John

If found that I needed 2 of the Rowan 3.8 kg counterweights when I had my 130mm F/9.2 triplet refractor on the AZ100. The scope weighed 9.5kg and the tripod was the Uni 28. There was no danger of the scope toppling over without the counterweights but I did find that they were needed to get the smoothest action from the altitude slow motion. Fore and aft scope balance was important as well in this respect.

15 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

It's an easy issue to resolve (pun intended). Simply leave a telescope outside to acclimatise for an hour or two on a winters night, then place any short focal length eyepiece straight out of a warm house into the focuser and aim your scope at a planet. It doesn't have to be a complex multi element affair, even a simple Mono or orthoscopic will do. The view will boil and agitate until the eyepiece reaches thermal equilibrium. 

I just don't find that Mike. I keep my eyepieces in a centrally heated room all the time and each one only goes outside when it goes into the scope, then back into the centrally heated room again until needed again.

I've observed this way for the past 10 years I guess and I've had no problems whether using simple orthos or very complex hyper-wide eyepieces.

I have tried having the eyepieces out with the scope when at star parties and outreach events and have sometimes had problems with fogging when eyepieces have got too cold but never optical issues when they are warm.

Interesting how two observers can have very different experiences isn't it but there you go

Refractors do need cool down times of course but I have noticed that the Tak FC100 is mininal in this respect. My Vixen ED102 on the other hand seems to need a good 30-40 minutes for the optics to get "on song". Fatter tube and thicker glass perhaps ?

Nice report

As Cygnus starts to get higher later in the year I'd recommend anyone who likes nebulae observing and with access to reasonably dark skies to get hold of a decent O-III filter (Astronomik or similar quality) and a low power / wide angle eyepiece in preparation to observe the Veil Nebula

Invest in a filter just for one target ?. Well an O-III has a marked effect on a number of targets but, IMHO, the views of the Veil with an O-III and under a reasonably dark sky are worth every penny of the investment

A UHC filter will help but an O-III is THE tool for the Veil.

This is just half of it !:

2 hours ago, Surfer Chris said:

Thanks John. 

I need to expand on the eyepiece collection. I was going to treat myself to perhaps one good new eyepiece on this current spending spree. Then perhaps look out for some good used EP's over the next few months.

So was thinking of ordering the 24mm Panoptic. I am guessing that this will offer a far superior experience (with wider FOV) compared to the 24mm setting on the Baader zoom I purchased. And I am not simply wasting my money buying an EP with a focal length already covered with the Baader zoom?

The Panoptic 24 is very nice. So is the Explore Scientific 24mm 68 and it's a lot less expensive.

The performance differences between today's eyepieces are not that huge to be honest with you. Thats not to say that there are no differences but they can often be quite subtle.

Just because an eyepiece costs 4x or more as much as another does not give you 4x more performance I'm afraid. An additional 10-15% more is perhaps more realistic !

29 minutes ago, Oldfort said:

This discussion is (to my mind) makes a great and realistic contrast to something I read - not sure where, maybe CN - about how easy it was to move a 12" Meade LX200.  Having had, and sold the 10" and then the 8" version, I could not disagree (not with John re a 12"Dob necessarily) more.

When you have different levels and narrow doors to navigate, portabilty becomes essential, unless you have a permanent installation.

I'm now living in a flat and observe from my balcony.  There are no steps to get outside and I have a wide sliding door, and not far to go.  Without that the AZ100 would have been a non-starter.

My 12 inch dob weighs (all in) about as much as one of the chinese 10 inchers do. Having helped folks set up their 9.25, 10 and 11 inch SCT's I know how heavy those things are 

With the two counterweights needed to handle my 130mm F/9.2 refractor, the AZ100 is too heavy for me I'm afraid 

8 hours ago, Astrobits said:

I use both this one :

https://www.asteroidoccultation.com/

and this one:

http://www.poyntsource.com/New/Global.htm

happy-kat link takes you to the specific page in the first link for this event.

The second web site tends to follow the first by a day or so.

Nigel

Looks like you have a 31% chance of visibility where you are Nigel.

Probably around 1% up here in Portishead

I'm a big Tele Vue fan but in all honesty I'm sure the Baader Morpheus will give you 100% of the experience with most scopes / targets and, as @jetstream / Gerry says, there are other 100 degree options that make a lot of sense unless you are going to be using them in a really fast scope and are very fussy.

I find they work better when above outside temperature - they don't mist up then when you put your eye to the eye lens !

9 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Indeed, that is certainly doable with the Uni 28/AZ100 combo and either StellaLyra CC6 or StellMira 80mm, each of which are about 7/8kg with eyepieces... not both together, but then that's an unusual use case for me.

Bizarrely, almost the quickest setup rig I have now is the 10" dob... it lives beside the back door at the end of a corridor (so away from most of the house heating)... take the tube off, set to one side, carry the base out onto the patio then carry and fit the tube... barely takes 2mins. Quicker than carrying the AZ100 rig out and then mounting the scope. That surprised me, as I'd shied away from dobs thinking they were cumbersome 🤣 I guess they would be going any great distance though... horses for courses 🤔

Not too bizzarre. My 12 inch dob is as quick to setup as any of my refractors.

2 minutes ago, faulksy said:

televue. i was going to suggest them but you went baader . which are very good apparently

Wicked man

57 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Will be interesting to see your comparison at to the manageability of one against the other. I certainly had no major issue carrying the (unloaded) AZ100 on the Uni 28 about 30 feet from my office to the back patio (no steps in the way).

Although I can easily manage the Report with Mak 127, binoviewer and two Hyperion Zooms outside in one go by the same route, I certainly wouldn't want anything onboard the AZ100 whilst carrying it. Happy enough to carry and load the scopes on afterwards. The same was true for the SkyTee II and indeed the AZ Mount Pro too though.

