Tiny Clanger

I cart the mak, mount and tripod in & out doors as a whole unit, ditto the little heritage dob and its low table, and am very likely to trip over the cat/bump into the door frame/trip over a plant pot in the process (just too lazy to take the kit apart, do extra trips and reassemble in the dark 🙂 ) , so what I do is keep the rigel in the case with my eyepieces. The base of the column has a button you press in to engage/disengage it with the base, it just clicks in or out. Bonus advantage : I don't forget the rigel is on the 'scope I left indoors and have to return for it ! Heather

Excuse me butting in , but I got one of these https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/baader-vixen-style-dovetail-clamp.html which sits nicely on my old hex plate manfrotto 029 and is reassuringly hefty. Heather

A quick easy mock up of a Rigel could be made from the cardboard box some toothpaste tubes come in ... I just had a quick ferret through the bathroom cabinet, the box of a 100g tube of Colgate is about the right cross section, just needs about 40% of the length removing ! Heather

Sounds like you are all set 🙂 , just waiting eagerly for the delivery van now. And, of course, the clear skies .... 🌨️☃️🌨️

Here's my little 127 mak with Rigel and a 6x30 skywatcher RACI in place , not sure if the skylux finderscope is similar in height, but as you can see the SW and Rigel stand roughly the same as each other. Heather

Get your ruler or tape measure out, compare the telrad and rigel dimensions, and see where they would go on your tube .I did that, and it was a big factor in me choosing to go with the rigel. It didn't hurt that the rigel comes with two stick on bases (for different diameter tubes) and as well as having adjustable brightness, it has the ability to pulse on and off at variable speeds. Oh, and it is cheaper . Telrad has a lot of devoted fans , but they do complain that telrads dew up rapidly, something I've yet to see on my rigel (admittedly after only 4 months use through this winter ) Heather

Welcome, Great 'scope and eyepiece choices, you've done your due diligence ! Dust caps or plugs should be on every vulnerable aperture of 'scope and EP, if they do not arrive with the items, complain to the vendor. Vital accessories : red light torch ( cheap options : led bike lights , diy option, bit of red acetate or sweet wrapper over existing torch, expensive options , medium option a headtorch with a red led option ) Nice notebook & pen to keep a written observation diary in , I've only been doing this (semi) seriously for 7months, but it's already interesting to be able to leaf back through my notes and compare what I can see now with my earlier observations. Warm clothing and footwear suitable for standing still outdoors in winter for a couple of hours , gloves especially important, tastes vary, I use the fingerless ones with a flip over mitten part ( sometimes called shooter's mitts) Have a think about some support for your accessories/books/maps etc , a handy garden table which could be shifted , a picnic or camping table or chair you could press into service maybe, it's a lot easier to have a set place for such stuff, saves stumbling round in the dark trying to recall where you left the star map ... My dob is the small heritage one, and in this damp (bit of an understatement, 'damp' 🙂 ) weather I've found a cheap small plastic tarpaulin a vital accessory to spread on the grass and ensure the feet of my scope stand stay dry and clean. Which reminds me, there's an accessory I use every time I put either of my 'scopes out to cool , which is a waterproof cover (in my case repurposed waterproof covers which came with some rucsacs , and which I've never used for the proper purpose. ) Maybe a tough rubble sack would work for your instrument. If the astronomy books you already have do not include 'Turn Left at Orion' , it is an extremely practical text full of diagrams and help to actually get your dob pointing at something interesting, And then you just need clear skies ... 🙂 Heather

