bosun21

Has anyone looked at the new Stella Lyra binoviewer at FLO? Apparently they never need a barlow! They state that if you can focus the eyepiece, then the binoviewer will focus with no additional Barlow.

I have just bought the Sky Safari plus and it looks to have everything i need from an app. It’s very reasonably priced into the bargain. Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment 👍

Jeez and I thought I was bad having an Android and a iOS Apple

Hopefully it will be better for you. I am in bortle 6 at home and with my 8” Dobsonian it can view at 120x without issue. Your 6” would be affected less than my 8” by seeing conditions. The 10mm that comes with the telescope though?? The less said the better.

10mm eyepiece should be fine in your 6” Dobsonian especially if it’s a half decent eyepiece. If your focal length is 1200mm then that’s only 120x. Have you checked the collimation? This magnification isn’t really high enough for seeing to badly affect the image

It’s the Stellarium plus that I am trialing and I will probably just buy the Sky Safari plus as it’s only £6.49 (I think). Once I’ve tried them both i will be in a better position to determine whether either merits upgrading to the pro version. Thanks

I have just started a 30 days trial of Stellarium and also have the basic Sky Safari. I just want to get it right before I commit to a year’s subscription.

Basically the reviews on the App Store. A lot of them are pretty dismal. I have both Android and iOS.

I am debating which one of the above to buy the pro version of. I hear a great deal of mixed messages regarding both of them. I don’t want to buy a year’s subscription only to find out I made the wrong choice. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I think that you have to get the paid version of Sharpcap to get access to the live view function.

I followed your advice you gave me about the focuser and I’ve fettled it as much as I can. Stripped and cleaned the super sticky grease and fitted a couple of Teflon strips into it. I have also fitted a dielectric diagonal. I’m the same with just grabbing it and popping outside for an hour 😂. It’s a travesty my other scopes are gathering dust. My problem is deciding which grandkid do I give it to without disappointing the other. My other two scopes are full go to so don’t merit me buying another.

Thanks to @banjaxed I have fitted these two magnets as counterweights. After fitting the Starsense unit, my RACI, along with the Rigel Quickfinder and trimmings. These along with say my long focal length ES eyepieces (possible ES 2x tele extender) left the balance way out. Even with the pivot point adjustment set at the limit of travel it was still top heavy. I don’t like to really screw the side locks too tight so these magnets were the answer. I ran several strips of black draught excluder down the bottom half of the tube to protect the paintwork. This also allows very easy movement of the magnets up and down to find good balance. This has given me smooth movement on both axis.

Another small point to consider is that a lot of the cheaper 5x barlows are like milk bottles. Also using it with your 10mm is going to be 325x. This is too much for a 130ml reflector. You would need fantastic seeing with a well collimated telescope to even get close. Take a step back and grasp the basics. Check the collimation of your reflector first. There’s many great guides on the forum. Good luck

Have you tried doing a factory reset on your hand controller? Sometimes this can sort out transient faults.

Just a second Lithium LT as I was fed up with swapping my existing one scope to scope. Great little power packs

Yeah, they will definitely see a blip in their sales graph. I actually looked through the little LT70 the other night and optically it’s not too bad. There’s not a lot of chromatic aberration considering the price. The diagonal went in the bin though and the focuser is plastic but useable. I’m going to give it to one of my grandkids.

Yes it’s inclined at a slight angle to ensure an unobstructed view of the night sky.

I have transferred the starsense unit from the Celestron LT70 that I bought specifically for this purpose. I basically followed @johninderby and the mod that he did.(with a few different details). I even bought a rough and ready phone that works with the Starsense Explorer app to use more or less exclusively for Astro. I’m not a DIY person as a rule so be gentle 😂

Welcome to SGL, it’s a friendly place

Solid advice 👍

Wow 1.4kg! now that is what you call a lump of an eyepiece. I was just about to mention, what you call de-cloaking and I call de-frocking (same outcome). From what I have garnered the axioms are a nice eyepiece, a conclusion I reached due to the fact that they very seldom come up for sale. I now have another few eyepieces to add to my list. Cheers Ian

Thanks Dave, that explains a great deal and basically everything i wanted to know. Appreciated 👍 Ian

Thanks Dave. What puzzles me, is why Celestron changed over from the Axiom to the Luminos. The feedback I’ve heard categorically favors the former 🤔. But then who am I to ask.

Thanks for the heads up. It was just the first time I had come across them and was curious.

Yeah, I bought one a good while ago from 365 astronomy for £35. I’ve since learned that it’s far cheaper going the used route.