doublevodka

Not just you, I'm not a fan of the tighter eye relief on shorter focal length eyepieces, I mostly prefer to barlow where possible, so instead of a 10 I'll use a 20mm and a 2x barlow, just find it suits me better.

I bought an 8mm BST because they are highly rated on here, but prefer a barlow and a basic 20mm plossl, although the seeing has been rubbish for months where I am so jury is still out a little as it's slightly more magnification

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

I think <=£250.  My aversion to used equipment is my inexperience and the risk of not spotting a lemon.

Definitely join your local Astro club, lots can be found on Facebook, that's how I got back into astronomy and purchased my first got from a club member. Bargains can be had from Facebook marketplace, but it certainly can be like the wild west too. There is a for sale section on this forum, but it won't appear until you've made enough posts on here (25 I think) or sites like https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/index.php where everyone is generally an astronomer and helpful

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

Hmm, goto adds significantly to cost, and I guess technology is moving so fast in that area that things become "last year's tech" and lose value more quickly?  I read about AstroHopper, a smartphone based push-to system which I thought looked fun to try.

Goto does add to costs, absolutely and to an extent anything electronic will devalue, but if you are buying used then someone else has already taken the initial hit. Smartphone apps like Astrohopper will get you in the general area

As for tabletop dobs in the garden, if you have an Ikea nearby - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kyrre-stool-birch-60416925/ 3 legged stools like this give decent stability like a tripod even on uneven surfaces, I use 2 with my starblast, on to sit on and one for the dob to sit on

Given an example of used - https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=193136 Skywatcher 130 Dob, pretty much half retail price and an honest ad with plenty of pics, it's really worth a look

Also worth updating your location on your profile, there may even be someone here on the forum nearby willing to help if you do end up looking at used equipment, on a tight budget it really helps you get more for your money 👍

1 hour ago, alfabet said:

Thank you, I hadn't realised this. I think our next steps beyond the moon might be planetary, so perhaps getting something with a shorter focal length isn't a great idea.

Do you have a budget in mind? Any problem with going for used equipment? 

For planetary and lunar, personally I'd recommend a skymax 127 on an az-gti mount, it's lightweight (I carry mine assembled with one hand from the shed to the lawn) easy to use plus if you decide you want a wider field of view you could pick up an st80 with tube rings later and use the same mount. They can regularly be found for around £300 used, sometimes less.

A goto mount is very handy when observing with kids, once you've done the alignment it'll track nicely so you can share the views and spend longer at the eyepiece 

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-clean-a-reflector/ also worth a look if it was free, fairly simple to do as long as you are careful, I bought an old reflector a couple of years back and the mirror was covered in dust and spots, came up pretty well with this method, big fan of free and cheap stuff though, good to hear one has been saved from the tip 👍

On 31/12/2022 at 09:13, Karl Perera said:

All very constructive advice and thank you for the help doublevodka.

I have taken note and done the following on the page about cleaning the mirror:

• added a disclaimer about trying my method
• rewritten the meta title removing the like a pro bit
• tried to rewrite this so I don't claim my method is better, just an alternative
• referenced sound authoritative advice on cleaning telescope mirrors

If you would like to check out the newly updated page and tell me what you think and if there is improvement, here's the link again:

https://astroimagery.com/equipment/telescopes/how-to-clean-your-telescope-mirror/ 

•  

Some good improvements there Karl 👍 I would also agree with @Franklin that prevention is better that cure so that may be worth a mention near the top? Great to see you taking suggestions on board 👍

If you set a static ip address for the mini-PC in the router it will always be the same which would be easiest, don't know the router however so can't advise how.

Alternatively this is worth a try - https://remotedesktop.google.com/home I have a PC that I remote onto at home and that allows easy access from a PC or mobile

19 hours ago, TheycallmeRiver said:

"how are astronomers supposed to astronomer in this"

Love it when kids come out with this stuff, definitely should be included in your signature 😂

Karl I've had a look through your website and can appreciate what you are trying to accomplish, but like everyone else here I have some feedback that you can hopefully take on board.

