What's on your astro shopping list?

[Whippy]

I love stargazing....the science, always something new to learn, and always something to upgrade if your finances allow it! This isn't really a wanted list but if a few PM's get thrown around and a couple of people get a few bits they want, then I guess that's the point of this thread really..

So, in rough order..

Some camping gear

Laser collimator

Right angled finder

Polarscope for the mount

Crayford focusser

OIII filter

Colour filters

And I s'pose the gradual upgrading of eyepieces when such opportunities come up..

Then I guess it'll be getting into imaging but I would rather get proficient in visual before spending cash on cameras etc etc

And I'm scanning the horizon for a TAL100R, I'd like a refractor, and I miss my old 150P....<snif>.

So, what's on your list??

[John]

Top of my list at the moment is an ED100 refractor OTA but they seem very thin on the ground used at the moment. I'm hoping that the new Equinox range will prompt some owners to upgrade.

I'd also like an EQ3-2 mount to put the above on - for visual use it's fine and the whole scope remains portable.

Eyepiece-wise the next step for me would be into Nagler / Panoptic terratory but my budget won't go that far at the moment. In any case I think my TV plossls perform as well in terms of sharpness but within the confines of the 50 degree field of view.

John

[SteelRat]

A Baader orthoscopic f'the T100r f'when Mars swings round'd be nice. Go b#lls out w'the 5mm? Or play safe w'the 6mm? Will probly have to get a cheapie used non-baader when the time comes anyway, unless Mrs Birthday feels flush

Anyone managed to track down where to buy clear skies from yet? That'd be top o the list.

[GordonCopestake]

My shopping list for when finances allow includes: (in no order)

f/6.3 f/5 f/3.3 focal reducer for the C6

8-24 hyperion zoom

a little 66/80mm APO for imaging

a decent 6/7mm planetary eyepiece

a panoptic 24 to replace the one I sold (doh!)

9x50 RACI finder and bracket for the C6

cloud gun

[SteelRat]

cloud gun

Awsome - I'll av one o those then

[Grant]

At the moment:

-12" rings (hopefully picking some up today)

-Paving Slabs! To build a solid, level base halfway up my garden.

-2" Barlow

-2" 30mm EP

-7ish mm orthoscopic.

-Laser Coliminator

-Autofocuser

[GordonCopestake]

Grant, I have 10x 3'x2' paving slabs you can have for free.... postage and packing will be about £1000 though

[barkis]

At the moment:

-12" rings (hopefully picking some up today)

-Paving Slabs! To build a solid, level base halfway up my garden.

-2" Barlow

-2" 30mm EP

-7ish mm orthoscopic.

-Laser Coliminator

-Autofocuser

Just put a concrete pad in for your mount, then surround it with some decking. Warmer on your feet in winter one you scrape the ice off. Put a post at each corner, then buy some of those blue tarps you find cheap in Lidls sometimes, attache them to the posts to the height of your choice. Wallah, no draughts, no stray light, and dirt cheap. What more do you want

Ron.

[SteveL]

• 
  [li]A decent Wedge[/li]
  [li]Darker and Earlier nights[/li]
  [li]More time to myself[/li]
  [li]A big switch for the street lamps[/li]
  

[russ]

Top of my list at the moment is an ED100 refractor OTA but they seem very thin on the ground used at the moment. I'm hoping that the new Equinox range will prompt some owners to upgrade.

Top of my list is an ED100 too.

I'd also like an EQ3-2 mount to put the above on - for visual use it's fine and the whole scope remains portable.

I could help you out there John. I have an EQ3 with drive that I could sell?

Russ

[MartinB]

A motorised filter wheel - once seemed like the most spurious item of gear imaginable but after repeatedly shaking the mount with my manual wheel, loosing guide stars and then, worst of all, turning the wheel the wrong way and not knowing what filter I'm using its my next big spend.

THEN THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!! Yes sireee.

What??

[geppetto]

ED120 APO

PST solar scope

[GordonCopestake]

Oww yes a PST would be nice for summer as it doesn't get dark till late now

[GazOC]

ED120 APO

PST solar scope

Sounds good to me Phil!!

[Tinkerbell]

A: WO FLT132

or

B: 16" LightBridge

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

If these clouds continue, maybe a radio telescope. Apparently they don't get bothered by clouds, but I've no idea how to fit a camera to one.

