John

I well and truly scratched my quality refractor itch back in 2016 when I bought a new Tak FC100-DL and a pre-owned TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 triplet within a couple of months of each other. First time I had needed to have anything astronomical as specified items in our house insurance 😬 No regrets though - nothing like trying things for yourself if you get the chance 🙂

I can see where the moon is from the glow shining dimly through the thick cloud cover. Can barely tell the phase though. Not worth getting a scope out 😒 Next clear patch is forecast here on the 5th of March ........

The ED 80 / 600 would work well on a Porta 2 mount. I used a 102mm / 663mm on a Porta 1 and that was fine so the 80mm should be good.

Seeing galaxies and nebulae in the same sky as a bright moon is really, really difficult - even the brightest ones get washed out very easily by any light pollution whether man-made or moon-made. It is important to get the finder scope lined up accurately with the view through the main scope. Otherwise finding anything becomes pure luck and it's a big sky out there ! You can do this in daylight using a distant target (100's of meters off) such as a chimney pot or top of a telegraph pole. Get the target in the middle of the view in the main scope using the 25mm eyepiece (no barlow lens). It will probably be upside down but don't worry about that. Then, lock the scope in place and use the adjustment screws on the finder scope to get the target right in the centre of the cross hairs in the finder eyepiece. As long as you don't knock the finder, it should then be aligned when you next use the scope so what you see in the finder should be visible in the main scope eyepiece.

My first scope was a 60mm refractor. It's capabilities were similar to the 76mm reflector. With some effort and practice I was able to see the targets listed. Aside from the moon, you need to work at it, learn where the targets are in the sky and which eyepieces to use. What you are seeing will seem small and faint but such things can be seen with such a scope. I made these sketches using my 60mm refractor 40 years ago. The Sun was observed safely by projecting the image onto white card:

The Skywatcher 150P F/8 dobsonian uses a 2 inch focuser. The 150PL OTA or EQ mount version uses 1.25 inch. An odd variation I always thought 🤔

Just don't try and look at the tip of a Herons beak with it ! 😁

Hope to see you there Stu 🙂

I've come across eyepieces that speak for themselves before - they usually say "buy me" 🙄

Probably remiss of me but I've not needed to treat it with anything so far. I guess mine is about a decade old now 🤔 It still seems to look fine.

More alternatives if you can live without slow motion controls: Tele Optic Giro mount or Altair Sabre. Both would give you more capacity than the AZ-4, thinking of possible future scopes. Just a thought - you may have had too many of those already !

I have one just like that (including the BC&F / AE branding). Nice tripod 🙂

I have enough refractors so I'd go for the F/8 6 inch newtonian I think. I always liked the classic looks of the TAL 2M 🙂

That is excellent news 😄 I always enjoy my visits to the NLO 👍

I think these single arm alt-azimuth mounts need to be designed and engineered really well to be able to hold a 4 inch F/7 or longer refractor steady at higher magnifications. The AZ-4 does well for all it's simplicity because it's arm is not as long as some and is not ventilated - it's a solid shape with cast in strengthening spokes. Those "cut away" style long armed mounts will cope with short tube scopes fine but the moment arm forces created by longer tubes create that much more stress on the head and tripod hub areas.

I found SGL over 18 years ago now. Just before that I found the CN forum and joined that but it seemed a daunting place to interact with given my level of experience (very little !) back then. SGL seemed much more accessible and comfortable for a relative newcomer to telescopes and observing. While the membership of SGL has increased substantially over the years, the style and "feel", for want of a better word, of discussion has remained largely the same. I often liken communication on SGL to a group of friends discussing shared interests over a beer in a pub, which suits me very well 🙂 I still visit the CN forum quite frequently and post there from time to time but SGL has had to put up with many, many times as many posts from me - but please take that as a compliment 🙂 I spend a lot of time here and it's proved an invaluable, and probably essential, part of my enjoyment of astronomy. Having played a part in moderating the forum for a while I know the care and thought that goes into that behind-the-scenes so it's nice to know that we and the forum are in such good hands

I had an AVX for a while but it didn't seem noisy to me. I didn't use the GOTO facility though so I was not doing big slews with it, just using the drive system to track the scope. I'm no expert on EQ mounts but the AVX seemed a decent mount to me. Quite a high capacity for it's weight. It did a decent job with my 130mm F/9.2 triplet refractor on board.

Nothing like that applies to my astro society. We welcome new members. No vetting or approval process. No Vulcans though, obviously 😉

Yep - my old ST 2 does a sterling job with my 100mm - 120mm refractors. The fit and finish is a little basic but it just works.

I've fitted the AZ-4 to a variety of different tripods. As long as they have the M10 screw it seems to fit. The mount works better with an EQ5 / HEQ5 tripod hub though because they have that round ~60mm recess in the top. The AZ-4 is a slightly awkward design IMHO because it does not fully fit into that 60mm recess but I guess that is the way it was designed ? I hope you find the AZ-4 up to the job. Personally I think it might be pretty much on it's limit with a 102mm F/7 refractor at the high powers that such scopes are capable of supporting.

I have used Ethos eyepieces for high (and low) power observing for a decade or so with dobs and refractors. Personally I think they are superb eyepieces in both these roles. I currently have the 21mm, 13mm, 8mm, 6mm and the 4.7mm in the series. I would like to get the 3.7mm again - I rather miss it 🙄 There are excellent alternatives of course so you have good and less expensive options as well if they are of interest. @JeremyS has discovered the virtues of Ethos eyepieces relatively recently and I believe is really enjoying them as well 🙂 NB: I have used the 2x Powermate with the 13mm and 8mm as well in the past and the performance was still exceedingly good. The resulting "stack" in the focuser gets rather long though.

About 1 degree from Messier 13 (the globular cluster) lies the galaxy NGC 6207. That gives an interesting sense of scale when you get both in the same field of view🙂

The Altair 102ED F/11 does come "binoviewer ready" with a removable section of the tube to allow for the additional inward focus movement that binoviewers provide. Using binoviewers might be a way to further bridge the planetary performance gap between 102mm and your current 10 inch dob, if you find they suit you. The F/11 approach will need a much sturdier mount than the AZ-4 though and may undermine some of your ease of use / portability objectives in going for a 4 inch refractor.

An F/11 4 inch would rule out the AZ-4 - it just would not cope with the forces that the long tube exerts.

Great stuff !!! Fog-bound here after an otherwise fine day 🤨 Moon just about visible shining dimly though the murk.