doublevodka

The SMA dew shield is a winner tbh, and a load cheaper than buying an aluminium astrozap!

My 2p worth, I think you'll be fine apart from maybe the worst nights, you only need to keep a couple of degrees above ambient to keep the dew off and effectively the Asiair should generate a decent amount of heat on it's own. That said I'm all for belt and braces approach so why not create a shield, ice cream tub / plastic tub should be fine, upside down with the lid off and a few strategic holes for attachments / cables, hell I've got a modified SMA baby milk tin as a dewshield so I'm all for a bit of DIY 👍

These look very interesting! They also seem to have all the usual dob upgrades already included, how about lending @Chris the 8 inch one for a review? I think that's likely to be the one most people will go for, just based on the 8 inch Skywatcher being so popular (slightly cheeky request I admit, but since he works for you now 😉)

That is some awful luck, hopefully it's resolved soon 🤞 In the meantime, any engineering companies nearby? Maybe they could knock you up a suitable bar while you wait for the genuine one to arrive? After all it's just a metal bar with a thread on one end and a safety stop on the other, minutes of work for someone who knows what they are doing

It's a global supply chain issue and not limited to astro kit either, various factors at play including the pandemic, increased demand, the suez canal malarky etc. The second hand market was also heavily inflated because of demand, although that seems to be tailing off now as the lockdown astronomers seem to have started selling off their kit, over the last few weeks I've seen a fair amount of barely used kit appear on facebook etc. and the prices are slowly becoming a bit more reasonable To be fair to @FLO they've been pretty open and transparent about the issues throughout even creating an "In Stock Telescopes" section on their site - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock.html the cupboard was very bare only a couple of months ago, at points I've seen only 2 scopes in there, hopefully yours comes into stock soon 🤞

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tube-rings/skywatcher-telescope-tube-rings.html Or on the astro buy and sell things on facebook there are some guys doing 3d printed ones depending on what you are after

Purely down to manufacturer convenience, everyone you see with a short dovetail bolted to the side will have been supplied on a altaz mount designed to connect to that side, it's cheaper for them to use two bolts than a set of rings Personally I agree they should all have rings as it would make them more versatile, but manufacturers would rather sell you more kit 😉

From what I've seen so far this year, forecasting accuracy issues aren't just down to clearoutside it seems all services are struggling to keep up with the weather and it's strange behavior My gut says the forecasting models being used are struggling to cope with the effects of climate change Maybe FLO should start selling these for observatory installation? 😉

Try in the daytime as mentioned above, easier to see what you are doing and you'll be very sure caps are off etc. As above there is no such thing as a stupid question, I've seen this same thing in many posts over a couple of forums so you are not alone, I'd be 90% certain that it's just focusing is the issue, SCT's have a lot of focus travel and it can feel like you are going too far either way, don't worry it gets easier! Even my little nexstar 4se has a huge amount of travel, when focussing on stars when they start going from a big fuzzy blob and getting smaller, slow down until you get to a pinpoint (it may take a little backwards and forwards) I'd recommend getting in touch with your local astro society which appears to be http://www.astronomyleeds.org.uk/ if you want some hands on help and advice, in general other astronomers are more than happy to help 👍

Honestly, andromeda is a bit of a fuzzy blob to look at but keep at it you will find it M81 and M82 are nice ones to target too, especially if you can get them in the same field of view, certainly had more wow factor for me anyway 👍 Also, nothing wrong with a 6 inch dob, Ed Ting is a big fan and he's owned and tested more scopes that most people will see in a lifetime 😉

My 2 pence worth, I know you have a decent budget, but I'd be looking at the used market first for a large dob as you seem most interested in visual at the moment The used market contains many, and the bigger ones are generally fairly reasonable in regards to price as the sheer size puts people off, my 8 inch reflector makes non astronomers gasp at the size Plenty of examples on the for sale board here and also https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?typechoice[]=Telescope-Reflector&titlechoice[]=For+Sale&minprice=&maxprice= 50cm mirror but half you budget - https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=176246 12 inch mirror https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=175571 The list goes on Save some room in your budget for some nice eyepieces, then with a cheap large dob as your first purchase you'll have money to spare for a nice mount, apochromat and relevant cameras and electronics later down the line if you decide to go that route I wouldn't recommend trying to mount a massive reflector on a GEM though, it's possible but because of sheer surface area it's going to act like a sail and make things move around, most people into astrophotography seem to use small expensive refractors or cassegrains depending on their intended targets

There's some nice info here that may help - https://starizona.com/blogs/tutorials/collimating-a-schmidt-cassegrain

They are from a quality maker and will give nice wide field views so why not give it a go, I'm sure they'll give you some lovely views sweeping through the milky way etc. I have some Zeiss 8x30's and honestly sometimes I prefer taking the binos out rather than a scope, especially if time is limited Some nice info on using binos here - https://binocularsky.com/

