What did the postman bring? V2

[Gfamily]

This morning brought delivery of a Synscan WiFi dongle, that I can use on either of my old Synscan mounts.

I really appreciate the additional alignment options that the app offers over the handset.

Furthermore, the Point and Track option is very useful for grab and go use. 

Part funded with the Tring Astro vouchers won for being on the second placed quiz team at the last Autumn Astrocamp.

[johnturley]

3 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

Postman delivered this beauty today! Ordered on Thursday, it took less than 2 days to arrive from Germany to France. That was fast!

I'll finally be able to image small galaxies. It's a whole new territory for me, I guess I'm in for a lot of head scratching and problems I never faced, but I'm very excited to put this to test!

It came with a nice Losmandy dovetail bar, but, for the life of me, I can't figure out how this beast can hang off-balance being secured by only 3 M4 or M5 screws... they seem way to frail to hold the telescope. I need to investigate that!
 

Unusual to see a white tubed Celestron, I assume that this is the XLT rather than The Edge HD version.

John 

[Telescope40]

15 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I'd be happy to do a free finder respray John, if anyone's brave or daft enough to let me loose on their precious Tak finder. 

Mike. I may take u up on that offer at some point. My Tak finder has few “nicks” on it. Nothing major but my OCD doesn’t help. 
Any attempt by yours truly re a respray would not have such a positive outcome 😂😂

John

[mikeDnight]

48 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Mike. I may take u up on that offer at some point. My Tak finder has few “nicks” on it. Nothing major but my OCD doesn’t help. 
Any attempt by yours truly re a respray would not have such a positive outcome 😂😂

John

I'd be happy to give it a go if you have enough bottle John. I look at it this way, how much worse could it be after I've improved it? 🫣

[mikeDnight]

More junk! 🙄

Double stars here I come!!

[Space Oddities]

6 hours ago, johnturley said:

Unusual to see a white tubed Celestron, I assume that this is the XLT rather than The Edge HD version.

John 

The picture is a bit misleading, the tube is actually grey. It's the Evolution version.

[besmirched]

I got 2 x Meanwell 12v 10amp LED Drivers. I plan to use them as power supplies for my 2 rigs in the backyard. They're ip65 rated and classed as "Industrial" with a working life >50,000 hours. So hopefully they will work out well. 

[paulastro]

If you're a binocular enthusiast (or thinking of buying a pair) you'll want this book.  I ordered it from Amazon as soon as I saw the review (by Steve Tonkin) in the March edition of the Sky@Night magazine.

I picked it up last night at midnight for a quick browse, and didn't get to bed untill 2.30 am.

I warn you though, by the time I had put the book down, I had already found three binoculars I'd like to buy - and I already have six or seven pairs!  The book is good value in my view despite the cost (it's a hardback) - but it could end up costing you quite a bit more 😊.

[PatientObserver]

On 17/01/2024 at 06:30, josefk said:

This is my first winter with diabetes and the related/consequent painfully cold feet are a new and deeply unpleasant life experience i could have done without!

My 4-season winter mountain walking boots are fine on the hill but haven't been cutting it while sitting around at the scope  - i was sooo cold out one evening last week i could hardly think straight  - so while I was mildly diverted by the idea of fur lined crocs after commentary on here (you know who you are 😉), I have more sensibly gone for full bore -20C rated boots instead. 

...extended -4C feels like -6C test on the cards tomorrow night 🙂

On really cold nights I wear my LA Sportiva ice climbing boots. As a kid, cold digits was what would make me come inside from playing in the snow. With LA Sportivas cold toes are a thing of the past.

[Mr Spock]

This arrived last week thanks to a fellow member. A while back I changed direction and hastily sold my 6mm, 5mm, 4mm and 2.5mm, completely forgetting it would leave me without a 6mm... I promise not to sell this one!

[Mr_Cat]

Not the postman but one of my mates collected a EQ6R in the UK for me

Set up on the terrace and hoping for some gaps in the clouds tonight (although I have already pointed it quite successfully at the moon..) 

Makes my 8" orion looks small. Guess I'm going to need a new telescope...

 

Edited February 23 by Mr_Cat
image had disappeared...

[The60mmKid]

Exciting news, everyone: The Astroluxe siblings are reunited! And what a beautiful pair of twins... just look at those big, pretty eyes! Genetically similar though they are, their personalities are unique. The 18x70 provides an inspiringly immersive view with higher contrast but a lower level of edge correction. The 10x70 is tack-sharp from edge to edge but with an exit pupil that warrants darker skies than mine. Just from a little daytime experimentation, it's clear that they will be complementary, not redundant.