Yes, I'm happy to make two carries to setup mount / tripod then the scope and similarly when bringing it in. When setup though I do like to be able to move the whole rig a few paces here and there during a session just to make the most of my clear patches of sky here. I would prefer not to have to dismount the scope to do this. Currently I can move all my scopes / mounts around the garden a short, level, distance in one piece. I've owned a couple of setups where that was not possible and this became the main reason that I moved those on.

That looks great

Plywood is an excellent material for dob bases. Much better than particle board or MDF. Stronger and lighter.

I agree with the above posters - a Meade 90mm F/11.

I'm glad you are enjoying the FC100 - sounds like it is already doing the business for you !

Mars is much, much smaller now than it was at opposition - it's whizzing away from us and the small pink disk with faint albedo markings is what will will have to put up with now until the next opposition in December 2022.

The red / blue tints you saw around the limb of Mars were most likely caused by atmospheric dispersion as Mars is quite close to the horizon mid-evening now.

2 hours ago, Randy_Torres said:

Is Talteleoptics still in business?

Their website still seems to be active:

http://talteleoptics.com/

Try sending them an e.mail.

If you are looking for galaxies and clusters I would take the filter off the eyepiece. It won't improve your chances.

Leo and Virgo are teeming with galaxies that your scope will show but most are faint targets. Make sure your eyes are dark adapted as much as possible.

The Orion Nebula rather spoils us I'm afraid because it is so large and bright.

I finished off this session by putting the Ethos 21mm in the 120mm refractor and having a wander around the galactic playground that lies between Denebola and Vindemeatrix (Epsilon Virginis) and in particular the famous Markarian's Chain of galaxies. I must have picked up a dozen or more fuzzy spots, ovals and patches just in a small patch of sky here. I was pleasantly surprised how many of "the chain" were visible in the 12cm aperture.

Hopefully I'll get another similar night soon so that I can get my 12 inch dob in amongst these. You literally fall over galaxies at every turn here and it can be darned hard recalling which ones you have actually seen. Literally "Lost in Space" 

Very nice session, all in all, as the unexpected ones often are !

Switched back to high power to get a lovely view of the fine double star Gamma Virginis (Porrima) and then over to Hercules to get that challenging uneven brightness tight pair Zeta Herculis. Rather unusually the seeing AND the transparency seem good tonight. Zeta split at 225x and upwards.

Switched to the zoom to catch the "glittering prizes" of Messier 13 and 92, Hercules magnificent globular clusters. Both showing a nice spray of resolved outer stars at 125x magnification.

Getting chilly now though ❄️

Unexpected clear, dark skies tonight.

I got the ED120 refractor out and had a peruse of the usual suspect double stars in and around Orion. The seeing was decent "above the belt" (Orion's that is) but shaky lower down so Sirius was too much of a fuzzball to split this evening.

Did get the tight pair of Tegmine / Zeta Cancri though so that is Phil Harringtons current "Cosmic Challenge" met 

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/column/phil-harrington-s/cosmic-challenge-zeta-ζ-cancri-r3286

I decided to switch target type and have a go at some of the brighter galaxies, as the transparency seemed quite good.

I popped the 24mm Panoptic eyepiece into the diagonal and set to work in Leo, starting with his "head" end and working backwards under his belly. I was quite pleased to get this haul with the 12cm aperture:

NGC 2903

NCG 3190 and NGC 3193 - members of the "Leo Quartet" group.

M 95, M 96, N 105 and NGC 3384 - these were all in the same field of view and very nice it was !

M 65, M 66 and NGC 3628 - the famous "Leo Triplet" and again a nice view. NGC 3628 (AKA The Hamburger) is more challenging than the other two with this scope.

NGC 3489

NGC 3367

NGC 3412

NGC 3810

NGC 3705

So 15 Leo galaxies in all so far. None fainter than magnitude 11.5 but some quite challenging nonetheless in the smaller scope.

Not my normal fare with this scope but it's fun to change tack from time to time 

Well done !

You are lucky to have Sirius so high up down there. Here it's a "viewing between the trees / houses" job !

I've read about issues like this before with Bresser dobs. There should be an extension tube in between the focuser drawtube and the eyepiece I think. Does your scope have this ?

I use the Lunt 1.25 inch Herschel Wedge with my Takahashi, Vixen and Skywatcher ED refractors. No problems at all and no effect on the coatings.

The heat is concentrated well away from the surfaces of the objective lens, where the Sun's rays are bought to focus by the objective so, in my case, 663mm or 900mm away.

4 minutes ago, StuartT said:

🤣

Just bought the 12.5mm Morpheus

Thanks peeps. I've only been here a day and already I've learned masses. You lot are SO friendly and helpful!

 

Congratulations - excellent eyepiece !
 

Your others might not seem so good now ....... it's a sort of domino effect

Hello and welcome to the forum !

The 8 inch dobsonian is an excellent scope. Very popular on here and for good reason.

In terms of what you can see, this post is worth a careful read and I think will give you some idea of the potential of your scope:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

If you can observe away from street lights and other forms of light pollution you will see more where deep sky objects are concerned.

The moon, the planets and double star observing are less affected by light pollution.

3 hours ago, Dantooine said:

You thinking of getting John ?

Not really, just comparing the weight of the AZ100 against that of my T-Rex.

With the AZ100 I found that I needed 2 of those lovely shiny counterweights for my 130mm F/9.2 refractor so that is an additional 7.6kg so it looks like it would be a 17-18kg mount and then the tripod on top of that.

Having played with the AZ100 I'm not surprised by these weights but it is useful to have confirmation because I didn't get a chance to weigh the mount plus the extra bits when I had one available.

Many thanks to @Oldfort and @Stephenstargazer for the information