doublevodka

3 hours ago, Ashleyneby said:

Wow, thank you from the bottom of my heart! 
 

Once I can get it rolling, my daughters are really going to enjoy this experience. ♥️

I'm sure they will love it, it was my daughter that got me back into it, now she tells me it's too cold and I'm the daft one outside in the icy weather 😂 she's a fair weather astronomer 

I suspect as Peter said the cross piece will come off as there is a definite separation there.

On my old eq3-2 it was similar and held in place by some tiny grub screws which needed loosening first, check for these and if none there grab hold of the main bod with one hand and try turning the cross piece with the other.

When you've got that off, tighten the nut (but not too tight as the axis may not move) and then test it behaves itself.

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/

6 hours ago, skyhog said:

You already have the answers to your question.

This does remind of an advert that appeared regularly in old s&t magazines. You could buy a film that effectively sealed the slit in an observatory dome. I think it was mylar. Not seen that since though...

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?

11 hours ago, azrabella said:

Even worse in S. Wales. Two sessions since Christmas. What did Private Frazer say..."Doomed. We're all doomed".

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

10 hours ago, Ratlet said:

As it's my first year, I've never known such good Stargazing.

Seriously though, I survived winter by being an astronomical scavenger.  Learning that the 20 minutes whilst the chips were in the oven was usually clear and taking every opportunity to cook dinner.

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)

53 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

I vowed I would never buy from ENSOptical.

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 👍

7 minutes ago, FLO said:

We thought putting our name on the side might be a little ostentatious 🙂 

We don't pretend to be optical designers or telescope manufacturers. Whenever we reveal a new StellaLyra or StellaMira telescope or eyepiece, we say where it is manufactured (mostly Long Perng, Guan Sheng Optical or United Optics). We give credit where credit is due. 

Thank you for the suggestion. Our website will likely be updated/refreshed this year. Mostly because our accessories category has grown so much. In the adapters section alone, there are now over 400 items! It is sometimes difficult to find what you need. 

Steve 

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? 

1 hour ago, FLO said:

Thank you 🙂 

StellaLyra required a significant investment, so we are especially pleased it was so well received. 

Currently, FLO brands are: 

StellaLyra - Mostly Dobsonians, Newtonians, Ritchey-Chrétien & Classical Cassegrains. 
Ursa Major - Affordable telescopes. Mostly Dobsonians. 
StellaMira - Refractors. Specifically ED doublets and triplets. 
Lynx Astro - Electrical/electronic. I.e. cables, heater tapes & controllers. 
Astro Essentials - No-nonsense, affordable accessories, like filters and adapters. 

HTH

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 👍

2 hours ago, FLO said:

Both mounts are almost ready. 

It is surprising how long it takes to bring a new product to market. Not so much the Alt-Az mount, which has been available in one form or another for a long time. When the Alt-Az mounts arrived at our warehouse we didn't like the counterweight knobs, so we are sourcing others. When they arrive, it will be good to go.

The binocular parallelogram mount is an all-new product, designed entirely in-house, so has been in development for some time. We sent a near-finished prototype to Steve Tonkin at BinocularSky. Steve has a lot of experience with this mount type and is probably the UK's best-known binocular astronomer. He made some suggestions that have since been incorporated into the design. We want to send him the latest version. If all is good, then that too will be ready for launch.

Thank you for asking 🙂 

Steve

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 👍

On 03/02/2023 at 15:26, FLO said:

This month.

If you are thinking of the Alt-Az mount, then you probably already know it. Alan white mentioned the version, already on the market, branded SkyTee. 

The tripod looked familiar when I set it up to be photographed. It is like the William Optics wooden tripod sold (years ago) for their now-discontinued EZtouch Alt-Az mount. I wouldn't be surprised to find it is the same tripod. 

The parallelogram binocular mount, however, is an all-new product. 

HTH, 

Steve 

@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

2 hours ago, Beardy30 said:

Morning everyone 

I understand the difference between the two mounts above in that the GTE doesn’t include the feeedom find option of the GTI, but looking at the Costs I’m thinking the GTE is more of a bargain- for example the GTI is approx £349 at FLO for the mount and tripod package alone but the GTE also includes the startravel 102. (A fairly decent achro frac for visual) is only £379- a difference of £30.

so I’m wondering how useful is the freedom find option and is it really something people find helpful? Be good to know before making the decision as I’m thinking the GTE package is more cost effective if I’m never likely to use freedom find. 

thanks

☺️

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 👍

6 hours ago, maddog said:

This is looking very interesting.  Will be using with kids and so need to keep them hooked!

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

On 01/05/2022 at 01:38, koningmokum60 said:

Hi all, how's it going?  I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for my question.  If it isn't, my apologies.  Could a moderator move it to the correct one?

 

I have an older blue livery Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 that I bought off Marktplaat, (a Dutch/Belgian online trading site) for a steal.  The scope works well. I wanted to go a step further and make it work fantastically.  I decided to flock the tube and give it a good servicing and cleaning.  The primary mirror had so much dust and grime on it, I was considering planting potatoes in it.  The secondary mirror just needed a few puffs of air.  There was a really annoying red fibre stuck on the back of the meniscus lens. This was causing a huge dust bunny in my Lunar images.  The scope definitely needed cleaning.

With the help of a plumber's strap wrench, I managed to remove the meniscus lens cell and primary mirror cell.  Thanks to Baader Wonder cleaning fluid, a Baader Optical Wonder Cloth, a gazillion Kleenex tissues, a good rocket blower and a quality camel hair brush, the cleaning and flocking went really smoothly.  Here's the part that went wrong.  There's a rubber O-ring that sits between the primary mirror cell and the telescope tube  The one on my Mak had started to perish and was getting sticky.  The inevitable happened - it broke!  I've jerry rigged it the best I can.  It'll work.  The Mak will definitely need collimating; however, that's no big deal.  Trying to find a new O-ring, is like searching for chicken's teeth. 🙄 Does anyone know where I can find a replacement O-ring?  Many thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.  Clear Skies! 🔭😀

@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

13 hours ago, Xilman said:

Oh what a shame!  I just love a vehement religious war where everybody is wrong and everybody is right.  One can learn so much from other people's strongly held views.  😉

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 😂

17 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Remember the saying .... No one scope excels at everything . 

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

14 hours ago, Jules Tohpipi said:

 

Just a double-check here in case you didn't realise. The field-of-view, for any given eyepiece, is not much wider in an 8 inch dob than your Skymax 127. Whereas the 80ED does have a much wider field of view.

Of course, the dob is an excellent telescope but the FOV and magnification are on a par with your existing mak. The views in the eyepiece will be the same size roughly but brighter and more detailed. If you are seeking a brighter and more detailed view then jump in. But if your priority is a much wider view then the 8 inch dob won't deliver that. 

Conversely, the ST102 works a treat on the AZ-GTi and gives a wider field of view than the dob/mak. Plus, as you are visual only, you won't need to worry about its CA when looking at dimmer/fuzzier targets - you'll be using the mak for brighter objects like planets and the moon. And the ST102 has got more aperture than the 80ED.

@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 👍