I've only been wearing glasses for around 50 years 🙄). The ones I chose looked okay in the mirror, but stand a massive 6mm further out than my existing glasses do. That's a 6mm reduction in possible eye-relief, and makes a colossal difference when observing, depending on the eyepiece. I can't go out and buy a cheap pair of glasses to the new prescription as I have astigmatism and my prescription also requires expensive lenses and coatings. I've now deprecated my old pair to "observing glasses", which kinda cures the problem as the prescription isn't too different, but please remember to check this when choosing your own new glasses!

Welcome aboard SGL Stephen. Good to have you with us. Like the image!

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us. "I am done buying/upgrading" I think we've all said that at some point or other 🙂 Seriously though, if you've settled on kit that suits you, well played. I've been at this 20+ years and still haven't made my mind up. Enjoy your observing and thanks for joining in.

Welcome aboard SGL Jay. Good to have you with us. Good call on the lack of electronics. Learning to find your way around first is very useful. Are the skies in Cumbria as good as they sound?

No no, it's not a reflection galaxy. Really nice picture though.

Postie delivered me a copy of Ags superb book on double stars this morning. I've been a fan of doubles for a long time, but can never remember where to find the perishers or their vital statistics. It's even trickier in my Bortle 7 environment, but Discovering Double Stars is aimed at those kinds of skies. This is going to be a great resource with my grab and go scope, particularly with the spiral spine which will take up less space on my observing table. Thanks Ags, I think this will encourage me outside more often. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/381220-book-project-discovering-double-stars/page/4/#comment-4179331

A nice brace of Pentaxes (Penti?) arrived from FLO. Ordered during the sale in December, and delivered exactly when they said they would. Thanks very much FLO. Really looking forward to giving these a go on my favourite objects. I think the subtext on the current stickers is a bit of a swizz though... Eventually???

Welcome to SGL Paul. Good to have you with us. You've certainly found the best astronomy forum there is. I've learned a shed load since I've been here.

Welcome aboard SGL, good to have you with us. Hope you have serious fun with your new scope. All the best!

Welcome aboard SGL Joebob. Good to have you with us. Enjoy your ventures into the dark art of AP.

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL, and welcome to astronomy to you and your lady. Good to have you with us.

Welcome aboard SGL - probably the most friendly and helpful astronomy forum there is. Good to have you with us.

I've just had a look through mine and it's not very focused either. I can't say I've noticed before. I tend to use the finder from several inches away and keep both eyes open, one looking through the finder and the other into the sky. I have it turned down as far as possible and still see it, but like you I'm in light polluted skies so it still has to be quite bright to get any contrast.

It's tempting to mount it with the knobs facing the e/p end of the scope so you can look though it and twiddle easier... but don't. It goes with the knobs towards the front. The reticle isn't visible if you put it on sdrawkcab.... as I found out when I got in touch with FLO about mine being "duff" - blush.

Merry Christmas and thanks for the early Christmas present of a nice discount off the Pentaxes (Penti?).

Hiya and welcome to SGL. Your telescope has a focal length of 900mm and a diameter of 60. If you divide one by the other, it gives you a focal ratio of 15. (Written as f/15). That's "slow" for a telescope meaning that it doesn't provide a massive field of view, but can work well with less expensive eyepieces. A 32mm eyepiece will give you a magnification of 900/32 = 28x which should work well with that telescope. Assuming the 32mm has an apparent field of view (AFOV) of 55 degrees, which is typical for inexpensive Plossl style eyepieces, that will provide around 2 degrees of visible sky. If you hold a finger up at arm's length, the width is about what you'll be able to see through the telescope. You'll typically be able to see the moon taking up about a quarter of the view. Running the same sums on a 6mm eyepiece will give you 150x. A reasonable maximum magnification for a telescope is 50x for each inch of diameter. For your 60mm (2.4 inches) telescope, this works out at around 120x. So your 6mm e/p seems a bit too powerful. I think you'd be better with a 12mm or 9mm (giving 75x or 100x). The 50x thing is a rule of thumb. You can go higher but the image won't contain much more detail if any. You'll just get a bigger and dimmer view - so called "empty magnification". As far as missing bits goes, I'm not quite sure what the shiny metal cylinder is on the smaller end of the scope. Does that come out if you undo the knurled screw on the top? If so, that might be an adapter of some kind (noticed it has a thread). Alternatively it might be part of an old eyepiece. I'd remove it and measure the inside diameter of the telescope tube itself. Hopefully it's 1.25 inch. If that's the case you could probably get away with inserting an eyepiece directly into the black part of the tube and securing it with that knurled screw. You'd need to point the telescope at the moon or somesuch and see if you can get focus. Having said that, you'd be better buying a 90 degree "diagonal" which goes into the tube, and into which the eyepiece fits. That way you get a much more comfortable viewing position. Otherwise it's a pain in the neck, especially looking upwards towards the zenith. A typical diagonal looks like this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/diagonals/astro-essentials-90-erecting-prism-diagonal.html If the tube measurement turns out to be 0.96 inches you'll need a converter, but let's tackle that once you know. I spent a year or two with a similar telescope when I first started, and saw a whole bunch of good stuff.

Welcome aboard SGL Malcolm. Good to have you with us. While waiting for your scope, if you're not already familiar with the night sky, now's a great time to get acquainted. Get yourself a star atlas or app and teach yourself the night sky. That way when you get your scope, you'll already be ahead of the game and be able to find those cool objects quicker.