M40

Hello Space Explorer and welcome to the site. This is one of those hobbies where you can throw a bucket load of cash at a telescope and the associated bits and pieces and still not get what you want. So can I suggest that you have a look at the First Light Optics webpages for types of telescopes, then have a look under resources at the top of the site webpage, select astronomy tools, then field of view. Stick in a couple of different types of telescopes and eyepieces and just generally have a play around to see what might work for you. Refer back to the FLO website so you get an idea of prices etc. The tool will just give you a general idea of scale etc not quality, but it will provide a basis for the types of telescopes that may work for you. Have a look around and let us know your thoughts, there are some clever people on here that can help with any questions. Enjoy.

Hello Thomas and welcome to the site. This combination of telescope and mount look to me to be a good choice. I was a little concerned about speed of setup with young people quickly losing interest when I noticed that the telescope can also be mounted on a traditional tripod. This would make for a very quick setup whilst you learn your way around the goto system. Can I add that I would look to include the 7Ah power tank to your shopping list, I cant see the AA batteries lasting very long. Another option to think about is to add a moon filter to your shopping list. Not expensive and the moon can be quite bright. All the best and enjoy.

Hello Jassy and welcome to the site. Can I offer an alternative option, how about buying "stuff" like a book called "Turn left at orion", a planisphere, some warm gloves/hat and get a gift voucher from somewhere like First Light Optics. I am sure he would love to be involved in the decision making. All the best.

Good advice from wxsatuser here. Make sure that the 230V comes from a nice 30ma rcd or rcbo device. The boxes I have used are ip66 grp enclosures available from most electrical wholesalers or RS components. Use plastic 25 or 32mm compression glands drilled in the bottom only (yes I know I have one in the side 🤦‍♂️, I will plug it eventually). Oversize the glands, you are not looking for them to be weathertight but you will need sufficient space to get the cable plugs/connectors though. The box you can see houses all the bits and bobs with the second box housing the connectors and cables. Mistake I made was going too small with the second box, the cables just fit so I suggest getting the same size two boxes or at least one thats big enough to get the cables in easily. The boxes stand on unistrut brackets but any frame to space the boxes off the floor is the way forward as you need space between boxes, cable glands and a few spare inches for the cables. Enjoy

Thanks, we have recently moved and everything is in boxes, garages and lockups but I will get a few pictures and a shopping list together soon as 👍

As others have said, it's volt drop over distance that is your concern. 2.5mm for extra low volt IMO is not a starter. Put the power supply in a box and look to it being local to your stuff. I mounted the same supply in a box powered by a long mains lead, installed a set of connectors in the box, got rid of the cigarette lighter and ring lugs off the supplied cables and then just connected the supplied cables to the connectors. Job done.

Very nice 👌 Is the concrete in the cylinder section enough to dampen any vibration for visual? Reason I ask is that I used to have a concrete pier with an HEQ5 extension tube on top which looks like it would be a very similar height to yours, I had to be very careful when doing visual stuff, no challenges at all using a camera.

Hello Toltec and welcome to the site. Hope you have a few clear nights on your trip 👍 Pretty much until you get a bit more used to it. Rather than aligning your rdf during the day on a remote point, set if up at night by centering a bright star in your telescope eyepiece then center that with the rdf. Then with the goto, center initially with the rdf then switch to the eyepiece. Hope it helps.

How deep is the pier base?

You and me both

When you look at your concrete base and steel reinforcement picture, once set, you would not be able to twist the top of the steel. It may vibrate but twist? wouldn't think so. My thoughts are that either your steel reinforcement has broken which seems unlikely, or could it be that the mounting plate at the top of the pier is loose? Did the pier twist or was it just the mounting plate?

Before I cut it half and made a pier out of it, we had a steel reinforced concrete washing line post about 2M high and 100 x 100mm at the top. Solid as a rock and no way would it twist, even when I broke away all the concrete just leaving the steel reinforcement, I couldn't twist it. The only thing I can think of is that the pier has become separated/broken from its fixings and is sitting loose on the foundation which seems unlikely or is it the mounting plate that is loose?

