Tiny Clanger

Have you considered basing a kit on one of the 5" (130mm) collapsible table top dobs ? Over your side of the Atlantic, what we call the heritage 130 is often badged as a OneSky Newtonian. I have the larger 150mm (6") version, too big for carrying around, but the smaller model might work for you. I believe the 130mm/5" , like the 150mm has a dovetail , so easy to take it off the heavy dob mount and put it on top of a tripod. Loads of choice of photo tripods at all sorts of prices made for outdoor photographers, it's a huge market compared with astro ... A carbon fibre tripod would be very light , but very expensive. You could add a small alt/az head, or there are clamps which turn a tripod to camera thread screw to a vixen style clamp . Interesting, many year long thread on the subject of the AWB 'scope here : https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/463109-onesky-newtonian-astronomers-without-borders/page-216 Heather

I've not needed to mark the dovetail on my heritage to help assemble it, because it stays as one unit. What I did when the balance was spoiled using my first BST eyepiece instead of a few lighter plossls was find an old heavy, strong, magnet (it had been salvaged from a broken audio speaker) put some sticky felt on one side to stop it scratching the paintwork. The magnet sat on the centre bolt of the base when not in use, when I put the BST in the focuser I'd stick the magnet (felt side in) on a suitable spot on the solid tube below the pivot point . I've no idea if this would be a bad idea for the virtuoso, with it's extra electonics, but it worked a treat on the manual heritage. Heather

You are right, 25 posts 30 days. Maybe there could be a post somewhere a bit more prominent so this info is easier for all to see ? I'm not sure the 'Official SGL announcements' section is where most new folk would look for it.

Wonder if I was I the only person who had a little moment of seeing some positive points when there was wild talk last week of possible power cuts in the winter ...

No idea if it counts as intelligent lighting, but our council opted to cut power bills by tuning off every other street light at midnight . When they mentioned it was going to happen (via a leaflet through every front door )it, and less frequent grass cutting of verges ,were cited as things they were doing to keep the poll tax increase as low as possible. Nobody seems to have been upset by the switch off, and I'm positively delighted 🙂 It makes an enormous improvement for all but bright targets. Heather

Hi, Welcome to SGL £300 should get you a decent starter 'scope, rule 1 (also rules 2, 3 and 4) Do not buy from a non-specialist store. A good starting point for the sort of things you have to choose from is this : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html where you can see around a dozen set ups between £200 and £300. Some (like the full sized dobsonian ) will be too big to be as portable as you want, I'd suggest searching on here (there's a search box top right) to find similar recent questions and responses, and to ensure your expectations are reasonable, this thread is a good guide https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/ Heather

I think that's an advantage you have, him bringing it to you . If you had driven over, investing time , fuel and effort, you might be less inclined to be picky, because you had already invested those three things in the 'scope. If it's just a few £ for fuel (as long as he doesn't drive a humvee or something) you have invested, you can be more detached when you inspect it. What was that I said on your welcome thread, about tantalising collection only bargains to be had in Scotland ? ! 🙂 Heather

You said 'I'll clean it up' , not 'I'd clean it up' 🙂 , I think you are largely decided ! The 102s is, as I said, a nice wide field 'scope , so I'm sure this will be even better at wide field with the extra 25mm aperture

Bit dusty, you can see why they want to sell it, not used in a while 🙂 The key points to if it's worth it are the state of the glass, and the functioning of the mount. If like on my 102, the dew shield is fixed on the 127, it would be quite difficult to get an accidental fingerprint on the front of the objective, but there might have been deliberate cleaning attempts . I'd ask if it's been stored with the lens cover in place , because it is recessed into the dew shield rather than overlapping it, it's hard to tell from side on pic.s You might ask for a head-on pic of the lens to check the state of it , but it might not be a very good photo you get back because of the dew shield shadow.

Yep, mine came with two slightly different length extension tubes, I think the longer one stayed in the packaging ... in contrast to the generally well made feel of the 'scope, both tubes seemed to have rather rough threads on them, I was initially worried I'd cross threaded it as I screwed it on it was so crunchy , not a lovely bit of engineering ... It does look like an unused extension in the accessory photo. There also seems to be the stock Bresser plossl, a 40mm plossl , and is that a cheap barlow ? And two of the plastic beer mat sized planispheres , so tiny ! Has anyone ever actually found it useful I wonder ?

Well, if he is willing to bring it over, he is obviously keen to sell it ... which might mean you can get the price down a little I thought it might help to see the hex bit that distinguished the hexafoc from the previous focuser, so as my 102s was out for a little solar peek earlier today I took a photo to make the hexa bit clear, you can see the flat facet on the part of the tube which also has the scale on it.

Okaay, , so 127mm is 5", not 6 " which suggests the seller is not very knowledgeable. The plossl they mention is the one which comes with the 'scope, S is the shorter tube, shorter focal length, so nice for widefield . Somewhat heavier than my one hand carry 102s+az6+photo tripod's 8kg ish though ! This is a substantial 16kg mount and 7.7kg 'scope

Is it the strength of the sliding section that worries you , or the security of the fucus tube ? If so, don't, I've had a couple of evenings now using the secondhand maxbright 24mm eyepiece I bought on here, specifically to use in the little dob.The maxbright weighs 373g, which is more than double the BST at 165g , and I had no problem with the weight at all . I didn't even need to rebalance the 'scope with the dovetailclamp , which surprised me, as I needed to when switching between plossls and BSTs This was on the basic mount though, not the virtuoso, which might be your worry ?

