M40

Have a look in the for sale section on the site, there are a couple of good telescopes at good prices at the moment. Have a close look at the Meade ETX90, it may be an old telescope but anybody that still has the box after 20 years tells you that it has been looked after. When you look at the telescopes, have a look at the top of the forum page for resources, astronomy tools, FOV (field of view) calculator. Input the telescope with atypical eyepieces then pick an object to see what to expect. HTH

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 Reading of your "challenge" with lens caps, I thought you might be interested in this topic as after just five or less posts you have something to add.... Enjoy 😜

Now you have the perfect opportunity to plan and build that roll on/off roof observatory 👌 When you get that first look at the moon, then a planet, then a galaxy, trust me, the wait will be more than worthwhile

Thanks very much for the replies, clearly (pun intended...honest) I am doing it wrong with eyepieces. I have got to think this through a bit. Many thanks again.

A recent topic by Pitch Black Skies has prompted me to ask a question I have been meaning to ask for some while now about storage of eyepieces, so.... Currently I keep all my eyepieces on a tray in their individual cases/boxes. The tray is open to atmosphere and I keep/store the tray local to the telescope, in a shed. Other than moving the eyepieces between shed and telescope, I don't transport them anywhere. I have long thought of a nice foam filled case but my concern is that if the eyepieces are kept in a case, once you open the case, do the eyepieces then need the cool down time to stop condensation? I ask as after having one of my eyepieces outside then bringing it inside to play with a setup, instant condensation. Any help would be welcome.

Hello Jubi and welcome to the site. You and I are looking for the same thing, have a look around the site and ask away on any questions, someone will know the answer. Just so we can help get you started on that first step, a couple of questions along the lines of what Louis D asked earlier, will you be using your telescope at home or taking it somewhere? Do you have somewhere to keep it as some of these telescopes can be big.

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 Of course you like the big dipper, it's got M40 sitting on the handle just about to fall into the pot 😜

Excellent choice 👍 When you get your feet under the table with the hobby, have a close look at the Hyperion Zoom, you will find it has a thread adjacent to the eyepiece. By adding an adapter you can then connect a DSLR type camera direct to the eyepiece and take a photo of what you have been observing. Enjoy.

Brilliant, what a great solution 👌

Hello and welcome to the site 👍 What a great setup you have there, there are plenty of very clever people on here that should be able to help with any questions that you may have.

+1 for the zoom eyepiece. You find something on the lowest magnification, then zoom in, focus, zoom in etc. With a manual non-tracking telescope on high power magnification things move very fast so that little extra ease of use in a zoom eyepiece makes all the difference.

Bit of info here actually shows an adapter. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/blog-53.html

If your oag has the T2 thread, you can always use something like this....... It will then allow you to move your camera in/out for focus. HTH

Bit late to the party but just to add to the comments, I use my planisphere....... a lot. I just like it and find it easy to get on with particularly on initial star alignment. When the iphone was still alive, I used an app called sky guide, exceptional 👌. If I could get that app for the android, I would. Now giving myself a mental note to have a look at skysafari. Enjoy

I connected mine initially with eqascom and an ftdi eqdir cable. No handset. Once the drivers were downloaded, it just worked first time. Start eqascom setup first, search for the usb port and when it finds it, click ok then start eqmod. After that, you should be able to drive your mount from the laptop without anything else. There are quite a few video's on youtube that you can use, search out Martins astrophotography for a few clues. Don't get a cheap eqdir cable, get the ftdi eqdir cable. Enjoy.

Hello Serhil and welcome to the site. I doubt you will get a response from the original poster so hopefully this will help. You have two options, the first is to use the FTDI eqdir cable between mount and laptop. This then enables you to take the handset out of the system. Alternatively, the late version handsets have a usb port. By plugging a usb cable between handset and laptop the handset remains in the system. This currently my method as I haven't quite got into all of the software yet so this enables me to use the handset to star align and center the stars. Have a look through this topic here as it my be helpful....

If I might offer my diy solution to the soft grass challenge. I simply got hold of a piece of 32mm black plastic pipe, cut three lengths of it each about 150mm long and pushed them into the ground at the correct position for the tripod legs after you have polar aligned etc. Remove the mud from the pipe, fill the pipe with gravel, cement or whatever is available that's solid and there you go, job done. You can then mow the lawn straight over them, reposition your mount very quickly and no sinking in the mud. HTH

🤣 There is so much in that post that I can relate to..... especially the bit above . As Paul M says, it's a way of thinking and my plan is baby steps all the way. Enjoy your glass of red 👌

Trust me it's the only way we all learn 😜 Your post about back focus was extremely useful and I haven't got as far as apt yet so I will probably stalk you to see how you overcome things. Enjoy.

I can't possibly be the only one to drop a dust cap in the dark, look for ages with the headtorch, give up thinking I will find it in the morning, only to find it in my pocket a week later.... what's that about 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for that 👍 looks like I have the spacers necessary to achieve that bit, I was also looking at spacers between focuser and reducer to remove the need for the diagonal. With such long deliveries at the moment I was trying to minimise the wait, I do know that I will always need just one more adapter.......

Been there, done that... 🤦‍♂️ I now have a tick list, but still miss things

Get everything set up - done Polar align - done Star align - done Get all software talking - done Track to first object - fail Forget to charge battery - done Order power pack - done

Hello Alan and welcome to the site 👍 looks like you are off and running with great telescope and a good selection of eyepieces.

Well I have ordered the new toy, an Evostar 80 ED DS PRO, no idea when it will land so in the meantime, I have been looking at the telescope and trying to get some information together. So if you kind people in the know could advise please... Is the star diagonal included in order to achieve the focal length or can the focal length be achieved with the focuser alone? With the standard focuser, what is the length of the OTA with the focuser wound fully in and fully out? Doesn't need to be exact, to the nearest 0.5mm will do.... 🤦‍♂️ If anybody has fitted the Baader steeltrack fitted, what is the OTA length with again focuser fully in and fully out please. Finally, just trying to check my math, with the 0.85x reducer, I make it that the reducer should be fitted about 9.7mm from the full focal length, does that sound right? Many thanks in advance for any help Les