dweller25

It sounds like you have a good plan to first line the finder up with the eyepiece view in daylight, you will need to look at something at least 300mts away for the scope to come to focus. You may have an extension tube in the focuser that will need to be removed to achieve focus. The scope will need to be cooled down for at least an hour for best results. View on grass not hot concrete. Atmospheric seeing is poor at the moment so that will affect the quality of the views. Check and adjust collimation on a good night. Good luck 👍

It’s very low - just 6’ high in the UK at dawn. Probably not good visually but the imagers may get some detail….

You have moved from a 130mm scope to a 200mm scope, in my experience the larger scope will be more affected by seeing conditions. The Jetstream is often over the UK and it will negatively affect the views in a telescope. Yesterday was quite windy and that definitely affects seeing. If you cannot get a high star to focus to a stable view then atmospheric stability is probably the issue and you just have to wait for better conditions. I have been in this position many times and just packed up !

Perhaps this Dobsonian on a table top ? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

And put the scope on grass not concrete as that holds heat

I was thinking about getting back into imaging until I read this 😱

Use the “Fan” Luke 🤣

Hello @DAT, I suggest you slightly defocus on a star at high altitude and then compare the view to this chart which should help determine what your issue is 👍

There was a 250mm Mewlon for sale on AstroBuySell for quite some time for a VERY low price. It was eventually bought but it was a scam and the buyer lost all his money. If a deal is too good to be true - it usually is ! Never do a high value bank transfer without seeing the item in person. SGL has a sales section which I have used quite a bit and never had an issue but the usual take care rules still apply.

That doughnut image does not really confirm good collimation as it is too far from focus. Ideally you should perform final collimation at perfect focus, on a high star and at x300 plus power - you should be able to see a perfect airy disk if seeing allows…..

Yes, if you can track it fast enough - it moves very quickly, but @Kon manages it with a dobsonian……. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/418411-first-international-space-station-for-2024-260124/#comment-4453699

The International Space Station is a naked eye object and passes over the UK regularly. I use an app called “ISS SPOTTER” to predict it’s position, “Stellarium” can be used too.

Hello Jerry and welcome to SGL 🙂👍

Mars angular size over the next couple of oppositions….

Coming soon, The Moon, Hesiodus crater ray phenomenon, May 28th….