Gonzo0

3 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Sorry to say it was cloudy here so no chance. I love observing transits and shadow transits, in fact anything to do with Jupiter frankly. Well done you👍

Marv

Jupiter was the first thing I saw through my scope. Will always hold a place in my heart! 

1 hour ago, starhiker said:

It was cloudy here, and will stay cloudy for this whole week..

I feel the pain. Its been cloudy here for the past week and a bit, and before that there was a full moon, so not good for DSO. Now that there's a new moon its back to being cloudy. Just got lucky last night with a break in the clouds 

I hope someone managed to capture Jupiter last night at around 0.45am BST. I was observing through my dobsonian but I was just thinking to myself, "I really hope someone is capturing this right now!"

They way it looked with Europa transitioning behind it with Callisto coming out from behind it was amazing. Here is an idea of what it looked like (stellarium) 

10 hours ago, lvan said:

You don’t need to raise the Heritage, just get a low stool to sit on. Something like this will easily fit in your car: https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Plastic-Folding-Step-Stool-Grey/p/121019

Thanks Ivan. Do you reckon the heritage will sit happily enough on even grassy ground? 

46 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Setting circle and angle gauge for the eight inch.  Once you learn how to use it, finding stuff is no longer an issue

will look into this mike

57 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Great result, mate. I could see you were reluctant to get rid of the 8" but wanted the portability of the Heritage and now you'll have both, like me. I really think you won't be disappointed.

As to the EPs, there are some excellent ones around which will give you a wide FOV. Just post on here when you're ready and you'll be inundated with suggestions (again!) 😉

Cheers mate, thanks for your input on this post.

Oh yes, that's another can of worms ready to be opened I'm sure when the time comes 😅

As for the finder, that right angled one looks good and I can see it'd be a lot handier to use. But the problem I have with my finder isn't really anything to do with having to crouch down to get a look through it if, say, I'm trying to find something in at the zenith. It's more an issue of it being too magnified, sort of acting like it's own mini scope which can sometimes make it hard to know where exactly I'm at especially as I am trying to learn the constellations at the same time. I think something like a telrad might be better suited for me as when looking into a red dot kind of sight it doesn't black out your peripherial vision, which I think will help in aiming at the right target as I can use it just like aiming a gun or something along those lines. The circles within the telrad will also be a big help too I'm sure. 

11 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Try for globular cluster M13 in Hercules. Should be relatively easy to see with a 20mm EP or more. M31 galaxy in Andromeda should show up nicely too, but not so much when the moon is out and about though. 200p should scoop them up nicely. Just move the 200 slowly around the area where they are and you will eventually spot them in the field of view eventually. Once you seen then once you can then normally find them easier again next etc.

 

I tried for m13 last night. I think I was getting the stars within Hercules confused. I just couldn't pinpoint m13. I found the finder scope that came with the 200p to be quite awkward to use but that's probably just me 

4 hours ago, lordwimsey said:

Maybe not as an actual advice, but I am surprised, nobody pointed to /r/miatalogistics for inspiration.  

A miata has unlimited vertical storage!

Cheers from a fellow MX5-owner (NC) with a heritage 130p.

 

Peter

Best of both worlds Peter. What better way to travel to dark skies than in a Miata. Health to enjoy!

Just a quick update for those that are interested.

I went ahead and ordered a Heritage 150p and a 2x Barlow. Very happy about the purchase. However, the best thing about it is that I am keeping my 8 inch Dob for home use as FLO offers a PayPal pay in 3 system which I didn't know about. That way, I only have to pay 1/3 of the price today and the rest over 3 months which is very managable for me being a student and only having part time work. I feel like I've got all I need now. I have the 8 inch Dob for home use and a 150p for grab and go travelling to dark skies which I will do often. I'm over the moon!! (pun intended)

Last night there was an hour window with good clear skies in my bortle 5 backyard.  The views were amazing I must say. It would be a shame if I were forced to get rid of the 200p, I've grown quite fond of it. Still haven't seen any DSO like nebula, galaxies, globs, but I seen a lot of double stars and the Pleiades are just amazing I could stare at it all night long, though could do with a lower power eyepiece to have it fit nicely in the FOV, but all that will come with time, and what a time it will be. 

