M40

That's a fair starting budget giving you more than a couple of options, so.. have you considered a FLO voucher? Your husband, I am sure would very much like to be part of the selection process and this would enable him to spend the time that we all do, having a good look around. Obviously you want to give him something now, so how about the book "Turn left at Orion" or a planisphere to go with the voucher. All the best.

Hello Polly1982 and welcome. As has been mentioned, a budget of £70 is going to be more than difficult to get something that doesn't disappoint, so I am going to be a +1 for Les Ewans post and suggest binoculars maybe a good starting point, a set of 10 x 50 will be well within budget and can give great results.

If maybe you could go in with another family member possibly jump to a spotting scope? adding maybe a reasonable tripod and phone holder so your grandson has options for taking a picture? Another thing to think on is finding stuff in the night sky; a cost effective device called a planisphere is excellent for finding stuff together with a free phone app like Stellarium and he will be off and running.

All the best and keep asking questions.

A few of us start off with a simple builders bucket over the mount then a TGV365 over that, it works very well. Here is a link to a similar recent thread that may be worth a read..... 

It's all about mass and mutual attraction. 

Interestingly, I did read something recently, can't remember where, it said that the moon was far closer to us more than a couple of years ago and is moving away from us at about 1cm a year. 

1 hour ago, MichaelBibby said:

facilitated by a cpu fan powered by a solar panel). 

I would be interested to know what you use and how you achieve it. A list of bits when you have it sorted would be much appreciated.

I think the sun is going to be your biggest challenge. This is my latest version along similar lines of yours ....

The front and back are clear perspex as we like the look of the thing. The sides are removeable with quick release clamps on the legs making it nice and light and I just pick it up and move it out of the way. You can't see it clearly but there are some large ventilation ways at the top on both sides, the bottom is open to air. This summer we saw outside temperatures of about 31'c and I got about 35-36'c inside the box. Looks like you expect to get much higher temperatures so I would make any sort of box bigger with maybe a solar powered fan. Hope it gives you some sort of food for thought. 

Just to add, prior to this, I had the same bucket thrown over the mount and pier with a tgv cover over that. It worked very well. All the best.

Mine has all the usual bits and bobs fitted including the steeltrack focuser and motor and never had a concern over the strength of the dovetail bar. I keep mine in an unheated garage so by the time I have bolted it to the mount, stuck all the stuff on it and then polar aligned it's good to go but if you are keeping yours inside I would also consider the Classical Cassegrain.  Binoviewers? yes please, defo on the wish list.

On 10/10/2022 at 21:48, Murf26 said:

Hi there. Was lurking for 24 hours then joined currently living in rural Rutland Bortle 4 far enough away from Leicester and Peterborough to be relatively dark. 

Hello Murf26, welcome. Compared to Ovenpaa's seven years and my six months I am not sure that 24 hours qualifies as lurking, it's more like loitering  Enjoy the Bortle 4, that's the same where we are, you should get some nice dark nights from that. All the best.

Hello Dbogan and welcome to the site. I am going to echo what Clarkey said in that no one telescope does it all, so part of the fun in this game is a bit of research into what you would most like to see or image. Have a look in resources/astronomy tools/field of view in the menu's at the top of the page and input a range of telescopes and eyepieces/cameras to see just what sort of telescope will give you what sort of image. There is a topic that's worth searching for called "what can I expect to see" well worth a read. Another way to go is look around the site to see what people are using and what and how they achieve it. All the best and keep us up to speed.

A couple of my thoughts just to muddy the water for you... 

The EQ5 is 6.5Kgs for imaging and 9Kgs for visual so make sure you use that as a load figure, it's all about tracking accuracy etc. When you do your weight calcs for any future kit add in things like adapters, filters, dew shields etc it's amazing how it all adds up.

All these mounts have the same sort of challenges and once you get to grips with the home position, polar alignment etc it does get quicker and easier. An advantage with the EQ5 is that it does have an integral polar scope which again does make life easier. Enjoy.

One of the first things I check if nothing seems to move is the tracking rate of the mount. After that, can't really offer any thoughts as I still tend to star align with the handset at the mount. HTH.

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 ask away with any questions, always good to try and help.

Hello Ovenpaa and welcome to the site 👍 a seven year lurker, has to be a record I think I was a mere 6 months

Hello Iskov and welcome to the site 👍 trust us in that we know what clouds are, it's the blue stuff between the clouds that concerns us, not sure at all what that is

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 echoing what Floater said, we were all very new when we started so ask away with any questions. Enjoy.

On 27/09/2022 at 20:25, iamjulian said:

I have RCD protection but don't want to mess about with mains power. What do you think, can I get away with a big plastic box, or do I need to buy another cable with sockets that I can fit inside the dry box?

If you are concerned that your existing rcd protection is insufficient, how about getting one of those 30mA RCD power breaker devices that plugs into an existing socket then plug your extension lead into that. You can get a 10mA device if you want that extra level of protection. At the far end, just as you say, stick the extension lead into a plastic box with a lid, it's a temporary setup that's stripped down at end of play, personally I would be happy with that.

18 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Surely the easiest thing would be to have a flat slab, fix the dome then lay a screed inside over a membrane. Little bit of shuttering across the entrance if there isn't a raised threshold 

That was my thoughts, lay the base, add a membrane, fit the dome, then do whatever after using spacers between dome and inner base former to create the shape you want. Flexible ply or even a bit of hardboard would probably work. I wonder if a piece of white plastic trim would be flexible enough.

Wow, what a location. Another great thread to follow. What are your plans for power?

34 minutes ago, tigertyson said:

As a beginner I tend to struggle with the basics and ask stupid questions so please bear with me! This question relates to my previous latitude setting issue in a way...  As I was having so much trouble locating Polaris I bought a  QHY Polemaster and it works wonderfully after setting the EQ6 latitude to 60 degrees, (my location is 53 degrees and at this setting Polaris is completely out of view). I still don't get why the dial is so inaccurate. However once the mount is polar aligned do I perform a 3 star alignment with the handset or in software such as NINA? I'm confused 😂 Thanks for your patience if you've read this far! (and it's still cloudy in Derby😭)

We all struggled with the basics so you are most definitely not alone there. Does seem a bit strange with the setting scale being so far out, is the mount level? I don't have the polemaster but I do have the ioptron and the camera can be installed incorrectly (user error on my part🤦‍♂️) which does put the settings out. Once you are happy with all, I just do a two star alignment in synscan, I then goto a couple of bright stars to make sure all is aligned then goto the target. All the best.

Hello SzabiB and welcome to the site 👍 

I don't know if you have found this, but it's always my goto...

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

Hello mirrorgirl1980 and welcome to the site 👍

Excellent videos Doug, thanks for posting 👍 Always good to see what people are using, not jealous of the pier tech pier at all   

Very lightweight and on a roof, brilliant 👌

Welcome to the site and what a great first image 👌 

Welcome to the site and welcome back to the hobby 👍