cajen2

Yeah, thanks, John.....though I'm none the wiser. So many explanations in physics defy common sense to me, so while I'm happy to accept them, I can never really internalise them fully. As I say, English grammar is much clearer to me....! 😆

I think the problem I have with this is how a particle can have momentum without mass....but physics was never my strong suit. 😉 If you want to know the difference between a gerund and a present participle, I'm your man! 😄

Little question: if photons don't have mass (which of course they don't, or they couldn't travel at the speed of light), (1) why are they 'lensed' by gravity and (2) what causes light pressure, as in solar sails? I've always wanted to know, but nobody's been able to tell me.

Ah, ok, ta.

Yes, it's a Newtonian (refers to the arrangement of mirrors). "Barlowed" just means they sell it with a Barlow lens (common with cheaper scopes). This doubles the magnification of the eyepiece.

I bought the 100p for my daughter and it's good for what it is - a small aperture reflector. It has a decent parabolic mirror and with a couple of decent eyepieces is a good scope. Whether it'll be a massive improvement over what you have, I can't tell.

You get very used to nudging the scope just very slightly....I actually use my nose alongside the focuser to help! 😄

Yes, Zhumell are fine. And 114mm is generally better than 100. Does it have a parabolic mirror?

"Woofly" - what a great word!

This thread is going all Brian Cox on us....(stares dreamily into the distance.....)😆

The SW 100p that you mention is a great little scope (I bought one for my daughter) and gives you a bit of headroom to buy a better eyepiece or two. The question is whether it's a substantial improvement over what you already have. Is there a good second-hand market there in India? If so, the 130p or 150p would be much better if you could find one.

Me too..... it's amazing how such a 'dry' book gripped me when I was a child (no spectacular Hubble images, spacecraft, etc) but I used to read it over and over again.

Love it....the Nagler's bigger than the scope!

But Spile is right, a camera view may not be perfect.

It does rather look as if the secondary is a little off to the right. I'd bite the bullet, tweak the secondary and then the primary.

I really really hope you're right, MS. Mine should be arriving soon, too....😛❤️

'kin'ell! Not exactly grab and go! 😄

Well, if you will buy these rubbish cheap and nasty Japanese telescopes and eyepieces...... 🤣🤣🤣 Ok, yes, I know, TV are American but then the joke wouldn't work....

Great list, MS. Puts my six new systems in the shade a bit! Btw, where do you get your Greek alphabet?

I was out with the intention of upping my splitting doubles bag (previously standing at two!😆). Orion looked splendid tonight at first and there are a lot of doubles, trebles, etc so I went there. So, list of successes, all with a Pentax XW 14mm (x54) or 5mm (x150). Seeing was pretty good at first. Easy: Theta 2 Or., Struve 761, 745 and 747 Mixed difficulty: Sigma O. (all four stars), Hatsya (three stars) Difficult (but done before): Alnitak. So that's six new multiple systems for me. I'm well chuffed, even if many of you experienced types have hundreds, no doubt!😄

Hi and a warm welcome to SGL. What 'entry-level' gear did you get?

The OTA on mine weighs 3.7kg, including dovetail and RDF but no EP.

It is possible to use a Flextube dob on your mount: my 150p has a Vixen dovetail.

With that budget, it's easily possible to view those targets and get great images, providing the seeing is good. Investigate Dobsonians - anything between 150 and 250mm aperture are possible and also be wonderful for deep-sky targets. Maks, SCs, etc are planetary specialists but are much more expensive for the same aperture. Longer focal-length quality refractors ok too.

Don't know if you're interested in Go-To? If so, a good compromise between portability and aperture might be this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html Seems a good deal, as the same scope with a manual mount is a similar price.