NorfolkGazer

What would people say would be a good 'basic' set of filters for starting out. (apologies if this has been asked before, I did try searching)

I'm probably going to be trying a little bit of everything, Lunar, Planetary and Nebula so was thinking a ND0.6 for lunar and either a UHC or OIII for nebula stuff. Are there any other 'essentials' that you would recommend?

The Telrad arrived today, fabulous service from FLO. Mounted on the scope and I have to say even though I haven't been able to align it yet or even get outside, it fits the scope perfectly. (Even if I don't know what scope I've got, it's the 70/900 not the 70/700). 

Can't wait for some clear skies now to properly try it out. 

Again, a massive thank you to everyone for their advice regarding the different options, it is very much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and opinions here. After taking it all on board and reading the reviews/comparisons on the Telrad and Rigel, I've opted for the Telrad and ordered one from FLO. Cheers to everyone for your help.

Having just read through all of the posts on this topic, I'm going to raid the cupboards at work for a spare Peli case, I'm sure there's a 1200 kicking around somewhere. I was wondering how to store EP's and now I know 😂

6 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

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

Now that makes sense. 😀 I’d have a high likelihood of tripping over the dog, so taking it off between sessions is the better idea.

10 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

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

 

Just tried this and it gives a very good idea of how it would sit, cheers for that. My only concern is knowing how clumsy I am I’d clatter it and knock it off the scope.

I might mock-up a cardboard model of each one and stick them on the scope, I think it is purely going to come down to size as I don't think there is much else between them. Again, thanks to everyone for the advice, it really has been a big help.

8 minutes ago, John said:

You might find that the smaller footprint of the Rigel Quikfinder looks more at home on the thin tube of the Skylux EL which I recall is a long 70mm aperture refractor ?

It fits in a similar way to the Telrad - a base that you stick to the scope tube and the finder then clips on and off that. I use one on my 12 inch dobsonian.

Yeah its a 70-700 refractor. I think that they both have great positives, and don't think that either will look out of place. I'm thinking the Rigel will be around the same height as the basic finderscope that is attached to the Skylux currently. I'll have read on both of them, IIRC the Rigel has pulse built in where the Telrad needs a retro fit kit. Cheers for the advice.

Awesome. Thanks for that, I've been looking at the BST eyepieces on FLO so will add the Telrad to the shopping list.

So am I right in thinking that with the Telrad, you stick the mounting base to the scope then the RDF attaches to that base?

Probably a dumb question but just wanted to make sure before I jumped in.

Cheers.

Thanks for the replies.

The foot was a thought when I first looked at it, I may have to modify it to fit the Bresser.

I'll have a look at the Rigel and Telrad's as well. Cheers.

I'm upgrading a couple of bits on my current scope (Bresser Skylux EL) to get the most out of it before I even consider changing scopes. I'm going to swap the stock eyepieces for the BST ones that are recommended on here, but I was after peoples advice/thoughts on replacing the finderscope for and RDS. The one I'm looking at is the Celestron Starpointer Pro and wondered if anyone has any experience of this one? I'm leaning more towards this RDS because of the reticle it gives, rather than just a single red dot that may obscure what I'm trying to look at.

Any advice/thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Good afternoon to all.

Just joined the lounge after lurking for a little while reading some of the posts. I've been into astronomy for quite a while and have bean wanting to expand my knowledge and skills.

I'm using a Bresser Skylux EL scope which my wife bought me for Christmas a couple of years back, swapping out the supplied eye pieces for Skywatcher SP ones.

We're lucky where we live in Norfolk to have minimal light pollution so am blessed with dark skies most of the time, when the cloud allows.

Looking forward to working my way through all the posts on here and expanding my knowledge, hopefully contributing where I can.

ATB,

Tony