John

When I owned a 10 inch dob a 4 inch refractor was my "other" scope. It got a lot of use. In my case a Vixen ED 102mm but the long achromats are very nice as well. I think @johninderby has exceeded your budget though, unless you already have a suitable mount for a long refractor !

I just don't use 11mm focal length eyepieces - I can only recall owning one in fact and that was the 11mm TV Plossl. I already have the 10mm Pentax XW and the 13mm and 8mm Ethos which will get me by so no Apollo 11 eyepiece for me. I did get a couple of Apollo 11 T-Shirts at Kennedy Space Center last week though and the new Apollo 11 DVD for my birthday a couple of weeks back. Don't need any more Apollo 11 memorabilia just now Might be nice to have this in the living room for a while though - Apollo 14 capsule at KSC

Sounds like you think the Apollo 11 is a bit of a waste of space Mike ?

Thanks Don. Those reviews were posted since I last looked at that thread.

Same situation here. When I bought my 130mm triplet though it was from a seller that I knew and one whom I could visit, view the scope in person and transport it home myself. As to whether sellers are aware of all the issues with their equipment, well I think that might vary depending on their experience and the nature of the deficiency. I have looked through scopes owned by others that have clearly been underperforming but they seemed quite happy with the views They were not trying to sell them though. I also think there the definition of equipment condition is bound to vary slightly person to person. One persons "excellent condition" might be another persons "functional but well used". Most astronomers that I've met are pretty fastidious about their gear though so if anything are rather cautious about how they describe things.

I don't know if you have read this review of the TSA-102 but in it the reviewer (a very experienced observer) makes some comparisons with the FS-102: http://scopeviews.co.uk/TakTSA102.htm Here is the same reviewers summary of the current and recent 100mm / 102mm contenders: http://scopeviews.co.uk/FourInchBG2019.htm#_Toc26869878 Sorry that I can't help myself but my scopes in this category are the TAK FC-100DL and the Vixen ED102SS. Edit: I've just seen this thread on the CN forum but I guess you have as well !: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/697317-takahashi-tsa102-vs-fs102/

Saxon are made by Synta who also make Skywatcher. The Saxon 200 is the same scope as the older version of the Skywatcher Explorer 200P. The mount is the same as the Skywatcher EQ5.

Liverpool Astro Society have regular open meetings where folks who need help with a new scope are invited to take them along: https://liverpoolas.org/weekly-meetings/

There are kellners, orthos, rank kellners and erfles in that VT design and a few other less common designs such as triplane. Some are from the circle T manufacturer (Towa ?) and some circle V (Vixen) and probably another Japanese manufacturer or two as well. The design (shape) was popular about 20-30 years back and housed a few optical configurations. The orthos went from 4mm to 25mm I think. A few 2 inch ones were made in longer focal lengths as well. These designs were available under a number of different brandings over the years. Apparently if you ordered enough you could have your own branding engraved on them !

On the Apollo 11, I've seen reports of purchases on the Cloudynights forum but few reports on how they perform. Some have bought them as collectors items and won't be using them. Seems rather sad to me

Having owned and compared Naglers and the Nirvanas I can confirm that they are pretty close in performance. The 28mm is a 2 inch eyepiece but the 4, 7 and 16 are 1.25 inch as John says. Pity that there are not more in the range.

Originally a £200 budget was being considered but some of the options being suggested have practically doubled that. I'm not sure that really helps ?

Hi and welcome to the forum. Generally I think its best to keep the counterweight close to the body of the mount. On the end of a long counterweight shaft there is more likely hood of vibrations.

I agree. I bought a Skywatcher 200P dobsonian (from First Light Optics as it happens) a few years back and it worked well straight out of the box. Once of the best scopes that I've owned in fact

Sometimes items that are out of stock are still listed but at lowered prices. I think its a ploy used to make competitors look uncompetative.

The 34mm 72 degree Svbony eyepiece looks much like the William Optics SWAN 33mm 72 degree doesn't it. I wonder if they are the same item optically ?

I used to use an Astrozap shroud with my Meade Lightbridge 12 inch. It worked well with that scope and was more or less essential with the amount of ambient lighting that I had around my observing site. Not sure if Astrozap do one that would fit your dob though Piero ?

For many there is no substitute for seeing something with your own eye. Anyone can look at a fine image taken with a powerful scope but those moments where its you, the scope and the target object, even if it's a little indistinct, are very intimate and precious IMHO and can leave a lasting mark on the mind

Nothing solid Neil. I've only ever seen vague contrast variations when observing Venus. They might have indeed been cloud features but they were so vague that I've not felt confident that they represent anything worth noting. Maybe I've been seeing something all along and not realised it ? Personally I have a level at which I need to be sure that I'm actually seeing something to feel that I've actually seen it, if that makes any sense. None of the vague shadings and brightness variations that I've seen on Venus has convinced me of that, as yet. I've had times when I've felt close though !

Hi and welcome to the forum from the northern end of the county !

I've tried lots of different filters for planetary observing over the years including various colours, UHC, H-Beta, O-III, polarised and the rather expensive Tele Vue Planetary filter (not in production now). For me, I didn't see any improvements in the visibility of planetary features during those trials. The Tele Vue filter (which gave a rather "bubble gum pink" tone to everything) did initilly appear to enhance the contrast of the more obvious features of Jupiter but this was at the expense of the visibility more subtle features and it was the latter that I was after of course ! So these days I don't use planetary filters. I do try and observe the planets when there is still some daylight left in the sky though. I've found that really does make a difference to surface detail and some of my best views of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus have come under such conditions. Observing the target planet when its high in the sky also makes quite a bit of difference but that has been difficult lately without moving ones observing site quite a bit further south. Fortunately colour filters are relatively low cost things so its possible to try for yourself without risking too much capital

SCS Astro were a retailer based in Wellington, Somerset, UK. They closed their operation down a couple of years back. For a while they marketed 80mm and 90mm equatorially mounted refractors under their own branding very much like the Skywatcher Evostar 80mm and 90mm scopes and mounted on an EQ-2 style mounting. So @knobby's link is as close as you can get today. Here is a link to an instruction manual for the Skywatcher scope much of which should be relevant to the SCS Astro Voyager 90: https://www.apm-telescopes.de/media/manuals/skywatcher/en/6.pdf And here is a link to a video showing how to setup a scope on this type of mount, which should also help: Feel free to post any further questions you have on using the scope and I'm sure we can help

A fair and valid point Piero but I would venture to say that the majority of observers here would be guilty of moving up in aperture before they have fully explored the capability of their existing scope. Same goes for eyepieces I reckon I know that you graduated carefully and thoughtfully from small apertures though and pushed your early scopes much further than most do

Thats a great site. Create a login (free) and specify your location and it will tell you all about what is passing over, the timing and the track across the sky. Has info on comets and other stuff too !

Good to see a manufacturer giving hands on practical advice though