bosun21

Thanks 👍

I was viewing M42 last Saturday with my 20x60 Pentax binoculars and the view was really nice and much better than I expected. Here’s Chris looking through his Evostar 120 at M42 last week with a 25mm plossl

You should only really think about cleaning the mirrors on a Maksutov if they are really dirty which is difficult to occur due to the sealed design of the optics. If you are intent on cleaning your mirrors then you shouldn’t be using any lens cleaning product whatsoever. Instead you should only use a weak soap solution in water and very gently, using proper untreated cotton balls wipe the mirror surface from centre to edge and repeat with a clean cotton ball each wipe. Once you have wiped the entire surface you should then rinse the mirror with distilled water and allow to dry. I have a box of the Zeiss cleaning swabs and the spray fluid which I use for cleaning my eyepiece barrels but never the lenses. For the lenses I use ROR with a high quality micro fibre cloth like the Calotherm or Baader. Be extra gentle with the secondary mirror.

Nooo! Not more eyepieces 😜

I used the exact same thing as these (4cm length) on the base of my SL Dobsonian. This allows me to easily use the new sack barrow for wheeling the complete telescope around as necessary. Works great.

The image will be upside down as is the norm for an astronomical telescope and would only be the correct orientation if you have a prism diagonal as opposed to a mirror which by the sound of it you have. The black spot you are seeing in the daytime is caused by the central obstruction on the front of your telescope. This will faintly show when using low magnification eyepiece like a 32 mm. Both these things are perfectly normal.

Image shift is a totally different problem to what you are experiencing. Like has already been said I think your problem lies with the focuser rod and will require surgery. PS I have just seen the date of the OP

I will wait for your assessment before making my purchase. I really need to stop buying eyepieces as my collection is growing fast 🤔

Exactly, I bought my 127 Maksutov first, shortly followed by a 200mm Dobsonian. To top it off I added a 120mm refractor.

When I first got my 127 Go to I used a Celestron Omni 32mm for finding my targets. However if you do a few things during the alignment procedure it increases the accuracy of the Go to substantially. 1/ Ensure that your tripod is accurately leveled. 2/ On the first star alignment try and ensure that the last two movements are with the up/right keys. 3/ When selecting your second star choose one to the right and higher than the first and ONLY use the up/right keys again to centre the star.( if you overshoot slightly, allow the earth rotation to bring it back) 4/ If possible use an eyepiece with an illuminated reticle to centre the alignment stars, By doing these steps I can use a 25 or 15mm eyepiece and my targets will be in my FOV

Yeah I’m another one putting the Bat on my list of “ to view”

I have a pair of Pentax 20x60 WP binoculars and a pair of Opticron Oregon 15x70. The Opticrons are excellent value for the money (£99) from FLO. The collimation was and still is spot on, and I find myself using them more than my Pentax

This may sound silly but have you taken both caps off of your diagonal?. It’s just the all white image that’s puzzling 🤔

The focal length of a 150P is only 750mm. Unless it’s the Dobsonian then it’s 1200mm

You must have been using a 2x Barlow with the 6mm eyepiece to achieve the 250x?. As the 6mm eyepiece alone will give you 125x considering that the focal length of the 150P is 750mm

The Bobs knobs that fit the secondary mirror on the Stella Lyra Dobsonian are the 35mm length. They make the collimation check/adjustment before viewing a piece of cake

Some 2” eyepieces require the extension piece to reach focus. This is the reason it’s included and it’s not a big deal to me to simply either use it or pull the 2” EP out 5mm. The plus points on this scope negates this minor niggle in my opinion

Hi Matt 👋, welcome to the lounge. You have made a solid choice for your first telescope. A planisphere is great for showing and learning the constellations

I can sympathize with you in the up/down left/right scenario. I found turning the hand controller upside down helped a great deal with this. I have now conquered this thank goodness 😅

Further to my previous post I had an hour to kill before going out to a function tonight. So all dressed up i looked outside to see my skies being clear, so just had to grab my binoculars. I had forgotten just how much can be seen with binoculars. I was totally surprised just how well I could see M42 and how much nebulosity was visible. I used my Pentax 20x60 which were crystal clear. If I had longer I would have brought out a tripod for even more enjoyment.Binoculars are the ultimate grab and go

Hi Dave, I’m also from Oxford and rekindled my astronomy bug last year. I’m going to embark on a Messier journey myself very soon. I have an 8” Stella Lyra Dobsonian, a 127 Maksutov Go to, and a 120/1000 achromatic refractor with a semi Apo filter for it if needed. I also bought a Lumicon OIII and Astronomik UHC filters. Is there anything else that I need before starting this journey? Thanks

Hi there 👋 A warm welcome to SGL. You will find a treasure trove of information and solid advice here.

I currently have a pair of Opticron Oregon 15x70 and a pair of Pentax WP 20x60 both on tripods however i seem to be using my 120 refractor more often and I’m actually contemplating putting one of them up for sale in the near future

Hi Dustin 👋 a warm welcome to SGL

I bought the BST Starguiders full range apart from the 3.2mm, and was pleased with the performance from them. For the price of them (£49) they are really hard to beat. I also bought the Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepieces in 14mm and 11mm. I would most definitely get a few shorter length EP’s if you plan on any planetary or lunar viewing. On a decent night Mars and Saturn can easily take 200x. If you want to try the 82 degree eyepieces without the cost of the Explore Scientific then there’s always the Nirvanas that are considerably cheaper, yet still good quality and added to my collection. Then there’s always the zoom option which works for a lot of people myself included. Good luck with whichever you decide