I purchased one of these last week and cloudy sky ever since lol.   I could not find a thread dedicated to these fantastic scopes so thought it might be an idea to start one here.   So if anyone has an S50 and has any hints and tips please fire away ..read more

Hi, I am trying to build a refractor telescope with an upright image. I have used a biconvex 50mm diameter lens with 1000mm focal point for the objective lens, and a biconcave 50mm diameter lens with 50mm focal point for the eye piece. I think it should be about 20x magnification. It's about 1 meter to focus. The problem I am having is that it is like looking through a pin hole or down an extremely long tunnel. 90 percent of what I see is the inside of the scope. It magnifies really well at the image circle tho. How would I make the image circle bigger? Not zoomed in any more than it is, but r ..read more

This one is a prototype called the Pleiades 111 528mm/f4.8 - allegedly a 7 element Petzval design (probably a 3 element focal reducer and 4 element scope) It has the internal WIFD focuser so no focuser droop.       They also appear to have another 7 element shorter wide field scope in the pipeline too. it is called the Pleiades 68  - 258mm F3.8. I haven't found any pictures of that one though.   My guess is they will be heavy with all that glass. Also I expect they will be pricey.   ..read more

I have the Celestron Evolution 9.25" Edge HD telescope (among others!!) which comes fitted with a CG-5 (Vixen type) dovetail bar. I have taken the optical tube off the Evolution mount and am using it on my Skywatcher AZ EQ6 Pro mount - the AZ EQ6 can handle the tube and accessory weight!! My question is, will the Celestron CGE orange dovetail bar, their Losmandy type equivalent, fit the 9.25" Edge HD optical tube that comes with the Evolution? My understanding is that the optical tube is exactly the same as the version that ships with the dual fork mounts and the OTA version, but is this corr ..read more

Years ago I was into backyard astronomy and now want to recapture that thrill. I had a friend with a delightful tabletop scope that as I remember was expensive and collectible. It came in a nice case and on its blue barrel had the constellations. For the life of me I can’t remember its name. Please help ..read more

Hi all, Just thought I'd share a couple of pics of my 8.5" 1970s Fullerscope, still get great views of the night sky and planets, steady as a rock,  all original but super heavy, worth it though. Had the original handbook once, but looked everywhere , still can't find it ..read more

Hello. I recently acquired a Celestron 60mm travel scope National Park Edition. It was all in pieces, so I put it together. the problem is that the views are extremely blurry and never reaches focus. …However. I can get it to achieve focus, but It does so at a distance so far that I’m actually holding the eyepiece outside of the focuser because it physically cannot rack that far out. Everything’s together correctly, the objective mirror is put together correctly and is right side up. I’m lost with this scope, because I’m trying to fix it to have as a backup to my Orion XT10. Anyone can help? T ..read more

Tried collimating an old original SCT nex star celesteon scope. I am seeing double image when focusing on flashlight 50ft away. Only noticed the double image tonight. Tried loosening the screws for the secondary mirror thinking maybe I overtightened the collimating screws. That did not relieve the double image problem. When the flashlight is in focus I see the two images.  ..read more

I was installing the dew heater ring on my new Celestron 9.25 when I noticed that the inside surface of the front corrector plate has a film on it. I don't know if it is an oily film, or smoky or what but it is splotchy and uneven and even has a factory fingerprint on it. There are a few whitish spots that might even be fungus (see photos, but ignore the multitude of tiny spots-those are on the outside and are from dried condensation). I contacted Celestron about this and they said they would clean the inside surface of the corrector plate and emailed me a pre-paid UPS ticket to send it from m ..read more

Hi All, I'm hoping someone can help me...... I'll start by mentioning we are complete beginners, a few weeks ago we got a StarSense Explorer DX 6" we've been viewing planets etc on the few ocassions the sky has been clear. Last night was our fist opportunity to try and see the C/2022 E3 Comet (due to previously cloudy skies) We found a smudge of light in the correct location so put the Barlow 2X in to see if that made a difference but from that point we couldn't see anything at all, we adjusted the focus etc but couldn't see anything, even went back to view Mars as we knew this was easy to see ..read more