DhamR

Worth mentioning that the bigger you make any image (photos for example), the blurrier they appear - As anyone who's tried to pinch images from google image search will know. So whilst eyepiece quality probably comes into play (I'm a novice too so only ever used my kit ones and can't comment on others) you need to remember that you are magnifying the earth's atmosphere as much as you are the object you're trying to look through it at. When looking at Jupiter right now, it's very low in the sky, therefore you're looking through more atmosphere, and over more heat-haze/air disturbance coming off buildings, the ground etc. Our eyes are also pretty good at "guessing" and extrapolating information to fill in details, but only up to a point, so this might be affecting it. When you look at the image small, your eye works out the detail, when it's big, you just see a blurry mess and therefore don't trust any potential detail you might be picking up. Or I could be talking a load of nonsense and you need a better 10mm EP! 🤣

I asked this question about concentric rings, I think you only get those at high mag. I was told that if when the star is dead centre, you get a good secondary shadow, your collimation is ok.

Well I'm glad I wasted all that effort on a necro thread! Thanks for making me look a wally @Mikeshuerto...

I have the same scope, and have attached a canon SLR to it without any bother. The issue, as Ronin said, is tracking. The sky "rotates" around us (we spin within it) so taking long-exposure pictures requires tracking, otherwise you get star trails. You'd need to buy a canon->1.25in adaptor. What this will actually be is a canon->M42 adapter, and an M42->1.25in adaptor, but you can buy them together. You can then (assuming yours is the heritage and has the extendable/collapsible tubes) rather than move the mirror, you can collapse the tube down until the image comes in focus on the camera's screen. You'll need to pick bright objects for this though and it can be incredibly tricky with the focuser. Also worth pointing out this will put weight on the scope in ways it wasn't designed, probably knocking collimation off, and maybe causing damage. It really is a scope for visual astronomy, I only really take quick photos to show my wife what I've been looking at (she's interested, but not enough to sit outside in the cold). I suspect I may want to get into AP at some point, but I'd be looking at a tracking mount for my camera first I expect.

I bought a Svbony laser to use with my Heritage 150P but a) the laser dot was oval even outside of scope-use and b) it's too loose in the focuser to be in any way reliable, as a slight change in angle massively impacts where the laser hits.

The moon's made a daylight appearance just now, and in a break through the cloud got a lovely view along the terminator.

I'm new to this, but I tend to have a look around 5/6ish when doing dinner, if it looks promising I'll set the scope up for a look at any setting planets or the moon, then leave it out while I sort dinner. I'll have another look before my daughter's bedtime at 7, regardless of the above, so I can give her a quick look at something. Then I'll check again around 8-9pm to see if there's a chance of a few hours before bed. I'm glad I didn't go bigger than the heritage 150 though or it'd be much more of a faff.

Thanks. Bortle 6 here but with all local light blocked by buildings/fences/objects placed intentionally on a child's Wendy house. Need to look into the travel times to my nearest site.

Spent a bit of time on Andromeda last night after a bit of moongazing which was great at 75x. Re andromeda, could just about make out a dark band in the lower right portion, so stuck the camera on the scope to confirm my eyes weren't making it up. The attached shows pretty much what I thought I could see, plus a bit more. Then had a look at Orion's Nebula, split the trap quite easily and just tried to make out as much as I could outside of the central band of green. The dark shadow of the centre had some detail in it, but trying to follow it out wasn't doing anything sadly. Usual stop at Plieades for some twinkles, and then indoors to finish off watching Don't Look Up.

Same, incredible numbers of clear days this week. Wish I could see the number of galaxies you can, even andromeda disappears if I look at it. Might need a night of galaxy spotting and leaving the moon and Orion alone for a bit.

I've got the collapsible Heritage Dob 150P and my most comfortable sessions have been on my lawn with the "tabletop" mount directly on the floor and my backside on a yoga mat. I'm considering a waterproof beanbag and going full hippie. It's been too wet for putting the scope on the floor recently though, so I've been using my garden coffee table. It just means some awkward leans for some targets.

I just had a quick look out too before bed. We had snow here earlier so was surprised to see it clear. Lots of twinkling out there and some cloud about but orion's jewels were showing still. Plieades looked lovely too, a bit of sparkle didn't hurt them! Quick q that's been bugging me, what's this in Stellarium?

I didn't expect as much, but you never know. There's a lot of terminology and sharing an experience in words that you had with your eye to some glass isn't easy, difficult to know when to stop with the detail.

I had what I'd call my first proper night out with the scope last night having finally realised that what I thought was bad collimation, was in fact good collimation (seeing the secondary off-centre) - see my painful beginners thread if you're interested, also includes lots of umming ahhing. Long story short I bought myself (and the 4yo daughter) a Skywatcher Heritage 150P Virtuoso for Christmas. Live in Bortle 6 area but other than a few neighbours with over-sensitive motion-sensing lights, very little in the way of stray light. Which is good as I'm yet to build a shroud for the open end of the tube. I did have to put one of the garden cushions on top of my daughter's wendy house to block one offending light, worked perfectly. I've never written an obs report so let me know if I make any faux pas etc. We started with Jupiter and the moon before even aligning the mount, purely so we could get some views before they disappeared, particularly my 4yo co-observer doesn't have the patience for much else. Jupiter's banding at 75x was the clearest I've seen it, could see one largish orange-red band just above the equator. The four gallilean's were also present, two either side, and it was mind-bending coming back to them shortly afterwards seeing they'd moved. Motion outside of rising-setting brings the reality of what you're looking at to the forefront. The moon herself was great, with the terminator highlighting some interesting craters both at 25mm (30x) and 10mm (75x) but at this point the tiny person ran off inside. I then got the scope aligned using Deneb and Castor and immediately headed to M42 and M45 as these have been the two objects I've seen most from my garden when testing out the scope. Ease of location, darkness of the sky in that direction and the lack of obstructions in my garden make them great places to start. M45 showed a bit of nebulosity around at least two stars, it was initially hard to discern this from visual issues but I satisfied myself it wasn't poor focus, centralising of the star and that I had no dew. I had none throughout the night actually, despite my scope freezing itself to the dewy glass table and my aperture cap getting so frosty it started creaking at me. M42 was also the best I'd ever seen it, lots of green glow present, obvious recognisable shape, and I split the Trapezium at 75x. Even got a cheeky photograph (I'll attach later) at 10s with my Canon 60D. I also got probably the best views of M31 I've had so far. Although only any good if I didn't look directly AT it, bloody biology, I definitely saw differentiation in the blur around the disc, but no spiral. I tried to spot a few other galaxies and nebulae from the Synscan "Tonight's best" list, including M101 but I couldn't view anything at all. Most of these were in the NW direction though, which I'm less familiar with the sky of, so I can't be 100% sure I was looking in the right direction. I then tried to split some doubles, getting a few nailed down, but sadly not taking a note of which I was successful with and which I wasn't. I wasn't expecting to get many as I know I'm mostly working in the low-power ranges but was pleasantly surprised how obvious some of them appeared.

So that was me writing a really long post about collimation and how I thought the scope was wrong, I've since paid a bit more attention to the documents out there (including @Spile's excellent guide) and noticed the bit about the reflection of the secondary NOT being centralised in the view. Now that I've accepted that, and concentrated on a) centring the secondary itself, and b) centring the primary in it, I'm pretty bang on. I also had a Svbony laser collimator arrive, but it's so loose in the focuser, that I'm more confident in my collimation by eye than I am that it is well collimated itself. It's going back up the Amazon either way. So good in fact, I decided to ruin it by again sticking a big heavy weight on the end of the struts Really struggling to get the moon sharp, it almost always looks soft, but I'm taking it as the fact that it's low in the sky and over rooves rather than my focusing, as I managed to also get the below snap of Orion's Nebula (10s at ISO 1600) it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy as it means I can show Mrs ham what I've spent all night staring at Visually I got great views of Jupiter today, very clear banding, and the four Galilean moons. M42, M45 are two favourites from my garden due to how easy they are to find, plus darkness of the sky in that direction and the lack of obstructions. I got probably the best views of M31 I've had so far too (although best if I didn't look AT it and therefore too dim to know the camera was pointing the right way to get a photo of). Tried to spot M101 but nothing doing.