Captain Chaos

[Astronut]

What's on my shopping list? Loads of stuff - I only have a pair of 10x50's bins at the mo'

sod the expense

In the very soon to buy from FLO list:

Skyliner 12" dob.

Cheshire and/or Baader laser collimator

Meade SWA 28mm

Pentax XW 10mm

Televue Nagler 3-6mm click-zoom

2" Filters - undecided on what to get at the mo'

Moonlite dual-speed focuser

then sometime next year:

C9.25 + another Moonlite focuser

EQ6 goto

ED80 Equinox

Camera equipment - no idea what to get yet - CCD, Toucam or Canon DSLR (based on what I've read so far, I will probably start the astrophography side of things with a Toucam first)

[daz]

Meade Series 5000 9mm

SII CCD Filter

Ha CCD Filter

Moonlight Focuser for ED80

Shed

In no particular order

[Andrew*]

4mm ortho

laser collimator

a decent dew control system

power pack

something to keep my darling occupied while I'm out (sorry, that's probably borderline content )

(HEQ5 GOTO

dome observatory

RCX 20" on MAX

personal space shuttle

the moon)

nothing immediately though

Andrew

[maroon bells]

A small list of..

Dew heater and tape

laser collimator (maybe)

[jonifive]

A PST

SW Equinox APO PRO 66 and some rings

A PST

Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Clickstop Zoom Lens

A PST

Some decent lenses with lots of eye relief ( I Wear Specs)

A PST

A Moonlight focus-er for my SW 200

Oh and did I mention a PST!!!!!

[Astroman]

If these clouds continue, maybe a radio telescope. Apparently they don't get bothered by clouds, but I've no idea how to fit a camera to one.

Captain Chaos

While radio telescopes are not affected too much by clouds, their sheer size makes them susceptible to wind, so you inherit a whole new set of problems.

As for the "camera", all your images are essentially false color-you take the data you get and assign it a visible color, such as blue for hydrogen moving toward us, red for hydrogen moving away and colors in between representing intermediate velocity vectors.

Here's a link to the NRAO website.

Did I mention the telescopes are very large?

http://www.nrao.edu/imagegallery/php/level1.php

[Cloudwatcher]

Like CC/KK I was leaning toward a radio scope but having read Astromans post I've gone off the idea.

I never did get along with Velocity Vectors, even the intermediate ones.

Guess I'll stick with my second choice.....A Weather Machine. 8)

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Nice link AM, dampened my enthusiasm a little, but still very interesting.

Well I don't think that I can get even a thirty foot dish on the EQ6 without the weight being an issue.

I have done some small amount of Googling some time ago (last star drought no doubt) and came across a scheme whereby the antenna is fixed and pans the sky by the rotation of the earth. I didn't get round to trying to work out how quickly the entire sky could be covered, but I'd guess that it takes a year. A bit awkward when the only aiming you can do involves a calendar I would have thought. How would you do a coloured one though? 5 years L plus 2 years each for RGB binned 2X ?

The resolution would be an issue, as collimation might be a tad awkward, and the wavelengths make me wonder how well you can do with a one wavelength aperture. Maybe that's why they get serious aperture fever with these things?

It would be very nice to find Baader making a cloud filter sometime soon, I just wish that they would get their act together and do it now.

Captain Chaos

[Astroman]

Well CC, the dish you describe is the Arecibo Raido Telescope in Puerto Rico. You really need to Google Earth it to appreciate the sheer size. There is a certain amount of guiding possible by moving the "secondary", so to speak, but it's called "going off-axis" and just confuses us regular folks. The good news is actually the resolution possible. You can easily link up with another dish 1/2 way round the globe and do interferometry with a scope as if it had an 8000km aperture. Colors assigned are arbitrary, so you can call anything you like RGB. Exposure times are fairly short, too. You can "image" in the daytime, too. Bad news is the size needed for even 1/4 wave reception. The 12 meter VLBA telescope atop Kitt Peak is enormous by my standards, and it's nearly useless by itself. (Ok, that's overly dramatic, but you get the idea.) More bad news, amateur observing is mostly limited to solar and Jupiter.

Nice post. Enjoyed it.