Hello ScifiMan1966 and welcome to the site 👍 just my 2p, the 200P Dob is a great telescope but it is big. The 200 relates more or less to the diameter of the telescope tube so if you look at a picture of the telescope you can get an idea of the size of the device, so storage is important as well as portability. A couple of pointers for you, there is a topic within the " Beginners - getting started with observing" menu called what can I expect to see. Well worth a read. Also at the top of the page you will find a menu called resources - astronomy tools. Select FOV (Field of View), insert a few different telescopes and eyepieces then under visual mode select the moon and it will give you an idea of the size of the object you would like to observe. My thoughts are that if you are going to move the telescope between bedroom and garden, maybe a traditional type of reflector telescope like the skywatcher startravel 120 (AZ3) would work better for you. All the best.

Its an ioptron ipolar. Know where you are coming from, I bought one about a month or so ago plus upgraded the alt bolts. We are mid move which will hopefully take place next week so everything is in boxes but did try it out just once before putting it back in a box in a box. Hopefully I will find it some time in the future.... The camera, using an adapter for your mount, goes in the hole in your mount above the north leg and when plugged into your laptop displays on screen stars and directional arrows so turn your azi and alt bolts. I didn't have a chance to say whether it works perfectly or not (can't see why it wouldn't) but it will save your back. The upgraded bolts are also a good move. Once you work out how the handle works, life is a lot easier. If you need any further help in spending your money, let us know 🤣

That look brilliant, very well done 👌

You only need to leave the clutches alone after you have carried out the polar alignment stage at the start of each session. Each time you move the mount you will need to carry out polar alignment. Doesn't need to be so accurate for solar system observing but for DSO stuff it needs to be as good as you can get it. Hope that makes some sort of sense.

Hello Tom, had a quick look back at your dolly and tripod arrangement just to blow the cobwebs off, I think that you are trying to skip the polar alignment stage by keeping the mount and ota in the home position. Unfortunately, as soon as you move your dolly you will need to do the polar alignment again. So as Stickey said, you could just loosen either the ra or dec clamps, rotate the ota on the mount to go in and out of your garage. To make life easier, you could mark the mount for the clutch you release so when you want to return to that position it's as close as.

Hello Ed and welcome to the site 👍 I don't know if you have found it yet but this thread may give you a few pointers... https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/228101-the-no-eq-dso-challenge/ It's a very long thread but it shows what can be achieved with what camera, lens etc All the best and hope it helps

I am going to suggest the Baader Hyperion zoom, my goto eyepiece. Plus there are lots of adapters available and a matched barlow so a very flexible piece of kit

On the basis that you have built your own pier, this constitutes diy, so this thread just has to go to the diy observatories topic or as I mostly call it, the excuse remover topic 🤦‍♂️. My current excuse is that we are moving in a couple of weeks so my stuff is all packed up, I should be able to live off the "I haven't unpacked yet" excuse for a while yet. Stick a picture up, would be good to see how you have done things.

Hello Slaine and welcome to the site 👍 Have you seen this.... Give it a go you already have some great pictures 👌

Hello David and welcome to the site 👍 ask away with any questions, there are some very clever people on here to help you out.

Looking at the info online, you can change the lens to an ef or ef-s lens, not all of them are auto so it will work so it's a case of going through the settings and setting the camera to manual mode and manual focus mode. It definitely won't work in auto focus mode as it's looking for feedback from the lens. Let us know how you get on 👍

I am going to suggest something slightly outside of the box, how about binoculars? Something like .... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/observation-binoculars/opticron-oregon-observation-20x80-binoculars.html Where we have stayed in cottages with spotting scopes or binoculars, we have used them every time. Those binoculars are likely heavy to use so think about adding a tripod, chair and a few pictures/maps of things to view. All the best and welcome to the site.

Echo banjaxed, I stuck a dual speed focuser on the skymax then added a motor focuser. It has made for an excellent upgrade. An email to FLO to confirm what bits you need is the way forward then the dual speed focuser first.