Spile

And that is the main reason I chose one and recommend Dobsonians when responding to the many, many Facebook posts asking "Is this telescope any good"? An instrument that is used and valued by those starting out as well as experienced hands says a lot about its credibility.

I've been using the Affinity Suite and also their Serif predecessors for many years. They are and always have been fantastic value for money. The support forums are like the SGL - friendly and informative. The suite takes some getting used to as they do things differently from the like of the Adobe applications so I find it helps to "unlearn" habits sometimes. They can be buggy at times (crashing, slow etc) and there are some omissions such as PDF passthrough (coming in v1.9) but they are getting better and better and overall I really like and use all three . As well as the official tutorials I can recommend those created by Olivio Sarikas https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCKx8mAHiFus-XYQLy_WnaA and Affinity Revolution https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6xPJ4dx82vSjysPUyjlCsw

As well as an antidote to stress caused by the pandemic, this is a fantastic opportunity for young and old alike to go outside, look up and learn valuable life skills . Surely slightly more preferable to see shortages of Dobsonians than toilet rolls and pasta?

I've been checking this thread and there are lots of broken links. I suspect many beginners will give up before trying to find a working link. Can I suggest a sticky post (not links which go out of date) made up of the combined expertise of this forum at the top of this thread?

Just checking your option of https://garyseronik.com/a-beginners-guide-to-collimation/ which is the (no laser, no cheshire) method I have been following? The same method -

Strange. I found that the free version does everything I want. What features are you looking for? I have also impressed the Windows version. This is quite an amazing and powerful application and open source at that! Amazed.

Hi Steve In terms of choosing equipment, what I do is scour this forum for comments and also the Cloudy Nights forum and look for patterns. A bit like looking for constellations really. You will see certain recommendations keep coming up time and time again. I check out any negative comments but I am not afraid to purchase equipment on the basis of an occasional negative comment. Using this method, I identified a telescope (Skywatcher 200P) and zoom eyepiece (Baader Hyperion Zoom IV and Barlow) and I am delighted with both.

https://www.seeedstudio.com/ESP32-Development-board-WT32-SC01-p-4735.html I love the ESP32 module but have never used it for this hobby. I may be now be tempted...

There is a very good offer that has just been posted on here by FLO for a returned 200P. That is what I have and very happy with the quality, size and performance. I added a Baader Hyperion IV Zoom / Barlow which gives me the ability to easily move from 50X and 338X magnification and all points in between.

True but with an EP you might be lucky enough to find M32 or even M110. I know I found one of them last night when looking at the fuzzy centre of M31. Now remind me - which is up and which is right a bit?

I would give it a go and like you I would choose to go floor mount. I cannot see why raising the pivot would be an issue as long as you increase the base accordingly. Why not use the same dimensions as the Skywatcher?

Your comments ring true for me. M42/M43 last night was the best I have seen it and the live monochrome view was very atmospheric. None of the colour images I have seen seem to capture the ghostly wisp that rises up from the centre, loops anti-clockwise and then with a flourish disappears. I was captivated. I will now identify and learn the names of the component parts. Similarly for some silly reason (start at 1?) I have also set the challenge to "get" M1 and is a right awkward devil for me too. I suppose it helps hone my my star hopping skills (I still find the up/down/left/right bit a challenge) but it would help if the patterns I see in my eyepiece actually matched what the maps say should be there. More time practicing on Stellarium I guess. I just worry that I am getting too intimate with Tianguan. This is my plan...

Does Charles Messier post on on this forum? I would like to ask him why on earth he started his ruddy list with one of the most difficult objects to see? I've just wasted an evening trying to tick off the first one. Please start again Charles but do it properly and make something like the Andromeda Galaxy M1, Orion M2 and so on. It's not as if the prizes on offer, when you finally tick them all off, are up to much. Excuses si vous ne parlez pas anglais

Has anyone done a comparison of images from these low cost cameras with a reasonable smart-phone with adapter/mount?

Sorry to dig up this old thread but I am drawing radius circles over my maps (I need to get out more) and want to do the same for my Sky-Watcher 9x50 Finderscope According to the specs at https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/skywatcher-9x50-finderscope.html it has a True Field of View of 5.6" That means if the FL of the EP is 20mm and the apparent FOV is 45° the FL of the Finder must be 162mm? This can be checked agt https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view

I had a lot of fun converting an old but reliable house alarm to a “smart alarm” using a £5 ESP-32 module. I am intrigued by the possibility of using the screen version as an electronic finder scope...

Interesting thread as I came through the same journey as many of you. I was given a "toy" 2" refractor as a child and I do not regret getting it for one bit. It was a delight to see our moon, the Jovian moons and the rings of Saturn. It sparked my interest in the subject and half a century later I have reconnected to the world of telescopes. Toys can also be very useful as anyone who has made a pin-hole camera from a toilet roll with know. I have just looked at Partrick's (no Sir then) 'Atlas of the Universe' from just over 20 years ago and the Dobsonian is referred to once - "unsuitable for lunar and planetary observations". How things change.

Interesting to read your journey since the thread started way back. I have the same make Dobsonian, a 200P. Toiletry bag to hold EPs etc - Tick! Warm socks, Red LED light, Warm boots, hat and gloves - Tick! Two step chair - Tick but only for low objects so may need something height adjustable. I wanted to avoid "upgrades" but have already succumbed... I wanted to see what the 200P was capable of and decided to get a better planetary EP. I eventually decided on a Baader Hyperion IV Zoom and Barlow combination as it hit the sweet spot in terms of focal length range/quality/price - Very happy with that decision. The straight through finder is a pain in the neck (literally for anything high in the sky) so am now reading the reviews of Telrad/Rigel or RACI. Tending to the latter - TBC Looking at making or buying a smart phone mount. Managed to get a few reasonable shots of the moon without one. Not an area I plan to get into in a big way but it would be nice to have a record of what I have seen and to bore my friends with.

I emailed three distributors, all but one had one is stock and that one have since been in touch to say it is now in stock. Best of luck.

I followed Gary Seronik's guide and also this -

After reading reviews, I chose the Baader Hyperion IV Zoom and Barlow combination. It hit the sweet spot in terms of quality, cost and flexibility and I am very pleased with its performance

I like it and came up with a similar idea, using a bit of duck tape and tube...

The expected arrival time was clearly communicated to me by FLO.

To give you an idea, the 200P ordered at the end of October arrived in the last week of December.

Thinking about either that or a telrad...