M40

Hope you are ready for a bit of overkill..... 🤦‍♂️ I work on the principle that I need all the help I can get, ignore the direction the finderscope eyepiece is pointing, my excuse is that I was in the process of setting them up. The Skymax 180 has two sets of holes drilled for the shoe so I installed a red dot finder in the second spare set and fitted the rigel in the middle. I just made sure that the rigel base was as parallel as I could get it to the shoe base before I stuck it on. I start with the red dot, get closer with the rigel and as good as with the finderscope. Works for me. A little note in that the rigel bulls eye arrangement is very dim so you can only set this up at night. Hope it helps Les

Cough..... just noticed an EQ5 in the for sale/swap section..... 😜

Loving this, jubilee clips, brilliant 👍

Go for a long one, I notice that on FLO they do a StellaMira 15" which looks pretty useful. The EQ5 is a good choice as well, I like the idea that it can be upgraded to provide a motor drive in the future and reading the info I could find it looks like it has a load capacity of 9Kgs 👍

Hello Paul, You may be lucky on one of the online auction sites, but it's unlikely that you will get just the Dobsonian base so you will need a bit of DIY skill. The dobsonian mounts on the telescope can be unscrewed so as you say, you can remove these and get a pair of skywatcher tube rings and a dovetail mounting bar. Then depending on your budget, weigh the telescope or find out the weight and then just look for either a manual or tracking mount that will take the weight plus some for eyepieces, camera etc. If you are into a bit of DIY, I think there are some posts on here where someone made a Dobsonian base. Enjoy

+1 for the t ring and nosepiece. Another thing to be aware of when you bolt your DSLR camera onto your telescope is to turn the brightness of the LCD display up so that you can see what you are looking at in live view. Over time I have accumulated a number of adapters one of which is the eyepiece projection adapter, be aware that not all eyepieces fit in the adapter. One step I took was to buy a Baader Hyperion zoom eyepiece. This together with an adapter which I think comes with the eyepiece, allows the direct connection of the DSLR plus t ring onto the eyepiece. You can then very quickly go from visual to capturing an image. Enjoy

One of the reason's I have been keeping up to speed with this topic is I like ShaunyC' attitude in that although he has just started and has more than a couple of option limitations, he is still trying to give it a go. Which is why reading malc-c and Moonsheds posts it rung such a bell with me in that we are all different and have different restraints but as long as we enjoy what we can achieve that's great as far as I am concerned. That plus the fact that I am no more than a dozen or so paces in front of the OP and he has given me more than a few pointers 👍😜 Enjoy

Looks a good price to me 👍 Never having done any form of stacking before and having a similar Canon camera and lens, I have been following that link you posted about taking pictures of Orion with a DSLR. I am now at the stage of waiting for some clears skies, so this time next year maybe 🤦‍♂️ Anyways, check the lens to see if it has a thread to fit filters. If it does, you can then expand your toybox to include a metal lens hood (£27), two uv filters (£6 each) and a 58mm snap in Bahtinov mask (£14). Freebie software I have so far is DSS and paint.net. I looked at gimp but it's too steep a learning curve at the moment so that's on the backburner. So it's game on to see who gets the first blurry blob 😜 Enjoy

Last time I looked, we had a temperate climate, still climate change does happen quickly..... 😜

Hello Matt, dew point in this country is about 10'c, so if you keep your telescope in an area above 10'c and then take it to an area at lower than 10'c, dew will form; likewise the reverse if it's kept below 10'c and you then take it to an area above, dew will form. The answer is to keep it in an area that is roughly ambient temperature, but also covered. So if you have an unheated outside store/shed/summer house etc, thats the place to keep it, but I also keep mine covered. The reason to keep it covered in the shed is that the air in the shed also has moisture and so by keeping it covered in the shed you further reduce moister landing on the telescope. If you do need to keep it inside, dew will form quickly until the temperatures settle, so probably best to keep the telescope facing down to limit dew. I have no idea how effective dew heaters are at current temperatures, hopefully someone will suggest something. Enjoy

Looks like you have the version 3 handset or earlier so this function isn't available via the handset. Reading what Moonshed said, the adjustment, if there is any, is on the polar scope itself. If you manage to do it, let us know how so if anybody has this challenge in the future the info can be found. Enjoy

Always willing to help spend other people's money 😜

Hello Simon, page 32 of the manual. The setting is hiding in the utility menu 👍 Enjoy