Goodness, those have doubled in price in the year since I bought one to put on the solid bit of my heritage dob !

No experience of the AR127,but I have an AR102s which is a nicely made refractor for a cheap achro. and at 600mm focal length mine is a decent, enjoyable widefield grab & go . As johninderby says, the new hexafoc focuser is pretty good . You don't mention which model it is, the 'scopes come in different lengths ( the 102 has xs, s and l , a quick look at FLO website suggests the 127 may have just 2 versions) , I went for the 's' model because I wanted something light and portable which would go on a nice simple altaz (also light & portable). The longer 'L' model would have been better from the point of view of chromatic aberration , which I do find obtrusive at planetary type magnifications in the 'S'. Fortunately that wasn't what I bought it for though . Check it has the newer hexafoc , be sure if it's the model you want ( the AR127L is focal length 1200, the AR127s is 635mm focal length ) , obviously the length of the 'L' will reduce CA and increase magnification with any given eyepiece, but increase unwieldyness of the tube . Negative points for the AR series : the stock viewfinder is horrid, and the shoe is non standard, so unless it's already been replaced you'll probably want to do that . Ask if the one on offer has the fine focus upgrade too, it is an extra which costs £75 , I manage OK without , but having one included would be nice ... I've no idea about the mount, so no comment there 🙂 Heather

Or .... there often seem to be tantalisingly good deals of second hand kit on here which look really attractive until I read the words : Collection only' and see the location as Scotland ... You need to pass the threshold of 25 (I think, do check on that, I may have misremembered) posts to see the buy/swap threads on here, but it looks like you have the month's membership period threshold sorted 🙂 Heather

Welcome back . You have the most important accessory of all (dark skies) , don't forget to change your 'location' to match so everyone can be suitably jealous 🙂 Heather

I suspect the main use of a letter to the MP in this case is nothing to do with the MP's response (or lack of response, or form letter sent out to everyone ... ), more a hint to the council that you are prepared to get the MP involved, which might .... encourage them a little.

Check if your MP is involved in this :https://appgdarkskies.co.uk/ if they are, send a copy of your letter to them (and mention what you did to the council) if they are not, send the MP an email suggesting they look at it and consider joining ! Heather

🙂 Probably a good way to start with a main interest in DSOs . If you've not already seen it , you will find a wealth of information on this site , including an excellent monthly newsletter https://binocularsky.com/binoc_mount.php and in the binocular section on here (where that sites owner,also called binocularsky can often be found ) Heather

Yep , PS2 (which can be found for free ) displays with daftly tiny tool bars/icons, on current 'puters, the only hopeful work around I found turned the cursor/pointer into a weird character of some sort , which was a total waste of time, so my last resort was to use win10 's screen magnifier app thingy, which makes for an irritating session . I'm not doing astro photo editing though, and for simple editing the processor can cope with without falling over, I often drag out an old win7 laptop instead of the whizzy newer one ! Heather

Wixey (thanks @wulfrun, pedantry is fine by me BTW 🙂 ) and dob setting circle bbokmarks (some of these pages date from the palm pilot era , which was just after the Jurassic ) http://www.homebuiltastronomy.com/ManualDobSettingCircles.htm https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/5570-setting-circle-mod-for-dob-bases/ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/make-an-azimuth-setting-circle/ https://www.blocklayer.com/protractor-printeng.aspx

My cheapskate version is a small electronic level powered by a couple of AAAs, and with a magnetic base, it cost under £15 , sits on the steel heritage tube , and along with stellarium set up to show me the alt/az of objects I click on, gets a speedy alt fix when my star hopping skills ( such as they are) prove inadequate to locate an object. The little things often used to be referred to as a 'Wixy', which was a trade name I believe, have a search around here and the CN forum for diy setting circles too, which are a simple az setting method you can make for a dob base : essentially a big protractor ! Heather

🤣 Welcome, those spur of the minute bargains can turn out to be quite expensive in the long run I's agree that step 1 to reduce the 'quakes would be to do something about the tripod ... extra weight might help, but those legs look pretty flimsy ... if they extend, but could be used unextended, try that, and observe sitting down , or try standing the tripod (legs unextended) on a sturdy table. Maybe the legs could be stiffened a bit , or even replaced with wood ? If you are handy, there are plans around for wooden tripods like this https://www.eyesonthesky.com/tutorials/1x3-tripod/ or maybe you could find a way to fix the head (or even just the telescope tube) to a sturdier photo tripod ? Heather

The comparative advantages of those 3 are the same as for the 3 manufacturer's 150mm versions as I outlined before, my only reservation about any of them would be , do be absolutely clear about the size and the weight of the things before you decide. If you might want some electronic trickery in the future, there's this interesting new add on for the StellaL : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-mount-upgrade-kits/asterion-push-to-kit-for-gso-deluxe-dobsonians.html