Skywatcher HEQ5 & HEQ5 Syntrek are back!
Tuesday, 8 May 2012  Last year the Skywatcher HEQ5 and HEQ5 Syntrek mounts were discontinued in favour of the more popular higher spec'd Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO. Following demand here in the UK they have been reintroduced. So, we can now offer three versions of this very successful mount. Read more... |
Burglary at the Astronomy Centre
Tuesday, 1 May 2012  The Astronomy Centre in Todmorden has been burgled and various instruments stolen. If you see the following offered for sale on auction sites or similar websites please contact Peter Drew at the Astronomy Centre... Read more... |
Review of Skywatcher Esprit 120
Friday, 13 April 2012  This detailed Skywatcher Esprit 120 Review by Alan Dyer was recently published by 'SkyNews', the Canadian magazine of astronomy and stargazing. Read more... |
Our pricing policy
Monday, 27 February 2012  We are often asked to price-match or to offer discount so we thought it might help if we let everyone know where we stand with regards to pricing. Read more... |
An apology and a commitment
Sunday, 26 February 2012  We know we don't always get it right, we are human after all. Recently we struggled to stay on top of enquiries following the tidal wave of communications generated by the BBC Stargazing Live series. During this time we were not able to give our core customers the attention they deserve. This has embarrassed us greatly... Read more... |
NEW Skywatcher EQ8 Premium-quality Heavy-duty mount
Thursday, 9 February 2012  We have recieved details of a new Skywatcher EQ8 premium quality heavy-duty mount with 50 Kg payload capacity, a new pillar-tripod design, high resolution direct-drive stepper-motors and patented dual-encoder technology for perfect harmony between manual handling and automated Synscan driven operation, never losing the position. Read more... |
NEW Skywatcher AZ EQ6 Mount Incoming
Thursday, 9 February 2012  We have recieved news of a new Skywatcher AZ EQ6 dual-load, dual-purpose heavy-duty mount incorporating both Alt-Azimuth & Equatorial GOTO functions. Read more... |
Stargazing Live Telescopes
Monday, 16 January 2012  We kept a keen eye on the telescopes mentioned in tonight’s episode of Stargazing Live hosted by Professor Brian Cox and Dara O’Brian. The BBC were, of course, careful not to endorse a particular brand or product but the Skywatcher Explorer 130p SupaTrak was easy to identify. This is good as it is an excellent choice for someone starting out in amateur astronomy. Read more... |
NEW William Optics Zenithstar ZS70 2012
Monday, 12 December 2011  The NEW f6 William Optics Zenithstar 70 ED is an excellent choice for wide-field astrophotography and will undoubtedly become a bestseller.  Read more... |
Atik Newsletter No.13
Friday, 21 October 2011  Atik cameras have released their latest newsletter which includes a feature on the Kelling star party, their new Atik 420L and Atik 450L cameras and details of their Imaging Competition. Read more... |
Atik EFW2 Filter Wheel & OAG Review
Thursday, 20 October 2011  This review of the Atik EFW2 Filter Wheel and Off Axis Guider is the second of two reviews written for us by Steve Richards, author of ‘Making Every Photon Count’ and writer for The Sunday Times, BBC Sky at Night Magazine and BBC Focus Magazine. Read more... |
Starlight Xpress Filter Wheel & OAG Review
Thursday, 20 October 2011  Fans of Off Axis Guiders have never had it so good! The flimsy lightweight offerings of yesterday have given way to new sturdy models that are more easily setup and adjusted. Starlight Xpress and Atik are most noteworthy having developed new Off Axis Guiders to complement their existing motorized filter wheels. We sent one of each, together with their filter wheels, to Steve Richards to assess.
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Atik Newsletter No.12
Tuesday, 20 September 2011  Atik cameras have released their latest newsletter. They have a new camera nearly ready for production, a new member of staff, a visit to the South West Astronomy Fair and an article about the well loved Atik 16HR by Pedro. Read more... |
Pentax 0-GPS1 Astrotracer
Thursday, 2 June 2011  We have received details of a remarkable new accessory from Pentax that will interest astronomers using Pentax K-5 or K-r DSLR cameras to photograph the night sky.
Read more... |
Affordable Triplet Refractors?
Tuesday, 31 May 2011  We are often asked to source and supply 'affordable' triplet refractor telescopes. It would be easy enough, FLO has access to them, so why are we not doing so? Read more... |
Hawke Binoculars
Thursday, 19 May 2011  First Light Optics is now an authorised retailer for Hawke Optics products  We have a number of their binoculars in stock including the Hawke Frontier ED and ProStalk ED series and a rather neat NatureTrek Monocular with 50mm objective. The Hawke Frontier ED with it's magnesium alloy body and ED optics is something of a legend amongst birders and nature observers. It has done for them what the Evostar 80 ED has done for astronomers - redefined what can be achieved and become the benchmark at it's price. Read more... |
StarSharp Bahtinov focus masks
Wednesday, 11 May 2011  First Light Optics has been appointed exclusive UK retailer for StarSharp Bahtinov focus masks You would think sourcing a well-made Bahtinov focusing mask would be easy! Slots cut into a sheet of plastic suspended on the front of the telescope, how difficult can it be... It took us nearly a year! Read more... |
Vixen LVW vs Baader Hyperion Eyepieces
Sunday, 8 May 2011  Two of a kind! The hugely popular Baader Hyperion eyepieces are clearly 'influenced' by the Japanese-made Vixen LVW series. Back in Autumn 2010 we loaned a set of both to John Huntley of Stargazerslounge for a head-to-head review. Here are his findings...
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Welcome to our new website!
Friday, 6 May 2011 Hi,
Last year we announced on Stargazerslounge that we were working on a new website so would be grateful for suggestions and criticism. We received plenty of both! This is the new website, we hope it meets with your approval 
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