Clear skies everyone and once again thanks for all your help and apologies if I didn't reply to everyone. I did read every comment and took every piece of advice on board.

Sláinte!

13 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Yes indeed @Gonzo0, I’m at the very southern end of the West of Ireland: very near Baltimore. If you’re going to be anywhere near I’d be happy to try to meet up. Weather of course is not so reliable though! But when clear, as you say, properly dark!

Cheers Magnus 

That would be great fun! I will be staying near Mayo but I'm sure it'd be worth a journey down near you for a night's observing 

24 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

It was a total highlight for me being able to observe the Veil nebula with a Heritage 150p under very dark skies off the coast of Scotland last month - and I posted at the time the M13 was simply stunning - the first real world example for me of how sky quality positively impacts the view for a given aperture. 👍

I have a trip planned to the west coast of Ireland Ireland in October. The skies there are very much like the skies off the coast of Scotland. Properly dark. Bortle 2. I can't wait to bring my scope with me there. I have only looked on in wonder with my naked eye at dark sites but even that was enough to blow my mind. I had never seen the milky way the way I did that night. Trillions upon trillions of stars. Not a single cloud to be seen. I'm very glad to hear the heritage could deliver you that experience

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

I’ve never used (or seen) one, but it looks nice, better focuser and solid tube. If it goes in your car easily then why not. The push to will be handy. Just check mirrors are in decent condition.

Yeah it doesn't look bad. Not too worried if the mirrors aren't in good condition. If they aren't then it's straight onto FLO to order the heritage and send the 8 inch Dob back. 

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

@Gonzo0 if you do a search on the forum for Heritage 130p posts by Mark at Beaufort it should bring up quite a few relevant threads. There is one here:

 

Thanks very much Stu I will have a gander! 

Thank you all so much for your replies. There has been a lot for me to pick through and the help you have all given me has left me with a much better idea of what to get. 

I was set on the heritage 150p, and still am actually, however... an Orion Starblast 6/6i has came up for sale in my area. It seems to have everything the heritage does. Tabletop Dob design, small enough to fit in the passenger seat with base attached, doesn't way a ton, quite portable and no need to lower the roof! From what I've seen online too it seems pretty capable. Not sure on the intelliscope feature though. I know it's a "push-to" feature and I'm sure it'd be useful, but that's not why I'm interested in it. It seems to be a great price too at only £200, and no need to fashion a shroud. 

If someone has a good reason for me not to buy this scope I'm all ears. The heritage is still looking like a great deal and I'm sure it's just as capable. 

I should d mention also, the dark site that I use has multiple picnic benches that I plan to place the tabletop scope on. I hope that'd be good enough. For home use I am thinking just a sturdy barstool as others have suggested! 

41 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

As I said, I have both types of scope. If you decide you can't transport the 8" safely or easily, yes, return it and get the 150p. I don't think you'd be disappointed with how good it is. Then maybe later, when you've finished your studies, you could go for something like the 8". That's the order I bought both my scopes, and I never get disappointed with using 'only' the 150p.

Sound advice. Thank you very much. I have an 8mm BST that I will be using with the heritage. I know the shorter focal length will affect how much magnification that will give me compared to the larger 8". Would you recommend a barlow with this scope to use with the already heavy BST? Or just invest in another eyepiece like a 5mm if I wanted more zoom?

56 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Hmm good question. I will check out my entries on here.....

In no particular order:

Split Rigel from Rigel B, Orion nebula, double cluster in Pegasus, Cor Caroli (double star), Leo trio of galaxies, M13 cluster, M94, M63, Andromeda galaxy, loads of other double/multiple stars, M53, M81/82, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Moon, Polaris (double star), NGC 4638, M59, M58, M89, M60 in Virgo, ring nebula, owl cluster, Caroline's rose cluster, M1 etc etc.

