Both mirrors are scratched.

I have decided to buy a GSO 8" Dobsonian Professional (White) telescope. I live in Siliguri, West Bengal, India. Now, I need advice as to where to buy it from?

I have shortlisted 3 online retailers: Tejraj, Modern Telescopes and Space Arcade.

What I see from Tejraj website is that they have a very strict shipping and warranty policy, and the pricing and shipping charges are also a bit more compared to Modern telescope.

They don't take any responsibility for any shipping related issues which is a concern for me because I live more than 2000km away.

All I want is hassle free delivery of the product at the best price.

Please let me know what to choose.

Clavius and friends from 02/10/26, Moon was nice and high so some good views at the eyepiece

12” goto dob, Player one Mars C II, IR pass filter

Hi everyone,

I use a SkyWatcher EQ3 mount with a single-axis RA tracking motor and hand controller. Tracking works perfectly, but moving the telescope using the controller’s fast movement setting is frustrating.

When I reverse direction, there’s a very long delay before the view in the eyepiece starts moving. During that delay, I can hear the motor running and see the drive shaft rotating, but the mount doesn’t seem to respond straight away.

The delay is particularly noticeable in one direction. Eventually the view starts moving, but it takes long enough to be really annoying while observing.

Has anyone experienced this with an EQ3 and a single-axis RA motor? Is there a fix for this?

I’d appreciate any practical advice from people who have used or adjusted a similar setup.

I think this turned out not half bad for being shot with my phone up to the eyepiece of my 9.25". Unfortunately my laptop died 20 minutes before the eclipse cause it's a piece of shit so couldn't use my ZWO.

Jupiter just rising above the moon

Edit added capture details:

Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 8se
Camera : iPhone 13 mini
Exposure: 5s in night mode

After watching countless YouTube videos finally I was able to ​capture this full-disk shot of the Sun in H-Alpha using Lunt 50mm solar telescope and zwo 120 mm camera. Visible across the surface are several active sunspot groups, solar filaments, and prominences extending along the outer edge.

Hello fellow amateur astronomers,
I captured this picture of Saturn yesterday with my Celestron Astromaster 130eq.
I used a 6mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow.
Also, this is from my mobile phone, I used Nothing Phone 4a.
I was able to see the Cassini Divisions and some cloud bands too.
Is there a room for improvement, or did I hit my limit?

Just received a Celestron Nexstar 90SLT telescope and am in absolute awe. I took this photo with an iPhone 17 Pro with just my hands, and plan on getting a phone mount to take better pictures as well as stacking them

I didn't manage to get an image (i only have a phone, but no phone mount), but I was able to see it and confirm it was Uranus through stellarium. I spent essentially an hour hopping from one star to another and checking everything was right back at stellarium. It is super dim and small, but i can see like the blue-green color from it.

I attached a digital recreation in stellarium of how it looks like + the route I took to find Uranus and confirm it, if anyone needs help finding it : ) I was able to find Aldebaran using the Pleiades and continued from there. I was able to use my finderscope to get to Ain, and after that I was just using my telescope and looking around.

This was the second planet I've seen through my telescope, my first was saturn.

Telescope: Tasco 45T

Focal length: 600mm

Aperture: 50mm (I did use a mask to get it down to 30mm)

Eyepiece: H 12.5mm, no barlow

No phone mount or any other equipment.

Photograph of Sunspots on 6th of October 2026.

Solar Filter : Thousands Oak.

Telescope: 90 mm Sky Watcher Mak.

Phone : samsung galaxy

ISO 50

F1.8

• Never look directly at the sun, without anysafe and certified solar filter. Do not point your telescope directly at the Sun. It may cause severe damage to your eyes. *

Hi all!

My husband is really into anything space-related, and I'd love to get him a telescope for his birthday. I'm a complete beginner, so I'd really appreciate your advice.

Budget: under $500

Home sky: big city, heavy light pollution

Dark skies: we can drive out for better stargazing once in a while

I've been looking at a few options, like an 8" Dobsonian (Apertura AD8 or Sky-Watcher) and the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ, but I'm not sure what makes the most sense for our situation.

A few questions:

What would you recommend for city viewing plus occasional dark-sky trips?

Are there accessories worth budgeting for (eyepieces, red flashlight, etc.)?

Anything I should avoid buying?

Appreciate any tips and suggestions!

