Tiny Clanger

Thanks, I'm hoping it will be a decent step up from my BST 25mm, which is fine in my mak, but I really don't like it at all in the f5 heritage dob.

Postie delivered this impressively hefty maxvision 24mm eyepiece to me today, bought from JeremyS . Thank you, but the package appears to have included some slightly used clouds as well ... Heather

Hi Gondalf, I own an 80mm aperture 400mm cheap refractor , and appreciate your dissatisfaction with what it can do. But quite a lot of folk on here own and enjoy what is often referred to as an ST80 (short tube 80mm ) as a quick and easy set up for short observing sessions or for travel, so don't dismiss your existing 'scope completely. While it is not ideal for high magnification views of the planets (when you get an intrusive coloured fringe of chromatic aberration) it's okay for wide field, low magnification views of star clusters ( the double cluster near Cassiopeia, or the Pleiades for instance ) or solar viewing with a suitable front filter . As you quote your price limit in euros, I assume you are not in the UK , so pointing you to the second hand listings on here is probably no use , and I've no clue of the secondhand market outside this country. You are not going to get a new refractor and suitably sturdy mount which would be a significant improvement over your Celestron in your price range, If you were happy to start off by keeping your celestron for wide field use , and buying a new 'scope which is particularly good for higer magnification views of the Moon & planets, this 102mm maksutov would be within your budget https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/sky-watcher-skymax-102s-az-pronto.html , and it might be possible to put your celestron on the pronto mount to make it less shaky that I suspect the included tripod is too. There's a lot of helpful information on the 102 mak here http://www.waloszek.de/astro_sw_mak102_e.php The mak. isn't an ideal all round telescope though, and if you want something with a bigger aperture more able to gather light and show you deep sky objects, then a 150mm dobsonian would be a decent choice. I can say from personal experience that the 150mm heritage dob is a worthwhile telescope , portable, easily stored , good mirrors but with some compromises which make it less than perfect, but a huge bargain , and within your budget, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/sky-watcher-heritage-150p-flextube-dobsonian-telescope.html A solid tube dob might be a better choice if you have storage space, don't need to carry it far , and can transport it easily to any locations you want to use it from, here's one, there are many similar from Bresser, skywatcher and other brands, but unlike the others , these are in stock at the moment https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-6-f8-dobsonian.html Heather

You are Albert Einstein and I claim my £5 ! 🙂

In that case, as long as it doesn't offend his woodworker sensibilities too much, you might think about pre-made metal legs for your table, I used these , the 25mm ones , quite short, but I wasn't sure how strong they would be or how tall the table should be. On reflection, I probably could have used the 30cm ones just as well. The set of four 25mm ones is under £10, but the left over leg does look lonely in the corner of the shed 🙂 ) The legs have a fixed plate at the top which you just use 4 screws to attach to the table top. The legs have a threaded hole in the plastic feet so you can add levelling feet if you want, but it's no problem for me even on my tussocky 'lawn' , because I went with just 3 legs on the table , if you use 4 legs you'd certainly need the ability to adjust them though. I glue gunned some closed cell foam discs over the holes to stop damp creeping in and rusting the legs from the inside. Heather

Yep, that's the one I was thinking of ... if your joinery whizz dad can turn out something like that, please add me to his waiting list! 🙂 Heather

If I was making my triangular, 3 legged heritage dob table all over again (and I'm not !) , I'd make it a little bigger than I did, so it could be turned upside down and the 'scope could stand within the upturned legs, which would make for neat packing , give some protection to the 'scope and reduce the chances of losing a leg ! Alternatively, do a search in the diy section on here for something like 'heritage case' I recall a while ago seeing a really nice bespoke wooden case someone had made which stored the heritage then became a neat stand for it Heather