Ignore me pls

The spider vanes and focuser are all fixed on the heritage 150P

Yeah that's the first step I started with, but, as I explained to FLO via email, there isn't quite enough range in the central screw to get the secondary circular AND directly under the focuser. Agree that looks a bit rotated though, I'll have another play with it this week and try and sort that (if I haven't sorted it since that photo was taken). On another topic. I got a good view of Jupiter a night or two ago from our holiday apartment in a bortle 4, saw at least one band and managed to split two converging moons. The Plieades shone particularly brightly too, as did the double cluster. Unfortunately I didn't get much in the way of views of nebulae and galaxies because the owners of the property have it so well illuminated I was getting horrendous light interference on the secondary and the wind was a thwarting any attempt to hold things up to protect it. So once I've sorted collimation, next step is to build a light shroud.

I'm not in possession of a Cheshire yet. These were taken through the focuser. I've ordered one from svbony but they told me it was a "banned item" and they can't ship it to the UK. When questioned they said "because lasers" despite it being a laser-free pure sight tube... So I'll need to look elsewhere. The secondary definitely isn't that far into the field of view when looking down the focuser, and the lack of circularness is part of the problem, if I tilt it to lose the oval shape, I lose the reflection of the primary off the right hand edge. I think the reason the focuser looks oval is perspective, in the wide angle view I can't be confident the camera was looking directly down the tube.

Site tube is in this one. I was following that guide already tbh. Its that that makes me think the mirror should extent further to be directly underneath and circular.

Sorry which circle should be offset? Not quite sure I understand why the focal ratio would make any difference but I'm probably being dim.

I've been having a further play with the collimation, and I'm finding that to get the secondary even close to centred and circular in the focuser, I have to have it right at the end of its thread, which doesn't feel right to be honest, so I've emailed FLO (and added a picture here). I've also got the top truss thumb screw clashing with the red dot when the scope is collapsed which seems like a poor design decision... Other than that I can get collimation pretty spot on. I've had a few partially cloudy nights and realised when this is the case, aligning the Virtuoso is not worth bothering with. By the time I've started, the stars I was going to align with are gone behind clouds (it is doable with the moon though). Its also incredibly difficult star hoping when you can't see full constellations for reference (is that a bright star? Or just the only star I can see). Beggars can't be choosers with the weather like this I suppose. Saw Jupiter as a big white ball with four smaller stars coming off it last night. Just before it dipped below horizon. Andromeda still evaded me though. And on a few other nights I showed my wife and mother in law that the Plieades is visible with the naked eye. Although neither of them could get a view through binoculars... Not sure what they were doing wrong. I'm heading to a Bortle 4 area for new year so will be taking the scope. Any advice on transport would be great. I don't like the idea of leaving the scope attached to the mount by the dovetail as I do when storing, was thinking of just wrapping the OTA in a duvet or coats. But I would like a more permanent solution.

I've managed a cheeky couple of hours out in the cold tonight (you do not feel the cold until you come in...) Ticked off a few of the most obvious sights even though the sky was pretty misty and the moon was being a pest: - Pleiades - Beehive Cluster - Double Cluster - Orion Nebula, including the Trapezium this time. - Merope Cluster And a few other clusters. I got in the right locations for a look at a few nebulae too, but other than being able to see the sky brighter in their vicinity, that was all I got to see. I'm wondering if I need a wider eyepiece than my 24mm for some of them? - I split my first double, can't remember which though it was doable at 30x but looked even better at 75x I also bought a cheap m42 to 1.25in adapter this week (I already have an M42 to Canon adaptor for use with old lenses) to see what my 60D would see of the moon. I don't think I nailed the focus, the sky was misty, and the mirror slap was causing a slight shake (I can switch that off, but was just getting a quick snap). I was surprised how steady the scope sat with it attached, and might be a useful tool to show my daughter what I'm looking at through the scope when the time eventually comes!

I just thought I'd supplement Piero's excellent comment with my PROFESSIONAL* editing of your picture: (* caveat: I am a massive noob to this, but kind of "get" collimation). You have everything lined up, but you're not using the best bit of the secondary in the centre of the view.

Congrats on the order! I don't think you'll regret the choice. If you can I recommend getting it out and having a look over it before Christmas Day just in case of issues. Mine arrived damaged (sorted quickly by flo) and if I hadn't been an eager beaver it could have been disappointing on Christmas day. Also, great name, will be spending tomorrow with friends who've got a 2yo called Thea. I hadn't drawn the similarity with Theia the Greek Godess let alone Theia the planet. Will share with them tomorrow!