Firstly "how to clean a mirror like a pro" as someone else mentioned it's a bit clickbaity, maybe think a little more on your headlines "How I clean my mirror" may be a little more appropriate, as you say yourself you've only done this a couple of times. I've cleaned my own optics numerous times, but I wouldn't describe myself as a pro. Also personally I'd mention that there are companies that specialise in this that you can send your telescope to for cleaning etc. maybe a disclaimer to say this is my method, no responsibility if you cause damage etc. I really wouldn't recommend using non-optical cleaning fluids either, yes it may work for you, but do you know how the ingredients will affect the coatings on other people's mirrors? There are tried and tested methods, such as the ones you'll see on this forum, or articles like this - https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-clean-a-reflector/ which should give you some good ideas.

Secondly, as a general thing, try and take a step back and rather than looking at astrophotography as the way you do it, look at it as a whole, there is a vast amount of different ways of doing it, from snapping a picture with your smartphone to the JWST.

If you really want to become a hub for advice take it back to basics, there's no harm in talking about your own journey, but make it clear there are many different ways to start and continue this journey. Arguably the one big omission I noticed is mounts, I didn't see anything much about them on your site, yet as I'm sure others will say the mount is more key to the experience than any other component.

Hopefully you find my feedback constructive, my intention is really not to put you off but to tweak your direction slightly so you can accomplish your goals. For some further inspiration, I'd recommend looking at Astrobiscuit, Astrobackyard and Astro La Vista on Youtube, going through their videos chronologically (and websites) you can see their journeys and developments over time

On the Vaonis front I've always liked the look of these - https://vaonis.com/hyperia/en/ sadly it's eye-wateringly expensive and way out of my budget but I'll have a Sidereal Grey one if I win big on the lottery one day 😂

And yes, I know you could put together a better rig for less money before someone says it lol

10 hours ago, MichaelDiggs said:

Hello. I have always been interested what's above. Then as I grew older and opened my mind and realized I cannot comprehend the vastness of space/time I just have to take a step back, relax and enjoy what I can. When I try to think about a light year, black hole, gravity, and I really concentrate - I have to take a breath and slow down before my electric impulses overload.

 

I'd love to see what kind of hardware I need to set something up in my backyard and do some gazing. Love to start with checking out some constellations and our friendly moon of course. I do not know if people like me can have some great optics that will actually allow my eyes to see a galaxy or would I just be looking at light spots? Anyway, in no big rush but love to start with something easy to use, powerful and has the technology to get my eyes closer so I can enjoy this beautiful universe. Even if it's just a bleep on the timeline and doesn't register. Thanks everyone. Enjoy to checking back.

 

Michael

 

Hi Michael, if you can give us an idea of the sort of budget you have in mind I'm sure a few of us can give you some pointers on the equipment front, it can range wildly from free with your eyes, to cheap binoculars, to exotic glass and expensive mounts.

If you start us off with a ballpark figure we can go from there 👍

10 hours ago, random said:

I have a Celestron NexStar 8SE and have found that using the supplied 25mm eyepiece gives substantially better quality than Celestron X-Cel LX 5mm and 9mm eyepieces. I appreciate that lower magnification is likely to give a clearer view but the X-Cel give very unclear views. Is this to be expected?

As the others have pointed out, it's more to do with the magnification than anything else. Assuming you are in the UK I haven't had a night of decent seeing all this year, even when it's been clear there has been too much atmospheric distortion going on to ramp up the magnification, usually because of the jet stream / strong wind conditions higher in the atmosphere. Easiest way I find is to just look straight up with the naked eye, if the stars above seem to be twinkling then high magnification isn't going to work very well. I can usually just about get away with a 2x barlow on 25 / 20mm eyepieces, but moving to my 8mm makes things a bit fuzzy so that may be worth a try. Hang onto the others though, because on a good night I'm sure the views will be amazing 👍

On 21/11/2022 at 11:01, Sassysquish said:

Hi. New to all this. Have Skywatcher AZ GTI. Have bought wedge. So updated firmware. But now it won't turn on!! Using a fully charged power tank. I think I'm about to cry

 

 

Try some AA batteries in the mount before you panic too much, at least that'll rule out problems with the power tank and cable 👍

20 hours ago, Elp said:

I assume that applies to all of the powers across the range?