Hello Mark, I am just getting into the imaging aspect of things so I can only offer my own thoughts. I bought the Baader Hyperion zoom and associated 2.25x barlow. The Baader offers the ability of being able to put the DSLR directly onto the eyepiece and I am loving it...... when there is a clear sky that is 🤦‍♂️ So from vague remote memory of clear skies, I used the zoom at the least magnification and then kept zooming in until I was happy with what I was observing. After moving a few things around, I then did the same with the DSLR bolted on the end using live view to focus taking single snaps as and when. As I say not into imaging proper yet. The ease at which you can change magnification with the camera bolted on sold it for me and I absolutely have no complaints about the eyepiece ability or quality. One other thing to consider and I have no idea if it affects the 6SE like the skymax but focusing can be challenging as the primary in the skymax flip/flops a bit so I have ordered a dual speed focuser which after reading a million revues should help. Enjoy

You want one of these... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/t-rings.html You also want one of these ... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-1-25-inch-t-mount-camera-nosepiece-adapter.html You can spend a few more pennies and get the Baader protective t ring which will enable you to put a filter in place...https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-protective-t-ring-for-canon-eos.html, I think that the 1.25" nosepiece screws into this as well, a quick email to FLO will confirm that for you 👍

Hello Jack, they are very low in the sky so before you rush, it may be worth making sure you can see them. Not sure where you are in Essex, but after 17.00 I have lost my window, so weather recently has killed any chance I have unless I cart all my gear to the top floor of a multistory car park 🤦‍♂️

Definitely not a worry Shaun, it's all about idea's and options and let's face it, if it doesn't work, you have a camera and a laptop 👍 Most things for me are a massive learning curve also, so I am stalking these guy's as they started with a basic setup, have a look through this topic ... Talking about learning curves..... I used the planisphere because I didn't realise that stallerium could go fast forward...... until this morning when I actually looked at the thing properly 🤦‍♂️😎, so Shaun, when you get your laptop...download Stallerium 🤣

Hang on, something is not right here...... my son lives in Glasgow, do you think he and the grandson are winding me up saying they have clear night skies whilst its raining down here? Can I suggest Shaun that when you buy the book, making every proton count, you also get a planisphere, just so you can see what exactly would be in your field of view which may help decide which way to turn. Enjoy

Hello Shaun, first off, I remember reading a few years ago of a disabled astronomer viewing from his window, so anything is possible if a bit restricted. What you have given everybody here is an out of the box question, so as you have mentioned astrophotography, have you considered something like the sky watcher star adventurer mount with a camera and DSLR lens and completely ignore visual astronomy? With a little imagination and some diy skills on some metal framework (google unistrut, readily available from most electrical wholesalers over the counter or online) you could build a frame with a suitable counterbalance which holds your camera and mount out of the window. A used DSLR with live view capabilities together with an ok lens gets you off and running with probably the most expensive item being the tracking mount. You can then upgrade at a later date as budgets allow. It can be difficult for me to sometimes see Polaris so I have downloaded and use polar scope align pro, cost £2.49 and works well. It does have to be perfectly aligned on your mount though and away from steel so I have used a long vixen style dovetail bar to hold the phone, more diy skills needed 😜 Just a thought 👍 Enjoy

Welcome....... and so it begins 🤣

Hello Roy, welcome to the forum. Just had a look to see where Allen, TX is in the world and it said Bortle 8 so very good choice on the Dob 👍. Enjoy

Hello Andy, welcome to SGL. That looks like a phenomenal shopping list and I can't comment on any of the items on it but I can put a few things to consider your way. As Peter Drew said, you won't be 53 forever and the kids tend to move away so moving the telescope becomes a big thing. I would guess at the CPC OTA at about 8Kgs which is manageable leaving the mount at about 18Kgs which is quite a lump. So think about storage being close to where you are going to use it plus storage as a complete setup. I don't know if the CPC has a dual speed focuser already, if not, just to add a few pennies to your list, I would definitely consider one, definitely on my wish list 🤣 Another thing to consider is that a DOB would be a larger lump to move and store. I am not knocking the DOB at all, it's just that I am a few years in front of you and changed from a 200P DOB because moving it became difficult. Enjoy

That's a great picture 👍 I have taken a few close up's and found myself looking for them in your picture. Just one comment, how did you manage the clear sky? Who did you pay? 😜

Yep, definitely think two telescopes. As dark knight said, start with the mount and then see where your budget goes from there. I don't know if you have found it yet, but have a look at this topic in the "Getting started with imaging" forum... Imaging with the 130pds some very impressive images have been posted. Enjoy

Had a look at the polar alignment pro youtube video's and downloaded straight away £2.49p later and it looks good. Even if it's not 100% it will get me in the ball park 👍 Great shout, many thanks Neil. Talk about learning all the time, many thanks for the info Andrew 👍