Tiny Clanger

I agree with everything dweller25 said, but do be aware of the size and weight of a dob, realistically a big 'scope which is too much of an inconvenience to take outside , pack or transport easily is going to get less use than a smaller one which is convenient to set up. After Christmas FLO ( this site's sponsor) had a few returned dobsonian telescopes for sale at a discount , reason for return ? 'Buyer didn't realise how big it was' ... Heather

I saw it as a joke, especially given the rest of the post , I don't think offence was meant. Heather

I'd repeat the old saying about the chicken and the egg, it it wasn't for the fact that eggs defo came first ...

Whoa ! Total change of track 🙂 ! I'd discounted a dob because you liked the go to/ guided idea, but if you can deal with the size and weight and completely human operated , learn the skies thing, a dob will give you more bang for your buck than anything else . I have a heritage 150 table top dob, and it is great. I prefer my 127 mak for use observing bright stuff like the Moon and planets, but for deep sky viewing I take the dob out.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200618021614/http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/ Beat me to it by seconds ! 🙂 If other pages from that site are what you want, run your cursor over the pretty coloured diagram and watch for the url you want to appear here https://web.archive.org/web/sitemap/http://astro-baby.com/ Heather

OK, cool down not really a worry, and you probably want tracking/go to, and USD 600 ... I've zero experience of goto/tracking mounts , so others may be more helpful with specific suggestions, but I do think a small mak would suit you, they have long focal length so high magnification which would be good for your wish to view planets and the Moon , here's an example of the sort of bundle of mount and 'scope which would be inside your budget : https://www.skywatcherusa.com/collections/skymax-starlux-maksutov-reflectors/products/skymax-102-az-gti

$600 Canadian ? so around GBP 350 , I've no idea if prices over there are similar to those in the UK, but that helps reduce the possibilities. Simply put , and as jargon free as possible , you have choices between reflector telescopes (newtonians ) , an open tube with a mirror at the bottom, refractor telescopes ( lenses in a tube) and maksutov 'scopes ( which have a closed tube with a mirror and a cunning way of doing origami on the light path to make a compact telescope) . The maksutovs (often shortened to maks) , because the tube is closed and there is a substantial glass plate on the front, take a while to cool down., because moving air currents inside the tube as it adjusts from indoor to outdoor temperature spoil the view . My 127 mak needs about 30 minutes . Not too much of a problem if you are car camping I suspect. The other types of 'scope have shorter cool down times, and smaller 'scopes cool faster than bigger ones. Lots of information out there on 'scope types , for instance this https://www.astroshop.eu/advice/telescope/telescope-knowledge/telescope-different-types/c,8685 will give you an idea of the basics. Each 'scope type has advantages and drawbacks, and then there's the eq mount vs alt az mount , unguided vs guided debate. Heather

Welcome ! So many options are available , to narrow it down and get the best advice, putting a hard number on where exactly your wallet bursting point is would be a good idea ! Heather

It wears off when you find how quickly it changes, and leave checking the forecast until a couple of hours before sunset ... and then keep sticking your head out of the back door after sunset just in case things change unexpectedly for the better ... Welcome ! Heather

Welcome. All the information you need is here :

If only the clouds went , I could stop fettling the st80 and use the thing ! 🙂

As the chap on the video says, it is obvious which way round the thicker lens goes , but the front element , not so easy to distinguish once you've been turning it over to clean with the baader magical stuff ... what happens if you foolishly put it in the wrong way round ? Ahem, not telling how I know this, but what you see is a circular halo around any bright point of light (like a streetlamp which is all you can see due to 100% cloud cover) , a solid circle of light like the ones around saint's heads in medieval paintings . Should have borrowed your sharpie arrow strategy ! Fortunately easily sorted, no harm done. 😌

Funnily enough I've been having a PM discussion with someone who purchased as their first 'scope one of these ST80s as that rare beast ... a brand new setup (must have been hiding at the back of a warehouse ) . At first light a few nights ago they saw 'V' shaped stars, and wondering if the lenses were not properly bedded I suggested the partial unscrew & shake a bit while upright as a possible cure, and it worked, proper stars on second light. Phew. The grub screws tightening the internal plastic strip against the focus tube works really well to tune the slop out of the mechanism, I do like simple effective and easily understood solutions like this, it's fun to fiddle with when there is zero chance of actually using the 'scope ! Heather

If I recall correctly, stellarium ocular view might default to 68 degrees field of view ? If your EPs are plossls, set it to 50 degrees which should be closer to the truth ! Just looking with no aim or plan is great, do it for as long as it suits you and enthralls you . When the novelty wears off is when you start being a bit more targeted and scientific, but with a bit of luck the awe and wonder will stay with you. Heather

