AstroNeb

Have just ordered one from Italy to use with TS version of 8” classical cassegrain, will have it in a few days. Let me know if you’d like to hear how I get on or details of how to get one.

Thanks JohninDerby, definitely going to fit something to help with the handling. Yes the WDS website is almost porn to me! Wonderful fittings to behold.👍🙂

Throwing my hat in the ring. Took delivery of a TS 8” Classical Cassegrain yesterday at 11am and had first light of Venus and crescent moon within an hour😀 I got it from Teleskop Service in Germany and pretty happy with scope and their service. First problem is the OTA being 8.9Kg as opposed to the 7.5Kg advertised, have asked them to rectify this on the website for the benefit of others. Maybe without focuser and/or rails 7.5 is correct. Second one, actually more of a ‘Doh!’ moment was spotting the StellaLyra at about £200 cheaper😢 I’ve convinced myself that this is because the StellaLyra claims 95% reflectivity of the mirrors and TS 99% (mmmm, they got the weight wrong so maybe...?) Looking at the other manifestations of this beast (iOptron, GSO, Orion et al) 96% seems to be the usual figure which means I’m clinging to the hope that when these companies order their paint livery etc. from the factory in China, they either specify the coatings they want on the mirrors (to suit budget and pricing etc.) or coat the optics themselves.🤞 The scope is an ‘upgrade’ from my pristine 18 year old Intes MK67 (which I’ll be selling). The easier to handle and vastly cheaper 6” may have been a more suitable choice😢 But this scope seems very promising, just hope to goodness I don’t drop it. Enough for now, it’s been a good distraction to losing a very close friend to Covid on Tuesday. Keep safe everyone.