John

If the finder was originally intended as a straight through one, it's tube is probably too long to enable a diagonal of any sort to be used. Diagonals use up a fair amount of light path so the finders that are designed to use them have shorter tubes to accommodate this.

That's what I've found with SN. Find the galaxy then bang up the magnification to tease out the faintest points of light. At least with NGC4414 the host galaxy is likely to be visible. With the last SN that I observed, the host, NGC 514 was very hard to see at all even with my 12 inch scope. Averted vision can help with both the host galaxy and the SN itself of course.

My first double star was Algieba (Gamma Leonis) with my first telescope - the Tasco 60mm refractor. I split this into two stars (much to my amazement) at 64x magnification but it became clearer at 133x which was pretty much the max for that scope. You never forget your "firsts" in this hobby

I have a Tak FC100-DL. It is a light and easy to mount scope. I don't image so I've found a Vixen GP, Giro Ercole and the Skytee II mounts work very well with the DL while remaining portable. Nothing has heavy or complex as the AZEQ6 for me:

Well, if and when we do get there, something will be glad to see us

The maximimum theoretical magnification is rarely useful because of the seeing conditions we have to endure. I think a more practical range of high magnifications for your scope would be 140x - 200x.

Synta own the Skywatcher brand and make their scopes. They also now own the Celestron brand and make many scopes under that branding. So in that way Skywatcher do offer a 150mm SCT, branded Celestron - the 6 inch SCT. I think the Celestron C6 was the first SCT design that had it's manufacture transferred to Synta after the takeover.

If the Morpheus body is made from the same stuff as the Baader Classic's then it's light and tough. Same factory perhaps ?

Thanks Michael. Definitely one to have a go for when some clear skies come along Right on the Coma B / Canes V boundary so well placed after midnight.

The twisting action on the eyepiece is adjusting the height of the eye cup. Folks who wear glasses when observing often need the eye cup in a lower position (closer to the top lens) while those who do not often get on better with the eye cup section twisted into a higher postion. This is nothing to do with focusing which is done with the focuser on the scope. These eyepieces are fixed focal lengths so not zooms. The Meade HD 60's have a good reputation.

Posted in error.

Celestron were even better again when Vixen used to make a lot of stuff for them

Over the past week I've noticed the posting of telescope setups, which have been recently purchased but not used much, starting to build up on e.bay. Some of the pricing is a bit optimistic but I guess they are hoping that the low usage of the equipment plus the shortage of equipment available to buy new might help them to recoup much of their original investment. If the gear was purchased during the 2nd half of 2020 the "mileage" might well be low - the weather has not been to co-operative

I've owned a few Meade scopes and other things over the years going back to the 1980's. I've never been blown away by anything of theirs that I've owned to be honest with you. They do the job but some have been a little lack lustre I currently own just one Meade item - a 1.25 inch UHC type filter. Which is actually quite good for it's low cost.

It would not surprise me if that Meade model was actually exactly the same as the Skywatcher 150 mak-cassegrain with some cosmetic differences under the Meade branding.

No chance of clear skies here at the moment but it was nice to read your report anyway I have seen a couple of Uranus's moons with my 12 inch dob but they are pretty challenging from here. Neptune's brightest moon Triton is a little bit easier.

I think the UHC and O-III filters will have a positive effect on nebulae under bortle 6/7 skies but the difference will be seeing some hints of the target as opposed to perhaps nothing at all, rather than seeing a target at it's best. I guess the question is, what is that worth to you ?

Saxon are made by Synta so the same as the Skywatcher, Celestron, and some of the Orion (USA) and Konus branded scopes. The Bintel is a GSO product so the same manufacturer as the Telescope Services, Zhumell (in the USA), Meade Lightbridge and Revelation dobs here in the UK. I think the Bresser dobs are made by them as well. Both about the same in terms of optical quality.

If it has been in a smokey environment the optics may well need cleaning and also the electronics will need to be tested fully. I would want to see it working (demonstrated by the seller) before I committed to buy it. I would also want to examine the optics carefully for dirt or smoke residues. I bought one of those a few years back in perfect condition, complete and in full working order for £700.00 Frankly, unless you are confident that it is in fully working order and the optics can be cleaned I would be very wary indeed. Sorry to sound negative but I think the seller is being highly optimistic with the pricing and I doubt that they know anything about the telescope. Very much a case of "Caveat Emptor" here I feel

That is just the approach that I've used over the years. It works ! Being patient pays off though. If I've regretted a decision it is usually one that was made in haste.

I currently have a couple of ED doublets (102mm and 120mm), a fluorite doublet (100mm) and a OK4 triplet (130mm) which is reputed to match the criteria for a "super apochromat". Visually, the ED doublets only show false colour around the brightest objects and then only a small touch. The lunar limb is practically colour free with these. The fluorite doublet shows no false colour on anything that I can see, visually anyway, even Sirius. The OK4 triplet is the same as the fluorite doublet. Compared to achromats of a similar specification it is remarkable how well a modern ED doublet can control false colour to my mind. Imagers would prefer triplets I'm sure because image capture will show up false colour that is not visible to the visual observer. For me, it is the figure and polish of these objective lenses that is at least as important as their colour correction, particularly when it comes to maintaining excellent performance and high magnifications.

What target were you observing ?

I've done some measurements of my rig. The 2 inch visual back, right back to the end of the silver drawtube (red line below), has an optical length of 55mm. The 1.25 inch step down and adapter (green line below) has an optical length of 45mm. I use a 15mm T2 extension (blue line) on the 1.25 inch twist lock on the top of the diagonal prism to ensure my eyepiece barrels clear the prism face as well. Hope that helps a bit more.

We have quite a few members who are USA / Canada based on this forum though so the AAS would be more relevant to them

A few questions just to clarify things: Were you using just the 10mm eyepiece and no barlow lens ? What were you trying to observe ? Were you outside with the scope rather than inside looking though a window etc ? Had the scope had some time to cool down to the outside temperature ? The Heritage 130m should be able to deliver very sharp views at 65x and even twice that much, normally.