John

Ask the seller to measure the inside diameter of the focuser drawtube opening, where the eyepieces are fitted OR ask him / her to measure the diameter of the chrome barrels on the 2 eyepieces that come with it, according to the description. (this scope is for sale on e.bay I think) While the box / instructions might be in German I doubt that the scope was made there. It looks like one of the far eastern 114mm F/7.9 newtonians.

Yes, I thought I'd give my 12 inch dob a chance on Mars tonight as well. The forecast has become a bit more patchy of late though.

My 12 inch dobsonian and a 24mm Tele Vue Panoptic:

Having owned quite a few UHC's of varying quality I'm quite impressed with the Astronomik. I also have their O-III (in 1.25 inch) which is excellent, a Lumicon O-III (2 inch) also excellent, the Astronomik H-Beta (rarely used but it's shown me the Horsehead Neb) and an older Meade 4000 Nebular Filter (UHC equiv) which is surprisingly good. I'm covered for 2 inch and 1.25 inch deep sky filters now I think

Good move - me too !

I owned both for a while then replaced the 22mm T4 with the 21mm Ethos. I felt that the 31mm T5 Nagler and 22mm T4 Nagler are complimentary rather than an "either or" choice. Both really excellent Naglers

Brrr, it's a cold one ! Just finished my session with a quick tour of Orion's double stars. Nice splits of all at 300x plus. 32 Orionis AND 52 Orionis split as well. That latter one can be tough at not much over 1 arc second separation. What an excellent night I hope others have had some fun as well.

I've just been using an Astronomik UHC filter to observe M42 with a 130mm refractor. The moon was not far away so the nebula looked rather washed out without the filter but the UHC made a noticeable difference. Under dark skies with no moonlight about, I would expect even more contrast enhancement. In an ED120 M42 looks pretty nice without a filter as well of course, as long as the moon is out of the way

Orion just coming up now. E & F Trapezium seen for the first time this season. Moon is wonderful as well. What a lovely night, unless you are after faint DSO's of course !

Great report Stu !!! These post opposition views are some of the very best I've seen of Mars. An absolute treat I'm still out there but it's getting cold now.

Mars almost behind our house now so I've moved on to some binary stars. Alpha Piscium is a lovely one - mags 4 and 5 and 1.8 arc seconds separation. Coldest night of the Autumn so far I think. I don't think there will be a frost but it might get close. Just waiting for the moon to rise above the conifer

If you can keep your eyepieces a little warmer than they outside temperature (in pockets or a foam lined case ?) they will have less tendency to mist / fog up. A red dot / illuminated reticule finder can make getting the scope pointed at the right part of the sky easier. It can be combined on the scope with an optical finder for a really effective pairing. Using a low power eyepiece when initially observing through the scope to then confirm acquisition. The Telrad or the Rigel Quikfinder are popular additions to a dobsonian alongside the optical finder. I have the Rigel on my 12 inch dob:

The past couple of nights have been excellent. Prior to the rainy weather we had last week, the seeing was not so good and the contrast on Mars rather washed out. 300x does seem the optimum here tonight as well.

Yep - 300x is about the optimum here tonight as well

This is the newtonian view from Mars Mapper currently. I guess the Syrtis Major (dark elongated area running from S to N) could be the butterflies body and the dark ares either side the wings ?: I'm not seeing the Hellas region to the S of the Syrtis Major quite as bright / pale as that simulation.

Just caught a quick glimpse of Mars as it emerges from behind a large conifer we have. Wow ! - even better than last night I think. Just waiting for it to fully emerge from behind the foliage but I think it's going to be a cracking session with the big 130 triplet Initial view was at 240x but I think the conditions and scope are going to cope with quite a bit more tonight. Syrtis Major is smack in the centre of the disk just now. Looks like India but the other way up !

No. I have tried various filters but I prefer to view planets without.

Looks a decent, clear night tonight as well and the weapon of choice tonight is the 130mm triplet which is currently cooling off:

The Lowell Observatory have installed a Moonraker refractor on their new Giovale Observation Deck. It's an 8 inch and it's certainly going to be used the right way around there !

I've owned a few of the 150mm F/8's and they show enough CA and SA for my tastes. I would not personally opt for the 150mm F/5, even for just deep sky observing. I can't imaging that it would be good for imaging either - the CA bloat around stars would be substantial. Actually the F/8 is a pretty good deep sky observation instrument.

She would fill it with earth and compost and plant something in it

I do option 1 with my 12 inch dob but option 2 seems attractive if you can keep the dust at bay. It would cut down cooling time although it's not excessive with 10 / 12 inch dobs I find. Maybe 30-40 mins or so from the house ? Eyepieces are probably best kept in the house. They need to be a little warmer than the outside temp to avoid potential misting issues when your eye gets close to them.

Great result ! No wonder I've had so much difficulty spotting them visually

Hmmmm ...... Just got to justify a 7th scope to my other half ......

I just prefer using a single eyepiece. I have tried binoviewers a few times in the past with various scopes but I just don't enjoy using them as much as I do the single eyepiece. It's great that you like them though