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I currently have a 4inch tabletop dob and a 102mm refractor. They're alright but I have a lot of difficulty zeroing in on anything smaller than the moon. I've managed to find Saturn a few times after a lot of effort, but that is about it.

I've been really tempted to get a cassegrain style scope with a goto mount ... or a 6 or 8 inch dob with a goto mount. Anything with a bigger aperture and something to make finding planets easier. I'm often using the scope with my kids who don't have the patience to wait for dear dad to spend 15/20 minutes trying to find a planet in the scope

The price of those goto mounts has been the main reason I haven't pulled the trigger. So talk me out of it or better yet talk me into an alternative.

I'm looking for a refractor for astrophotography using my APS-C camera. I checked a couple of focal lengths using a simulator and found that the

- Askar FRA400 (f/5.5) or the

- Omegon Pro APO AP 80/500 ED Carbon (f/6.25) or the

- Omegon Pro APO AP 85/510 Triplet ED FCD-100 (f/6)

frame the things nicely - I'm a flexible there... I'm not familiar with the refractor offerings, as I use more reflectors at home. But this scope is for traveling, thus it should not be too large/heavy/expensive. However, it could be up to 100mm. It must have good optics. I will be absolutely annoyed if the stars are bad in the corners...

Considering these options, is there an obvious pick that I miss? Is there a scope that I should not get for one or the other reason?

Thanks

Hi everyone I just purchased a new Apertura AD8 telescope as my first real telescope and wondering if any of the recommended accessories at checkout are needed for a good experience?

-Performance upgrade kit -2x ED Barlow Lens

Does anyone have experience with red glasses like these? My back yard is surrounded by other houses and sometimes a neigbour turns on strong lights in their bedroom which ruins me trying to get adapted to 'dark'. Was thinking about lifting my fence temporarely using large pieces of cloth but these glasses seem like a solution which will not raise so many eyebrows.

Orion nebula HDR 120 x 30" 92 x 180"

Processed with Pixinsight

• Mount: SW EQ6-R PRO

• Telescope : Omegon pro APO 85ED

• Flattener : TS Optics Flattener (0.92x)

• Main Camera : ZWO ASI 533mc color

• Filter : UV/IR cut

• Guide Camera : ZWO 120mm mini + ZWO off axis guider

• System : ZWO ASIair plus

Hi, I purchased a second hand dobsonian 8" skywatcher classic telescope. I get the donut when pinpointed at planets (tried Jupiter) and the moon appears way out of focus. Been fiddling about with the focus knobs for a while to no avail. The donut gets smaller as I turn the knob to focus inwards, but the knobs/wheels don't allow me to focus anymore inwards therefore I'm still left with the donut. I don't think there is an extender as I've taken out each bit where the focuser is and it appears every component is important to the function of the scope, as I can't input the 25mm lense except in this manor. I've used a 25mm and 10mm lense that came with the Skywatcher. What do I need to do?

I live in a high light pollution area. Would it be worth buying a telescope like this or would I be wasting my money?

I bought a Skywatcher N 150/750 Star Discovery P1 50i SynScan WiFi GoTo in 2019 and the WiFi has always been able to connect to my phone (iPhone) and computer (Lenovo/Windows). However, recently I've run into an issue: I can see the WiFi that the telescope emits in the WiFi settings of my phone and computer, but when I click on it, it always says "cannot connect". Any ideas on how to fix this?

I've tried:

- Resetting my phone

- Updating all telecope apps

- Making the Telecope WiFi my preferred WiFi over the WiFi I generally have in my house

- Clicking "Forget" on the WiFi network of the telescope

I saw somewhere to reset the WiFi module, but it has no buttons or pinholes so I don't know how to do that...

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

- Eline

I found one locally, that's cheap for my country and the specs seemed good.

The only cloudless night of the week eas ofc -25 But my telescope is an iron man he could survive in a volcano.