That's a small selection... 

Galaxies (for example the Leo triplet) are easily visible if it's dark enough, although you'll see them as faint smudges and not much more. I've seen the whirlpool galaxy in my 150p and there isn't much detail to it, but with dark adaptation and a dark night in a dark site, you see more. On a night when there's any moon or light pollution all but the brightest ones are hard to spot. If you're solely interested in planets, being in a dark place won't really matter so much but there is a lot more to see than just planets.

Edited to answer the second part of your question.... probably I have seen things in the 10" that I haven't seen in the 6" but maybe because I haven't tried. As I hinted, I'm probably not working at the absolute limit of what can be seen with either scope, it's more a case that you get to see a little better detail with the bigger scope and so much depends on seeing conditions and light pollution. You'll find plenty to look at (buy a copy of Turn Left at Orion) with either scope.

That is amazing! I don't even know half of what you have mentioned. There's just so much to see and learn I can't wait to get stuck in. 

I already own a copy of turn left at orion, enjoying the read so far! I have been using skymaps when observing and find it's a great tool, but I haven't be able to locate anything other than Jupiter and Saturn thus far due to cloudy skies. 

I think I will go ahead and get the 150p. It just seem's to fit my current lifestyle a bit more.

59 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

The MX5 is a fun car. Handles like a go kart.
Easy to understand with incremental changes over the years of production and a huge aftermarket following.
A very active owners club. Dedicated parts suppliers & repairers.
No need to return to stealerships with your house deeds to turn off dashboard warning lights!

I'm glad you get it. A lot of ignorance surrounding the MX5 and similar cars but you..... you get it.

A decent boot rack, cover, straps would probably end up costing as much as the heritage, though, which at that point I'd rather just buy it as a second scope.

24 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

I have a 10" Dob (my second scope), which I bought after having a Heritage 150p for a while. The 10" is superior in a number of ways, but the 150p is still a very fine instrument, which I do still use and which has shown me many great things under appropriate conditions.

It's not really an all-or-nothing thing - good seeing conditions and dark skies will improve the view for both scopes and whilst you get better resolution and light-gathering with the bigger instrument, if you're not going to use it, it's obviously not going to work for you. If you can try both in similar conditions (is there a club or owner nearby you can contact to compare?) that might be worth doing. If you can't, and you can't transport the 8", I'd say go for the Heritage.

 

Sadly no club nearby, which is strange considering my town has a planetarium. I can imagine looking through a 10" to be much better than a 6". But I am sure the Heritage is great for grab and go sessions!

What have you seen in the Heritage?  Anything that you can see in the 10" that you can't in the 6?

15 minutes ago, sorrimen said:

I’m Ok_library from reddit. Glad you’ve come here to get some more opinions! I imagine it’s probably just made the decision even harder 🤣  

Good to see you here man 😄 

Yes, I think it has! Although, I'm feeling much better about the 150p's capabilities, especially in a dark sky. Although in saying that.. I just seen Saturn pretty well in my backyard with the 8 inch Dob, in poor seeing conditions too. It still looked great until the clouds consumed it. Arghhhh. I'm all over the place. Colimation has gotten lots easier like you had promised though! At the moment, I am leaning more towards the 150p. I think it'd be a whole other ballgame to just grab it and go to a dark site rather than put in a shift taking apart and reassembling the base every time I want to go out. 

4 minutes ago, bingevader said:

But you have an MX5. 🙄

Yes, but the MX5 is a cheap car, lol. And, my only car. So yes, I am not made of money. 😂

I just feel I will see more with a 6" telescope in bortle 2 and 3 than I will with an 8" in bortle 5 and 6

5 minutes ago, tomato said:

How about a towing hitch and a small trailer?

Is a 6" scope really that much worse than an 8" to warrant spending a few hundred to get a trailer just to transport an 8" Dob to dark skies though? Unfortunately I'm not made of money lol

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

There is a saying that the best scope is the one you use most. Whilst I agree with the comments made by others, I also think that the Heritage 150p would be well worth considering if it suits your lifestyle better.