A necessity ? No. An improvement ? Probably, for most conditions. Stopping as much stray light as possible from bouncing around and degrading your view is a good thing, and worth a few £s on some foam or similar. I bought a 100cm square of 3mm thick black closed cell foam for £11 from here https://www.efoam.co.uk/closed-cell-polyethylene-foam.php (actually I got the extra m for £3.71 too) and used it to make dew shields for a couple of 'scopes too. Best glue I found to stick velcro on, or to stick the foam to itself , was hot glue gun stuff. I found self adhesive velcro had a stronger bond between the hook & loop strips than the provided glue gives to the foam it is on after a while. Heather

Have you considered the re useable gel hand warmer option rather than the rice ? Plenty are available like this for example. If you are not familiar with them, a bag of gel has a metal 'clicker' inside, when you click it, the goo crystallises and the change in state gives out energy as heat. You recharge them (more or less infinitely ) by placing them in boiling water until the state reverts to liquid. They are often to be found in the cold months is the 'specials' aisle of Aldi/Lidl for a couple of pounds per pair. I've a small heap of the things, which get used as pocket hand warmers and as hot water bottles when cold weather camping ( I like that the things crystallise and avoid the danger of a water leak making for damp feet as could happen with a waterbottle ) . Last winter when I had the mak out to observe when there was lying snow I anticipated dew would be a problem, so wrapped a handwarmer in some cloth (to insulate the side away from the 'scope) , clicked it, and held it on the mak under the dew shield with some elastic (the underside of the tube, near the front seemed a sensible choice to get convection/conduction/radiation all doing their thing) It worked a treat, and the 'scope's dew free corrector plate outlasted my desire to stay out ! Might be an alternative to try for your case, and be better than sweaty/dusty rice , especially as you can have a few hand warmers ready and when the first cools (which takes quite a while) click another . If they don't work for your case, bet you'll like them for in your coat pockets ! Heather

For an easier job selecting and deleting the sky (I use a very old offline version of phototoshop) and to avoid shadows confusing the situation, I took my photograph on a reasonably bright but very overcast day, so the sky was a fairly uniform grey and I could set the photoshop selection tool to a suitable tolerance (and non -contiguous) so it would do 95% of the work of disposing of the sky for me . I'd dearly love to prune that tree , unfortunately it belongs to the house behind mine . My hope is that, as it is very fast growing , it will be a species which lives fast & dies young ...

I did my stellarium landscape with a very wide angle lens on a DSLR in portrait orientation, it was the only way to get the features in , my garden is very small ! The camera (I think I used the old nikon D40) had a panorama mode which appears to turn a short movie into a panoramic jpeg. Then some photoshoppage to turn it into a suitable format (one which allows transparency) eradicate the sky (making it transparent, so the stars can show through ) , construct the file to set the thing up, and Robert's your mother's brother , just some annoying faff with 'rotatez' or whatever it was called to get north lined up with north . Trouble is, I need to do a new photo now because that accursed tree has grown in the year since I took this one ...

Some Moon filters have a green tinge which I find rather unpleasant , if I was buying again, I'd go for a suitable ND filter which shouldn't introduce any unnatural colour, or the pair of polarisers option (al long as you are using a mirror diagonal, not a prism, someone had mystery problems with a pair of polarisers on here quite recently, turned out they were using a prism).

Yep, Ill second that, the cases are good, but I suspect while some (fareastern) sellers base their prices on what the case costs to make , others look to peli ! I've bought a couple of maxbright cases, one showed up as a suggestion after I got the cheaper festnight version, The maxbright was orange (vs the festnight's black) and for a short time the orange maxbright was £20 , so I had it ! Turned out to be sent all the way from Italy, which is perhaps where maxbright are based. The cases are very similar, small, but capable of taking 9 (or maybe more) eyepieces standing up, and some filters etc.The festnight came with cubed foam, the maxbright with solid (so not as advertised, but I wasn't sending it back !) . I use stiffer closed cell foam anyway , and cut neat circular holes for the eyepieces to stand in with a bit of sharpened metal tube . I do enjoy the amazon reviews which say the item was smaller than expected , when the measurements are clearly given ...