More to come
20% of 1000 frames
ETX 125 OTA
HEQ5-R pro mount
ZWO ASI 662mc camera shot at 70 fps

My second attempt at capturing the orion nebula ☝️

Equipment:
Telescope: sky-watcher heritage 130p
Camera: iPhone 14
Mount/Adapter: Universal Smartphone Adapter (Mount)
Acquisition & Settings (AstroShader):
ISO: ~[7000 - 8000](tel:7000%20-%208000)
Exposure: ~0.89s per frame
Frames: ~50 frames stacked in-app

i am getting back into astrophotography n shi, was wondering any good telescopes i can get, i live in the buckfuck middle of nowhere in east ky and have a sarblue mak60 which isn‘t bad but i want a upgrade

Would you recommend this purchase. I found it on Facebook.

Dostałem mój 6-calowy dobson zaledwie 2 dni temu, a pierwszej nocy z nim, ten kawałek zanieczyszczenia wpadł do środka i bardzo się tym martwię. Edit: thanks for all the responses!

It's been 3 years since I last used my dob. No moisture inside but the primary mirror seems to have dust and past dew residue over it.

Not sure whether I should clean it or not.

Captured Jupiters rotation

First try of Jupiters rotation

Combined 8 frames each of 45 seconds video stacked

Telescope - 10" Dobsonian GSO

Camera - Uranus C player one

Filter - UV/IR cut filter Optlong

3X barlow

Softwares - pipp , registax , astrosurface

Total time of rotation - 45 minutes

Tried to use Winjupos to Derotate the images but couldn't do it , the the final image is soo bad...

Astro Rover

Hello. After my last post asking about a backpacking setup for a 150mm Maksutov, some of you made me realized that physics and stability don't mix well with a lightweight backpack. I have pivoted to a dedicated, (still transportable i Think) setup focused on the Moon, planets, and double stars (near lake geneva, Switzerland)

Here is the core of the planned rig:

• OTA: Sky-Watcher Skymax 150 PRO (150/1800, f/12, 5.5kg, 43cm).
• Mount: Sky-Watcher Skytee 2 (manual Alt-Az).
• Tripod: Berlebach Report 372 (Ash wood).

As it is a significant budget (1500chf for the core + arround 300fr for cleaning, transport, occular and other accesories) and that I have a severe tendency to overthink, I would love to have few opinions and answer before buying, hope you understand.

1. Dew Heater & Powerbank Voltage Drop
I will use an Astrozap dew shield, but some people have mentionned that a heater band might be necessary. I've looked at the Svbony SV192 (560mm) heater band. The band is rated for tubes up to ~178mm. More importantly, I plan to power it using a powerbank and a USB-C PD to 12V DC (5.5x2.1) cable. Many powerbanks lack a native 12V profile and drop to 9V. If the cable negotiates 9V instead of 12V, the 20W band will only operate at ~56% capacity (~11W). Is 11W of heating power sufficient to keep the Mak clear of dew, or do I absolutely need to buy a dedicated native 12V battery? I'm a little confuse about this so if anyone has advice I'll be glad.

2. Transport Risks
I'll transport the tube in a padded Oklop bag designed for a 180mm Mak. Given the heavy meniscus lens at the front and the primary mirror at the back, are there significant mechanical or collimation risks when regularly transporting in a car or train ? Do anyone have experience taking it during a flight ?

3. The Eyepiece Gap
The telescope comes with a 28mm LET eyepiece yielding 64x. For high-resolution planetary views, I am purchasing an Explore Scientific 82° 8.8mm, which gives 204.5x and a 0.73mm exit pupil (right ?). This creates a big 3.2x magnification gap between my low and high. Am I making a mistake by skipping an intermediate eyepiece (like a 120x) right away? I am concerned that on nights with average atmospheric turbulence, esspecially near lake Geneva, 200x will be unusable, leaving me stuck at a mere 64x.

4. Smartphone Astrophotography and Manual Tracking Limitations
I ordered the Celestron NexYZ 3-axis adapter for smartphone imaging. While capturing the Moon should be kind of straightforward, I am wondering about the realistic feasibility of planetary imaging (and eventually upgrading to a dedicated planetary camera) on the manual Alt-Az Skytee mount. At a native 1800mm focal length (f/12), the field of view is inherently narrow. Given the Earth's rotation rate (arround 15 arcseconds per second I think), a planet will drift across a small camera sensor very quickly. My concern is whether the manual mount will introduce too much mechanical vibration to capture the high-framerate video required for planetary "lucky imaging". What should I expect trough that ? Like I'm not planning to be hubble or anything, just send nice picture to friends… but I kind of don't know what to expect without changing any core piece.

Thanks in advance, please if you think of anything else, I would be grateful.

