Kram

Cg-4 German equatorial 

Hi all. I took my new zwo224 out for a spin last night for two hours and it was a disaster. I can’t keep the target, which was Jupiter, on the screen for long enough to focus it let alone take a pic. It’s not a goto mount which I thought would be fine. But it’s not fine, trying to manually track is a mess. Can I add a motor to my mount to help this or do I need a whole new mount?

The seeing is usually pretty good. Some nights not so but that has to be expected. There’s a dark sky park about an hour away, so I’ll take a couple of trips to it and hopefully meet someone else with a telescope. There is a Northern Ireland astronomy group. They are currently not accepting members because of c-19 but I’ll meet with them when they’re back at it. I’m going to buy a little camera and take it from there. Thanks for your help

Maybe I should try improving what I have instead of upgrading the scope. 

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

I think something like the ASI 224 might be better, @vlaiv can explain.

As it happens I was looking at those wee cameras today. Definitely more suitable than sticking a dslr on the ts. I was leaning towards that being my first move before I change my telescope. 

Well thanks to all of you. Plenty to think about now. I’ve used the sct for a couple of years with a few different lenses and learned early on to let it cool down outside for a bit before using it. Also the later I used it the better the views I got as planets being higher and generally cooler outside. I’ve had some excellent views of Jupiter and Saturn and the moon never disappoints. But I can’t get good photos (I’m using an iPhone with a bracket to hold it in place 🙈 I know). I do have a Sony a6000 and haven’t tried to rig it to the telescope yet. As good as the views are I feel like I just need a little more power. But then if I upgrade will I feel the same?  Maybe I dunno. I’m not sure if there are any clubs near me but I’ll try to find out because I absolutely could do with some guidance and looking through some other scopes would surely be a massive help. Once again thank you all

Will this do everything I’m looking for? I think that might be my final question 

If I add some more weight would it help?

Would this mount be good enough?

Thanks for replying. I’m using a 127mm sct at the minute. But I’d like to see the planets more clearly. Mars is barely visible. Jupiter and Saturn are nice but very small. And I’d like to take some photos

Can anyone advise me on these two? There’s a big difference on price. But both are 8”. Sky-Watcher Explorer 200P vs StellaLyra 8" f/12 M-LRS Classical Cassegrain 

Using the adjustment screws on the finderscope. Thanks for all replies. At work now so I’ll read them properly tonight 👍

Hello all. I’m on my first scope and I love it. This isn’t a major problem but it does get on my nerves a bit. The finderscope is slightly off, no matter how much I adjust it. I actually bought a new one and it’s the same. Not a huge problem but I’m heading for some very dark skies this week and would rather not waste time trying to find things. It’s a celestron omni xlt 127. Any help would be appreciated. 
move apready loosened the bracket that the finderscope sits into and I’ve tightened it in as much as I can. If I could turn it another bit I’d say it would be centred but I can’t turn it any more

Hi just joined last night to get some advice as I’ve just got my first telescope. Within a minute of joining I got one of the things what I was looking for. The post by warthog about eyepieces. Such a minefield when ye don’t know what yer doing. But that post was perfect