Tiny Clanger

Zen practitioners (other philosophies involving patient waiting are available ) Heather

Relieved that you put "kiss of life" in quotes , don't want anyone taking it literally .... Heather

If you have the money to buy good quality (and it is hideously expensive) base layers of merino wool are fabulously warm. The good stuff is not at all itchy . I have one merino t shirt, it is reserved for really cold weather , so is still in the drawer so far this winter ... Heather

Hi Steve, and welcome. Your budget will get you a decent telescope for visual use, but I think you are going to need to rein in your expectations a bit ! For instance : the best 'scope in your budget for DSOs will not also be an ideal one for planets. A mount and tripod suitable for astro photo use will not be portable in a rucsac , and may even be a pain to find space for in the motorhome ( and that's just the mount and tripod, without considering the actual telescope on top ... ) AZ (alt az) mounts are not the best for astro photography, those serious about the topic go for EQ mounts. Good telescopes have large apertures , gathering more light than smaller apertures, Large aperture means large diameter tube , and either a heavy large diameter mirror, or heavy, large diameter, eye wateringly expensive lenses. Either way , bigger aperture = bigger 'scope= less portable . The good news is, most telescopes and mounts come with a standard fitting ( often referred to as a synta or vixen dovetail ) and a similar general (but not universal) standardization makes most mounts fit on any suitably strong tripod with a standard photo thread. This means that, rather than thinking of buying a whole set up in a package, you can select what you want from a vast range of telescopes, mounts and tripods, and when you want to upgrade, if you've chosen wisely, you should be able to upgrade just those components which need improving on. The bad news is, that increases your choices enormously ! I'm not trying to put you off, honest , I own a mak127 on a simple az5 atop a heavy photo tripod and I love it for planets and the Moon, but for DSOs it's easily outdone by my heritage 150 dobsonian, and I'd never think of trying to carry either of them in a rucsac (and I have 35l, 45l and 65l 'sacs all with padded hip belts and internal frames ) it's too heavy, too awkward and too delicate. Personally , if I wanted a compact , relatively cheap, relatively light, rucsac portable observing set up I'd probably go for two tools for two different jobs : for wide field DSOs binoculars, and for narrow field of view for the Moon and planets, one of the smaller maks (102 0r 90) on a photo tripod (no mount, I believe both have threaded holes for tripod screws) . If you already have a DSLR camera you might be able to squeeze one of these into your budget https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-star-adventurer-mini-sam-wifi-astro-imaging-mount-bundle.html which would give you a portable photo option and could be used with the tripod. If possible though, I'd reserve at least £100 of your budget for eyepieces and alternative finders, but not buy them until you have used your telescope for a while and really feel the need for them. Heather

Saturday night dressing up to go out never used to be like this !😀 My list was : thermal base layer (Rohan warm T) Rohan thermocore shirt ( as warm as a thin fleece), thin fleece (a zip neck one with a high collar) merino wool socks, Craghopper lined winter trousers , the old heavy vibram soled leather boots I don't use for hiking any more now I have fabric/goretex lightweight alternatives, alltopped off with an Alpkit down jacket, fleece hat and fleece shooter's mitts. I had a down gilet handy in case I needed it, but didn't, I was nice and warm for nearly two hours despite the grass getting crunchy under my feet ... Heather

(engage sarcasm) But ... for $52 p.a. you can let everyone know you are an actual Amateur Affiliate of the AAS ! And you get a 'free' calendar ! (disengage sarcasm) Call me cynical ( I prefer 'realist' ) but that bit about the owners of 'Sky & Telescope' going bust and them buying it out ... could that be a clue to why a new revenue stream needs tapping ? Heather

