bosun21

The ring is quite small in the WO diagonal and the open aperture is larger than the largest field stop in my WF eyepieces which is the SL 30mm UFF. This of course should be taken into consideration when buying a diagonal and making sure that it can accommodate all your eyepieces.

I have just purchased my second Williams Optics 2" diagonal for a new scope. I have owned several different manufacturers 2" diagonals and still find the Williams Optics to be the best value. The mirror is thicker than most others and is polished to 1/12th wave. The diagonal is also partially made of polished carbon fibre which saves weight and both sides can be removed to allow access to the mirror for cleaning. All in all great value for money.

I think you mean the 30mm Stella Lyra UFF eyepiece as there is no 40mm. This is a great eyepiece with good correction across almost the entire FOV. This to me is important with a wide field eyepiece otherwise the outer area will be suffering from aberrations and not pleasant to view.

A few bits and pieces for my new 150 Maksutov. A WO 2” diagonal, a heated dew shield, a base for my Telrad finder from FLO and an SCT clicklock visual back courtesy of @CotswoldsBloke. Just waiting for my ZWO ADC and first light.

I spotted the troll immediately. Hard to miss that nose!

Have you checked all the settings on your BT router?

The SVbony 3-8mm zoom is a good example demonstrating just how much the gap is closing to the top premium brands. It’s a case of a much larger cost for small incremental gains in performance. To truly enjoy astronomy today it’s no longer necessary to bust your bank account.

I have tried several of the SVbony zooms of which the 7-21x is the best of the bunch. I sold mine recently as the FOV Is too tight for my liking. The images through them were fine though. I do prefer the Baader zoom though (but at a cost).

Bobs knobs for the secondary mirror holder. Stronger springs for the primary mirror cell. Upgrade the supplied eyepieces. Personally I fitted a dew shield on mine. Basically these are tweaks to the scope and not really additional equipment apart from the dew shield. You can use it as it is when delivered and do the things I mentioned at your leisure. I would upgrade the eyepieces pronto though to attain the best views you can.

Both the 8” and 10” dobsonian scopes are a good choice. I personally would get myself the 8” and spend the difference upgrading the eyepieces that are supplied with the scope. The 8” is a considerable size as well and don’t just judge it by photographs. If down the road you decide you want to go bigger then you can buy the 12”.

You’re simply way out of focus and by the way your collimation looks good.

Delivered a few days ago by DPD was a SW 150 pro Maksutov. Going to use this with an ADC for the planets.

Especially if it's on a mountaintop in Chile.

Summer was officially canceled this year and was substituted with clouds and rain.

I just bought myself a new SW 150 Maksutov for the planets. On trying it indoors on a distant house I was focusing it and hey presto the entire house shifted out of my FOV! I know they can sometimes suffer from a little bit of mirror shift but an entire house. I peered in the tube and low and behold there was a bulge and a protruding nut directly in front of the primary mirror. No wonder I had massive mirror shift. I repackaged it received a replacement and the return picked up the next day. I’m pleased to report that the replacement is all in order and tack sharp. Have a look at this photo of the aforementioned bulge.

I have found my Hotech laser to be repeatable when removing and replacing it into my 2” focuser. I have heard that there was a batch of them in which the expanding rubber centering rings weren’t expanding equally around the circumference of the 2” adapter. Fortunately mine is not one of those.

Another thumbs up for a small ED refractor on say a GTi mount. Easily transportable and would also allow you to continue with AP if you so desire. I think it's the sheer effort involved in setting up a larger scope and EQ mount that has caused you to hit a wall.

When I owned a Nexstar 8SE I always used 2 star alignment. I found that it just worked far more frequently and reliably than the others.

Telrad all the way. It's a fantastic finder and a lot of the software incorporates the Telrad reticle into the sky view which is a great help if starhopping. You can even buy a custom dew heater/shield for them.

My Starfield 102 has a friction dew shield which is extremely secure in place. There’s absolutely zero chance of it slipping down the tube and actually requires a considerable push to get it moving.

The Zhumell if it's in good condition is a good option similar to the Heritage 100. Both have parabolic mirrors. Check if it comes with any eyepieces and finder scope etc. If it does then it's all good.

I would be looking at something like a Skywatcher Heritage 100P for your daughter. It’s a decent little scope but comes in around £129.

Very nice sketches @Nicola Fletcher. You have definitely captured the essence of eyepiece views

Very deep research on my part 🤔.

I don’t think I’ve made any major faux pas regarding telescopes themselves but eyepieces are an entire different story. I started out buying relatively plain cheap eyepieces and instead of doing the sensible thing and upgrading to a quality eyepiece I did it in multiple steps. The amount of money I must have squandered by going this route is not insignificant. I most definitely learned a valuable lesson.