Just Nigel Henbest this time , RIP Heather Couper , a sad loss.

Typical, as I slowly type , and search out bookmarks I knew I had carefully filed somewhere , Zermelo covers much of what I was saying 🙂 Another thing : you don't need to be dazzled by Stellarium , there's a red 'night vision' option you get to by using the eye shaped icon on the tool bar at the bottom. If for some reason your device insists on leaving you with a bright menu or something , you could try one of these : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/starsharp-red-filter-for-laptop-screens.html

A few thoughts, based on using my 127 , which I bought specifically to add higher magnification to complement my existing 150 heritage dob (750mm focal length) and to use for the Moon & planets. Sometimes for these bright targets , a dark adapted eye is actually a bad thing : shine a white light torch , look at the laptop screen or nip in the kitchen for a coffee, look at Jupiter etc again , bingo, you see more detail ! Exactly the opposite of what you want for DSOs, obviously , but if you are concentrating on just a gas giant or the Moon for a session it works. Filters can do a similar job, ND (neutral density) or polarisers which come in pairs and rotate with respect to each other to offer a range of neutral densities. Cheap coloured filters (FLO have a range of decent ones for about £10 each , whole sets of dubious quality ones can be had from the far east via amaz etc for £15 or even less , to try the concept for yourself ) can tease out details too, but opinions on their usefulness vary.I've found them useful . Lots of folk rate the Baader Neodi .... neodymn ... neo something filter, I've never tried it . Can't even spell it ! FLO have a pretty good overview of how filters might help, and what factors may affect planetary observations here : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/flo-guides-colour-filters-to-improve-lunar-and-planetary-visual-observing.html Focus on the 127 mak is not easy to get right, to help with the tiny increments needed I use the clothes peg on the focus knob solution which works really well for me, a fingertip on the end of the peg gives precise control and doesn't cause anything like as much vibration as normal focussing. Other people make larger focuser controls from jar lids . Exit pupil , if you've not yet read it this may help : https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/251506-a-guide-for-choosing-a-sensible-eyepiece-collection-using-the-exit-pupil/ and this https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-equipment/a-pupil-primer/ Trying to make the 127 mak into a widefield 'scope seems to me to be an expensive route to a less than satisfactory solution, for less than the cost of adaptors , 2" diagonals etc you can get an entire wide field 'scope like a 102 frac or a 130 or 150 newt . How about this for £150 ? or this for £210 Heather

Lovely little mobile snail slaughterer 🙂 and only slightly alarmed by you, they lower their bodies to the ground and erect the spines on their heads as a first line of defence. If you want to encourage him (or her, it's hard to tell, pick them up and turn them over and the beggars curl up ...) ensure a reliable supply of water at ground level , I have a few glazed plant pot saucers dotted around the edges of the garden , the blackbirds like them for bathing too . This time of year is crucial , especially for young hogs born this spring , they need to achieve sufficient weight to see them through hibernation, 450g is the absolute minimum for them to survive, 600g is ideal. So to keep your visitor visiting through next year you might want to offer some food . I have a greedy cat , equipped with low cunning , extreme persistence and extra claws, so can't put out (non-fish) hedgehog friendly catfood as whatever I do to keep my feline despot from the hedgehog's dinner simply won't work. However, peanuts (the sort you buy for birds)roughly chopped because hedgies mounths are quite small , with a few raisins mixed in go down well. I put them out at night, if the hedgehog leaves any, the birds tidy up at sunrise. When I fostered a blind hedgehog for the local wildlife hospital (at a time when I was owned by a less resourceful cat) the hedgie used to trundle round the garden in the daytime ( being blind I don't think she bothered to be nocturnal) and once noisily chomped and hoovered up half a chocolate digestive I'd accidentally dropped while sitting reading in the garden one afternoon. I'm not suggesting feeding a hedgehog digestive biscuits , especially not chocolate ones , just illustrating that their tastes are not limited to cat food and garden pests ! Loads of info at the British Hedgehog Preservation Soc. website here https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/ and specific autumn advice here https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/Autumn-Juveniles Heather

