doublevodka

Not a bad little gift you've received there 👍 Here's a link for the manual in case it helps - https://manualsbrain.com/en/manuals/1165168/ Looks like someone has gotten rid of the original shaky tripod and fitted it with a wooden one which should give you a bit more stability 🤞 If you are starting at this new, I'd recommend a couple of things, firstly, read the manual it will help you understand what's what. Secondly make sure to have a little practice in the daytime so you know how to set it all up (it's easier to understand it all in the daylight) DO NOT POINT IT ANYWHERE NEAR THE SUN! - can't emphasise that enough, it can, and will do serious damage! Lastly to start off use the lowest powered eyepiece, this is the one with the highest number on it, so from the pictures it is 25mm, many beginners will try to use the highest power one first. I helped out someone recently with a 70mm refractor and couldn't see anything, when I got there, he had a 3X barlow and 4mm eyepiece in the scope, minutes later we were looking at the moon with much more sensible power. Last of all, enjoy it! Those first few objects through the scope will stick with you for a long time 👍

I've had a bit of a search but so far no hits that have helped. Thinking about getting a cheap camera that I can access from my phone to see what the sky conditions are like, an alley cam seems a little overkill at the moment, does anyone have any recommendations? Cheap and cheerful is key 👍

Maybe have a look at onstep if you don't mind a bit of diy https://onstep.groups.io/g/main/wiki/3860

Shouldn't need an active cable for only a 3M run really, FLO has some non-active ones going up to 5M https://www.firstlightoptics.com/search/for/usb+a+to+b+cable/

Similar stuff is still available - https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/turbofilm-127-x-51-cm-nd-01.html As for the original question, technically yes, pitfalls are all listed above, but you'd be missing out on the best bit, being out under the stars! Very few things are more relaxing to me than being out on a clear and quiet night 🔭

An alternative suggestion, use a prism diagonal so everything is the right way round and the right way up?

Another from South Wales here, it's been a tough year! Sometimes makes me glad I'm visual only though as can nip out if the weather breaks A proper clear night with good seeing is going to blow your socks off then 👍 This year has been clouds or average seeing at best for me, your approach is spot on though, take the opportunities when you can (just try not to burn the chips)

I wasn't recommending you did, just used the link as an example of the vixen pedestal and couldn't see any anywhere else at the moment, they have occasionally appeared in the for sale items here over the past couple of years, maybe worth a wanted and if the idea takes your fancy 👍

I wouldn't see it as ostentatious, many "manufacturers" products are rebrands from exactly the same suppliers, Long Perng, Guan Sheng Optical or United Optics are indirectly responsible for a huge amount of the kit out of there. However you guys are taking the time to spec it correctly, make sure the finish is up to your standards etc, so there should be something to show that in my mind even if it's not "by FLO", could be something like "StellaLyra - A FLO Brand" etc, you deserve the credit for the work that goes in the background and I'm sure others would agree. The site is better than most, but I would agree that the user experience could be improved somewhat as some of the categories like adapters have gotten rather large, some basic tree navigation would sort that out fairly easily though 👍 Also, can we have "Telescopes by Type", similar to the mounts and binoculars categories whilst on the website subject?

I didn't realise they were all FLO brands! StellaLyra, Ursa Major and StellaMira I was aware of, but not the other two, you guys have clearly been very busy! As a minor bit of feedback, maybe worth adding something to show it's an FLO brand? StellaLyra by FLO for example or a FLO subsection under the brands on the website? May drive a bit more traffic that way if people are more aware it's an in house brand, just a thought... To be fair, every review of the StellaLyra dobs I've read has been really positive, I'd say certainly within the walls of this forum at the very least they are the preferred option now above all the usual suspects. Great to see a UK company taking the initiative and doing things properly 👍

Great to see a lot of care and attention going into the products, the big-name brands could learn a lot from that! I'm sure Steve has given some great suggestions too, I often point people in the direction of his site as it's great for bino info 👍

