Alysha

@Tiny Clanger Thankyou for all your support, it is appreciated. I am not quite ready for my full pay cheque to be going into new camera etc.. yet but it is certainly a future hobby to try. I will give the Loughton list a browse and have a look @vlaiv I will be giving the aperture mask a try this evening. I have ordered the eyepiece you have recommended previously and I am looking forward to giving it a try. Thankyou!

@Tiny Clanger Oh wow! Thankyou for sending that link, that's a huge help

@Tiny ClangerNot at all, the more I am reading from the replies, the more it is making sense to me. I find that on the internet, a lot of people will use the correct terminology without explaining it is to a newbie like me I have no idea what it means. I am so glad I asked about the filters as it was something I was really considering. Thankyou for helping me to decide on the sets, I kept going back and forth and I thought I would wait until I know a bit more than parting with £200 to get eyepieces I wont use. @Cosmic Geoff Oh that is a shame about the filter! I will be using an old DLSR camera and I have a T-ring which fits onto my scope as well as a Tripod so I will be taking it with me next week to try out, I am not holding my expectations too high haha @Franklin Would a 32mm eye piece be better than a 25mm for wide viewing? (I know this probably sounds like a dumb question)

@Cosmic Geoff With the eye pieces I have, I get a really good view of the moon so I am quite happy. I have noticed a bit of Chromatic aberration but it didn't impact my viewing as I was still blown away by it. Thankyou for explaining the filters, have you ever used a narrowband filter? Eventually once I feel comfortable with my understanding of the scope, I want to get into trying some astrophotography but considering how much there is to learn for both subjects I thought it was best to stick to the most important piece of equipment first.

@Tiny Clanger Ok brilliant, thankyou for that. As you can see, I am still learning this site. So I have seen, what is the difference on a Plossls eye piece? I have seen them in a few sets I was looking into but decided against it as I wanted to look into and understand the various pieces first. Do you use filters at all? I have been reading some people say it is essential to get a moon filter and one to reduce light pollution but I am not sure if that is for a more powerful scope.

@Carbon Brush Hi there, thankyou for the advice, my biggest worry was buying something which was not suitable for my scope. I did wonder where people were getting 2nd hand items from without using Ebay and now I know. I have read the eyepieces which come with the scope are very basic and not the best. Is there anything on the eyepiece specification which would indicate to me that it is a good quality piece or should I just keep looking for reviews? @Pixies Thankyou, thats great! I have finally learnt how to reply to people specifically haha

It is still alot cheaper than the £145 diagonal from Celestron I was looking at. That is great thankyou, I will look at that link you have sent and give it a try. At least with Amazon you have the return option.

Haha! I thought since I am using this site so much people should know where I am based. Hello Neighbour! Thankyou for sending those, its a big help. Its amazing, I spent so much time browsing google but its hard to make sense of it. Aly

Hi All, Apologies it is the Startravel 102. Thankyou for all of this information. It is a huge help! I had no idea about an aperture mask so I will certainly try that and thankyou for the suggestions. Could I ask with changing over the diagonal, does anyone have any recommended brands? From what I have seen so far, Celestron seem to be one of the higher prices which I don't mind as long as it is worth it. This is a very new hobby for me and the last thing I want to do is to go and spend thousands of pounds without truly knowing the difference between items. The mount for my scope is the AZ-GTEC mount, I live in an urban area and next week will be the first time that I travel up north to a dark site and take my scope with me so I will be able to find out how it works outside. I do have the stock 10mm and 25mm MA eyepieces which came with the scope. I didn't want to buy another lens without some helpful advise as there are so many options on the market. Also it is the x2 Barlow which I am using. I cant thankyou all enough for your support. Kind regards Aly

Hi all, I am looking for some advise for my skywatcher 102 telescope. From what I have read I understand this is a wide field scope but I was wondering if there are any lenses on the market which would give me a closer look at the planets and stars. I have purchased a Barlow lens which has helped greatly and I have a terrific view of the moon and wide views of the night sky. I can see the bright silhouette of Saturn/ Jupiter but would it be possible to get a closer look with this scope? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciate as I am very new at this. Kind regards Aly

HI There, I honestly, cannot thank you enough for this, it seems to have done the trick. Its a very useful video! Now onto alignment, thankyou again

Hi All, I have been through this site looking for help, I have learnt a lot from the fantastic community on here and I am hoping someone could help me. On my birthday I received a lovely surprise of receiving my first telescope, the Startravel 102 with az-gte mount. The person who bought this was recommended it however I am struggling to get the scope to navigate correctly. I have ensured that I have the longitude/Latitude & Altitude on the SynScan Pro app however when selecting for example Moon, it is not going to the correct location. I chose the moon to help me set this up as its easily visible. Has anyone had the same problem? If so do you have any advise for me? I am a complete novice with this and I am learning as I go but the manual is not alot of help with this. Thankyou in advance!