Have you tried gel hand warmers ? Sealed plastic pouches of an inoffensive gel which has a little metal clicker disk inside . You click the disk, it starts off an exothermic chain reaction of crystallization. Gives out heat for around an hour if in a pocket, also excellent as an unlikely to leak alternative to a hot water bottle in a sleeping bag. You just recharge the pack by boiling for a few minutes in a pan of water, indefinite number of re-uses, and they store in gel form so can be ready for action any time. I have about ten of them, buy a few whenever they come up as 'specials' in Lidl or Aldi . I park the crystallized used ones on the kitchen window sill until I've only a couple of 'charged' ones left, then a big pan of water goes on the hob to boil 'em up. I even used one a few nights ago held on my mak with an elastic strap as a peasant's dew heater ...it did the job really well ! Here's an amaz. link for the kind of thing, I've no experience of this particular brand, there are many online options https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Reusable-Hand-Warmer-Heat/dp/B07JP97BCZ/ref=sr_1_17?_encoding=UTF8&dchild=1&keywords=gel%2Bhand%2Bwarmers&qid=1610294683&sr=8-17&th=1&psc=1 Heather

Clear outside forecast a cloudless two hours around midnight , so I was prepared, but the clear patch drifted in around an hour earlier , so I missed some of it. Still, nearly two hours of clear skies and decent seeing ... felt like a rare treat ! Mind you, I squandered some of those precious minutes because I hadn't realised how much I'd got used to the mak on an alt/az which has been what I've used for the last two months while the planets have been well placed ... I decided I should give the dob an outing tonight, and I kept nudging it the wrong way , doh ! Heather

Mansfield is , what, 15 miles from Nottingham Airport ? Please read up on UK law about lasers, even accidentally pointing them near a 'plane can get you in trouble. Our laws are a lot stricter than those in the USA, I seem to recall some new legislation was enacted a few years back with harsher penalties after pilots reported a lot of problems.

On the cloudynights mega thread for the 130 heritage dob (they call it the OneSky Newtonian as that is how it is badged in the USA) several folk have theirs on an IKEA 3 legged stool which is apparently just the right size , the name of the stool is KYRRE . Only cost about £10 last time I looked, cheap enough to not feel bad if you drill holes in it for the dob base feet , or some fixing bolts . Heather

Oops, slightly belated post from January 5th, I forgot that I took a pic of the new EP bought with xmas money before taking the tree down !

Yes, I believe husbands have been known to say such things ...

UK folk (and those happy to order from outside the UK too ) would do well to keep an eye on the FLO clearance offers section here , where links to various items returned as unsuitable have small reductions but proper guarantees. From today's crop,it looks as if the not-quite-right-xmas-gift returns have started to roll in, along with the 'I had no idea that thing was so big !' regret purchases ...

When and if he replies to that, I think we will hear that Messier objects to what you say ... 😀 Heather

well, look what just popped up in the buy/sell section ! https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/369689-opticron-10-x-50-high-resolution-binoculars/?tab=comments#comment-4015840

And wulfrun just beat me to the suggestion of the excellent binocularsky site

There's a whole sub forum on here about binoculars: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/133-discussions-binoculars/

I agree about the BSTs being a great step up, but they are £47 each from FLO plus P&P each now ( about a fiver cheaper from Alan at 'The Sky's the Limit here ). The FLO offer banner is still there " BST StarGuider Eyepieces & Barlows Special Bundle Prices, Buy 2 or more to save 10%, 4 or more 15% and 7 or more 20%! " Naturally all are out of stock at the moment (Alan has a some of the less popular sizes listed as in stock, don't believe the 12mm is there though,i t isn't , the page is not updating properly.) The usual suggested rule of thumb is to think of 2x the aperture of a 'scope as the maximum magnification it can manage, so for you 2x130mm = 260x. I looked up the celestron you have, and it has a focal length of 550m. To find the magnification an eyepiece gives with a specific telescope, you divide the focal length (550) by the mm of the eyepiece . So your stock 10mm gives you 550 divided by 10 = 55x So , in theory you might go to a 3mm EP, giving you 183x magnification, but you have found out for yourself that pushing the magnification so much with zoom + barlow is just too much , the seeing conditions and the telescope both combining to give unsatisfactory views. Most of the time, conditions need a more modest magnification, you have the zoom for occasions when 7mm (or 3,5 with the barlow ) are handy, and the 25mm stock EP is not bad , try barlowing that to give you 12.5mm I'd see if that works satisfactorily before splashing the cash ! My heritage 150 has a similar sort of focal length of 750mm, and I've found an 8mm (( x94 for me ) very good in it for planets & the Moon, (it's a BST ) sometimes when conditions were good in the summer I used a 2x Barlow with it and saw some markings on Mars. At the other end of the scale, a 32mm slywatcher super plossl for about £30 has a magnification for the 150 dob of only x23, but it shows big things like the Pleiades in one spectacular view. Heather

