Category : Equipment Reviews

Meade ETX105 Telescope Review

Posted on: August 23, 2015 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

My son was lucky enough to have won the Cambridge Young Astronomers prize of a 2nd hand Meade 105ETX at the 25 anniversary event in 2015. So I thought I would do a quick Meade ETX105 telescope review. I had previously taken the main telescope part out one evening and placed it on a table

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QHY5 vs DMK21 for Guiding

Posted on: November 4, 2014 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I have always used my QHY5 for guiding, most of the time attached to a Skywatcher 9×50 finderscope and it has worked quite well. But while at Kelling Heath this year I purchased an Altair Astro 80mm guidescope. Did I need to? I don’t know, may be a 60mm would have been a good upgrade

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Helios Nature Sport 7×50 Binoculars Review

Posted on: February 5, 2014 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I already have a rather large pair of 15×70 binoculars. These are fine and give you a great view, but sometimes too much magnification, that you don’t know where you are in the sky. Plus they are also very heavy and you can’t keep them still in your hands for too long, they really need

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QHY IMG132E Camera Images and Review

Posted on: February 2, 2012 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

My good friend Mick Jenkins has just purchased a new QHY IMG132E camera from Modern Astronomy, and he has had a really good first night with the QHY IMG132E camera. Mick has a Meade LX200 8″ telescope and was previously using a Celestron NexImage for lunar and planetary imaging. Mick was stated as saying “I

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Observatory Power Supply from Rapid

Posted on: February 4, 2011 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

Whenever you buy a dew heater system you need something to power it, for some reason I went for a Battery Powerpack from Maplin, which is very good and has an invertor on it, compressor, 2 12v cigar sockets and a USB charger socket, battery clamps, a worklight etc etc. But I hate having to remember

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Bahtinov Masks Review

Posted on: October 24, 2010 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I have heard so much about Bahtinov masks lately on the web and in magazines, so I thought I should check them out for myself. Bahtinov masks designed by Pavel Bahtinov, basically aid you when focusing your telescope for either visual or imaging use. They appear to be an improvement on the Hartmann mask (which

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Astronomik OIII CCD Filter Review

Posted on: July 3, 2010 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I have now moved over to collecting Astronomik filters, I did have a selection of both Baader and Astronomik filters. I have now settled on Astronomik filters for my narrowband filter set.  It’s important to always stick with the same brand of filters, as they should then all be parfocal. But don’t get me wrong I

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Netgear DGN3500 Review

Posted on: March 3, 2010 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I have been waiting for a Netgear Gigabit modem/router for ages, and at last one has been released. It’s called the DGN3500. At the time of writing it seems to be retailing for around £110 delivered, but I did not want to pay this much, so I decided to buy it from Pixmania for £81

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Philips SPC1300 Webcam for Astronomy?

Posted on: October 11, 2008 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

I noticed today that Philips have released a new range of webcams, and there are a couple of Pro models. The main one to look at is the SPC1300 or SPC1330 as it’s called on the Philips web site. The SPC1300 is said to be a 2 Megapixel webcam, unlike the SPC900 which is a

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Canon 450D Digital SLR Camera Review

Posted on: October 3, 2008 /
Categories: Equipment Reviews

My first DSLR purchase was a Canon 400D, which I purchased in July 2007, so about 14 months ago. A great camera and the only reason I bought it was to use it for astronomy. But once I heard about the new 450D being released, I thought why not upgrade? Well I left it a

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