bosun21

You should attach one of your saved subs to a post here to allow one of these proficient gentlemen to check it for you to ensure all is well at your end

There’s also no point in buying a Ferrari if you then find you have no money left for petrol.

When I use a go to mount I can go through an entire session without even taking the caps off my finder scope. I have found that when I do the alignment process really well (accurately centre the alignment stars) and a good polar alignment I always have my targets in the fov of a 17.5mm eyepiece. When not using a go to mount I predominantly use an accurately aligned RDF which then always puts the target in the eyepiece. My RACI finder comes into play when I need to star hop with my dobsonian to find faint or tight doubles etc.

The PDS version most definitely is designed for imaging, however I agree that they are a wind sail.

Not really especially for astrophotography. You should ideally be looking at the HEQ5 for a 200mm newtonian.

Insulating the tube really only benefits closed design telescopes like SCT's and Maksutovs as it helps mitigate the thermal currents in their tubes. I just use a dew shield and place a cover around the primary mirror and. I don't mind the tube itself icing or dewing up

You are not alone with your way of thinking. I to have been looking at the small Tak scopes to be a part of a quick G&G set up. As you say the set up, bring it back in fiascos are starting to wear thin with me as well. I am contemplating either a TOA 60Q or a 76mm version for this purpose.

The Starfield 102 which I have has FPL53 and Lanthanum lenses. It’s an excellent scope with great optics as the reviews show. When viewing the planets I generally use a 2x extender which turns it into an F14 in any case, and even at 200x plus magnification I can see no chromatic aberration.

Personally Stu if I was you I would go for something like a 100mm frac. Making small incremental increases in aperture is not going to be very noticeable imo. The difference from a 70mm to 100mm however is substantial and the benefits will be very apparent.

Welcome to SGL 👋.

Why didn't you use the proper Starsense unit that came with the LT80? I bought two of the magnets from Amazon (incase that's the magnet you are referring to). This balances everything on my 12", that's the Starsense unit, phone, RACI and heavy 30mm eyepiece.

Not anymore unfortunately. I've read that the design was changed but unfortunately it looks like the retailers didn't get the memo. This was one of the points that swayed me into making the purchase.

I couldn't find it for sale in the UK but buying it directly from MSM was really easy and took about a week. No import hassle whatsoever, just a friendly postie delivery.

The pair of new Apollo 15x70’s I bought have threads on both objectives which I will need to measure accurately if I decide to go down the route @Stu did. I thought that it would be the eyepieces that would accommodate the filters. Do you have a link please Stu where you sourced the reducers? Sorry to be a pain.

Same here. I was thinking about putting my 12” out along with the Starfield but when I saw the stars twinkling so much I left the dob inside.

Mine works flawlessly with my Pixel 6 as well as my iPhone. I bought a relatively cheap android phone(Blackview) to use solely on the Starsense and that worked great as well. It takes seconds after moving the scope to another part of the sky for the plate solving to find where it’s at. I had trouble one night with the plate solving not working. I removed the phone and after taking it indoors to clean it I found a fingerprint on the camera lens. Problem solved and still works great. I find it a good timesaver on my dobsonian.

My Starfield 102 dews up quite often and can freeze over in the winter. Easily remedied by a dew heater strap wrapped around the tube where the objective is. I also use one on my eyepieces and finder on nights of heavy dew. I always switch them on before any dew forms. As the saying goes “prevention is better than the cure “.

I use a pair of Helios Apollo 15x70 binoculars and they show pleasing bright views of many targets. Regarding the planets I just have the occasional look at them as that’s not what binoculars are good at. You can see that Jupiter and Saturn are planetary discs with Jupiters moons being visible. Saturn to my eye looks like a disc with ears. To define the rings clearly you will need a telescope. Binoculars are good for star clusters and bright DSO’s. I do miss the wider field views I used to get from a pair of 8x40’s I used to own. So much so I think I’ll have to get myself another pair. Good luck.

It’s a poor showing from Celestron when their flagship models of SCT have this inherent fault. From what you have said it’s neither simple or cheap to address this fault. As I said they must be aware of this problem hence the addition of the mirror locks to try and rectify the issue. Alas from what you said this has not had the desired outcome.

When observing with binoculars satellites are seen zipping about all over the sky. I’ve reached a point where they barely register with me. When using one of my scopes however they are definitely a nuisance.

I would say that this sweet spot gets smaller as you increase to high magnification (300x plus) regardless of f ratio. However if you have a fast newtonian and are using it at high magnification then the sweet spot will be really small if at all.

Maybe this is the reason why Celestron felt the need to incorporate the mirror locks into their Edge HD design.

Still plenty of life left in the old scope yet. Nice detailed image 👍.

I just clean my mirrors with tap water with a few added drops of washing up liquid. It's the final rinse that needs to be distilled water to ensure there is no residue left when dried. I bought 5 litres, have cleaned two scopes and still have half leftover. This is only for mirrors and corrector/meniscus plates and not lenses per se.

I have now bought a second one of these as they are VG quality and do a good job. They are waterproof and UV proof. I have one for my 12" dobsonian and another for my 102 Starfield on an EQ5 synscan. They have a zip and a bottom tie off. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144814219066?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=9upi1jlpt4w&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=bx3n7nxfspg&var=444229646542&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY