It's been a while, too long, tonight I finally got my 8SE out of its box and on the NEQ6 for a session observing the Moon and Saturn (when it finally was up high enough at midnight).

I took the scope out shortly after 9pm, it's been so long since I set this one up (having been using my 150P on CG-4 for a while) it took me a few minutes to gather all the bits together as they've been moved about and were scattered around the house - the dew shield was in the pantry, telescope in its box, battery interface (a cut-down Maplins 5-in-1 battery pack, minus the battery and with a few modifications so that it can be plugged into a large leisure battery) on my desk. With everything eventually gathered together and plugged in, I tentatively switched on the NEQ6 for the first time using this new battery arrangement, and it just worked. That familiar zumzumzumzum that the motors make is such a sweet sound.

I didn't really bother to wait for the scope to cool and pointed straight at the Moon, no finder necessary for this. Wow. I remembered it being quite a bit better than the views I got last night through the 150P, but the difference really blew me away - so much higher magnification, clearer, sharper than the 150P. 10mm was the highest practical eyepiece (as usual) for the 8SE, even with a 5mm eyepiece the 150P couldn't come close to the 8SE.

I then spent the best part of an hour just panning around the lunar surface, looking at all the craters from the large deep ones to the tiny ones that are hardly noticeable at first. Recent ponderings about getting a 7" Mak 180 for planetary use seems like a folly when I have such a nice scope already, the difference may not be as great as the £700 price tag is worth.

I could see Saturn creeping above the garage roof but it was still just out of sight for the scope, I decided to take a break and get warmed up inside for 30 minutes, watched some CSI, then went back out for a peek at Saturn. Beautiful. Compared to the 150P, so much better. 25mm gave the best views, 10mm seemed too fuzzy on this fainter object (than the Moon). Spent a few minutes taking in the rings, I fancy I could see something on the disc too, either a large cloud band or the ring shadow. No sign of the Cassini division at 25mm, this would probably need a very clear, dark night and 10mm.

The clouds that had been looming from the North on the weather map had started to roll across the moon by this time, Saturn remained clear but I was really feeling the cold so decided to call it a night. Amazing how there was no dew in evidence at all tonight, I may even have got away without a dew shield but had it all on and the main heater tape running (with my new Astro-Tech controller) anyway.

I suppose the 8SE has its drawbacks as it requires so much more effort, not to mention heavy lifting, to take all the stuff out of the house and setup, probably takes twice as long as the 150P including all the battery stuff, heater tapes, wires, etc. It's the fantastic views that make it worth while, which I am reminded of each time I start observing (assuming I don't start looking for elusive DSOs and end up frustrated at not finding anything!)