I'd go +1 on this one, I've got the equivalent of a 200p on an eq3-2 amongst other things and it's an unwieldy beast that I wouldn't recommend for someone starting out The heritage 150 is a much loved dob and can be improved with a couple of well documented cheap tweaks too Although, stretching that budget slightly could get you the new version with electronics https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-150p-flextube-virtuoso-gti.html I'm a big fan of goto alt az for the convienience factor if you don't mind some electronic help 👍

The long and short of it, is it is as matter of personal preference, some like red dots, some like RACI's, some like straight through The one you've mentioned is well thought of though so a good choice 👍

If you're going to sell the 6se then now is as good a time as any, the used market it certainly pretty buoyant! I'd also look at the used market for the refractor as there are many people selling kit currently, keep an eye on the forum too but for example a quick search externally brought up this which has the field flattener, case and a bahtinov mask to give you a quick example https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=175963 If you really, really must have something with a long focal length and compact size, maybe take a look at the 127 mak? They are generally a bit more robust than the average sct and from what I've seen can produce some good results, for example again a quick search turned this up Putting all that aside though, personally if I was travelling through Australia and planning on imaging I'd be going widefield and squeezing out the best refractor and camera combo from my budget to make the most of the dark and wide open skies

I believe the GPS version would have originally come with a Nexstar+ handset, but my guess is this has been replaced at some point with the version 4 handset which you have there, the port isn't too much of a giveaway as both versions have that port, some of the newer + versions will have usb but not all I'm pretty sure this is the version 4 you have just by the button combination it has, if you look at the manual for the + handset here you'll see the buttons are a bit different - https://nexstarsite.com/download/manuals/NexStar+Addendum.pdf From my own experience the handsets seem interchangeable at least on the cheaper scopes, I have both versions at home and they work on my GT and 4SE mounts

Looks like the version 4 handset - https://nexstarsite.com/download/manuals/NexStarHandControlVersion4UsersGuide.pdf Loads of useful nexstar info here - https://nexstarsite.com/

It's very hard to comment on image quality as there are so many factors such as seeing, mount accuracy, camera suitability for the scope etc - there are many threads if you go digging which will explain far better than I can. It's really a horses for courses thing, no scope does everything well is the short answer, most experienced astronomers seem to have at least a couple of scopes for different scenarios (or specialise in something specific), long focal length for small targets such as planets, double stars etc, then short focal length for nebulas, galaxies, clusters etc This hobby can really be a bit of a rabbit hole, for example as a curveball you could go down the hyperstar route with the 6SE which would give you the wider field and better light gathering capability see below for an example As Olly pointed out I would avoid the ST80 budget option, whilst many love it, it's not ideal for photography and it seems you want to get the best out of your kit while you are there so a short, well corrected ed glass refractor would be a better travel companion, but again there are many options, not just the one I mentioned

Yes there will be a difference certainly, SCT's have a very long focal length so are more "zoomed in", fast refractors have a short focal length for a wider field. I've done a quick comparison below, didn't know the DSLR you were using so picked one at random 6SE - http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=109||83||1|1|0&messier=31 (crop sensor DSLR) http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=109||142||0.85|1|0&messier=31 (full frame DSLR) SW 80 DS Pro - http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=3||83||1|1|0&messier=31 (crop sensor DSLR) http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=3||142||0.85|1|0&messier=31 (full frame DSLR) As you can see the difference is quite large!

Do you have a budget in mind? It'll probably help with recommendations 👍 For the additional OTA I'd suggest a "fast" refractor so you have something for wider field, may as well make the most of the dark skies there. For example on a budget https://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-80-ota.html or https://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-102t-ota.html Or with a bit more cash - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html although the skies the limit once you star on ED glass, triplets, quads etc It sounds like a small guidescope combo would be more suitable, but someone with more experience will be along soon I suspect

I feel this one is going to turn into a bit of a can of worms but here goes. In theory either would work with the right accessories, you can get diagonals which will correct the image for terrestrial viewing for the telescope etc. however you are going to need something decent to mount it on and that becomes even more important for astronomy as stability is really key, then you start the debate on features such as altaz or eq, goto or manual etc. With that thought in your head, I'm going to throw in a curveball, what about observation binoculars? Something like this https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Orion-Monster-Mount-amp-25x100-Binocular-Kit/rc/2160/p/130923.uts Complete with a parallelogram mount it could be used day or night, it's simple and would give good clarity on the targets you have mentioned Some good general info on binos here - https://binocularsky.com/ Info on bino mounts here https://binocularsky.com/binoc_mount.php

👍 great to see some common sense applied in the current situation

How about a furniture cup and glue it in place - https://www.google.com/search?q=furniture+cups&source=lmns&tbm=shop&bih=937&biw=1920&rlz=1C1DIMC_enGB871GB871&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiw6ZnixeLxAhWD4oUKHZ1SA5gQ_AUoAXoECAEQAQ

Since your going to diy the mount, why not the tripod as well? - https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/build-a-low-cost-wooden-tripod/ I'm sure it'll be a lot more sturdy Alternatively on a budget, a heavy duty video tripod, or one of the old wooden surveyors tripods are pretty sturdy