Subreddit Rules

My partner likes to stair at stars when they are gisible but i wm wondering if an average priced one is even worth it. I ahve seen comments on some post that even with an expensive one that you really cant see anything but details of the moon. Is this true?

Through my 10" dob, shot on my phone

I've got someone down south that has a 5e for sale im thinking about and someone pretty close w a tube from an 8 for sale. would i be able to swap back and forth? i think it would be about the cost of a new 8 if i got both of them right now. just wondering if its possible or smart to try it. right now i've just got a dwarf and want to do some better stuff with my kiddo.

Thanks!

Where do yall go to escape light pollution?

Just got this bad boy from a close friend of the family. Her husband passed away a little over a year ago. She's asked me to clean it up, and get working.

She's not sure what she wants to do with it. One option is to give it to her son, who has kids and step-kids that are already looking at the heavens through a somewhat cheaper scope.

I've found a user's manual online. Just in case, does anyone know of a source tor repair parts, just in case?

I have used a 4" reflector on a manual equatorial mount and want to shift to a refractor.

I'll mostly use it for visual viewing and sometimes, rarely, for astrophotography. Keep in mind that I am a trekker and a mountaineer and would love to take it deep in to the valleys with a porter. Portors aren't expensive here.

I live in the outskirts of the city in a south east Asian country. So light + air pollution are a problem. On a clear night I can see a couple of the northern sky constellations

My budget is $1300 for the whole setup. The mount included. I can get it used also from UK astrobuysell website.

I wrote a refractor in the title but it's not a strict requirement.

Hello!

I need help deciding wether or not to upgrade to a different telescope. I currently have a 80mm telescope from Orion. And currently where I live someone is selling a explore scientific first light 114mm telescope for $150. Is it worth the upgrade?

Stumbled upon a $30 minimal use/like new Celestron PowerSeeeker 127EQ. Only problem is it’s about a 1hr 15min drive (one way) from me. Worth it or nah?

Hello! Which of these binos you recommend for a complete beginner interested strictly in stargazing in the desert (and possibly upgrading later).

Those are the best I can find where I’m located.

Hello!

Recently, my step-father gifted me his old (He says circa 90's) Astroview 120 refractor, and I have been looking to get a tracking motor for the RA axis. Orion themselves recommended the EQ-3M motor for the mount that is used, however they have gone out of business and thus I am having issues finding one.

I was curious to see if there were any other single-axis tracking drives that work with this mount, or if there was another way I could find the motor made for this mount.

If I can provide any more helpful information, please just let me know. Thank you all in advance!

New to telescopes and astrophotography this week. Trying to take it slow and not make a lot of dumb purchases out of excitement! Primary focus is planetary viewing and lunar viewing with some astrophotography mixed in. DSO would be nice but from what I read, this isn't the scope for that, and that's okay.

I bought a Celestron 6se on sale last week. After doing some research, I've decided to buy 1-2 Celestron X-Cel eye pieces. I'd like to replace the 25mm that came with my 6se and probably a 9mm X-Cel for better planetary views. My question is, is the 9mm sufficient, or should I opt for higher power or lower power eyepieces? Jupiter and Saturn are a must with good choices for astrophotography. I do have a ZWO astrocamera on the way as well. Hypothetically, is a 15mm eyepiece with a 2X Barlow better, equal to, or worse than a 7.5mm eyepiece for viewing and astrophotography?

Thanks!

Spotted at a bowling alley ticket redemption store for only 4500 tickets.

This seems to be a celestron c8. But seems to be 25 years old. Is $500 a fair price for this?

This is a picture i took for Jupiter with my meade 2090 at and my plossl 4000 26mm lens how could improve everything about this picture mind you i live in Egypt where its very populated the light pollution is incredible but please help me do i need to get something for my telescope because people here told that my telescope can capture alot of things but this is picture is pretty bad (the camera did the telescope bad i can see Jupiter but its so big that it cant fit my lens and idk why but it's better irl but plsss help me

Some days ago I grabbed an old telescope I had and aimed at the moon, it sparked my interest for this hobby, any tips and good, better telescopes? (Considering I live in Bortle 8)

I started dabbling with a cheap thrift store telescope a few months ago and thought it was really cool trying to focus on certain things in the night sky. The challenge in focusing an old crappy telescope was fun in itself.

I had spent enough time trying to do so that I decided to invest in a nicer telescope. Yesterday my first nice scope, an Apertura AD6 Newtonian, came in the mail and I got it set up and have already seen incredible views of the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn.

My problem: After I focus on something and look at it for a few minutes I get bored and move to the next planet and do the same thing until I’ve seen everything I reasonably can without a lot of effort. It makes me wonder what the point of it all is. I can get on the internet and look at images of celestial bodies I can’t see in my telescope or look at images of the bodies I can’t see with much better views. It’s also not like i’m researching something that legit astronomers aren’t already well aware of.

I find all of it fascinating, but can’t get myself to enjoy it like I thought I would.

TLDR: What do you do with your telescope to keep from getting bored? Am I missing something?

I am in North-East Ohio where we have a temperature range of 0 to 100 degrees. For an observatory with a roll-off roof are there any recommendations to:

• Insulate the walls, and or roof (yes/no)?
• Install heating?
• Install air conditioning?
• air-to-air heat pump?

Note: some of these answers are mutually exclusive (i.e., if a heat pump, no AC) or inclusive (if any heating or AC yes to insulation).

I have no idea where or how to find one. I owned both a 14.5“ and 20” back 20+ years ago but sold them. Zambuto mirrors preferred. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Heck - maybe there are big high quality dobs out there now that are way better - feel free to tell me. I’m in the U.S., upper midwest. WThanks!

This is a 300s sub taken from AZ, USA.

I’ve had my fair share of satellite and airplane streaks in my subs before (I’m guessing the line at the top is also a high-altitude plane because of the colored line?), but these parallel lines are a first for me. Could this be Starlinks? I know they appear in a train-like formation after a fresh launch, but do they look like this when part of their 'official' satellite constellation? I’d appreciate any insights!

PS: There were no signs of these lines in the subs taken right before or after this one.

Christmas Tree Cluster sub with Parallel Lines

EXIF: Camera: Nikon d810a Lens: Nikkor AFS VR N 300mm f2.8 Tracker: Ioptron skyguider pro Iso 1600, F 2.8, 30s x 370

Just brought a brand new Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 100AZ and the unlock code it came with (for the StarSense Explorer app) doesn't seem to work -- I raised a ticket with Celestron a few days ago however I realise it is unlikely that they'll reply on the weekend.

If anyone has a spare code I could use (even for just a week) I would greatly appreciate it: I wanna use the telescope in school with my friends in a few days (Tuesday) and it'll be much easier with the app enabled. Many thanks in advance!!!

I am not able to see stars in night sky expect few bright ones like
planets like jupitar, venus, saturn and bright stars like capella. In
total I can only see 6-7 stars in sky after dusk, or astronomical
twilight. But, I can see more(25-30) stars in sky during midnight, or
solar midnight. No, It's not because of light pollution. I live in a
rural town in gujarat, India, with low light polution. I have checked
the light polution map. I have also checked different moon phases, even
thats not the problen. Every where I google or watch youtube, or read
posts by people, it's said that you can see max number of stars right
for after astronomical twilight, when sun is 18° below horizion. I am
planing of buying starsense 10 inch dobsonian. I will find it difficult
to navigate night sky without stars in sky. I find it odd that I am able
to see stars at midnight and not before it.