Personally I use my 150p on a tripod mount because it puts the eyepiece at a more convenient height, otherwise you need to put it on a table or sit on the floor.

I’ve had decent views of Mars and split some fairly tight doubles in mine, the optics are pretty good. The main negative is the focuser, but a few wraps of PTFE plumbers tape and it firms up nicely.

A shroud made from hobby foam is another good and simple upgrade.

What can you see? Well this post has a couple of images taken with a smartphone through a Heritage 150p, albeit with a decent zoom eyepiece not the standard one. This was at opposition l ie when the planet is closest, something which is approaching again in December this year. Will it always look like this? No, sometimes the seeing is poor or sometimes a dust storm covers the whole planet loses most of its detail, but when it is good it is great. Note the views were better visually than shown in the images.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385062-considering-a-sky-watcher-heritage-150p-flextube-dobsonian-for-first-telescopewhat-are-the-views-really-like/?do=findComment&comment=4157648

Some pics of the scope on a tripod mount, something like an AZ5 would do the trick nicely.

Thank you for the detailed response. You have a nice setup there! That would be so much more convieniant for me. To be able to just grab and go anywhere I want with my scope with minimal set-up on a crisp clear night is what I envision. My only concern as mentioned above would be the drop in quality from the 8", but it still seems very capable. That view of Mars looks great, even through a smartphone. I can image how much better it would be viewing with the naked eye. I can't wait for opposition in December. Hopefully get a glimpse of the ice caps.

I know I will have to fashion shroud like you said. I wonder if you could point me in the right direction, if you don't mind of course. 

22 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Blurry? No, not at all. For planetary viewing, the only difference is that you need shorter focal length eyepieces to give a similar magnification to the 8" (or a good Barlow). So both scopes give excellent images. The 8" will give you more at extreme faintness, so a faint nebula/galaxy in the 8" may be hardly visible in the 6". However, the headline stuff like the Orion nebulae, Pleiades, etc are wonderful in both.

I'd probably go the route of getting barlow to use with my existing eye pieces.  But it doesn't seem as though a 6" is all that bad. It may be worth the trade down in size. I'm still not sure. Will need to think over it. When out and about with your 150p, what do you use to place the scope on?

Just now, Carbon Brush said:

Stay with the 200P, it is a good scope. Think how to improve the transport situation.
What car is it?

If you are going out observing, you are going with the expectation of dry weather.
Roof off and tube upright on the passenger seat?
Can you add a boot rack to the car - even temporarily?
That way you can fasten the base to the outside of the boot.
Alternatively leave the boot open - with bungy cords around the base😏

I once carried a 10" newt tube in a sports car (Mazda MX5) on a 60 mile journey.
I once sold a SW250 dob and the buyer had problems fitting it into the car - a big Merc saloon!
With a bit of planning there are ways......

HTH, David.

 

The car I drive is also an MX5, so you understand the struggle!! 😂 Can I ask what model of the mx5 you drove?  And how exactly did you manage to fit a 10 inch newtonian in there lol

1 minute ago, cajen2 said:

Perhaps I can help, as I own both types of scope: the Heritage 150p and the equivalent of your 8" dob, a StellaLyra 8".

I completely understand your problems with the larger dob in a small car. I bought an Oplong carrying bag to protect it while transporting it but it's in a van. I use the 150p for exactly this reason: it's small and portable enough to carry in one hand (so it would sit on your passenger seat with its seatbelt quite happily). Optically, it's excellent but of course you are losing some aperture and thus some light-gathering capacity.

Any chance you could buy both scopes? The 8" for the best possible views from home and the 6" for easy transport. That's what I do....

I would love to be able to buy both I really would, but I just don't have that kind of money being a student. 
You are in quite a unique position as you have both which I think will be a great help to me. Can I ask, side by side, how they compare? Are planets blurry in the 150p as opposed to the 8inch dob? And what about DSO like nebula, andromeda, messier catalog. Does the heritage perform well in these areas?