The heritage dob needs careful balancing, 'cos the front end is mostly air 🙂 , so the rear of the scope (mirror and solid tube bit) is far heavier than the front. As it is quite long when opened out balance is critical for ease of use. The pronto mount I assume has a similar setup to the az5, so you loosen the clutch to move the 'scope, tighten it, then use the slo mo controls to fine tune and follow? I'm entirely ignorant on the inner workings of these mounts, but wonder if there are screws which can be tightened to adjust how closely the gears mesh ? If so maybe you can adjust things to work a little better without torturing the poor thing with ankle weights 🙂 Most of my worries about the mount under the 'scope being wobbly and pushed a bit far by the diagonal & BSTs were really aimed at the OP , altho' I didn't make that properly clear when I replied to your post . Their travelscope comes on a tripod you can see here : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-21035-Travel-Scope-Telescope/dp/B001TI9Y2M Heather

I was taking balance as having the clutch entirely loose , and letting the 'scope tube find its own level, then sliding the vixen/SW/whatever bar/rail/whatever back & forth until the 'scope (with an ep in , of the most used type) is dead level. The heritage dob alt bearing is just a large knob you tighten, no gears or anything, so it needs the 'scope to be well balanced to move easily , or else when you undo it the tube swings vertically . The knob has a pretty strong action though, so it locks solidly, and as long as it is released gradually it's not hard to find a good point between solidity and ease of movement. I suppose that's the result of the simple hefty dob base design. Yep, wide view, lower mag, big stuff, a 'scope is good for ... what it's good for ! That's why I supplemented the little dob with a mak for the small bright stuff 🙂 I'd genuinely suggest someone wanting to spend under £400 and 'see everything' (as the request usually says) ought to consider 2 scopes, a wide field one (short refractor or 130 newt. on an alt az , or a heritage dob, whatever they fancy) and a 102 mak . for the narrow field views. Heather

I had a discussion with friends at the time which revolved around how amusingly dreadful the film would have been had certain other actors taken the job instead , our favourite selections for film tanking Hollywood ego for comedy effect in the role was a tie between B. Willis and T. Cruise ...

Yep , I suspected wobbles (or possibly wibbles 🙂 ) might be a problem . It's easy to be sucked into the 'bigger the mag, the better' thing, without thinking of the trade offs : wobbles are magnified just as much as the view is, any judders from the mount when moving the 'scope are magnified ditto. Then the increased mag comes with decreased field of view, so if you are looking at something relatively fast moving (The Moon or Mars for instance) it zips across the ep field of view in moments. And it is harder to aim the 'scope accurately , so best start with the stock 25mm and centre your target, then swap EPs and hope the thing's not moved, or you didn't accidentally nudge the 'scope when swapping ... A lot of 'catalogue' and amaz. consumer 'scope adverts emphasize mag. so much that they are almost certain to be a disappointment in use . When Mars was at its closest to us in the summer I found it just too speedy to leave my view for 2x barlowed 8mm bst in my heritage 150 , which has a focal length of 750mm, so that's a mag of x187 . I could see the surface markings far better by using the 8mm alone (94x) simply because the planet was there to concentrate on for longer before I needed to nudge the 'scope along. Might be worth mentioning that the better diagonal is a bit heavier than the standard SW 1.25" stock one which came with my 127 mak too, so if the extra weight of EPs is likely to be a problem with balancing your 'scope, the upgraded diagonal will add to it. No worries for my little mak, as I have it on a mount tripod combo which could in theory carry it 3 times over and is very stable. I'm a fan of investing in a good mount and tripod, less glamorous than the 'scope on top, but vital for easy and effective viewing. With the dob, which has a steel tube, I use a magnet salvaged from a dead hi fi speaker and used it to quickly rebalance the tube when swapping between BSTs and the lighter weight plossls which I still use : the 32mm skywatcher plossl (£30 ish) gives a very similar FOV to the 25mm BST and I sometimes prefer it in the relatively fast dob, while the BST is superior in the slower mak . Heather

Dark Star , the 1952 original version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Silent Running , Contact , and Quatermass were all considered but couldn't be squeezed in to just 10 ... Heather

