LukeTheNuke

Your Quark image looks good to me. Wowsers, Zakalwe's flat is lively! Which I think just goes to show, it's about the end result!

There are some (downsized) flats below from two of my Quarks. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the second flat below is from my best Quark (which went faulty, alas, and was replaced). My advice would be to see what the end result looks like applying the flat, and if it looks good, don't worry about it. You could possibly get a flatter Quark, but it might also be one that shows less detail. My favourite Quark wasn't the one that was the most even. It was the one that showed the most detail.

Hmmm, that doesn't sound like the talk of the SGL Imaging Winner Galaxies 2023! I had a quick look at your gallery. Incredible stuff! I'd suggest, have a look at your own gallery, read the words you wrote, and have a think about what it was that made you hungry to image in the first place. Despite the challenges the weather brings, look at all those lovely images you made. What you are imaging is incredible. You've mastered a lot of challenges to get where you are. It might not seem like you are getting much done now, but the evidence of how far you have already gone to date is there to see. It's easy to overlook what you've already achieved. I hope you find your mojo soon. Oh, and maybe get another hobby that isn't weather dependent!

Nice write-up! As they say, aperture is king! Mind you, I have to say, I really enjoy looking through scopes of all sizes and types at star parties. They each have their own benefits and charm. I had a Skywatcher 400P Goto for a while. I sold it as I found it a bit too heavy to keep managing on my own. I was worried I'd injure myself. The goto was not that much hassle, honestly, and I think it saved me quite a bit of time. There would be the odd time where I'd set things up and then the target wouldn't be in the eyepiece. But most of the time, it worked well and saved me time. You could argue that when you are at a star party, provided it works (!), a goto will help you to make the most of those precious dark skies. Though some folks I have to say are lightning fast finding targets manually! That said, when I get my next dob, I'm not that bothered about goto. I find manual encourages me to get to know the night sky better, and I find that enjoyable. I think my favourite dob "pound for pound" was a Skywatcher solid tube 12 inch, manual. I found it okay to handle by myself, and it was very low on hassle. I found the optics great for the cost. Yeah, with eyepieces, you pay a lot for usually pretty small gains. I have mostly Tele Vue eyepieces now, but I have a few eyepieces I got for I think it was about £20 to £30, and they're really good for the price. re: 100 degrees, my favourite eyepiece is the 21 mm Ethos. I find the wide field of view useful. Sometimes, when I feel lazy, I just use the 21 mm Ethos for the whole session. I like seeing M81 and M82 in the same field of view, for example. It's easier for me to find my targets with a wider angle eyepiece when not using goto. But some folks might not enjoy the wide view. That's one lovely thing about star parties. How you can hopefully get to try different gear and see what works for you / what you find worth the cost. And to see how big some of those dobs are! It can end up quite costly trying out eyepieces though...

The moon isn't always visible at night! Some nights, I've gone out to observe after the moon has set. You can see average moonrise and moonset times here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase#Principal_and_intermediate_phases_of_the_Moon

Wow, that's amazing. Well done!

I'd love a Lunt 60 double stack solar h-alpha telescope. It, or a single stack, could be in budget soon, but a dob is looking more likely to scoff the budget. Those solar scopes can get a lot of use during the year, though, especially if you can observe during lunchtime. So in a way, I think they're not as expensive as they look. Or perhaps a Solar Spectrum H-alpha filter.

Gosh, I am so out of date. What is this? A Ritchey-Chrétien? To my untrained eye, it looks like an insane, fat refractor, that could be very exciting. Anyway, congrats, it looks like a potent scope! Will this be for imaging or visual or both?

Wowsers! The sun does put on a show at times. 🌞

Do you need a 2 inch reducer? Wow, £279? I think Daystar sometimes have quite a nice markup on their extras, I remember the interesting prices they had for their Quark battery packs (cough). I just used a cheapo 1.25 inch 0.5x reducer, which was under £20 I think, from Telescope House years ago. It can also screw onto eyepieces, which I sometimes found useful, I think I got some other brand too that worked fine. I guess it depends on the camera chip size, though? I was using an ASI174 and Grasshopper 3 (ICX687), and the cheapy 0.5x reducer was fine to my eyes. If 1.25 inch is fine, I'd be tempted to try something like this, with the option possibly to send it back if it doesn't work: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Svbony-Reducer-Astronomy-Telescope-Eyepiece/dp/B078Z8ZYR8

I think I've found the answer!

Am I reading this ad correctly - the finder scope is 150 mm? Really? Wowsers! And I'd need to change my car to a transit van. I suppose a bigger finder makes sense, as you can see fainter stuff with the scope? 150mm mirror box mounted Bresser finder scope Oh, and I suppose a 50mm finder might look a bit silly on a 24 inch dob.

