John

1 hour ago, Nair al Saif said:

What would be the runner up (the dob has won) but what next?

Another dob !

The others are not really even close in terms of their all roung observing potential.

Practically any of alternatives would be sharper in the outer parts of the field of view than the stock 35mm eyepiece I would think.

13 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Down here in Oz I rejoice in having the planets almost overhead (a bit too high for comfortable viewing if truth be known).

However, even with this advantage the views of them can still be pretty poor, fuzzy and shaky, lacking in detail when the seeing conditions are not good. So even when the planets are low down if you are getting very good seeing conditions you will probably be getting just as good views as I do when my seeing is poor here. Never miss a chance to get the scope out and have a look when the skies are clear, it's always worth it!  

Having observed the planets when they were much higher in the sky Geoff, the impact of their low altitudes over the past few years has been fairly noticeable.

Just have to make the best of it though !

I'd love to transport my scopes and eyepieces down under for a few weeks

20 hours ago, SpaceFinatic said:

Recently I’ve bought a Meade Lightbridge 12” plus truss tube. It came with a 2” lens and has a focal length of 300mm. However, when looking at Jupiter, I can’t see it as good as I should be. I see it as if I had a 4 or 6” telescope. I thought it was because of my lens and maybe I need a smaller mm one but am not sure.

 

With the planets in their current positions, low down, a smaller telescope is often showing them better than a larger one.

You say that you don't think your 12 inch is showing you planets as well as it should but I wonder what you are judging that by ?

I have an excellent 12 inch dobsonian and some of the best eyepieces but the views of Jupiter and Saturn lately have not been that great with it. My smaller refractors are often showing a sharper and more contrasty view.

When the planets have been higher in the sky, the 12 inch dobsonian comes into it's own and produces superb views of them.

Still the 6 inch or 8 inch dobsonian for me.

Excellent report Neil and some really good, challenging targets achieved

I can recall Neil English saying that he doubted that anyone could mess up making a 127mm F/9.4 objective.

Personally I have had a mediocre one but that was a Meade not a Bresser so there you go !

I've never seen Pluto Baz.

It's possible with a 12 inch I believe but it would be just a tiny dot (no disk - too small) right at the limit (mag 14.3 I think) so you would need to sketch the stars you see including your "suspect" and then repeat the excersize a few nights later and see if anything has moved against the starry backdrop.

I'm observing Jupiter as well just now but the seeing here is currently not so good. I can see the GRS, cloud belts etc but not as well defined as they ought to be.

The past couple of nights that I've had my 12 inch dob out I've managed to glimpse Neptune's brightest moon Triton.

It needs plenty of magnification I've found. 300x or preferably, more. Not often that the 2mm-4mm Nagler zoom gets used with my 12 inch dob but it's rather good for this task.

Neptune's tiny 2.5 arc second disk actually holds it's composure well at these high magnifications. It resembles a pale blue / green ball bearing.

Triton is usually found between 10 and 20 arc seconds from Neptune's disk as a faint point of light at around 13th magnitude. I find the Cartes du Ciel software gets it's location pretty accurately BUT in my opinion it is very important to observe carefully first, making a note of any "suspects" around Neptune and only then to consult the software. That way you can have some confidence that you really saw something rather than your mind inserting something where you think it ought to be.

Triton moves around Neptune fairly quickly making a complete orbit around Neptune every 5.9 days. So it's position angle will change quite a bit night to night.

I find using a sort of averted / deliberate defocused vision technique helps Triton to pop into view more readily. This is done with the eye rather than the focuser of the scope. It's a little like the way you look at those "magic eye" pictures to see the 3D effect.

Tonight I'm going to see if I can get Triton with my 130mm refractor which will be even more of a challenge. I've done it just once with this scope in the past so it will be interesting to see if it was a fluke or not

So the 2mm-4mm zoom will be in action again !

While only a faint and indistinct point of light through the scope, Triton is the most distant rocky/icy body that I've been able to see. Unless I manage to spot Pluto someday !

