chrispj

Good find! I can see myself doing most of this to my ST102 when the rain comes round again. Just need to find something similar for the Bresser 102L also...

Won't larger pads spread the weight of the top assembly better? There is a mini-roller assembly in the centre, I'm slightly unsure if it's a benefit or a bit of a gimmick. In general it's all smooth running, just need to reduce the initial stiction, especially with the scope at higher angle. Probably just a very minor change needed.

Ah, fair enough, I might look at larger/ increasing the number of teflon pads then. Movement is smooth once it's going, but after being stationary for any length of time the initial movement jerks just enough to be annoying at a higher power...

Returning to this, we had good clear skies in Exmouth last night and I rounded off a session at half past midnight with viewing of reasonably convincing gray smudges in the appropriate locations for M94, M63 and M51. A good start, and considering I can improve my viewing environment (seating & some sort of observing hood for starters!) as well as investing in shiny wide-field glass to help show open clusters to best effect there is certainly potential for improvement. The black paint on the inside of the tube showed some reflections under the garage lights and from the moon on the first brightly lit night I had it out so I have flocked the tube and also blacked the sides of the secondary which I choose to believe has helped somewhat. Practically, the size of the 10" scope is as large as I would like, it is two easy trips to carry through the house to the garden and any larger would be a squeeze to fit the base through interior doorways. I like to tinker so I am toying with replacing the teflon pads/mini roller assembly azimuth bearing with a large radius lazy susan as it is a little sticky to start moving even after cleaning. The altitude adjustment works very smoothly (though I don't have any very large eyepieces to test it with... Collimation has been straightforward with only minor adjustment of the primary needed after driving back from collecting the scope. In the future as a treat next summer I'm also contemplating sending the mirrors off to Orion Optics for a recoat, if I'm likely to see any visible difference? (having had the mirror cell out for flocking the tube to my eyes the primary does appear in very good condition). Overall I would have to say I'm a happy punter! and also looking forward to autumn when I don't have to stay up so late for decently dark skies (as the kids make sure I'm awake early no matter what...).

OP back again. Thanks to all, this has been fascinating and very informative. I have now dipped my toe in the world of reflectors with a GSO 10" dob, courtesy of @fwm891. So since bringing it home we have of course had 30 knot winds, 100% cloud cover and more or less continuous rain...

Strictly speaking the postman didn't bring it as I picked it up from @fwm891, but I appear to have acquired a small cannon...

Incidentally, this is fascinating reading, thank you all for your contributions! I must look into if there is an astronomy club nearby (I know there is the observatory at Sidmouth but not so much happening there recently for obvious reasons).

It's around 20.8 according to lightpollutionmap.info. If I pop up to the common behind the town I could apparently get to around 21.2.

Thanks all, it will be a big mirror next then! It's reasonably dark where I am (as long as my neighbour's security light isn't triggered) so hopefully I wouldn't be needing to take it anywhere very often. I'll keep an eye on the classifieds for when i get back from my next work trip (otherwise i would probably pounce on the 250p goto @Carbon Brush has up just now).

I bought one last week from FLO. It is a good piece of kit and has made star hopping much easier. The only concern is that it seems prone to dropping out of the shoe on my ST120 at the slightest knock (with the screw cranked as tight as I can) - I need to investigate a friction lining or possibly make a locator dimple for the screw in the bracket to secure it.

I'm sure this question has been asked many times before in many similar forms so I have to apologise in advance! I've recently dived into this past-time and rapidly concluded similar to bikes, surfboards and any other of my hobbies the ideal number of telescopes (& eyepieces) is n+1... My experience to date is with the pair of 4" refractors, which I've been enjoying splitting doubles, looking at the moon, and the more well known and brighter objects I can see from my south facing garden. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Saturn later in the year and the other objects the changing skies will bring my way. But, I'm finding one thing I'd like to see is galaxies and other DSOs, which I've had quite limited success so far (for example I'm reasonably sure I could see M13 but it was barely a smudge). I'm uncertain what the limits of what I should expect to see through the ST102 are, but aperture seems to be king so I presume I'll need to go bigger. But how big? Will a 6" fast refractor improve things significantly, or do I need to put in another garden store and go for a 10" or 12" Dobson? I've shied away from reflectors so far for simplicity sake. The other question is what effect higher quality glass has (I am clueless) - is the main benefit for resolving more detail on planets for example and more aesthetically pleasing images, or is there an element of compensation for aperture with better light transmission?