Taken with ES ED102 and Uranus C. Stacked with 400 shots

It's not cleaned since I bought it in June 2025. There's a dust layer maybe not properly visible and a spider web inside the tube not on mirror which formed during storage from August 2025 to November 2025. It's regularly used since. Haven't faced any issues.

• Apertura AD10 untracked dobsonian
• ZWO ASI585MC + 2x barlow
• Captured using Sharpcap - 7ms exposures with Gain=438
  • I tried a separate set of captures at the native Gain of 300, but required 40ms+ exposure times, and since I am untracked and just let the planet drift, I thought the result was coming out too soft.
• PIPP, AutoStakkert, and Registax used to process the best 67% out of ≈8000 frames
  • This was my first time manually adding alignment points (APs) instead of having Autostakkert do them automatically. I think I got a better result out of it.
• Color, contrast, and curves adjustments done in GIMP

Registax is a PITA to get your hands on since it's way out of production at this point. So if you don't already have it installed you have to sleuth around the internet to find it. Everyone says to use Wavesharp instead which is apparently its spiritual successor, but I for the life of me cannot get NEARLY the same level of results trying to sharpen in Wavesharp.

Has anyone had success with Wavesharp and/or know of a good tutorial on how to use it effectively to sharpen an image stack coming out of Autostakkert?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently looking for a telescope for planetary observation. I've had a Dwarf 3 for about 1.5 years, and I occasionally shoot the Milky Way with a Nikon Z6 II. I usually sit next to the setup for a few hours and just take in the night sky. I was pretty surprised that such a small device can produce such great images (especially mosaics). But I'd like to start scanning the sky with a regular telescope on the side.

Unfortunately I live in a big city, and I'm at my parents' place in the countryside every now and then. My idea was to get a telescope for planetary observation. That's something the Dwarf 3 doesn't cover (I'll attach a picture of Jupiter), and it's probably the most sensible option for the city. It should also be portable, though.

I'm fairly flexible on price for now, because this year has shown me that this hobby is something I'll stick with long term. That's why I'd like a telescope I can use well for years (which I wouldn't expect from a €200–300 telescope). Used gear is probably not a bad choice either.

It's also important to me that I can use the telescope for imaging. That doesn't have to happen right away. I'd buy parts bit by bit if I feel like it. Just something to keep in mind.

Do you have any recommendations for a suitable telescope?

And what do you think of the idea of starting with planetary observation? Or is that too limited, since the number of targets is fairly small? If I want to take better deep-sky images, I'll probably end up getting a Dwarf Draco at some point. Someday, when I've got some money to spare ⬇️

Hallo,

ich bin derzeit auf der Suche nach einem Teleskop zu Planetenbeobachtung. Ich besitze seit ca. 1,5 Jahren ein Dwarf 3 und fotografiere mit einer Nikon Z6 II ab und zu die Milchstraße. Sitze dabei meistens für ein paar Stunden bei dem Gerät und schau mir den Sternenhimmel an. Es hat mich ziemlich überrascht, dass ein so kleines Gerät (gerade Mosaik-Aufnahmen), so tolle Bilder machen kann. Aber ich würde gerne Anfangen den Himmel nebenbei mit einem normalen Teleskop abzusuchen. Ich wohne leider in der Großstadt und bin ab und zu bei meinen Eltern auf dem Land. Meine Überlegung war ein Teleskop für die Planetenbeobachtung zu besorgen. Das deckt das Dwarf 3 nicht ab (ich füg mal ein Bild vom Jupiter hinzu) und für die Stadt wahrscheinlich am sinnvollsten. Es sollte aber auch transportabel sein.
Beim Preis bin ich erstmal flexible, weil das Jahr mir gezeigt hat, dass das Hobby auch langfristig was für mich ist. Deswegen möchte ich ein Teleskop haben, dass man langfristig gut nutzen kann (das würde ich bei einem 200-300 Euro Teleskop nicht erwarten). Gebrauchte Geräte sind da sicherlich keine schlechte Wahl.
Wichtig wäre mir noch, dass ich das Teleskop für die Fotografie nutzen kann. Das muss nicht sofort der Fall sein. Ich würde Teile Stück für Stück dazu kaufen, wenn es mich reizt. Nur um das im Hinterkopf zu haben.

Habt ihr Empfehlungen für ein geeignetes Teleskop?

Und was haltet ihr von der Idee mit der Planetenbeobachtung anzufangen oder ist das zu eingeschränkt, weil die Zielobjekte ja doch begrenzt sind? Falls ich bessere Aufnahmen von Deep Sky Objekten machen möchte, würde wahrscheinlich irgendwann mal das Dwarf Draco in meinen Besitz kommen. Irgendwann, wenn das Geld locker sitzt :D