M40

Hello Mike and welcome to the site.

Between your binoculars and should you get the seestar you have an excellent starting point but you need to be aware of a couple of things. The seestar will give you some amazing images after just a few minutes, no processing required. You can take it on holiday as its easily portable and you can be set up and running in just a couple of minutes, but..... you may get "the bug". You may want to improve your pictures with a touch of processing, you may want to see stuff that the seestar is just not going to show you like planets and smaller galaxies and if that is the case, you are doomed like the rest of us 😁 

All the best and keep us up to speed, the seestar is an excellent piece of kit.

Using the 25mm without the barlow, Saturn will be very much just a bright dot. Do you have a 10mm eyepiece or similar? Try and find Saturn using just the eyepiece and not with the barlow. Saturn will still be very small, but swap in the 2x barlow when you have found it. It will move very fast through your eyepiece as you now have a very small field of view so you will need to be quick with gentle nudges to keep it in view. You could get a bit of practice in by selecting a bright star and trying to keep it in view. Hope it helps.

8 hours ago, Paz said:

Another factor to consider is if you have any eyepieces lying around that require you to rack the focuser out a lot that might help get over the line, 32mm televue plossls being an example.

I have a pair of 32mm plossls that I was playing with and couldn't get focus with the first arrangement. Out of interest, with just the diagonal in the optical path everything focused well.

This is the latest iteration coupling the bino directly to the flip mirror using the flip mirror thread, thanks for the idea. The ring supplied with the gpc slips inside the flip mirror threaded part so unless there is an alternative flip mirror threaded part, it cant be used here. On the bino side of the gpc, there is a slightly raised ring which fits perfectly within the bino plastic ring and centers it, although not the most positive of fits.

Now the biggest frustration is waiting for the clouds to clear to see if it works.

I went for the 36mm zeiss prism diagonal so the prism shown by Robertl has a 3mm shorter optical length but I don't think that will be enough.

These are the two arrangements I am trying to make work

My thoughts were to ditch the clicklock in the first arrangement and use the quickchange as mentioned by omo. I have asked flo the question and I need to get back to them with more info, but as flo go home for the weekend which is terrible and shouldn't be allowed, you lot will hopefully help, which you already have in that the 2.6x gpc will be the one to go for if the quick change isnt enough. 

Does the 2.6x gpc still fit the 1.25" nosepiece or is it the 2"?

I have the baader maxbright binoviewer with 1.7x gpc and using this with a flip mirror I just cant get focus on my refractor. Just not enough back focus ( focuser inward travel). I will be trying a few mechanical arrangements first but just to help my exceptionally confused brain, if it comes down to changing the gpc, do I go up a gpc number or down? Currently the gpc sits in the binoviewer, would it help to move it closer to the telescope if possible? Many thanks for any help.

At the time, I kept my 200p inside a summer house with more than its fair share of draughts and I never covered it at all and never had any problems. I also kept the telescope dust cap off over night to allow a touch of ventilation to the tube. Cough.....I don't recall seeing pictures in the diy observatory section 😉 sounds like a unique build. All the best.

The 8" dob is a great telescope to start with, they are a simple plonk it down (doesn’t need to be level), aim at your target, focus and off you go. In saying that, have a good read of tiny clangers post earlier as the dob reflector does have a few drawbacks in size, storage, weight but most importantly the eyepiece will be at the far end of the telescope (the highest point) which could make it difficult for children to use. If you decide on the dob route, can I suggest a couple of future upgrades in a moon filter ( the moon will be very bright in the dob) and a zoom eyepiece. Everything moves really fast through the eyepiece, the zoom will help you stay on target as you just zoom in and out rather than change eyepieces. I had my dob about 2-3 years before I moved on and I never used a barlow, never used any other filter, never used a dew shield and never colimated it (sits back and waits for the gasps of horror 😉) . You can take pictures by just putting your phone on the eyepiece, but a mobile phone holder helps a lot. 

If you choose the refractor route, the eyepiece is at the lowest point of the telescope so its much easier for little ones to use, but.... the moon will always be good but to see planets, the bigger the better. All the best. 

It gets done when it gets done, look after yourself is the main priority. All the best.

4 hours ago, Recretos said:

gives better colors also

Amazing images once again, but personally the first one which is more black and white is my favourite and would definately take prime position on the wall. 👌

10 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Where did you buy the rings from? I have fitted an electric focuser on mine but I intend to fit a Steeltrack and rings with a losmandy plate in the near future. I hope the skies stayed clear for you.

The tube rings are from orion optics, not cheap, but they were the only ones I found. They are a loose fit so I used a thick leather belt cut to size between ring and ota and it works a treat. You will need to remove the dovetail to fit the rings so you will need to remove the corrector plate as the nuts within the ota are not captured. Removing the corrector plate is an easy task as it will fit right back in the same position and not affect collimation. Mark the corrector plate before removal so it goes back in the same location. Check the collimation before you start so you know what you have done has not changed anything.