Seconds after I messaged you about the heritage 150 which Jeremy just put up for sale ! 🙂 I'm sure you'll love that dob. look forward to reading about your first views with it Heather

When I used some lightweight plossls and my first BST in my heritage 150, the BST threw the balance of the tube out a bit. Rather than adjust the balance constantly as I swapped between eyepiece types I had a big magnet salvaged from a hi fi speaker which lived on the base pivot bolt when not needed, but went on the solid tube to balance when the heavier BST went in the focus tube. Heather

Just over a month since it arrived (and out of the return window) the clouds at last cleared enough last night for me to actually spend some quality time with the Nirvana 16mm I got from FLO in my heritage 150 (f5 , 750mm ) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/ovl-nirvana-es-uwa-82-ultrawide-eyepieces.html Happy to report that there's no need to fret that the return window is shut . I already knew that 16mm to 18mm eps work well for me in that 'scope ( good exit pupil size of around 3mm to 3.4mm which suits my local light pollution and eyes !) and the Nirvana's 82 degree view was a big window into space , and a distinct step up from the BST 15mm . It seemed sharp pretty much to the edges to me , and an altogether nice bit of kit. I'd quite like a 7mm nirvana too ... OK, it's not a 2" ep, but its £90 and .... there's one in stock at FLO ! Miracle ! Heather

If money is tight , had you considered second hand ? For instance this is well within budget (if you are close enough to collect)

Hi DMH , if you've read some threads on here (and as you are aware of the light shroud/focus mods I reckon you have 🙂 ) you might have noticed I'm a very happy owner/user of a 150 heritage. Since that first 'proper' telescope purchase I've added a few more 'scopes to my armoury, but the heritage is still my favourite. The 130 will gather less light, but will still give you good views of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and plenty of Messier objects . If you've not yet read the 'what can I expect to see' thread , do . As for additional eyepieces , I agree with Wulfrun , buy the 'scope, use the stock eyepieces for a while, and think about improving on them when and if you feel they are limiting factors. I wasn't confident I'd see any improvement in my 'scope, from my suburban back garden from buying different eyepieces, but took a punt on a (very cheap by enthusiast standards) 17mm skywatcher plossl (about £25) because if it wasn't better to my eyes than the 25mm or 10mm at least it would be a different magnification ... and it turned out to be a great improvement, and I set off down the slippery slope of upgrades ... I did buy a skywatcher 2x barlow, but find I dislike using it , despite it being in theory an easy way to double my available range of eyepieces. Heather

Have had several clear patches here , my previous chance to make any solar observation whatsoever was a brief cloud gap on August 4th, when there were 3 tiny freckles on our star's face, but today , sunshine casting shadows in the garden, telescope speedily out, and ... wow ! Lots to draw . I've only had the solar filter for three months, this is the busiest view yet . Heather

Once you have established that the collimation is good, if the eyepiece still gives a blurry image , it could maybe have a greasy fingerprint or similar on the exposed top of the lens ? If it is the stock skywatcher 'Super MA' which looks like this : it may be that you are seeing the best it can offer, replacing the skywatcher stock 10mm is probably the most commonly suggested upgrade on here. Speaking of 'seeing' , as scarp15 said, it might be that atmospheric conditions were poor, or maybe local factors (heat rising from buildings for example) affected the seeing. That, along with the planet being quite low in the sky, can make higher magnifications useless . There's an outline of the problem here https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/what-is-astronomical-seeing/ Heather

Make that madam 🙂 , but thanks ! While I'm in cultural reference spotting mode , is your avatar a Randall cartoon ? Heather