Telescope for an advanced amateur astronomer!

[Mr niall]

I agree too about the lens kit, as stated above you only need a few really good ones, they make a huge difference, much better to have three belters than 5 or 6 average ones; and then you’re paying a premium for the case and then filters which you may or may not ever use anyway.

[happy-kat]

Regarding alignment, with an AltAz mount you do not need to use stars that are fr apart, alignment is not the same on these mounts as it is done on an EQ.

You chose stars not that far apart really and the text below is from the handset which the WiFi app is theoretically an electronic version of. AltAz text from manual.

It is recommended that the altitude of the two alignment stars are between 15 and 60 degrees and the deviation of altitude is between 10 and 30 degrees. • The azimuth deviation of the two alignment stars can be between 45 and 135 degrees, it is best to be close to 90 degrees

I suspect you could accommodate that with your balconies.

The two altaz mounts the 127mm comes on are very different only the newer WiFi one can be used easily without power manually. And for tracking you only need to crudely align the base to face where north is if it is the same idea as my Virtuoso mount and tracking is very handy for planet observing.

[happy-kat]

Generally all equipment manuals are available to download why not read them before buying to see what you may or may not be able to do.

Even the skywatcher WiFi app can be installed on your devices and played with with no equipment, there is even an emulator mode you can put the app into to try the app out fully. With the equipment being so portable you may well take it out for a spin to a different location where you would want to try it's full capabilities. From reading posts the Android pairing works best as if you do move on to controlling it through Sky Safari you don't need two devices unlike Apple I gather from reading a different thread.

[25585]

Perhaps a zoom eyepiece would be worth considering - say an 8 to 24mm range one such as the Baader?

[Geoff Lister]

Hello Frank,

I have, 2 of, the Skywatcher Skymax 127 setups, with the Synscan handset (I bought a second one for my holiday home in France). They are ideal for use on a balcony. They will work on batteries, but I tend to use a 12V, 2A, plug-top supply, of the type sold for use with the 300-LED, flexible, stick-on, lighting strips. In over 5 years, I have not had to collimate either unit.

A while ago, I bought a second-hand Celestron Cosmos 90 WiFi setup. The mount mechanicals are very similar to those of the Skymax (and will take the Skymax's 127mm OTA), but uses an app. on a tablet instead of the Synscan wired handset. I found that, whilst looking through the eyepiece, it was very difficult to locate the "virtual" up/down/left/right buttons at the edge of the tablet's screen. With the wired handset, you can feel where the buttons are, and also feel them go down as you press them.

I also have a Skyliner 250PX 10" Dobsonian, with another Synscan handset. It gathers more light, for viewing fainter objects, but, unless I intend to have a long session, the Skymax 127 is my usual choice.

I also use, the free, "Stellarium" program on my PC, to select the best "Brightest Stars" for alignment (important if only half the sky is visible from a balcony), and also for planning an evening's observing.

This is my setup in France, with a modified webcam feeding my laptop. A few short videos, and the "Registax" stacking software, and it gives some reasonable images of the planets and brighter deep sky objects. However, with the clearer Mediterranean skies, and being about 8 degrees further south, I tend to do mostly visual observing.

The red wine is not essential, but observing can be thirsty work

Geoff