I flocked mine at the same time so I had to remove the mirror, which did affect collimation. Collimation on mine is "ok" but I think I can do better. The ocal3 is not a lover of the focal length of the skymax180 and due to the frustrations of patchy clouds, the next plan is to use a reducer with the ocal3 and see how it goes. 

The steeltrack is a great mod together with an eaf of some sort, completely removes shakey hand syndrome at high power. All the best.

Well the cloudmagnet is out with the plan to do a bit of collimation work tonight, but, look at those clouds charging my way 🤦‍♂️

As I understand it, the output power supplies from the asiair are straight through and do not affect the asiair circuitry, but as with all things and as StevieDvd said, the output can exceed the input. I've no idea if the outputs or even the input within the asiair is fused in some way but things do go wrong and as such I would rather one thing went bang rather than two. That's why I always supply things like the mount or dew strips separately from the asiair. All the best. 

I have come to the conclusion that there is something seriously wrong with you lot.

A simple solution presents itself. Buy a second identical case in which you put your zoom, barlow and diagonal. On future expansions you merely remove the diagonal and put it back in the telescope where it's always been. One challenge though, because you have bought two identical cases, neither of which you have marked in any way, you will always pick the wrong one first, so you learn to go by the weight of the cases, but as the new case fills up,  the weight becomes very similar so you are back to getting the wrong one each time. You point blank refuse to mark either case knowing you will choose the correct one next time. Doesn't happen to me though......

The clouds let me have 10 minutes on M16, The Eagle Nebula last night. This is with the integral filter and simple screen grabs, complete with satellite trails 

And zoomed in on that famous area.....

Well worth a good search through this thread for sentry box type enclosures there are quite a few on here. Someone made a superb tardis which is on here somewhere. Others have the tg 365 cover over the pier and mount which works well. Just for food for thought, here is my diy jobby with quick release clips holding it down and power supply enclosure hidden behind the bush. I just remove two of the sides and just lift it out of the way. All the best.

1 hour ago, nige745 said:

I had never heard of a zoom eye piece

The zoom eyepiece covers a range of eyepieces, so instead of swapping eyepieces you rotate the zoom to the magnification you want. Whichever way you go with a telescope, you will soon realise just how fast everything moves, me being not the smoothest operating individual, I can't do anything quietly or quickly so the zoom suited me as it allowed me to keep the target in the eyepiece. I went for the baader zoom 8-24 and it is still my most used eyepiece.

It looks to me that the altair tube is just an extension tube and you have replaced that with the other spacers to get to focus.

This is where the massive pile of spacers and adapters start as you never have the right one. Then in a couple of years time you will look at a "thing" and ask yourself why you bought it......and then you buy another one. 

My camera's are similar to yours, but as I swap between mm and mc camera's, I tend to use the nose piece and a clicklock as both are parfocal. There will be a clicklock or similar that fits your telescope.

I also use a flip mirror with the camera in the through port and an eyepiece in the flipped port but I'm not sure how much focus space you have there so if you choose that route check all the dimensions first. All the best. 

Hello Stu_53N_002W and Titus, welcome to the site. Ask away with any questions, those that have the answers will be more than happy to help.

Hello nige745 and welcome to the site. If you have seen them in the flesh and the size doesn't scare you then the 8" dob is a great way to start. The 200p dob was my first proper telescope and I was able to keep it in the outside shed so no real cool down required and a short carry distance. I wouldn't worry about a barlow but I would recommend a moon filter, they are very cost effective and it will stay with you. The next upgrade I took was a zoom eyepiece; not everybody's choice but it worked for me as you just change the zoom magnification rather than changing eyepieces. I wouldn't get one straight away, have a go with any eyepieces that come with the telescope first. Another thing that works well Is a mobile phone eyepiece adapter. I got my first picture of Venus with the 200p and the mobile at the eyepiece. All the best and let us know how you get on.

15 hours ago, Leo S said:

retired builder, seemed more concerned that I might damage the ash-felt by walking on the roof.

I think he is spot on there. Even if you put some sort of base support on the ashfelt you will eventually get leaks. Your plan of knocking on a few doors to let them know what you are doing is a great idea. If all are unconcerned, rubber roofing is good, then get additional pads put down for any walkway but a roofing specialist is the person to ask. All the best.

12 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

On using the flat roof extension. I would just get on with using it and see how it performs

I don't think an informal chat with the planning dept would hurt. A chap I know installed a balustrade to a flat roof without planning permission and was told to remove it, this as neighbours complained about privacy. He just put a couple of sun loungers up there but if you were looking to put a camera up there, well....

If you can have a solar powered device, couldn't one of you clever lot come up with a cloud powered device and blow the clouds into space? We could then look for a space gas cloud, there must be a better term than that for a space gas cloud, any thoughts?

18 minutes ago, Ags said:

Wrapping a dew strap around the equator should just about do it.

Not sure that would work, someone like me would trip over the power lead and unplug it.

12 hours ago, Leo S said:

has a sizable extension with a flat roof which can be accessed via a glazed door

Ask the council planning department if you can install a balustrade for safety as you would like to put a telescope up there. If they say no, that's it sorted, if they say yes then I see an excellent diy conservartory thread in the future. Hope your move goes well, all the best.