Thanks, Peter. I think I'm not that bothered about the Starsense technology itself, as I quite like finding stuff manually. Whether paying more for the Celestron is silly versus say the StellaLyra, if I'm not bothered about Starsense, I dunno. I suppose I'd try the Starsense, and maybe I should try PS Align Pro, you never know unless you try! What I like about finding stuff manually though is it makes me get to know the sky better, and I quite like that aspect. I dunno why. I am terrible at directions when driving my car! I once got lost driving to the garage down the road. Poor Sarah had just sent me out to get milk or something for our guests! They couldn't believe I got lost going to the garage down the road!

I'm pondering whether to suggest a 16 inch solid tube with trolley / wheelbarrow handles stored indoors, which Sarah is dead against currently, but I am willing to let her paint the OTA to help the scope add to the decor.

Very true, Michael. I've been fortunate to own quite a range of sizes and scope styles: 60mm, 80mm, 100mm, 120mm, 150mm, 200mm, 250mm, 280mm, 300mm, 400mm. And we were very lucky to look through some bigger dobs at star parties. With the really big dobs, you also need stepladders! I was just okay without a ladder for the 400P, Sarah needed to use a few steps sometimes. I think Sarah might not need steps with the VX14, so that would be a plus versus the old 400P we sold. I think I need to check what would actually fit under the stairs, to see what the limit there is. The door opening is roughly 75 cm wide, and 130 cm tall. We got the SW 400P in there fine. Whether it could take an 18 or 20 of some type, I don't know at the mo. Perhaps not. The big scope for our two scope option must go under the stairs. I think that's non-negotiable with Sarah! For the single scope option, we think the shed makes more sense - e.g. scope already pretty much cooled down. If we go the two scope route, I guess the aperture needs to be at least 4 inches in difference to make it feel worth the effort. I'm not sure it would make that much sense to have a 14 solid tube and the Explore Scientific Ultra Light Dobsonian 406mm. I think there needs to be a bigger reason to get the bigger dob out to make the extra setup feel worth it. So perhaps a 12 and a 16, or a 14 and an 18 or 20. But definitely, I don't want a hernia from the scope(s)! There is still the star party aspect, but I think the big scope does need to offer something at home too. We can't justify the cost of an expensive large dob for star parties only.

Thanks for the thoughts. I can see why you'd say that, and it was part of my thinking in favouring the VX14 over the 12s, so that there's a more substantial increase in aperture. The answer is that I find the optics a bit lacking on the TS GSO 10 anyway, and would actually consider changing it for another 10 inch, if I felt confident the optics would be better. They're not terrible, but I think they are not as good as the (four?) Skywatcher dobs I've had. And the 10 is my most used scope for DSO, so a replacement is likely to get a lot of use. I do really like its mechanics, though. I'm fond of the base. The scope has a surprisingly good two-speed focuser. We usually upgrade focusers - I think we did for all of our Skywatcher dobs. But we were happy with the stock one on the TS GSO 10. I was impressed that it could handle the weight of a Paracorr and 21mm Ethos. So the StellaLyra, if I am confident it has better optics than my old GSO (> 10 years?), looks quite tempting. It appears to have a very similar base, and I wonder if the focuser is also pretty decent. I suppose a used VX14 could still work, though, if we go the two scope route, if the price gets closer to a new StellaLyra. And part of my thinking is that having owned a lot of different aperture scopes, the 12 inch solid tube Skywatcher was a gem, and I wish I hadn't sold it. Now with the Celestron StarSense, and Mr Spock's glowing report of the StellaLyra, I wonder if there is the chance to correct my mistake.

Sarah and I are now wondering if two scopes might be better than one! What we're thinking for Option 2 is 12 inch solid tube dob to replace the GSO 10, as our low-hassle DSO scope. Maybe the StellaLyra or Celestron StarSense, so we can spend the bulk of the budget on the bigger scope. And something 16 inches or larger that is very portable and can cover star parties or the odd night at home when we have the energy to set it up. Maybe it's the weekend and the forecast is clear. Out comes the big dob. Midweek, might be clear, might not - out comes the 12. For example, the Explore Scientific Ultra Light Dobsonian 406mm looks reasonable weight-wise, with the heaviest single part being the mirror box, at 23.8 kg. I guess I could, at a push, clear the games out of the cupboard where the 400P used to go, and the big dob could be stored there, hopefully. Maybe I'll have to sell some games [gasp!] We have games stored in several locations (we have many games!), so it's not end of the world to free up under the stairs, I think, especially if we sell some of Sarah's games! It might be possible to stretch the budget above £5K for the right big dob, we have to see how the finances work out when we have the funds. Sarah has been looking at product pages for 18 and 20 inch dobs! A 20 inch dob would be a dream come true, though I want to avoid any really heavy single part, so maybe those mirrors are just going to be too heavy anyway. Or can the heaviest part easily be carried by two people? I've never moved a mirror box. If two of us can easily move it, then maybe we can push towards 20 inches?

