John

Yes. Either 1.25" or 2" filters, depending on which of the zoom's barrels you are using.

You asked for honest opinions on your list. I'm sure that folks have done just that. I certainly have If we start ignoring what many feel are the best options then you are not getting "honest" feedback anymore.

A newtonian on an alt-azimuth mount is basically what a dobsonian is. Buying a newtonian tube and an altazimuth mount separately will cost more than a complete dobsonian of the same aperture. I'm not sure we (or you) are getting far with this thread to be honest with you If you really do not want a dobsonian then best to say so and take them off the list.

Me too ! Nice report Stephan - my 12 inch dob will be trained on this area when next out under a dark sky

This topic might get more input if I move it to the scope discussion section, leaving a link here. Would you like me to do that ?

The advantage of the ED doublets is that they can have good colour correction in a tube length that can be handled by a more modest mount. An F/7 ED doublet should have similar or better colour correction than an F/12 achromat of the same aperture.

According to the summary results, the 3 principle barriers to participation seem to be: - Time availability - Money availability - Feeling inexperienced I would say those were the same principle barriers that existed when I first got interested seriously in practicing astronomy during the late 1970's / early 1980's Or am I missing something ? SGL certainly helped a lot with the 3rd one I guess an equipment loan facility might have helped with the 2nd barrier but time was something that I had to sort out between myself and my family.

Nice report An O-III is much more effective on the Veil nebula than a UHC. A UHC is better than no filter but an O-III makes a whole lot more difference.

The 200p dob is F/5.9. A sort of medium focal ratio by today's standards.

Visual observers (including myself) see this feature and include it in sketches. My interpretation is that hazy clouds or heavy mist layers are the cause.

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.

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

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.

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.