John

Great stuff Magnus

How is that much more compact overall than an 8 inch dob Michael ? I've owned both and I don't recall that the EQ mounted SCT was more compact overall These are all 8 inchers. The SCT is on an alt-az rather than an EQ though. The SCT OTA is shorter but the footprint wider and the overall weight a touch more I think. All very good scopes though. Maybe it's just down to personal preferences and if the OP want's a change, it's good to have one

Looking back at my notes from the mid 1980's I managed to see quite a lot of stuff with my old Tasco 60mm refractor. All I could afford / justify back then but it got me hooked.

The only 8 inch scope that I can think of that is as portable as an 8 inch dob would be the Celestron 8SE SCT. When I moved from an 8 inch SCT to an 8 inch dob I found the dob provided at least as good if not better performance for visual observing both deep sky and solar system targets. Plus it cooled more quickly as well and the set up was basically plonk it down and start to look though it. I've never aspired to image though so that was not a factor.

Hello and welcome to the forum ! Those are my main interests as well. Those and a bit of fishing now and then Hope you enjoy yourself in the Stargazers Lounge

I've just read through the posts in this thread and they do make some very interesting and valid points. Thanks to all who have contributed. I have owned quite a few smaller aperture scopes over the past few years, while I have often been pleasantly surprised at what they could show, I didn't seem to hang onto the ones that were less than 100mm in aperture for very long. I don't try and undertake any particularly serious observing programmes and I've often described myself as a "space tourist" but I suppose 100mm and above is where there seems to be enough observing potential to keep me interested for the long term and to keep coming back for more. From the views expressed in this thread I can see that this is definitely a case of "Your Mileage May Vary" though

That's a good approach. Once you have seen them with a larger aperture, finding them with smaller apertures becomes a little bit easier.

They are very nice. I had one for a while

If it is cold where you are as it is here, there will be a lot of heat rising from rooftops of houses I reckon, which is not good for this sort of task A couple more glasses of Rioja and you might be able to see F though to Z !

Over the years I've found that getting both the E & F stars in my 102mm / 100mm refractors quite challenging. The E star is the most readily seen but the F can be pretty elusive at that aperture. At 120mm (refractor) both these stars are more regularly seen, once the magnification is right. At 130mm (refractor again) they are pretty straightforward unless the seeing is very mediocre. With my 12 inch dob E & F are unmissable - very obvious even in so-so seeing. Anyone managed to see G, H or I yet ? Here is a nice Sky & Telescope article by Bob King on this topic and a bit more besides: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/star-trapping-in-orions-trapezium/

I find a dob mount holds the scope really steadily and with minimal vibrations even at high magnifications. Tracking quickly becomes 2nd nature as well. Goodness knows what size and cost of equatorial mount that I would need to have to hold my 12 inch F/5.3 as solidly as my compact and lightweight 18mm ply dobsonian mount does Not that I'm going to find out. I've owned quite a few EQ mounts over the years up to EQ6 in capacity but I'm alt-azimuth only now and very happy to be that way. If I imaged of course it would be different. But I don't

Most "specimens" presented for checking are just that ! I've searched for meteorites in and around Barwell a few times but so far, no luck. I ended up having to buy a chunk from a dealer I've also hunted at Aldsworth, Glos, but that one fell a long, long time ago: http://www.bimsociety.org/bim1.shtml If I was serious I'd go to the north african deserts but a) my other half does not fancy that trip and b) I probably would not come back ......

Same here Meteor showers almost invariably end up being a disappointment I've found, even the famous ones. Hope be proved wrong someday and see a spectacular show though Any meteorite that lands in the UK will need to be found pretty quickly. Our climate is not kind to them - they soon disintegrate and become very hard to distinguish from the native soil.

Here is the text of the original article kindly posted earlier in this thread by @Honcho41:

The 80ED's that I've owned in past were barely breaking sweat at 133x. The optics can go up to 200x on the right targets.

They are so cute aren't they ? I recently had the 4.7mm for a short while and it seemed so tiny !. Nice and sharp though.

This was the incident that I was referring to: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/361574-brand-new-esprit-100ed-dustparticle-issue/

I've heard that same lame excuse before from a vendor, whom I won't name here. I wonder if it is the same one ? Get a refund or a replacement. The scope should be pristine as it's new.

Very much so Neil

Over the past few years I've found my 12 inch dobsonian has been my most consistent performer in showing me the Pup star. I have seen it a couple of times with my 130mm refractor but, as yet, not with my 120mm, 102mm or 100mm fracs. The dob does produce more diffraction than the refractors of course but I guess the aperture advantage overcomes this and allows the faint star to peek out from the glare. It is a challenging target even with the 12 inch scope though, unless the seeing is particularly good. Here is a rough sketch I did of the pair as seen with the 12 inch dob in February 2019 at 265x magnification. Newtonian view so S at the top and W to the left. With an un-driven scope the "Pup" star follows Sirius A as it drifts across the field of view:

I guess eyepieces are much easier to change than the other factors that influence the views we get, ie: the light pollution levels, seeing conditions, our experience level, the scope etc, etc Collimation and cooling of the scope is something that we can have some influence over but it's not quite as much fun as a nice shiny new eyepiece

They are a UK based company but they do serve USA based customers.

Those Celestron "Halloween" plossls are very hard to get in the .965 inch fitting. All of those are made in Taiwan I think. The "diamond Z" 6mm ortho is made by Tanzutsu in Japan I think. The Kellner 25mm might be of Vixen manufacture, again in Japan. I used to have one branded Vixen and it looked just the same. Similarly the Celestron branded barlow lens. Hard to find these decent quality .965 inch items these days.

What a great report - good to share your enjoyment You know what ? - I think I prefer observing M42 without a filter as well !

Can't compete with this entry