Wow, lovely! Do you use your MN190 Mak-Newt mainly for lunar, or for other things too? Have you had a crack at close to new moon as well?

Very nice! To me, these have a real feeling of depth.

Thanks for the ideas and thoughts! They have been very helpful, we had a big think over the Easter weekend, and did some other reading up here on SGL. All things considered, Sarah and I think it makes sense to store the dob in our shed, which I think rules out using a trolley or wheelbarrow handles, alas. That's because the path to the shed is loose slate chippings. Also, the shed door opening has a lip at the bottom, and I think the shed may be too shallow for using a ramp (it's only 100 cm deep), and perhaps taking a trolley. The door opening, after careful checking, is 74.5 cm wide (less than I thought!), and 169.5 cm tall (more than I thought, LOL!). The shed is about 140 cm wide, 100 cm deep. We'd like to store the dob base in the shed as well, which is where we currently store our 10" GSO dob and base. I don't think we'll be keeping the GSO if the new scope is practical enough to replace it, and there might not be space for both in the shed, as we also have a few other bits in the shed. I tested the waters by mentioning the word "observatory" to Sarah, suggesting perhaps she could do the odd bit of crafting in there as well. I got rather a stern look back. We think we want a solid tube. We just find them that bit less hassle. They are far less prone to dew than the FlexTubes in our experience. OTA weight-wise, thinking about what I've used in the past and how much I appreciate the light weight of the GSO (about 12.5 kg, I think), how heavy I found the SW 400P (32 - 38 kg???), a max weight of about 22.5 kg sounds about right to me. I'm sure I could manage a bit more, but I like the idea of being a bit under what I think I am fine with, and bearing in mind that I'm not getting any younger, and we hope to keep this scope for many years... I think the Celestron 12 StarSense and the StellaLyra 12 dobs are options, and have the plus that they're way under our budget, and the tubes are probably a bit less prone to denting than the OOUK dobs. With Celestron, I've been happy with the optics on their scopes. With the StellaLyra, the base looks like the one on my GSO, which I am fond of. It's not flashy or beefed up, but it works so well. It's very smooth. It would be a nice plus if the scope could fit in a car so we could take it to star parties, though if not, we can always take our lovely Edge 8 SCT. This could sway us to the Orion Optics VX12 if that fits in the car (my car could be changing soon), and the XV12L or VX14 don't. Apart from the star party aspect, the VX14 tempts the most for me at the mo because it might feel like a nice compromise between the convenience of the GSO 10 inch, and the aperture of our old SW 400P. The VX14 OTA is 20 kg, which is similar to the StellaLyra 12, and less than the Celestron 12. And 14 inches sounds a decent step up on 10 inches. We're open to new or used, and see plusses both ways. We hope to have funds within the next three months - we're not able to buy anything just yet.

Yes, that was the one! We sold it because I was finding it too heavy, and feared for my knee or back! And I was getting into another hobby that softened the blow: board gaming. Mind you, some of those are getting pretty heavy these days!

Thanks for the further ideas and thoughts! Ratlet, thanks for a plan B re: scope on wheels! Paz, thanks for taking the time to go through the setup routine. I suppose really I am looking for the sweet spot between the light weight and low hassle of my GSO 10 inch dob, and the bigger aperture of my old Skywatcher 16 inch. So maybe I should stick with a solid tube. I love with the GSO that if the forecast is clear, I can plonk it out in seconds, there's very little to do to set it up, and if the night ends up as being wall-to-wall cloud, I didn't waste much time and it wasn't much of a chore. Mr Spock, the base of your StellaLyra looks very similar to my GSO 10 inch dob's base. I really like it, and prefer it to the Skywatcher FlexTube bases. So I suppose I need to set my limit on the weight. I think as has been mentioned, it's not just the weight alone really, despite me going on about 20 kg bags of slate! I think it's also the shape and size, and how the weight is distributed. I think we're edging towards the OOUK VX14, with it perhaps between that or the VX12 or VX12L. With the 12's, Sarah wonders if the VX12L might be more practical in terms of a more comfortable height of the eyepiece when standing generally. I went out to measure our shed. It has a width of 100 cm, and the gap where the door goes is 166.5 cm tall (and there seems to be ample width). So I think we'd get the VX14 in there fine (tube length: 154 cm).