bosun21

For that sort of money it's a good idea. I would definitely stay at the f5 or higher for ease of learning collimation. Even when I went down to f4.7 with my 250mm go to dobsonian I definitely noticed it was more difficult and finicky to set collimation on as opposed to my previous 12" f5. Good luck.

Lovely image Peter. I hope to get out tonight to image Saturn if the clouds stay away.

I use my two pairs of 8x40 > 8° binoculars along with my 80ED refractor with wide field eyepieces. Both compensate each other nicely for wide field views. I'm trying to decide which pair of 8x40's to keep and which one to move on.

If you spot Jupiter with your naked eye simply keep your eyes locked on it and slowly raise the binoculars up to your eyes without moving your head. This always places my desired target in the field of view of the binocular.

Or a Moonlite which I have on my 120ED.

Baader Steeltrack 👍.

Fantastic image. It just shows what is achievable from UK skies.

Congratulations to all the winners. Fabulous images.

No, the reset point would be perfect collimation. I would just perform a star test to set the collimation at high magnification on a perfectly centred star.

Yes the latest Zenithstars are indeed FPL53. I bought an older Zenithstar II (blue model) which is FPL51. It's definitely inferior and will be leaving me after only 2 weeks to be replaced with a 80ED with FPL53. It's a pity as it's a beautiful telescope and finished to a high degree.

I have just obtained a Zenithstar 80mm and I am not happy with it for visual. I am going to back to a Skywatcher 80ED as they are great visual scopes. The Zenithstar is FPL51 whereas the older 80ED is FPL53 and the new ones are a FPL53 equivalent. The Zenithstar is a good looking telescope though.

I'm following this thread with interest. I have just obtained a Vixen Porta myself and the only thing I have done was to clean and regrease the azimuth bearing which is now much smoother. It's functioning just fine so I will be leaving it as is. I will still be following your thread to its conclusion though.

Do you intend to use the C8 for imaging deep sky or for visual observing and maybe the planets and moon?

If you want to image with a C8 I wouldn't buy an EQ35. I would want something like an AVX or HEQ5. For visual only the EQ35 would get you by. I wasted money in the past by under mounting my scopes only to find out the hard way (expensive) that it's a false economy. Good luck and welcome to SGL.

Looks like a DIY scope to me. The base and the tube covering with what looks like wrinkles leads me down this road. Probably an older tube from another scope and fitted to a base with the addition of altitude bearings. Then again I could be completely wrong.

Now marked in my calendar with email and phone notifications set. I only hope that the astro gods are in a benevolent mood then. Hoping to capture a series of images and maybe an animation 🤞.

Great first attempt. I only do a bit of EAA so I'll leave the advice to others. Well done.

Very nice Kostas. Decent seeing is a godsend. I definitely prefer the colour image although the others have their benefits. I am just waiting for Saturn to appear from behind the neighbours tree at a respectable hour and I will have another go or three.

Finally got myself a grab and go setup. Delivered today a new (to me) small refractor and lightweight alt/az mount. A Williams Optics Zenithstar II ED80mm and a Vixen Porta mount. It also came with a WO 2" dielectric diagonal and RDF. This is what I needed for those breaks in the cloud.

What telescope or camera lens?, What length of exposure? What format was the capture ie RAW? Were you focused? The astrophotography members are helpful but will need more information and details than you provided.

Yes the EQ6R pro is definitely a heavy mount. I recently bought a AZ-EQ6 which is very similar to the EQ6R pro. I have to set up/break down for each session and with the additional pier extension fitted to accommodate my 120ED refractor, it definitely provides a work out for me. I had the HEQ5 before this which had the Rowan belt mod fitted. The belt mod helps with backlash as well as being quieter. If I were you i would consider this mod as it's easy to fit and considerably cheaper than a new EQ6R Pro.

Lovely Peter. It's quite amazing what can be captured using a phone nowadays.

There's an existing thread on it in the eyepiece section.

You have landed yourself a bargain there. Your AVX will be great paired with the 6" SCT. If imaging is the route you are taking then you will likely need a 0.63x reducer. Good luck on your journey.

An SCT with a .63x reducer takes the scope down to F6.3 while still having a decent focal length for galaxies.