I would imagine at the number of scopes will increase as I understand more about what I want to look at, but they were a good reasonably economical place to start...

Hypothetically, while I was away my wife was teaching my daughter to spell... Coincidentally it was my parents golden wedding as well.

They are both 102, the Bresser 102/1000, which was in stock at FLO so I pounced, and the Startravel 102/500 which came from @Size9Hex of this parish, the thinking being one for planets and the other to look at the stars.

Yesterday the postman brought the missing piece of my puzzle: So finally I could get out side and look at something! Spent a happy hour lining everything up so both scopes and the finder point in the same direction... Not much to look at other than the moon, which was stunning. Navigating the stars is obviously an art I'll have to learn with the view being flipped and was confusing with one scope having a diagonal and the other a 45° erect-image. Now to start browsing the world of filters and diagonals and eyepieces...

Thank you, I couldn't find that on the site. I'll give the original supplier until the end of the day for a sensible update and if they can't then cancel and talk with astroshop.

Thanks, that's very helpful! There was minimal info with the mount so I couldn't even be sure of the thread size. Anyone know what shipping is like from Europe with extra customs charges/delays, has it improved since the start of the year?

I have a newly acquired Skytee-2 mount, well over specced for the Startravel 102 scope but it was the only alt-az mount I could find in stock anywhere at the moment. I don't have any sort of tripod to go with it. I thought I'd found the matching Skywatcher steel tripod in stock but a week after ordering the seller hasn't managed to post it and can't give me any meaningful update on when they might do so which doesn't inspire confidence. There really doesn't seem to be anything in stock for astronomy tripods anywhere so I'm starting to clutch at straws. I see a couple of video outlets have the lighter weight Berlebach report tripod with 3/8 screw (the photography version similar to the astronomy one on the FLO site but with a slightly lower weight limit). I think the weight limit should be enough for the kit I have. Given the Berlebach uni tripod has about 10 head options for diferent mounts I'm uncertain whether the Report will be compatible with the Skytee-2 mount. Can anyone shed any light whether there's likely to be an issue? Or if anyone has any other option for a suitable tripod that would be very helpful. Thanks!

The postman has been busy for me as this just arrived (courtesy of @Size9Hex). Yesterday the postie brought me a mount and now just waiting for the tripod (these things are like gold-dust to find...). Then I need to go and talk to my neighbour about the security light he installed last week that now bathes our once dark garden in reflected light off the next row of houses behind...

@Waddensky Thanks for posting the meteoblue link, I didn't know there were any sites comparing the models, it will be really useful! For the OP, one that hasn't been mentioned, I find windy.com to be the forecast I go to most, the site (& apps) have some very nice presentation with good information. The meteogram option with the cloud details will probably be of most use here.

Thanks again to everyone for the welcome and advice. I have jumped in with both feet and gone for a 4" refractor from the SGL classifieds (thanks @Size9Hex!) that looks like a good starting point, hopefully a reasonable aperture without being unwieldy. Finding a mount and tripod was much more challenging with not a lot of choice out there but hopefully it will all be with me within the next week and I can start getting to grips with everything. Exciting!

That's an interesting idea I hadn't considered, thanks! Something else to ponder...

Thanks all! Yes, I've been browsing the major shop websites over the last couple of months and given the lack of stock I'd figured 2nd hand was the most likely route. Which was more or less how I then found SGL... And given as a newbie I'd expect to try different kit before settling on what works best for me, pre-loved does make more sense.

Morning all! I've always loved staring up at the skies, especially when I've been in some truly dark places out in the mountains or in the middle of the ocean (I work offshore). More recently after dabbling with and getting very frustrated by a very cheap kids telescope we bought for our youngsters and an old refractor on an incredibly wobbly lightweight camera tripod donated by my wife's uncle I've decided to take the plunge and invest in something a tiny bit better. I'm fortunate to live on the south coast in Exmouth with relatively dark skies, if the bug really bites then Dartmoor is not so far away. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to view, the moon and planets for sure, beyond that there is a whole mystery of nebulae and M objects and DSOs to figure out, which I would love to see and be able to show the kids, though how much is practical without spending thousands on something too bulky to store I don't know yet! I suspect a refractor is preferred as the added hassle of regular collimation is something I can do without (those pesky kids eating up free time!) and probably not an EQ mount as there is the tiny problem our house blocks any view of Polaris... Anyway I look forward to taking part in the forums and drawing on the wealth of knowledge and ideas there are within. Thank you!