Your mileage may vary but I've used a few 110 degree eyepieces and found those just a touch too much even for my hyper wide tastes. Don't fancy a 120 myself but I'll be interested to hear what Don says.

ES also have the 25mm 100 which apparently seems to push the design a little too far.

You can start to see why Tele Vue have stopped where they have.

Skywatcher 6 inch dobsonian. 8 inch even better.

Nice to see you back in action and posting fine reports wookie

You wanted a refractor and you have certainly got a proper one now

Looks a really nice setup.

19 minutes ago, globular said:

I'm thinking about the ES17/92. Is it really 1300g and not the 'official' 1175g?

I've just weighed my ES17/92 and E21 on my kitchen scales.

I get 1150g for the ES17 and 1020g for the Ethos. Both with dust caps on.

Sorry about earlier confused figures - the ES17/92 is heavier but not quite as heavy as I originally thought

Here is my counterweight system:

Great report Jeremy !

I was using my 12 inch dob on Mars last night and the views and detail were really good. I did have a good look for Phobos and Deimos but the former was very, very near the martian limb and the latter drowned out by the martian glare so no luck there.

I did have some nice views of Triton and Neptune earlier though.

3 hours ago, Rob_UK_SE said:

It is indeed, in fact, I think the ES17/92 is even heavier than the 21E. You shouldn’t therefore have any issues. However, I was also trying to help you with a legitimate excuse for not buying it 😀.  Perhaps the 21E might be on the cards at some point? Alternatively, I could just lie and tell you that it’s ugly, has rubbish optics and is quite uncomfortable to use? 🤫

 

The ES17/92 is indeed quite a bit heavier than the 21E. 1300g vs 1021g

I was using both last night

My counterweight "system" is a magnetic knife strip attached to the lower part of the scope tube and a couple of old iron counter weights that I can place in various positions along it.

Nice report of this event

By the time Io emerged from the shadow Jupiter had gone behind a tree for me so It's good to read your report of the re-appearance

Sorry to hear of your pains Michael.

Perhaps it's time to consider a lighter rig ?

If you are dreading setup and tear down motivation is going to be hard to come by.

At least you got out for a bit

3 hours ago, Dantooine said:

Do you use it in you refractor?

 

Sometimes. Not the Tak which is setup for 1.25 inch eyepieces but the other refractors do get their turn with the big Ethos. And the big Nagler as well

You are right though - you can't really hide these things away

My 12 inch Orion Optics / Moonshane dobsonian is out tonight. Here it has Neptune and Triton in it's sights. Note the eyepiece - Nagler 4mm-2mm zoom. High powers help to tease out Triton

I use a Tak FC100-DL or a Skywatcher ED120 Pro on my Skytee II and they work extremely well on that mount. Very sharp views of the planets from both scopes. The Tak FC100-DZ that mike mentions would also be a superb choice. I guess a Tak TSA120 would also be really excellent.

A good alternative to a refractor would be the Mak-Cassegrain 150mm as mentioned above.

10 hours ago, robbymain said:

... They did one at The Downs overlooking the Gorge last December plus one at Victoria Park this year before Covid-19 stopped the fun - just when BAS were starting the regular Failand weekend events =P.

I did the Downs one. Actually had some clear skies !

My task was to show folks Neptune with my ED120 refractor. A bit of a challenge but most managed to see it I think

My avatar pic was taken at the Failand observatory. I was there all on my own to observe the lunar eclipse. Worth the effort though:

Nice reminder about the BAS subs ......

Lots of options for this. A budget plus any preferences you have will help narrow things down though.

When using my 12 inch dob the 21mm Ethos is probably my most used eyepiece. I've had galaxy hunting sessions with it when that is the only eyepiece that I've used.

In that scope the E21 gives 76x magnification and a 1.3 degree true field of view. Potent combination !

My refractor inspiration was Sir Patrick Moore's Cooke 5 inch at Selsey: