LondonNeil

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ez8FY1J Seem to ship to the UK. I have one on the way.

I recently took the family (kids are 8, 6 and 3.5) to the national space centre.. its well worth a trip if you're close enough to Leicester. Book online as they get bcu busy, plus online bodybuilding l bookings get a free upgrade to an annual pass. We enjoyed it so much we have booked to go back at Easter. They also have a planetarium and the kids were fascinated by our trip around the solar system! If you've young kids you'll know who Maddie Moate is. CBeebies 'Maddie space and me' was recorded there.

Thanks, I didn't shan't fret then

So Wednesday tracking showed as dispatching, and 15 minutes ago it arrived! Looks and feels good quality. Also in the box were some svbony glasses. Very very dark indeed, highly mirrored. Eclipse viewers? No paperwork or label and just a freebie it seems.....🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️

Could someone tell me, how much does exit pupil really matter? My limited understanding so far is: 1. Your eye only dilates so far, and less as you age. So maybe 8mm for a child, 6 or maybe 5mm ish for someone like me about 50 2. If the exit pupil of light from the ep is smaller then the image isn't the brightest possible from the scope 3. If the exit pupil is larger than your eye pupil the image isn't brighter, you can't get all the light in your eye 3. Equal pupils is 'just right' 4. Exit pupil size is EP FL/tube FR, so for example my f5 frac with a 10mm EP, the exit pupil is just 2mm. With a 5mm EP it's just 1mm. Okaaaay, so I can see this helps you to understand the sweet spot for your scope and you. If for example, you know you will do alot of viewing of X target, and want Y ish magnification, you can chose the scope f ratio and EP to give you a good match on exit pupil and they sweetspot image should be good for you. You can chose to go all in on the best scope a best EP for that one quality image role. But many of us are going to view a range of targets, using a range of magnifications, so it's a compromise. How much of a compromise is it really? Hmm.....is this question really just 'why is a long FL tube/sloe scope, better for high magnification?' It is isn't it? It's as simple as that... maybe?

Oh dear...... maybe its a peach if you add an extender..... but I suspect from your tone you'll never know! 🤣

What about the stellalyra 2" 42mm for a cheapo option? Anyone tried it?

Seems I'm going to try the hyperflex, the 8e version though, I just grabbed the one Andrew had in the classifieds

Tracking in mine still shows just 'sender dispatching the item' 🙁😩😫 Still.... forecast is still clouds so it shan't matter for a while!

Hour can I bookmark this thread! Excellent! Also got a st120 BTW.... been cloudy since 😒

What does the ota weigh? If it's under 3kg with ep, I've a az3 mount and tripod that could suit and you could have for a few quid. You'd need rings to attach the ota, that's all. However heavier tubes are just too much for the mount and it just sags/slips in altitude... hence why I've upgraded.

Or the Helios hyperflex? same 40⁰-60⁰ fov and 18mm eye relief. Are these 2 budget options flawed, decent for the money or.....an svbony 3-8 like little known gem? Well.... probably not the later or the forum would be awash will l with praise for them, but you know what I mean.

How about the Stellalyra 8-24 lanthanum zoom? Specs seem good a comfy 20mm eye relief and a reasonable 40⁰-60⁰ fov. Any members here used it?

I'm searching for a levelling base, did you get it at a good price?

It seems that the 3-8mm svbony is a star performer but what about at longer FL? What are the best zooms at each price point and what makes therm good? Are they worth buying or do the dissappint next to 2 or 3 fixed eps and a Barlow? I was wondering this anyway but just had an old review article pop up on my phone, it love it 8-24mm celestron. Arī

I could be wrong as I'm newb, but the offset to the side doesn't matter. What matters is getting one axis of the gtix (its vertical axis) absolutely aligned such that it is parallel to the earth's axis. That involves pointing North and tilting over with the wedge to account for attitude (unless you're at the pole). The mount can then rotate about that axis at 360 degrees per day, counter the earth's rotation and keep it and any thing hanging off it (a scope) orientated the same to the sky..... so stars don't drift across the fov... no trails in photos, yay. The offset, the exact position matters not, so long as the direction the axis points and scope points is unchanged. If you think about it over a few hours the whole set up moves thousands of miles through space as the earth rotates but it doesn't matter.... the objects being viewed are so distant the movement through space over hours, or days (you could image over serval nights) doesn't matter. Hey you can even set up one night, image, pack away, travel hundreds of miles across the country, set up again somewhere else and image some more. That still works. You can even stack images taken by different people, different set ups (eg astrobiscuit's bat) .... it still works. The off set matters not, just that everything is parallel, everything is polar aligned. If that's wrong then I don't get this yet haha!

Not got the wedge up and running yet. I have ordered a short dovetail to drill and thread to take m12 studding, ordered that studding, various nuts and large washers and 5x0.5kg weights. All that will make a counterweight. I'm beginning to work out how to polar align but haven't sorted it yet. I'm assuming a compass and eyeball will get me ball park but not close enough. So do I then attach a polar scope to the gtix? Could I park the st120 such that I use that? But there's a problem.... in south London the glow of Central London can obscure the sky to the North such that polaris isn't visible. Not always..... I've yet to learn... perhaps its only when the sky is hazy anyway.... but sometimes its not there. If this is a problem then I'll need to learn how to align based on drift. Oh and I'm also thinking I should get a leveling base like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001687804960.html?spm=a2g0n.shopcart.0.0.131038dalODHT9&mp=1 I assume leveling the wedge is essential and relying on the tripod legs alone a bit awkward. I think the set up would be tripod with levelling base, level roughly with tripod legs and align one leg to North with compass and eyeball. Short extension tube next, then wedge set to 90-local latitude and eyeball aligned to tripod leg/North, use the levelling base to achieve perfect level. If polaris visible use some scope to align (see first question about do I need a polar scope or....) then once aligned and locked, set up ota, counter weight and..... begin. I think!

I may be CEng, MIMechE, but I reckon you can manage scissors and a screwdriver Mark.

My 3yo is space obsessed currently! Which I am very much trying to Foster further. He also adores Maddie Moate on cbeebies, so 'Maddie, space and you ' (think it's still on iplayer) it's great. It was filmed at the national space centre in Leicester and I took the family along at half term. Thoroughly recommend it, my 6 and 8yos also loved it, we will be back at Easter. Book online to avoid disappointment as its very popular, online also gives a free upgrade to an annual pass, so our next visit will be just £4 parking and probably 5x£3 for a planetarium show. My 3yo loves rocket launches so enjoys a lot of YouTube like Marcus House, Scott manley and matt lowne. Bottle rockets and match head rockets are also fun for him.... and me.

I just had a thought @SuburbanMak you went back to the L bracket dovetail so you could precisely align in azimuth..... I think a thin shim such as a piece of coke can or two, between dovetail and scope at one end or other, should give the azimuth adjustment and allow you to get both scopes bang on.... and do away with the ugly-if- not- too- flippy-flappy L bar. I'm going to try that.. it'll save a bit of weight, remove a bit of flap and.... just look so much neater and remove one clamp from the system so that bit less chance of a 'oooops, I forgot to tighten the....nooooo!' Moment.

OK I've ordered. £81.18, I would not expect any vat/import to be due on top under current rules but I may be wrong so I'll have to wait and see.

If the item is under £135, seller is supposed to collect the tax, so there should be no fees at customs.. .I think. I just had it in my basket and with shipping its a few pence over £81 shipped. Tempted

The first to go missing was a girl, the other One went to find-er.

Oops! Unfortunate phone text typo which I just spotted as I checked the reaction notification!

It's got responses as its a useful topic to talk about. The OP not returning isn't that important to this particular disgusting discussion.