doublevodka

May be worth having a poke around in this thread -

Fair play, you have definitely done your research there 👍 It certainly limits things a bit, using a barlow instead of shorter focal length eyepieces would help keep the costs down a little, or there's EEVA but I suspect like me you like to see things for yourself

I believe the top ring allows removal of the twist up piece, I seem to remember seeing that somewhere. It'll make your wallet hurt a bit, but as you both have astigmatism it may be worth looking at this https://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=54

Eyecup peels off upwards, hopefully these two shots help As for the body, once you have the eyecup off and the top fully extended, the body unscrews the other way. Grip tight with both hands and twist in opposite directions worked for me. It was tight the first time but no threadlock as far as I can see

Just aesthetics as far as I can tell, many manufacturers do the same, I guess the extra weight makes it feel more "premium" to some people 🤷‍♂️

So as I couldn't find a thread anywhere explaining the process here it is for future reference. We start here. Then, unscrew the nosepiece as it has a flange that locks the body in place Then raise the twist up eyecup as it make it easier to grip Then you can unscrew the body of the eyepiece Then reconnect the nosepiece and you are finished You can also remove the rubber eyecup if you wish, just peel it upwards, I've left mine in place because I like it, and the cap fits to it. Hopefully this is useful to someone 👍

So I've now had chance to check it again and I'd missed a step 🤦 Also no need to remove the eyecup at all First, unscrew the nosepiece from the eyepiece (it has a small flange that stops you unscrewing the body, hence feeling like it's threadlocked Raise the eyecup to the top Unscrew the body from the eyepiece Reconnect the nosepiece, now you have a decloaked eyepiece 👍 Have documented the process with pictures here -

I believe it went like this, although I didn't document it at the time 1- Put twist up eyecup into the top position and remove rubber guard (peeling it upwards will pop it off) 2 - Unscrew the retaining ring at the bottom, it rotates the opposite way to the twist up eyecup 3 - Unscrew the bulky body of the eyepiece If wanted you can then refit the rubber eyeguard Pretty sure that's how it went anyway, not at home currently to reassemble and check

Seeing is definitely a factor, atmospheric conditions have been challenging to say the least over the last year! When you can see the star shimmering overhead before you start you know it's going to be difficult. Hopefully when Jupiter and Saturn appear in the evenings again things will have settled down because I really want to see what the 127 can do 🤞 Oh and yes, I like the twist up eyecup too, although I've decloaked the eyepiece because it's just a bit to chunky for my liking

Definitely worth trying the barlow, and as a bonus you keep the nice eye relief of the 25mm eyepiece, example on Jupiter here http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=70|67|||1||&fov[]=70|67|||2||&solar_system=jupiter Before the 127 I got myself an 8mm BST, but it seems it and the 127 don't get on very well. Likely to do with the seeing conditions when I've tried it, but it certainly hasn't come to a crisp focus so far annoyingly

To get to the grub screws, unscrew the silver thumbscrew mark here with unlock this one turn, pop your allen key through that hole and turn the axis, you'll feel the holes There's a full strip-down here which will help if you still want to adjust it. Unfortunately due to the lack of actual bearings it's not the easiest mount to get running smoothly

Defo have a look at the AZ-GTi owners thread, but some simple things to try, before starting the alignment make sure it's pointed north and roughly level then press reset alignment, just in case, that'll clear out old alignments and start you from scratch.

I've had similar noise issues with a couple of Celestron mounts. It is fairly complicated but if you take your time and are competent with a screwdriver and spanner it's not too difficult. Mine had a combination of issues, but if you do get it apart it's worth removing all of the Chinese glue-grease and replacing it with sparingly applied white lithium grease / super lube / add grease of your choice. The Chinese stuff makes the mount work harder than it needs to. This video may help?

@Mandy DMay be useful for parts etc for your renovation project? https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=187010

Always a bonus when you don't have to spend more 😉 Did the shift in center of gravity help with the adjustments?

What I've read elsewhere is it is good to get a longer dovetail bar to sit between the wedge and AZ-GTi (blue arrow), as roughly marked below the center of gravity is where the red line is. A longer dovetail allows you to shift the center of gravity over the wedge, making adjustments easier and the whole thing a little more stable 👍

For clarity, I'm only talking about the cradle and the app, for example, you can buy this whole budget setup for £169 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/celestron-starsense-explorer-lt-70-az-refractor-telescope.html If you take out the cost of the mount, OTA, eyepieces, red dot finder, diagonal etc I think it's perfectly reasonable for a stand-alone version to be sub £100. Plenty of people have bought that whole scope and then DIY'd the cradle onto another scope so there certainly a market for it 👍

I totally get that it's possible other ways, there are many very good DIY projects out there for all sorts of Astro things. My point was more if they released it stand alone at a reasonable price, say between £50 - £100 it would sell by the boatload. I understand it's Celestron trying to push their own optics etc but it seems a little bit of a short-sighted strategy.

It is very much an estimate even with the satellite data, the thing to remember is the measurements are only taken at specific times, are not sensitive to all wavelengths, and are often out of date. Plus satellites only look down at large areas whereas you are looking up from a very specific one. Personally, I don't take much notice of it anymore. My house and my friends' farm 10 minutes away are both Bortle 4 areas, very different when you look up at the sky from the farm!

Go bigger for a lottery win, this will be mine 😂 https://vaonis.com/hyperia/en/

Hi Ash, sorry to hear about the cold weather issue, that certainly complicates it a little. There are occasionally live streams on youtube which could be worth a look so maybe start here - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=astronomy+live+stream+&sp=CAISBBABQAE%3D The only other thing I can think of is one of the new breed of automated scopes but they aren't cheap either https://vaonis.com/vespera However no mass of cables or complicated setup which may make it possible with your mobility issues and you can observe "live" on your phone etc whilst somewhere warmer I would also suggest getting in touch with organisations such as the Royal Astronomical Society https://ras.ac.uk/about-the-ras/contacts as they may be aware of outreach programs for astronomers with mobility issues, it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask as I'm sure they'd have contacts in the right places 👍

This really sums it up, space and astronomy have many, many different paths you can take so focus on what interests you. There's a wealth of information just on this forum, from basics about equipment to as far as you want to dig. Sky at Night Magazine is great too, it's the only interesting thing I get through the post 😂 There's a broad range in there from basics to the latest scientific discoveries, and the same goes for the TV Show. Also, youtube is really great, included some links below for the ones I like, some of the guys are around on the forum too https://www.youtube.com/c/AstroLaVista https://www.youtube.com/c/Astrobiscuit https://www.youtube.com/c/AstroBackyard https://www.youtube.com/user/edting

If it's like the above then you should be good, as mentioned get a longer dovetail bar if you can. It'll help with positioning and also stop the tube from flexing so much. I've got an old cheap achro with a dovetail bar screwed to the OTA and it takes ages to settle, not because of the mount, but because of the flex in the tube. Also if it is on an EQ1 mount as above, you may be able to salvage and sell the counterweight and bar, I understand it's the right type for people doing the eq mod on AZ-GTI mounts, might help pay for the dovetail

Very interesting @Stu Thanks for digging that out 👍 At least I know it's in the realms of possibility now

So, since getting an AZ-GTI I've had an idea rattling round my head, is it possible to mount 2 OTA's? My thought is, the thread people commonly add a counterweight bar into to use the mount in EQ mode rotates with the vixen clamp on the other side. So, is it possible to add a second clamp opposite? Or would it be next to impossible to align them and make it useful? Figured best to ask first in case someone has had the same idea and beat me to it. My thought is a widefield scope to go with the skymax 127 on the other side, like a mini az-eq6....