bosun21

I can’t get on with orthos at all. Whilst admittedly they are excellent planetary eyepieces I just don’t like having my eye pressed up against the small eyeglass. I feel far more relaxed and comfortable with having plenty of eye relief.

I just recently purchased a new pair of Helios Apollo 15x70 binoculars but as yet I haven't had a good clear night to try them out properly. I have only managed to pop out in daytime to set the IF focus for each objective. I don't really want to have stolen glimpses through the gaps in the clouds as I am holding out for a clear night where I can evaluate them properly.

Somewhere in between would be ideal. The fact is that we have to make the best of the skies we have. I do travel occasionally to darker more favourable skies, but even then planning the trip to coincide with clear skies is not an easy task.

Why if you don't mind?

Calibration is done while the telescope is pointing at or near the meridian. This is explained in the PHD2 directions.

If you have no central screw on the base which is a tension adjustment screw then the Teflon method will be better suited for your scope.

I used a new 4GB Lenovo tablet when I owned the Asi air plus which ran all the functions easily.

Welcome to SGL 👋.

Haha, I just want you to know that I had no part in the LT70 being out of stock at FLO. I had to go to Harrisons telescopes to source mine. I gave the scope itself to someone involved with the scouts once I removed the Starsense unit of course. I myself had no interest in fabricating a DIY holder as simply modifying the base to be accommodated by a Synta shoe was enough DIY for me. Another downside of the DIY method is that you are limited to only using the phone model that you designed it for(no upgrades) or changes. For what you get for the price of an LT70 I deem it worth it for the Starsense alone. Plus you get a decent little achromat thrown in. The amount of observing time saved by the unit is substantial.

I myself bought the smallest Starsense refractor (LT70) when they first appeared on the market. I removed the Starsense unit and placed it on my 12” SL dobsonian. Pleased to report that it works flawlessly.

Just received my 2.6x Baader GPC today. I now have all three of them so now to focus on eyepiece pairs. I have my eyes on a pair of 24mm Panoptics.

If I were you I would definitely flock the inside of the tube while you have it completely disassembled. It’s a felt like material that adheres to the inner tube and comes in broad strips. First light optics stock the material required. You said at the start that you know little about telescopes. Do you know how to collimate the mirrors? On their return from Orion optics they will have to be aligned with each other and the new focuser tube. There’s a multitude of videos on YouTube explaining how to collimate a reflector. I would also replace the Teflon pads with a lazy Susan bearing. I’ll be following your restoration with interest. Thanks for posting.

Funny you should say that as I tried my wratten #82a light blue on Venus as well, and I was that impressed I bought all of them. The #23a you used is actually light red and the #25 is red. I’m looking forward to trying them out with the return of the planetary season. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.

What? Not even a glance through your newly acquired 10mm BCO?🙄.

The best option for a wider FOV is as @Louis D stated. Either the ES 24mm 68 degrees or the Stella Lyra/APM UFF at 65 degrees. For anything wider at longer focal lengths you would have to move up to 2” eyepieces. It’s those pesky laws of physics spoiling the fun again 🙂.

They do say that as one door closes another opens. In this case please keep both doors firmly wedged open. Good luck in your new endeavors.

I found that the BCO 18 & 10mm are very sharp eyepieces indeed and great value for money. I recently just sold the 6mm and 10mm though as I don’t really get on with short eye relief eyepieces. I have kept the 18mm and will buy another for a binoviewing pair.

Hi Kriss, welcome to SGL 👏.

Welcome to SGL Kaz👋.

Welcome to SGL Rich 👋.

Am I right in assuming that they are not actually made by Takahashi but made under license by Starbase? Just like the recent achromatic refractor released?

Your post states it's a 1.25" L enhance for sale. Just incase of any mix-ups.

Just received my 1.7x Baader GPC today. Just waiting for the 2.6x now to complete the three. Looking forward to the new moon and planetary season approaching to put them to use.

I have my phones constantly on warm night mode 24 hours a day. I also have the warm setting up pretty high. I have grown to prefer this setting and only switch it off if I want to look at photographs closely. As regards night time observing, the less of any type of light the better.

I thought the GPC was better as it was designed to correct for any aberrations caused by the internal prisms in the binoviewer?