bosun21

Upgrading the springs alone sorted out the problem of holding collimation for my 12”. I have only needed to tweak it once in 5 months which I did with the locking screws.

I use them all the time as I have to use the sack barrow to maneuver the 12” outside over a couple of doorstops. The lock screws keeps the mirror collimated for me. I check the collimation both primary and secondary before each observing session. If any tweaks are needed it’s the primary mirror 99% of the time which can be sorted with slight tweaks of the locking screws. My secondary holds its position very well.

Just use a splitter cable from the LT supplying the Celestron dew ring and the other your mount. I did this for a period of time before buying another battery power source.

Better with both IMO. I use the lock screws to complete the fine final adjustments to collimating the primary mirror.

It's these ones 👇 Buy the 15mm x 12mm , 1.2mm guage. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155039917362?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=7mzay4pntzc&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=bx3n7nxfspg&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I couldn't find the springs on FLO so bought them from RVO for my 8". For my 12" I bought heavier springs from eBay in a pack of 10 and ended up fitting them on both. The collimation holds great now even after a journey on the sack trolley.

I agree with @Mr Spock that your best way forward is to buy a better quality high powered eyepiece like the BST Starguider 3.2mm and forget about the barlow. Your existing barlow would just add more aberrations to your view.

The clouds eventually opened up about 11pm last night after putting out the Starfield at 9pm to cool. I did an accurate polar alignment and then adjusted the cone error until my polar scope coincided with the eyepiece. I find that this greatly increases the accuracy of the go to. Having recently fitted the go to upgrade kit I wanted to check that everything was as it should be. After a two star alignment I kicked off with M13 in the 17.5mm Morpheus which appeared just slightly off centre. It was surprisingly bright to me, but I then remembered my previous views of it had been with the moon being present. I changed to the 9mm Morpheus which showed show much more detail especially in the outer stars. I spent a good bit of time on it both enjoying the view as well as checking the tracking. I then selected the Dumbell nebula (M27) leaving the 9mm Morpheus selected. Again pretty central in the FOV and it appeared like a ghost hanging in the air although pretty faint. I last viewed it with my 12” dobsonian which shows it much better and brighter. I tried an Astronomik UHC filter which slightly improved the contrast but not to any great degree. Next I selected M57(Ring nebula) which was much better. It was relatively bright and sharply defined with a hint of blue showing through. I upped the magnification with the 6.5mm Morpheus and while still staying sharp and defined no more detail was visible. Lastly I slewed to M3, again with the 9mm for another relatively bright image of the cluster. It’s now 1.30am and with the clouds moving in fast I decided to call it a night. Pleased to report that the go to upgrade is working flawlessly(touch wood).

Much better 👍.

Got the Starfield out cooling. Forecast says 4 hours clear skies however I can see ominous clouds gathering in the south. I hope the forecast wins out otherwise I’ll be peeved 🙄

Your secondary

Looks to be slightly out and not concentric (excuse the pun). The outermost ring visible on the concenter is nearer the edge on the right hand side of your photos which should be equal on both sides. I used one on my 12” f5 to set my secondary after doing some modifications to the secondary mirror holder. I also can’t really see the edge of the focuser draw tube. HTH.

Sometimes it won’t open for me if I try to open it on an existing page. It redirects me to a link which also won’t open. I have to open a new page and sign in again anew.

Don’t know how that happened 😂 It wasn’t meant for you. It’s for the OP. Sorted!

Yes that’s perfectly normal. It’s just an aspect of the Crayford focuser. I have the same focuser on my dobsonian.

You just point your telescope straight up and then the corrector plate doesn’t move. It’s a piece of cake and works fantastic.

I found that tapping the scope with my finger caused enough of a movement to detect those faint fuzzies.

As @carastro stated polar alignment must be done on Polaris. For strictly visual just getting Polaris visually centered is good enough to track your target in the eyepiece. For astrophotography this has to be much more accurate with Polaris being placed in the exact position for your time and location. This can be found in many apps online. The home position is set on the mount once, and you can mark both axis with marker ticks when set to enable you to quickly position both axis. Using the home position aids the go to in selecting your first and second star much more accurately, as it knows its starting point. HTH.

Once you use the go to function to find a target the rate of travel slows right down to enable you to centre the target. You can easily change this by selecting the rate function and selecting your desired speed of travel.

I recommend you get a heated dew shield or Celestron sell a dew ring which replaces the existing ring around the corrector plate. These work great. Regarding eyepieces if I have an eyepiece being used for a length of time then it also forms dew ruining the view. It all depends on how bad the problem is on the night. Reflectors aren't as prone to dew and you will get away with a dew shield. I owned a C8 and was plagued with dew until I took the above steps. On bad nights I also used a heated dew band on my eyepieces. HTH.

I also found the Starsense unit to not only be accurate but also a massive time saver. I used it on my 8" dobsonian which I eventually sold and bought the 12" so simply transferred the unit over. Markarians chain is also very rewarding for myself.

If you have a hairdryer you could use it to dry the corrector plate and put the make shift dew shield on. However I found that when the dew is bad I needed a heated dew shield to keep the dew at bay. Also on my eyepieces.

Best avoiding zoom binoculars for astronomy for a multitude of reasons. Looks like they have red coatings on the lenses as well which is usually a red flag. Tasco binoculars of old were good when they were made by Vixen, however the modern ones aren’t up to much IMO.

I feel less safe in a city!

A 2x is more suitable for your scope.