I received the 18x70 a little while ago, and the 10x70 came today. Partially, I purchased the 10x70 as a commitment to myself to find my way back to dark skies. I miss starry nights dearly, so my beautiful 7mm-exit-pupil friend is here to remind me of what matters and reassure me that I haven't given up.

Edited February 20 by The60mmKid

[Stu1smartcookie]

Mr DPD brought me my latest aquisition ...  An AVX mount , fresh from the FLO warehouse ... still boxed and in the car so no pics , but hey , we know what they look like don't we . 

Hopefully i can get some nice Moon photos with my 180 Mak . Using a 10mm EP with that Mak on a mount without tracking was akin to seeing a Formula One car race by a small window at 200mph !  

 

UPDATE

Unboxing was the usual " what the hell am i going to do with all this packaging " .. Slight issue with the motor cover which tbh is cheap plastic. It was broken where one of the screws fastens it onto the mount , but , as no plastic was missing i was able to glue the offending part and now its fixed . Shouldn't have to do such stuff and it did wind me up but , all's well etc . Of course i tried a few dummy runs and , using sky safari as a reference found that my alignment was very good . One thing that did please me was the sound of the mount whilst slewing . I seem to remember my last mount was quite loud whereas this one seems a fair bit quieter, maybe thats just me imagining it , but i'm happy . 

 

Edited February 22 by Stu1smartcookie

[Littleguy80]

Another little upgrade for the Tak. ClickLock for the focuser. I like to put filters on the diagonal rather than the eyepiece so this should make doing that a little quicker and easier. 

Edited February 21 by Littleguy80

[inedible_hulk]

A little something from FLO to make things simpler 😊. Less than 24 hours from order to delivery!!

[Captain Scarlet]

On 18/02/2024 at 13:36, Mr Spock said:

This arrived last week thanks to a fellow member. A while back I changed direction and hastily sold my 6mm, 5mm, 4mm and 2.5mm, completely forgetting it would leave me without a 6mm... I promise not to sell this one!

How much d’you want for it? 😉

[Sunshine]

Galileo is here! From Krakow to Canada in a few days and packed very well, it is heavy! and beautiful! I love it!

 

 

Edited February 22 by Sunshine

[Mr_Cat]

Nice large box today from FLO..
Baader 2" clicklock
Askaar 2" diagonal
Yet another baht mask..
And a finder / guide scope.. I got this with the plan it would be a guide scope on the next OTA I get - but I've now decided I'll probably go OGA instead  - so this will be a finderscope  - Just putting it on the 200 to play with it. 
 

[bosun21]

On 16/02/2024 at 17:14, LaurenceT said:

I decided I needed one so I bought it, then I decided I didn't need it so I sold it, then I decided I did need one, so I bought another one. Makes sense doesn't it?

That's why I thought the cartoon was appropriate.

I also suffer from this affliction.

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Galileo is here! From Krakow to Canada in a few days and packed very well, it is heavy! and beautiful! I love it!

 

 

Well, that’s definitely one in the eye for Galileo 👍🏻

[Sunshine]

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Well, that’s definitely one in the eye for Galileo 👍🏻

It will be one in the eye for me when credit card bill comes 😂 👊

[Stu1smartcookie]

Sometimes you define a company on how they put things right . The DPD man brought me two items , a polar scope for my AVX and an Aux splitter ! But I ordered a polar scope and an Astro gadget Celestron WiFi module !!! 
RVO , were quite rightly full of apologies and were going to send the correct item out … 

As luck would have it , we are travelling to Yorkshire tomorrow!!! So , a trip to RVO is now part of the route . 

 

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

I have long understood and espoused, that you can best judge a business not from when things are going smoothly but how they deal with problems.

[Greymouser]

Got this from FLO a little while ago, only just now got the chance to post because so busy:

Not sure about the foam box, might have to upgrade that... Not sure how wise this purchase has been either, I am very spare time poor at the moment, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Also got a few little helpers too:

That's a dew shield; Bhatinov mask; dust cover and EQ5 tripod convertor, not sure it will work for the SS50, but I think it should. Fantastic delivery from FLO as usual too, thanks guys.

[inedible_hulk]

3 hours ago, Greymouser said:

EQ5 tripod convertor, not sure it will work for the SS50, but I think it should.

Would be interested to know, so do report back please 😊