I'm no kind of binocular expert , I'm sure someone who is will chip in, especially on the vintage aspect ... I used the binocularsky guidance to inform my purchase, and am very pleased with the ones I bought : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-binoculars/opticron-adventurer-10x50-t-wp-binocular.html which are about £80 now . I use them on top of a monopod to keep them steady. Again the binocularsky site is a good place for information on such supports, as well as a very useful monthly guide for what to point the binoculars at in the night sky when you get them ! Heather

https://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php gives you a few options and some guidance which may help, as will this thread: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/347301-recommend-me-10x50s/

Lovely that it all came together for you, and you've managed to get out with the new 'scope . I'd take that barlow out of the set up and try the zoom without it : if the barlow came with the telescope it's probably not very good . Someone kind gave me a £10 Chinese plastic barlow a while back, it degrades the image from any eyepiece to an almost funny level ! I've not used celestron standard issue 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, but imagine they don't differ much from the skywatcher ones (same sizes) of which most folk say the 25mm is not bad, but the 10mm is less good. Good luck with your viewing , Heather

Hi Daniel, welcome to SGL. and junior too, eight is a lovely age , full of enthusiasm to learn . A lot of review sites that pop up on searches appear to me to have little actual experience of practical use of telescopes, instead they just rehash the manufacturer's blurb and provide a link to amazon or whoever ( the site may get money from such links ...) Many of us on here have recent experience of exactly your sort of situation though , so should be a bit more help. Zermelo has given some good links , and I'd echo what wulfrun says about giving a bit more detail so our contributions can be better suited to your position. In the £350 price band you will be making a decision between most of your money going on a good telescope , with a relatively simple mount to hold it, or a less good telescope with a larger proportion of the total expenditure going on a more complex mount. Personally I like simplicity , and if I was sharing my viewing with an 8 year old (exactly the age I spent most time teaching ) I'd want something robust too, so they could be hands on, otherwise boredom sets in fast. So I'd be buying a dobsonian, but reserving around £50-£100 of my money for a couple of better eyepieces (or one zoom eyepiece) as the ones which come included in telescope packages are not terribly good . Heather

Hooray ! I confess I saw those ragged gaps in cloud on one of last night's' combined sky-check-and-cat-admission/egress back door openings and thought , hmm, can see approx 10 points of light, all twinkling like the clappers ... nah , shan't schlep the 'scope out . I'm really pleased to hear you made good use of those gaps a mere 80 km or so away to the west. Tonight looks like it might turn out clear ( I use the clear outside forecast but also the BBC online weather forecast which includes an icon for cloud/partial cloud/clear , and it is all crescent moons for round here tonight, 7pm to midnight ... we shall see , or possibly we shall see nowt ... ) Getting a window on the Pleiades was great luck, they are a stunning thing to see in a small 'scope , if they are around I always have a look every session, the 'wow' factor endures. Fingers crossed for a longer session for you soon ! Heather

Nice report, Anyone who is not giddy and overexcited at the telescopic views of the Moon and the Pleiades is a fool ! Mars appeared much bigger when it was closer to us, bide your time, you'll get a good view one day (ok, one night ) Heather

Hi Craig welcome to the forum, I second the 'don't buy extras yet' opinions , you really won't know what needs upgrading/ replacing/adding until you've spent some time with your 'scope. I don't know about the 200p, but can tell you my skywatcher 150 heritage came with a collimation cap included , it is simply a blanking cap with a hole in the centre and some reflective stuff on the inner face. Easy to make for yourself at no added cost ! See if you can get hold of a kodak type 35mm film pot, (black body and a grey cap which overlaps the body) , they are the right size to fit a 1.25" focus tube and could easily be used as a base for a DIY effort , bet there's plenty of how to info online . While you wait, enjoy your planning ... it's what I've been doing for the last fortnight, despite having two perfectly good 'scopes sat in the corner waiting to be used : It's just been too cloudy to use them ! Heather