bosun21

I found that the slight rollback was solved by attaining a better balance on the scope. It should remain in position with only a minuscule if any tension on the side locking adjusters. I found this point of balance on my dobsonian with the addition of a movable magnet.

What a lovely trio of refractors.

I just realized that I didn’t have a finder for my new Starfield 102 scope. Remedied it by buying a Baader Sky Surfer III. Delivered today by the postie. Just need to buy the finder shoe now DOH!🙄 Found one.

I am thinking about flocking my 12” but would most probably do it the conventional way. Slow and steady gets the job done in my book. This is a good method to avoid the wrinkles and bubbles, not to mention the swearing fits.

Thanks for the further information and I have totally abandoned the notion of trying a laser. I was initially just curious to see what the fuss was about. Apart from all the technical pitfalls and legal issues in the UK, I reckon they are best avoided.

Before giving any advice, what planet(s) are you trying to observe? Which eyepiece(s) are you using?

After reading this thread I’m thinking about giving a laser pointer a try. I have an empty finder shoe fitting on my triple unit. I know that there’s a lot of Micky mouse pointers out there with wildly exaggerated power and rating claims. Does anyone have a recommendation for one, being from the UK? Thanks.

If your existing 30mm is the SuperView that came with your scope then you would immediately see the improvement by buying a 30mm UFF. If you have bad light pollution then a 24mm would provide a darker background sky at a similar magnification. Think things over as there’s no rush and you can consider all your options. Good luck with whichever you decide to choose.

You already have a nice selection and range of eyepieces for magnification. I would personally be happy with this unless you definitely want a wider field at 30mm. Take into consideration that the wider 82 degrees 30mm will provide this but not without some aberrations in the additional FOV gained.

What is the focal length of your scope(s) as with longer focal lengths it becomes somewhat diminishing returns for eyepieces that are too close together in focal length. For example it makes more sense to say have an 18mm , skip the 24mm and go straight to a 30mm. This is applicable for longer focal length scopes. What other focal lengths do you have at or below 24mm? Is the 23mm a Celestron Luminos?

The ES 30mm 82 degrees suffers from aberrations in the outer part of the field. The APM(Stella Lyra) 30mm UFF is a better corrected eyepiece albeit 70 degrees. They are also much cheaper and better value for money IMO. Good luck with whichever you choose.

I use all three when collimating from the beginning, ie: the cap, the cheshire and the Hotech laser. Once collimated it’s just the laser for me. After moving my dobsonian into place it’s seconds to check collimation and tweak if necessary. Try using a cap in the dark.

There’s a better cap on eBay from Jack the printer which has a nice high shoulder to aid with the removal of the cap from the focuser. No more fingernail action.

I agree with you on this. I am going to do a bit of EAA with my new Starfield and my 12” dobsonian. There’s a guy on YouTube doing EAA with his 8” and 12” dobsonian getting good results.

Great captures Peter, I’m impressed. I can see that your very gradually being enticed into the astrophotography world. Proceed with caution and a hefty overdraft arrangement 😂.

It depends on the magnitude of the stars. This is what I was taught by a seasoned astrophotographer. I am open to correction however from someone with a good knowledge of AP.

You still get star bloat with long exposures, albeit dramatically reduced or eliminated by processing. It’s not so much the telescope optics but rather it’s physics with an accumulation of light from a point source.

That may be the case due to slight bloating of the stars due to long exposures but with things like planetary videos definitely shows great intricate details. Saying that I am glad i only do visual astronomy now.

I’ve never tried to view Uranus with my 10x50’s. I just presumed it would be a futile exercise. Well I’ll be trying it in the future. Thanks.

I reckon that if any vibration was transferred to the telescope and optics then our astrophotography friends would have discovered it and wrote about it long ago.

Welcome back Andy. I also rekindled my love of astronomy after a long hiatus. Once I started again I found that I had only realized what I had been missing. Good luck and much enjoyment to you.

Definitely more stable with the 1.75” steel tripod. You can also fit a wedge to get EQ tracking.

I wonder why TEC won’t release the test reports of their optics. They must have their reasons.

He doesn’t need an extender if using his home WiFi in his observatory. If it’s patchy then an Ethernet cable will solve the problem.

Excuse me for what may seem a trivial question, but how do you mark the centre point of the objective?