bosun21

The reflector that he is talking about is a bird Jones for which you have to strip the focuser down to remove the lens that is doubling the focal length of the scope. Best avoiding this style of telescope in my opinion. A standard reflector is another matter, and the big scary word “collimation” should not put you off. I am also recommending a pair of astro binoculars and a tripod or monopod. A pair of say 15x70 would show you a multitude of targets to observe. Good luck.

Before you start observing you must polar align your mount with Polaris the North Star. I recommend that you look up polar alignment on YouTube and watch a few videos. Once done everything in the sky will be rotating around the axis of your mount. The motors are set to run at the speed required to match the rotation of the sky.

Another postal delivery from FLO. A Skywatcher electric focus kit and a 4Tronix focus controller.

Poor(tight) eye relief means that you have to place your eye really close to the eyepiece in order to see the full field of view.

The 9mm is one of my favorites in the Morpheus range. Another great one is the 17.5mm which came out well after all the others and apparently took several years to perfect.(which they did)

I thought that i may as well jump on the Sir Patrick Moore bandwagon, and a Synscan WiFi dongle. Both delivered today by my friendly postman.

I bought an iPhone SE for myself for just that reason. It’s got all the gizmos and fits in my jacket pocket. It’s the newest version and works with my starsense despite being loose in the clamping mechanism. I decided to just buy a large screen Android for my starsense (Blackview BV9900 pro). This works a treat.

You should invest in a Baader semi apo filter. This fantastic addition will remove the majority of chromatic aberration without giving your images a yellow hue. I have a 2” semi apo filter more or less permanently placed in my 2” dielectric diagonal. I tend to forget all about it in my Skywatcher Evostar 120. Another fantastic filter for the elimination of chromatic aberration is the Baader contrast booster.

That is strange and it would be good to find out how.🤔

The Starsense app has nothing to do with phones operating system. It’s simply using the phones accelerometer and magnetometer etc, therefore updates will have no affect on it

Mine is supposed to be arriving today as well (before 8pm) but I won’t be holding my breath.

LT70 is the smallest I could find to buy in order to cannibalize the starsense unit from.

Coincidence?? I have just placed an order for a Skywatcher electric focuser and also the 4Tronix FocusRF. I didn’t like the look of the control pad provided with the focuser as only two speeds didn’t seem to offer the accuracy i wanted. After placing my order I came across this thread which confirms that I made the correct decision.

These are soft silicone and pliable so should be okay. I’ll pop one in the freezer for a bit and see if it becomes brittle.🤔

Postman bought me two gifts today. A new 2” Hotech laser collimator and a bahtinov mask

Just a new Cheshire and 2”-1.25” self centering adapter

I give up with the weights online as your 6.7mm is said to be 280g on the FLO website. @Louis D was correct in that the online weights can be well off.

I have most of the Explore Scientific range apart from the 24mm that’s why I was looking at them both. I’ll check the weights and dimensions on the other sizes (apart from the 6.7mm) which you have already done. It’s just that 160g isn’t just a little.

Once you have mastered the slow motion cables then it’s manageable.

Hi Dave Myself along with others bought this one from Amazon. It’s very well made and solidly built. Your binoculars have their own adapter fitted and will simply screw on to the fitting on all photographic tripods Amazon Basics 177-cm Pistol Grip Tripod with Bag https://amzn.eu/d/cMUshMD

Yes I realize that the clones can come in many guises, although in this case it appears to have copied the shape and form of the eyepiece itself. I will wait to see if any of our members with more insight in this matter contribute. Thanks

I don’t think you should give up on your 127 go to just yet. Have you mounted the telescope to the left of the fork?. Are you leveling the mount before you start?. Have you set the tracking speed to sidereal?. When looking through the eyepiece have you reduced the speed to 2-4 depending how magnified you are. I take it you aren’t going through the alignment process as if you did the tracking would be bang on (for visual). I have a 127 Maksutov go to and a 8” dobsonian with starsense fitted plus a 120mm refractor on an EQ5 pro go to mount. Whilst I enjoy star hopping my way to a target sometimes, I also enjoy accurate tracking once I have found it.

I read that the Opticstar 82 degree eyepieces are a straight rebrand for the equivalent Explore Scientific. However I was checking the specs and saw that for the 24mm eyepiece there was a weight difference of 160g as well as different dimensions for the eyepiece itself. Why the large differences?

The heavier gauge that the wire is the less the losses incurred.

Hi Claus 👋, welcome to the lounge