I believe so, although I only have the 8mm so have not tested with others.

You can strip the eyepiece down should you wish - 

2 hours ago, Markj57 said:

Thanks Stevie!  I did notice those blinking cursors and didn't understand the meaning. Weird.  

Yes I'm in Scottsdale, 33 degrees north.

I'm using my phone which has the time/date/location. My intent is to do precise polar alignment so I can take at least 2 minute subs.  The design of the polar scope seems to have a bolt running down the center of the field of view which is bizarre.  Would be interested if others are having success using the red light.

 

Mark

1 hour ago, StevieDvd said:

On other mounts the polarscope is only opened when the dec axis is rotated to align the hole for light to pass through - have you done that?

Take the polarscope cap off the top and look through the hole and you 'should' see the hole appear when you rotate the dec axis. That may explain the impaired field of view - especially if you were not aware the above was needed.

With the bolt thing it could be one of two things, as @StevieDvd said the dec axis needs to be aligned

But I've also come across this with an old eq3-2, it was possible to screw in the counterweight shaft too far so it got in the way, have another look in the daylight, it might be that 🤷‍♂️

Full synscan app manual here if it helps - https://inter-static.skywatcher.com/downloads/synscan_app_manual_en_20201008.pdf

Worth a looks through the recommendations here https://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php#5

Worth a look at these two videos

On 27/10/2022 at 20:12, DaveL59 said:

There is a suggestion on Bird Forum that they may be made in the same factory as Eagle Optics and others, likewise Monk Optics as the UK supplier of the Fumoto brand.

ah ok, so can't post a link to bird forum, oh well.

Thanks Dave, shame about the link

Was more out of curiosity anyway, for a fiver I'm very happy with them, a load lighter than either of my Zeiss ones and threaded so I can mount them 👍Also a focus lock too

There are a few different options, here's a good start - https://binocularsky.com/binoc_mount.php

I think you did really well there, I've been keeping my eye out for a decent priced used one but so far no luck, nice bundle of accessories with it too 👍

Svbony also appears to have come up with their own version of this with the 585 sensor - https://www.svbony.com/svbony-sv705c-usb3-0-color-planetary-camera-imx585-eaa/

So I was having a rummage in the local charity shop and at £5 I couldn't turn them down, even without a case and caps. A little bit grubby and the screw under the IPD index mark was loose, but a couple of mins with a small screwdriver and a bit of a clean they seem all good 👍

I've had a bit of a google but can't find any info about them other than a listing on worthpoint. They are marked GKA Japan with a serial number on the tripod screw cover but that's the end of my info.

Anyone know anything about them?

3 hours ago, John the clock said:

I have managed to get an 8 Newtonian on a Goto EQ5 mount at a snip, so I thought  at my stage worth a go if I don’t like the scope always got a not so bad mount, may then get a big casagrain one day, as I’m new to the hobby im thinking spend wisely at the start build my gear up, Skywatcher scope so it’s not a hobby killer.

Not a bad place to start at all there, and both will have a decent resale value should you decide to move them on later down the line. With the EQ5 you also have the opportunity to use different optical tube assemblies such as a cassgrain or refractor which you wouldn't have been able to do with the fork mounted Meade

My gut says a parallelogram mount, this page, scroll down for pictures and info, it'll be the best combo I suspect https://binocularsky.com/binoc_mount.php the site is worth a browse around for more information on binoculars for astronomy 

Ed Ting has just done a review on the 10 inch dob which will be worth a watch, it looks like a nice piece of kit