John

Having spotted Neptune's biggest and brightest moon Triton earlier this evening with my 200mm newtonian I felt that I might be in with half a chance of spotting at least what is currently marginally the brightest Uranian moon, Titania. Once I located Uranus, I found that I could get quite a sharp image of it's disk even at very high magnifications (340x and more) so the seeing is pretty good. I've managed to get consistent sightings of Titania and Oberon and an occasional glimpse of Ariel as well, which is a new observation for me. Last time I saw Titania and Oberon I was using my 300mm scope so it was pleasing to repeat those with the smaller aperture and even more so to get fleeting glimpses (averted vision) of Ariel. This is a Stellarium generated image of the view of the Uranus system with a newtonian scope at high power. Miranda and Umbriel were beyond me this evening.

Being told how we must and must not think about a new product ????

Fixed that

Expensive though, for many ?

If you have slow motion controls then you can choose not to use them when you don't need / want them. If they are not fitted then you don't have that option. I guess you can't blame folks for hoping for as many options as possible for their £550 even if the reality is that you can't get the level of engineering precision that Rowan provide AND all the bells and whistles for that price ?

In this corner of the dining room lurk my three larger aperture scopes - the 300mm F/5.3 dobsonian, 200mm F/6 newtonian (which is new to me) and the 130mm F/9.2 triplet refractor. The latter has it's focuser and dew shield retracted so it's length is deceptive. Wish the clouds would go away so that I can use them more Quite a size difference between the 300mm and the 200mm isn't there ?

To be honest Stu, I don't have hard and fast preferences on many things astro-wise. As long as I can get out and observe I'll make the best of whatever is available

That was exactly the same experience that I had with my Meade Lightbridge 12 inch. In the end I decided to downsize to a 10 inch newtonian on an alt-azimuth mount and then later upsized again when a lighter weight UK made 12 inch optical tube came my way, for which I had a nice dobsonian mount built. There is no doubt that the chinese made 12 inch dobsonians are good value but they are just the wrong side of the weight limit in my view, unless you get / make some sort of trolley system for them.

I can carry the T-Rex on the GMT-128 tripod outside (with both hands !) in one piece relatively easily. I have a 20cm pier extension as well but I've not tried adding that yet. The GMT-128 (EQ6 equivalent) is tall enough, most of the time. With the TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 on board I can move the whole shebang short and level distances around my garden / patio, taking some care.

You must be fitter than I am Stu. I don't find the UNI 28 on it's own a safe or easy one armed lift I'm afraid.

Very much the same as myself on both counts

Excellent points Stu Reminds me of some of the stuff that I've tried out on behalf of the forum in the past. You can only call it as you see it.

Not yet Alan, but under a really dark sky, and when fully dark adapted, who knows what might be possible ? @mikeDnight has done it with his 100mm I seem to recall.

Unless another manufacturer made it ? Rowan make superb mounts and I can see where they have gone with the AZ75. Another manufacturer might be able to provide something with slow motion controls, similar build (not exactly the same, but still very good), similar weight and at a similar price. Then we consumers will have even more choice

Great report ! Congratulations on Triton and Mimas. I've seen the former reasonably often now but not, so far, the latter. The next step from Triton (for me) was Titania and Oberon at Uranus - a touch fainter than Triton. In principle a couple more Uranian moons might be visible so more possibilities there as well

I'll try and resist that ! Mind you, given that this newt cost about as much as the finder on my TMB/LZOS ............

I picked up a pre-owned 200mm F/6 newtonian today to bridge the gap between my 130mm refractor and my 300mm dobsonian as a lighter alternative to the dob for society observing sessions etc. I was expecting a tidy decade old scope with Orion Optics decent basic optics and was very pleasantly surprised to find this in the envelope that came with the scope: The scope and optics are immaculate - I'd swear that the scope has never been used.

Superb

IMHO any illumination, red or otherwise, is unwelcome when trying for really faint targets eg: the Horsehead.

Just a quick bump: anyone else had any luck seeing these white ovals in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter ? I've noticed them showing quite frequently in images of the planet, mostly when the GRS is on the other side. I've not had a session with good enough seeing since this thread to pick them out again. This image from @neil phillips shows them nicely:

I use one of the Baader T2 Zeiss prism diagonals with my F/9 Tak 100mm. As John says above, it can be configured in a number of different ways by swapping T2 bits. I;ve used mine as a 2 inch as well as a 1.25 inch diagonal. I'm a big fan of this Baader click-lock 1.25 fitting just now which seems to work so well with a wide range of eyepiece barrel designs: I've also owned a couple of the Tele Vue Everbright 1.25" diagonals which I used in faster refractors. They are expensive but very high quality and excellent performers for a mirror diagonal IMHO.

I don't think we diverge that much Alan - I've spent much of my observing over the years "nudging" dob mounts or using Giro type mounts so slow motion controls are not essential IMHO. They are nice to have in a number of circumstances but if the motion of the mount is smooth (and becomes familiar) I can and have certainly managed just fine without on many occasions Where I do seem to diverge from many is on push-to functionality which just does not interest me. But the AZ75 has the potential for that for those who would like it

I'm not at all surprised by that. But ........ it still leaves a niche for a quality mid-range alt-az mount that DOES have slow motion controls.

Congratulations on your ED102 refractor I've owned my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 refractor for over 14 years now (longer than any of my other scopes) and it's given me hours of observing pleasure Powerful enough to deliver some really interesting views but still pretty portable.

Thanks Stu