I had a dilemma with that : I bought the DVD from Sainsburys who threw in a free copy of the paperback . Usually I find if I read the book first , see the film second, the film is almost always a major let down ( honourable exceptions : the Hobbit (Jackson version) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, where the film was different but I still enjoyed it ) So, The Martian ... do I read first, or view first ? I ran out of reading material before I had a clear evening to devote to film watching, so read it first. Certainly the book was more detailed and involving, but Damon did a pretty good job acting the unassuming hero sciencing the whatsit out of his situation, and I found the film fun to watch (especially because I knew how it ended 🙂 ). Heather Heather

When you are under dressed. Not much point in spending £££s on 'scopes etc and not using them because you didn't invest in a down jacket and insulated trousers .For less than the price of a premium eyepiece you could get a basic set of winter kit from somewhere like go outdoors, I love my alpkit down jacket (mens version, because as my dear departed mother once pointed out, I have arms the length of a gibbon's ) https://alpkit.com/products/fantom-mens-down-jacket

Ah, I wondered about suggesting a star diagonal, but wasn't sure if you were happy with the original. I bought the one which comes in at around £70 new ( FLO do 2, one is skywatcher one other brand, they are identical in every respect ) I bought one second hand to upgrade the stock one on my little mak and it is much better made, holds the ep firmly and doesn't feel flimsy or unscrew itself from the 'scope ! I'd consider changing your request to an 8mm bst if you are getting a barlow as well , the 8mm will probably be better most of the time, and with a 2x barlow will give you 4mm. If you get the 5mm BST and barlow it, you will get 2.5mm which I suspect will probably be too great a magnification under most skies for your 'scope. Heather

1) Blade Runner ( The final cut) 2) Blade Runner (any other version of the original film) 3) Alien 4) 2001 5) Forbidden Planet (a classic from 1957 , but it still holds up ) 6) The Martian 7) V for Vendetta 8 ) Serenity ( Firefly spinoff , loved the TV series too ) 9) The Fifth Element (daft but imaginative & fun) 10) Galaxy Quest (even dafter, but highly resonant if you have been around sci fi fandom a bit, and especially if you ever went to a convention ... )

The spec of your scope ( according to Celestron) is Aperture: 70mm Focal Length: 400mm Focal Ratio: f/5.7 , and it comes with 20mm and 10mm eps The generally accepted rule of thumb is to not exceed a magnification greater than double your 'scope aperture in mm, so max of 140x , but a more comfortable and usable mag. will be less than this , maybe 1x or 1.5x the aperture , say 100x To find the mag. with an eyepiece in your 'scope take the 'scope focal length (400mm in this instance) and divide it by the ep designation , so your 10mm ep gives you 40x, and in theory you could go to a 4mm ep to give you 100x I suspect pushing the travelscope further than this will just result in showing up the wobble in the tripod and mount and be disappointing. The budget (ie. around £45 each) eyepieces everyone recommends here are the BST starguiders, and they are good, I have a few, the 8mm is very nice indeed, but they are quite heavy for a small light 'scope and mount .There is a 5mm BST, but I have not used one myself so will leave it to someone who has to comment on it. I've never used a zoom eyepiece either, but I'm sure someone will be along to recommend some soon . Other good items to add to the birthday wish list are a copy of the excellent 'Turn Left at Orion' for £25 ish , or a barlow to double the mag, of any eyepiece you have ( prices from £25 ish to how much !!! https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows.html Heather

I've mentioned before that I inherited a celestron 114 eq jones - bird , the RDF on it failed to line up with any flippin' thing in the widest ep , the words used over and around that thing (for many reasons) are frankly unrepeatable .The RDF had a curved base with holes (not slots, which would at least have allowed some wiggle ) which went on two protruding bolts , so loosen nuts, slide bit of paper under foot, tighten nuts, try to align, fail, undo nuts, fold, add, remove or reposition paper, redo, and repeat until exhausted . I tried to take the mirror out to stick a hole reinforcer on the centre to have a go at collimating the 'scope, undid the screws holding the collar on the side of the tube ... cell did not come off . Turned out the collar was purely decorative (possibly also tube shape reinforcing ?) and held on with .. bolts , the nuts of which were now loose in the ( fortunately pointing mirror-up) tube and fell out. The cell was actually held on to the tube by the collimating bolts themselves. At least it was easy to reattach the collar while the mirror cell was off and I could reach those little bolts inside ...