There is a shortage of telescopes of every size https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock.html

Over the past couple of days, with no chance of any observing , I've acquired a small tin of blackboard paint and a suitable brush, had the st80 apart , and made the inside nice and matt black .While it was in pieces, I had a look at the focus mech. , not the treacly grease reported as often there, perhaps a previous owner sorted that, but while I had it apart it made sense to give it a good clean and a new dab or three of lithium grease before it went back together. The chap in the video didn't mention the focus lock and adjustment strip , which n my model is a black plastic strip , sitting in a channel under the focus lock screw. Not sure if it is supposed to be retained in that channel , but mine fell out when I removed the tube . I'd imagined the lock and adjustment grub screws just pressed on the tube itself, but apparently they push this black plastic strip down on to it, a much better option, less likely to mark the tube. That got cleaned and a smear of grease on the tube-facing side before going back in place too. The blackboard paint is supposed to dry in 2 hours, but I left the 'scope in bits overnight just to be on the safe side . Will all this make a noticeable difference ? No idea, but it did keep me safe from a few hours of online browsing for things to buy, so the £6 for paint and a brush were probably a wise investment Now it is all back together, looking nice , working smoothly , and waiting for a gap in the clouds .... please ..... Heather

Ouch ! Could have been worse though, like the young guy over the road , a brickie by profession, works for his dad's business. He has done a lot of work on the house since he moved in late last year. He recently fixed a wooden fence to the existing 1.5m brick wall which runs parallel to the road to bring it up to a (not strictly legal, but only his own garden he was shading) 2.5m height. In the previous burst of strong wind on Tuesday last week, the timber fence acted as a sail, and brought the whole thing down on the pavement and road, totalling one parked car and damaging two more . Apparently his insurance company are not minded to pay out ...

I've no idea if the 'tache was the fashion in Denmark at the time, or intended as a distraction from the famous metal nose ! Tycho's story would make a fantastic film. Or a setting for a new series of Blackadder (Edmund as his secretary, Baldrick as ... the moose herd ..or the psychic dwarf... )

Not a chance of any stargazing tonight, cloud, high wind and rain , delightful . So as a displacement activity I spent a little time fettling the little ST80. Flocked the dew shield (with FLO self adhesive velour stuff left over after flocking my dob) , blackened the lens edges with a sharpie, and twiddled the focus tube adjusting screws (15 minutes hunting a small enough allen key, about 12 seconds using it to get a nice non wobbly action) . I'd thought I'd flock the inside of the 'scope body too, but with the baffle there needing attention, and various bits of protruding metalwork too, I think paint will be a better option, so that's blackboard paint on the shopping list. Looks like the weather will be hopeless tomorrow too ...maybe I'll clean and re grease the focus rack & pinion then ... I found a tube of lithium grease in the bike tools kit when rummaging for that tiny allen key ... Heather

Welcome, that's a wise approach to take. As Confucius never said ' Person who jumps hastily in to practical astronomy with both feet and credit card may get both burned ...' Heather

Hello and welcome, you have a good setup there, just need something to actually see ....curse those clouds ! With a vast amount of info out there it's hard to say where to start, but maybe working through some of the free OU modules might be worth a try ? https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/free-courses/?filter=date/grid/671/all/all/all/ I know I found a series of good youtube vids on the history of astronomy ages ago, I can't track down the link though . so in the meantime, if you like listening , you could have a trawl through the huge radio 4 archive of Melvyn Bragg's' 'In our time' program , on science and find subjects which interest you https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gyd7j/episodes/downloads?page=1 some of the modern science may be a little out of date (the prog.s date back a decade, and science moves on ...) but the historically focused ones like this one on Kepler are excellent https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085xpzf Heather

I came across this a while ago, it might be of interest https://project-nightflight.net/limiting_mag.pdf

Yes, also I wonder about the static Solar System planet images too ... given the variation in apparent size as they (and we) zap around their orbits, there's a considerable variation . Even in the 8 months I've been observing, the apparent shrinkage of Mars has been striking ! Heather

Perfect ! Heather

Very nice, and the PS inversion adds a certain something too ... Strangely for someone with a background in photography, I feel no urge to attach any of my cameras to my 'scopes, but the attraction of a simple, less than £10 worth of pencils and a bit of paper ... which encourages careful close observation rather than a quick tick against a list ... yes, sketching rather appeals to me ! Heather