@FLO any news on the new products yet? Can see you've been busy adding lots of new stuff recently but haven't seen the tripod or Parallelogram appear yet, very interested to see what you've done as the other products like Stellalyra have been very well received 👍

There are pillar mounts that may be suitable, sometimes the Vixen GP ones appear on the second hand market which may be in your budget, they look like this and I believe they fit EQ5's - https://ensoptical.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=10594&search=vixen&page=2 Sky-watcher do a modern one, but it's well over your budget - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-pillar-mount-support-for-heq5-eq6-series-mounts.html

Welcome back, I have to admit that like @Ratlet says I do love spending other people's money 😂 For my 2 pence worth, the AZ-GTi is a good choice, I really like mine for its ease of use

Personally, I have the encoders turned off on my GTi and never use freedom find, I read somewhere that the tracking is a little better that way a while back. That said, if in the future you are planning to get a wedge and use it in EQ mode the GTi may be a better bet. If you're just visual the GTE should suffice and the 102 is a well-liked scope.

In these situations, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, is the slew speed set to its lowest in the app? GoTo etc would still work as normal, but the movement with the arrow keys would be almost imperceptible. https://www.nexstarsite.com/ is a great resource for Celestron scopes with lots of hints and tips 👍

You don't have to buy the celestron one by the way, there are plenty of people buying cheaper StarSense scopes and then diying them onto another scope like dobs, have a search of StarSense on the forum and you'll find some info. For me it's certainly one of the more interesting developments in astronomy recently 👍 some dob purists prefer all manual and that's fine too, each to their own, but for me with limited observing time any help to get on target is a winner!

Telrad or Rigel Quikfinder would get my vote too, thanks to idiots pointing lasers at planes over the years they are very much frowned upon, so better to be safe than sorry. Many of the dob guys like to have a combo of red dot and RACI finder, although starsense explorer is becoming very popular now too. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/cel_starsense_exp_8_dob.html

@koningmokum60 sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I discovered yesterday that the O ring on mine is broken, did you find out what size you needed? Can't seem to find that info anywhere, thanks

This is why I love SGL, it's mostly friendly and sensible with balanced views as nicely demonstrated in this thread 👍 Some other forums, however, not so much 😂

I don't need convincing of this, the wife however.... 😂

@Jules Tohpipi you raise an interesting point there that wasn't on my radar. Out of interest, with the kit you have, 250 Dob, Skymax, 127 and ST102, which gets used the most? Having owned reflectors, refractors, and cassgrains I'm leaning toward the refractor a little just because I prefer the contrast they give (and being able to carry out with one hand is a big plus), but I'd be interested to know your thoughts on your own kit.

Just as a heads up for anyone who happens to be looking for a headtorch, picked up one of these in the week from my local store for £7.99 It has a memory for the last mode used (handy for straight to red) 5 modes in total, 3 white and 2 red and also a red light on the back (handy backup if the batteries die I guess 🤷‍♂️) For those that don't like reading instructions, quick double press to switch between red and white modes, single press to cycle between the individual colour mode, long press to switch off Tried mine last night and was presently surprised how well it worked 👍 P.S. mods, sorry if this is in wrong section, feel free to move 👍

Used to do very similar with my eq3-2 and the simplicity of the tracking was great, my ability to find things, not so much 🤣 To be fair to the az-gti I have which is similar to the above it's not much slower to do, plonk down north and level, do the north level alignment routine which is just pick 2 stars from a list and center the objects when the scope gets close, adds maybe 2 mins but means I can find what I want 👍 That's the great thing about this hobby, so many ways to do it, so it can suit everyone 👍

Don't get me started on the multiple scopes route @Xilman I already want one of these... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/sky-watcher-az-gtix-dual-saddle-alt-azimuth-astronomy-mount.html Although by your locations and kit list, I suspect you do things in a much more professional capacity than me