I tried autostakkert for the first time Recorded a 10s (wobbly) video with my phone through the eyepiece and stacked the frames

Is it any good? I'm pretty happy with the result

Found this telescope off of Facebook Marketplace. I'm not that knowledgeable about this stuff but I'm just looking to get a decent quality.
Used Meade Infinity 80mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope
3 Eyepieces - 6.3mm, 9mm, 26mm
Originally $180-$215
Used 2 or 3 times
$120 dollar starting price, possible to negotiate

Hello, hoping you guys can speak to me in the the simplest terms possible because I'm struggling with a lot of Reddit posts.

I have a Celestron Astromaster 114 which I got for Christmas and I'm obsessed with. Slowly been learning the controls and everything before I look at adding accessories.

The telescope is second hand and came with a 20mm lens which I've been using for great views of the moon and tonight I even saw the bands on Jupiter which had me immediately burst into tears it was incredible.

I would like to invest in some more lens' but I'm not sure where to start. I've heard a lot of people suggest the Barlow and to get a 10mm lens as well. I would like to be able to see the moon in more detail and the planets too - although I understand it won't be like the pictures on the internet.

Just hoping you could suggest the best makes and which sizes of lens I should be researching, I don't know a lot of the lingo, I've mostly been learning by pointing and hoping for the best and sometimes reading up on it makes me even more confused.

My budget is upto about £500.

Thank you so much in advance & here's hoping for clear skies.

Ok, my wife bought me a telescope off ebay as birthday present. On the one hand I'm over the moon - I wanted one since I was a little child, but on the other hand I am in over my head - wtf I am doing here?

It's probably a Bresser Pollux 150/750 EQ3 - I am not sure, the manual does not explicitly state the name.

My son unfortunately removed the backplate to see how it works before I had a chance to try it out. Now it seems to be out of alignment(?) - i.e. any attempt to see something is just "dark" . So how can I recalibrate the main mirror?

Otherwise any "telescope using for dummies" material is appreciated.

Captured Jupiter last night, thought it was the perfect time considering its proximity to my zenith. This is from around Bortle 6 skies.

-Celestron 8se -ZWO ASI662MC -shitty laptop + zwo software

Found a used Antares 80mm for €100,- I would like a scope for astrophotography in addition to my Dobsonian 10’’ Have to get a new dovetail and finder scope/red dot because it was not included. So i made my own dovetail till the new one arrives. Payload is 3.2kg at this moment.

I want a telescope. I always have since in the womb if I'm being overly dramatic. It's the truth . I have always wanted to see it with my own eyes but in the end it's not really with our own vision, now is it?

My theory behind this and why I say this is because through a telescope, you look through two lenses. if not more in some telescopes and less in others.(not likely) It all varies through field of vision and perception at most times. The objective and the eye piece.

Telescopes CAN BE over 1000 dollars, for an actual telescope not any if the knock off one's that don't give you all of the tools you would need for this.

As I understand it, the difference between a reflector and a refractor is that a reflector uses mirrors on the back to reflect the light to the secondary mirror then the secondary mirror reflects the light to your eye focusing the image with each reflection. How then does a refractor use a lens to sharpen the image? Does it just sharpen the image and shoot it to the prism at the back, and into your eye?

I believe that a refracting telescope works by bending/refracting light?

I just bought a used 10 inch skyline and have a few questions to follow up, but first want to figure out what manual fits this one. I keep googling skyline but the only searches that come up are akywatchers and such. I know the majority of components are similar but don't want to break something when adjusting.

For what it's worth. I bought it yesterday, collimated and set er up. The moon was beautiful through wide field 30mm. And was able to see Orion's whisps. The Pleaides were pretty but I was unable to see any cloudiness. It was a nice clear night for an hour or so.

Wife and I just got our first dob. Is there something you can buy to help take pictures more efficiently than just trying to hold the phone over the eyepiece?

Hey i recently switched to a new phone and i npw have this happening in the app everything is just a black square, i tried deleting it and downloading again - same problem, forced ut to stop - still the same. Anyone knows how to fix it? Or maybe someone knows a better app and could recommend?

How do I get Jupiter to look better through my iPhone camera? I see people able to capture a lot of swirling surface detail through their iPhone but mine appears quite smooth, even after processing in pipp, autostakkert and registax.