John

This is the problem with scope choosing isn't it - you stretch your budget to get the next step up and then find that yet another step up is also now, almost, within reach

I thought that I might move in that direction a while back by building up a set of quality eyepieces with AFoV's of between 50 and 72 degrees. The Delos and Pentax XW's are the core of that set.

This didn't work though because I find that I still love using the hyper wides with my 12 inch dobsonian so I have kept the Ethos based set as well

What I've found is that I tend to use the smaller AFoV's with my refractors which they seem to suit well.

I can't see myself going back to using orthos again though no matter how good they are (and they are very good) 

I've given up worrying about there being eyepieces out there that are slightly better at this or that now than the ones I have. I think its possible to get a bit obsessive about that rather than fully enjoying what you do have

A very good, and free, guide to used Celestron and other brand SCT's is available from here:

https://skywatch.brainiac.com/used/used_sct.pdf

The BST Starguider 25mm weighs 180 grams. The 24mm Hyperion weighs 383 grams according to the Baader website. The Hyperion is quite a fat eyepiece (fatter than the BST Starguider) so getting your nose in between a pair might be an issue as well as the weight ?

Manufacturers are guilty sometimes of undermounting scopes. I can think of a number of other examples of a rather poor matches. Also, when you get a dew sheild on the scope (essential when maks and scts are used) the tube gets longer and puts more strain on the mount.

This is a highly magnified sketch that I made of Zeta Hercules when I first managed to split it a few years back. This was with my ED120. The secondary star appeared as a greyish lump in the diffraction ring rather than a neat star. My 130mm refractor shows it a little more clearly split than this. When Hercules is higher the split will get a little easier to see:

Rob Miller went over to the USA to work with Roland Christen at Astro Physics on some of their amazing mounts.

I believe he and Peter Drew were involved in the design of Astro Systems (Luton) scopes.

David Hinds made many / most of the mirrors for these so they are very good.

Yes, the central star is quite easily visible with this planetary nebula with higher magnifications. Not so easy if you use a filter when observing observe it though. The central star is around magnitude 10.5 I think.

So you were not imagining it

The trouble is, for a £250 budget, the options for a GOTO mount are limited. Much of your budget has gone on the mount leaving a rather smaller and less capable optical scope.

This video might help. It covers basic functions of a similar scope on a similar mount. You can see how the scope moves around the 2 axis of the mount when observing in the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_2nl8VHwg

It is confusing. There are quite a few decent scopes around for your budget but all have their strengths and weaknesses of course.

Looking at your original post I wonder one option is something like the Celestron Astromaster 130 that you had but perhaps better constructed ?. The Skywatcher  130P might do the job:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p.html

Its mount does not have a motor drive but it does have slow motion controls so that you can get used to the way that an equatorial mount works and then add a motor drive later if you wanted to ?

A more capable (optically) scope on a simpler mount would be the Skywatcher Skyliner 150 dobsonian. You can still take the lunar snapshots with that and the views would be even better than the 130mm reflectors provide:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

Take your time to think things though though. If you stick with the scopes that First Light Optics list, you can't really go wrong. FLO just don't sell bad scopes plus they provide 1st rate support both pre and post sale.

I don't do much solar observing.

For nighttime observing I start as soon as I can see anything (ie: Venus, Sirius, the Moon in twilight) and carry on until the early hours if I get engrossed / into the zone and the skies stay clear.

I don't do early mornings I'm afraid unless there is a very special target that can only be seen then

Sometimes though, even when the skies are clear, I take a break from observing. It is a hobby after all

I'm retired now so I don't have to get up early to go to work, which helps.

Very nice list there Paul and many congrats on Zeta Herc - a toughie !

Give it a try and see if it makes any difference. Nothing to loose as it's already installed

Well I tried it a few times but found that using it didn't seem to make any noticeable difference either to the cool down time or the performance when cooled

My primary mirror back is quite exposed though - it's one of the older Orion Optics primary cells. Maybe that helps with cooling ?

Quite a small fan as well.

My first "proper" telescope was an Astro Systems 6 inch F/6. I used it to observe Halleys Comet

I think mine works off a PP3 battery.

I don't use it though.

25 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

John - Whilst viewing Tegmine last night I just wondered what it would be like in a quality 4" APO. Perhaps one day I will find out. 

So far Mark, I've found it pretty tough to split with my Tak 100mm if the seeing is not top notch (an apt term where double stars are concerned !). With the ED120 and 130mm triplet the split is somewhat easier.

At 1.1 arc seconds the tighter pair are very close if not on the resolution limit with 100mm of aperture.

Nice report Mark

I'm glad you enjoyed Tegmine - it's become a favourite of mine this season

Light pollution has been changing over the last few years with the introduction of LED lighting and the phasing out of the older sodium lights.

I believe that the older ones could be filtered to some extent but the newer lighting not so much ?

For galaxies there are no filters that help really. Darker skies are what is required to see them better.

The O-III and UHC filters do help with nebulae. They work even better under dark skies of course but with some light pollution at least something can be seen with them.

If you go for and SLT or a Nexstar this website is a mine of information on them. The SLT scopes are covered in the "Odds and Ends" section:

https://www.nexstarsite.com/index.html

I have an Aero ED 30. It's a nice eyepiece at F/7.5 and even F/6.5 but is not as well corrected as the 35mm or 40mm in the Aero ED series as scopes get faster.

I've not used the Vixen you mention so I can't comment on that one.

The seeing was OK last night but there were just too many clouds about. I had a nice view of Venus with the ED120, split Tegmine again, got Iota Leonis and Castor and then gave up cloud doging. More clouds than clear patches. It was supposed to clear later but at 12:30 am it was no better so the scope came back it.

Fortunately there are more clear nights forecast over the coming 7 days.

Maybe a bit of rain tomorrow will clear the air ? 20% chance of that tomorrow evening according to the forecast.

It is forecast to get clearer as the night wears on but I'm probably not going to stick it out.

There are some decent nights forecast over the next 7 days with the moon rising in the early hours so hopefully darker skies for DSOs.

19 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Thought I'd grab a quick sub of NGC4277 using the 127 Mak to get a better idea of what was going on.  Even given its somewhat narrow field of view there are bucketloads of galaxies there!

James

It's not called "The Realm of the Galaxies" for nothing !

Hope you get a decent result

Blooming clouds are really annoying here tonight - just get the scope on something and then it's gone