PeterStudz

Apologise for the formatting issues. I did a cut and past from my iPad as I found it easier to type from another app. That’s probably where the problem came from!

Hi Gavin, I’m new to all of this having only had a telescope for a couple of months. Well, technically it’s my daughters. So I’m not as qualified as many members here. However spec wise our telescope is very similar to yours. I’m also in Southampton which in my apart of town is around Bortle 7. Still we’ve had some fun and success from the back garden. As far as dark sky’s go this is what I’ve found. The supplied eyepieces aren’t great. For me I had a 25mm, a 10mm and a 2x Barlow. The 25mm is OK but the 10mm poor and the 2x Barlow next to useless. I’ve now replaced all but the 25mm (but that will go soon-ish) and bought additional filters and accessories. The replacement eyepieces have help a lot but I’ve now spent more on these + accessories than the telescope itself. I quickly noticed that parts of the sky are darker than others. For me E-SE is best. But S poor. So if possible I try and look at things when they are E-SE. Also the higher something is in the sky the darker the sky. The horizon is poor. A star chart is helpful for this. Generally some days of the week are darker than others. For me the weekends tend to be better. Time of night too. For me after mid-night it’s darker. That’s if you are willing and able to stay up late. Something known as “seeing” plays a big part however dark your sky’s are. I’ve found that the best seeing is often on still windless nights. But I’m sure that other atmospherics also play a part. If the stars are twinkling like mad you can be sure that seeing will be poor. Be comfortable when observing. I will see more when I’m relaxed. I find sitting in a chair (I’m getting old) is better. It also means that the telescope is at the same height for me and my daughter. My daughter stands and I sit! And wrap up warm. Allow time for your eyes to adapt to the dark. I’ll sit in the chair with a coffee (OK more often a beer) and by the time I’ve finished my drink my eyes are far more adapted. During this time I can scan the sky. It’s amazing what you start to see, things that you thought weren’t there. Purchase a red light/torch. You’ll need some assistance finding your way around your gear and as soon as you turn on a normal white light your night vision is gone. I’ve got a small red keyring type red light and a red head torch. Hope that helps and above all have fun. So far the real issue for me has been cloudy sky’s rather that light pollution. This winter has been far too cloudy!

Thanks! I think you might be correct about the phone mount. I’ve now got a cheap phone mount but it’s tricky to get it aligned so that it’s looking straight down the eyepiece. And even when you do it’s not very stable and if not extremely careful can be knocked out of place. But only had it for a few days so haven’t used it proper. Haveing a look at the Celestron NeXYZ now.

I’m new here and my first post. My 9 yr old daughter is astronomy mad and wanted a telescope for Christmas. But because of the shortage I couldn’t get what we wanted. Ended up with a Skywatcher skyhawk 1145p. Really wanted something with a little bigger primary mirror and simpler to use. Still, we were lucky to get that and at a reasonable price! Started off looking at the moon but have only had 4 clear nights since Christmas. And one of those was working out how to polar align and getting use to everything. This is our first picture of anything in the nights sky. My iPhone 12 was literally gaffer taped to the eyepiece. The stock 10mm. Just pressed the shutter for (I think) a 5 second exposure. All I could do without too much star trailing. Then a little noddy “processing” in Camera+ in order to reduce the light pollution. We are in a city, Southampton, England, so it’s no exactly ideal. Still, when my daughter saw the result she was literally jumping up and down. I known it’s far from perfect but still pleased for a first attempt. Nice as it’s something we can both do. I hope that she won’t get bored too quickly. The biggest issue at the moment is the lack of clear sky. We now have a phone mount, a couple of better eyepieces and a cheap motor drive. Much to learn!