Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Review

“What’s more impressive is at this price point the glass used is FPL-53 glass. That’s some of the best quality glass used in amateur telescopes.”

Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Review

The Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Doublet Refracting Telescope. A solid entry in the range from Skywatcher, and I’ve had the pleasure of using this telescope for over half a year now.

80mm aperture, 600mm focal length. Natively f/7.5, not slow by any measure but a little slow for deep sky work. If you buy the dedicated matched reducer flattener which is 0.85x, you’ll get f/6.3 – almost half a stop faster. I use a 0.8x F/R which gives me f/6 bang on (that’s 420mm focal length) – exactly half a stop faster.

ZWO ASI 183mm Pro Review

A monochromatic camera (mono) is often referred to as a gold standard camera for astrophotography. I had the urge to use one again, so I got my hands on a ZWO ASI 183mm Pro for review. This camera was sent to me from First Light Optics for review.

I’ve had the ZWO ASI 183mm Pro for some time now in order to get a good handle on the camera and its qualities. In this article I’ll be sharing my feelings about the ASI 183mm pro.

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Cleaning Telescope Optics Quickly And Safely

Cleaning telescope optics is a question that gets thrown about a lot. In truth cleaning our optics isn’t something that needs doing all that often. In fact over-cleaning them could be detrimental to their health. So clean the telescope lenses or mirrors only when they begin to get really bad, or begin to affect image quality. In this article I’ll share my workflow for how I treat my telescope lenses, filters, camera sensors and camera lenses.

Optolong L-eXtreme Review

The Optolong L-eXtreme Filter

The Optolong L-eXtreme filter is the bigger brother to the hugely popular and widely well received Optolong L-eNhance filter. The L-eXtreme is a duo-narrowband filter that lets through Hydrogen-Alpha and Oxygen-III wavelenghts.

The filter is used best on emission nebula and supernova remnants. I’ve had this filter for a while and used it between a DSLR and a dedicated astronomy camera. In this article I’ll be sharing my thoughts about this narrowband filter that was designed for use mainly with one-shot colour (OSC) cameras.

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Using A Remote Telescope with Telescope Live

Using A Remote Telescope With Telescope Live

There’s been a particularly bad run of weather currently in Britain. I know that we’re famous for it, but it’s really been taking the cake right now. So when I was approached by Telescope Live to use some of their kit for a bit I couldn’t say no.

I was aware of remote telescope services already. I had even looked into one before but was quickly dissuaded by the price tag. Alex, from the Telescope Live team, made himself known, we had a call. Long story short you’re now reading a blog post about that experience. In this article I’m going to try and convey what to expect when you sign up to and begin using remote telescopes. Some of the best gear we can have access to, in some of the most pristine and darkest skies going. A way to access horizons and hemispheres we don’t usually get the chance to see.

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Optolong L-eXtreme First Impressions

On Monday I took receipt of the new Optolong L-eXtreme Dual Narrowband Filter. This puppy lets through Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen-III only. As luck would have it, Monday night was also clear. As was Wednesday and Thursday. So I screwed it onto my trusty Sky-Watcher Reducer Nosepiece and got ready for a night of astrophotography with this new Optolong filter.

L-eXtreme First Impressions

Like most gear, there’s a learning curve. Even a filter can take you a little bit to familiarise yourself with. As such, I chose a really easy target that absolutely lent itself to this L-eXtreme filter – NGC 6992 The Eastern Veil Nebula. This supernova remnenant primarily consists of Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen-III. So it was the perfect candidate of low hanging fruit I wanted, in order toget used to a new filter.

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Powering My Telescope With The Nevada PS-08

The Nevada PS-08 is a “regulated linear” power supply unit (PSU). It is used as a main power hub to power equipment. I’ve been able to use this now for a while, supplied from First Light Optics. Alongside the Nevada unit I was sent the Lynx Astro 4 Port Dew Controller. They now live in a box together and work alongside each other to get me going.

In this article I’ll be reviewing the Nevada PSU as well as the Lynx Astro 4 port Dew Controller which I used to power my equipment.

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Optolong L-eNhance Narrowband Filter Review

Optolong L-eNhance Narrowband Filter

The Optolong L-eNhance is a not-so-secret weapon in the war against light pollution. The enemy. The result of urbanization and un-optimal street lights. Every night when a lot of us try to view or take images of the night sky, we need to fight the pollution.

To that end narrowband filters are a great addition to the arsenal. The L-eNhance falls in more specifically as a multi-bandpass filter.

In this article I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings about this filter after having used it for several months. It was loaned to me from First Light Optics for review, and that’s exactly what I’m about to do.

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SvBony SV105 Camera Review – Affordable Lunar Camera!

When Retevis, a seller of SvBony products on Amazon, reached out to me and asked whether I would be interested in using their SV105 electronic eyepiece on the Moon. I thought that it would be a great idea, so I gladly agreed.

I reckon someone getting into Lunar photography will be interested in this affordable camera. So in this article I’ll be sharing my thoughts about this small camera and whether I think it’s a good starting point in your Moon journey.

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Astronomik 12nm Hydrogen Alpha Clip In Filter Review

If you’re looking for a way to really add some bang to your emission nebula, then hydrogen alpha data is probably the way to go. To that end we have this offering from Astronomik. A 12nm hydrogen alpha filter that can clip into a DSLR camera body. Isolating a singular wavelength of light – 656nm – and then letting the sensor capture that can really make a difference in your astrophotography. Taking your images all the way up to 11.

There are several reasons why to invest in a hydrogen alpha filter, there are also a lot of filters out there to choose from at different wavelengths. But for now, in this article, I’m going to talk about my findings having used the Astronomik 12nm Ha filter which was on loan from The Widescreen Centre.

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