That is brilliant, thanks for showing it. I might just be moved to drag the horrid eq1 mount from the loft, and the bits of dismantled ikea sofa frame from the shed ... it would be less classy than oak, but free is my favourite price 🙂 Heather

Right-o, here are a few quick snaps of the SW barlow in bits & whole : the only part with an actual lens in it is the bottom black section. The single screw at the top is to make an eyepiece you slide into the barlow to use secure.. Hope this helps ! Heather

OK, so first thing to do is attach the finder to the telescope tube as firmly as possible, presumably there are holes and screws to do it , or possibly some sort of slide in bracket ? Can't see any in your photos, but you are holding the RDF by that bit ! The end with the battery cover goes at the front, the end with the crossed out bin symbol is at the back. Once it is firmly in place, the plastic dial right under the bin symbol should move the red dot up or down, the dial on the side half way along should shift it left/right. You may find it is not possible to line the (bad words) thing up as it is, in which case judiciously adding a bit of folded paper or thin card between the foot of the rdf and the tube of the telescope might help. Heather

That's what I thought , I've taken a few snaps of my barlow to upload , will do it soon !

Yep, my first attempt with ptfe tape on the heritage dob I didn't pull it tight enough, and it got chewed up , second better try has lasted 5 months so far and no sign of any loose tape or focus tube wobble. Also find the extension locks tight when the screws are tightened. I've still not tried mine on the alt az mount though 🙂

Hello Pete and welcome, it's biologically safe here you can take the mask off if you like .... 🙂 The two eyepieces labelled 'super ' 10mm and 25 mm are the standard ones you get with every present day skywatcher telescope package, the 25mm is fine, and should give you decent views , the 10mm is less well thought of , but is better than nothing . Interesting that there are a couple of plossls of the exact same sizes, maybe they were the original ones with the 'scope ? Plossl is a type of lens arrangement rather than a brand, when you get to use the 'scope compare them with the 'super' ones, and see which works best for you. The barlow looks like the skywatcher one too, it can be disassembled into three sections, I have one and I'll take some photos later so you can see if you have all three bits to re unite . It's an OK barlow , 2x if you use it 'whole' , 1.5x if you use just the lens cell part, and threaded at the top to take a 'T' camera adaptor. BTW, in case you didn't know, a barlow is a device which goes in the eyepiece tube of the telescope , you put an eyepiece in the barlow, and what it does is increase the magnification of that eyepiece. So your 10mm and 25mm become a 5mm and a 12.5mm (or with the lens only part at 1.5x, a 6.6mm and a 16.6mm ) Which is nice ... Heather

You said you found the view through the heritage shaky , which is down to the mount , putting a mak on it will magnify the shake and also you know that little stick/jump stiction thing you get when adjusting the az on the dob base unless you are careful ? That will be magnified too. I'd suggest a better strategy would be to buy the mount and tripod first, mount the heritage 150 on it and save for a new scope second ! I'm a fan of hefty mounts, preferably way over rated for the weight you intend to put on them , hence me going for the az5, which is a big lump of aluminium and to reach its potential, needs a better tripod than the one packaged with it. However, your aim of portability on the 'bus means you need something easier and more convenient to schlep around. I have no experience of the tripod/head package you linked to, but a couple of things I've read other folk on here comment are that the aluminum tripods some package deals include are a disappointment, many seek to upgrade asap, so it is a good thing that it comes with the heavier steel tripod. Also people report that running go to heads off AA cells ( that one needs 8 ) can be frustrating, so best factor in a suitable powerbank or pack a lot of backup AAs .