mr_belowski

my niece got a cheap 72mm short Celestron refactor on a basic alz-az mount / tripod and she *loves* it. It gives reasonable views but more importantly (for a 6 year old) it looks like a real telescope and she wants to use it and enjoys using it

the aperture change from 114 to 130 won't make a huge difference but don't assume that aperture size is the only difference between a manufacturer's 130mm and 114mm offering it's probably worth taking some time to read around the various guides here and elsewhere to get a feel for the many options. In a light polluted area you'll only really see solar system objects (moon & planets) so take this into consideration

finding stuff is fun and part of the magic, but having a mount that can track makes it much better for sharing - without it you get Saturn all nicely lined up and by the time the kid's settled at the scope and figured out which eye to use it's drifted out of view. A simple tracking mount takes away this urgency and makes it much easier to show things to others. I bought a 90mm Mak-Cass on a Skywatcher Virtuoso tracking mount and my 9 year old *loved* it

half way through a night trying to sleep in your car I'm fairly certain you'll be seriously considering a tent & sleeping bag

I sacrificed some space in the car to fit in my smaller telescope for this years trip to the Llyn peninsular, hoping for dark skies and a couple of clear nights, In the end I think I spotted a fuzzy moon twice in 2 weeks. Could have used the space for something useful. Been a frustrating few weeks

that's sensational

looking forward to seeing your results here, any sneak previews / preliminary findings available?

I did try with a bolt through the middle to add some tension / vertical load to the bearing but it made it a bit sticky. I think it needs some proper friction material

Mine's on a lazy susan (8 inch dob), done by the previous owner, and it doesn't have a clutch or a brake and is a pain. Smooth, but unless I stuff my plastic mobile phone case into the gap it wanders around all over the place. Don't skimp on the brake / clutch

focus it on the moon then leave the focuser alone and point it at Venus - surely that should just work?

wow, that's brill

ah, maybe it's the 18mm, it's languishing in the bottom of a drawer

i got the 16mm and maybe it's a personal thing, but it's only 'ok' for me

Mine's a basic Vixen 30mm NPL. No idea why but it just seems to work better than any others I've tried - it's all a bit subjective and personal

watched exactly the same event after dinner with my 11 year old daughter, Jupiter was a real treat this evening and exceptionally sharp