Mark at Beaufort

Neil I noticed that you purchased John's HW + solar finder it looked an excellent buy. I hope you are able to find a suitable frac which you will be able to take on travel trips. Let us hope we have clear skies for the Mercury transit in November.

Neil here is an alternative alt/az mount which includes vixen saddle, extension arm + counterweight. https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/starwave-mini-az-mount.html#SID=568

Neil I think you need to decide whether you want a travel scope for the UK or for foreign holidays. I have a Skywatcher AZ5 which I use for outreach work with either a 150P Newt or the Heritage 130P - the views of DSOs are very good indeed. However, if you want to go on foreign holidays weight is very important. The Skywatcher ED72 weighs under 2 kgs so if you add a RDF + 2" diagonal + an EP you will be over 3 kgs and this will require a mount that can take at least 4 kgs. The Mini Giro can take 4 kgs - https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p1541_Giro-GR-2-mini-alt-az-mount---up-to-4-kgs-load-per-side.html and it weighs 1.9 kgs. I have a German Cullmann tripod which is good but a carbon fibre from Manfrotto with 5/6 leg section will weigh just over 1 kg and will fold down to quite a small size for airline travel.

There has been some interesting discussion over the years of the best OTA for air line travel. Most problems relate to the mount and its weight. If you going within the UK an AZ4 would go nicely in the car boot but at over 8kgs that is a lot of weight for the aircraft. Although I believe that the Heritage 130P is a great scope I think if I was travelling abroad then a nice ED Frac would be best - the Skywatcher 72ED is a great example. With regard to a mount then a carbon fibre photo tripod with a mini Giro would be my choice. This light weight set up would give nice widefield with a 24mm 68 degree EP + a good quality Zoom EP and a small barlow. Add a Herschel Wedge or just a quality solar filter and you are set for the Mercury Transit + future Total Solar Eclipses.

Well I had a go last night with the 12" Dob. Transparency could have been slightly better as I had a problem seeing all the stars in Ursa Minor. Thanks to Neil I had an idea of the main stars and their magnitude. However, I also used this photo by the Maury Lewin Memorial Observatory to get a wide field. It took me a while to start seeing some of the fainter stars and like Neil I moved between the mag 13 and mag 14 stars to try and pick up the Quasar. I got my best view using a narrower FOV and the Televue 8-24 zoom really helped. Did I see the Quasar? Not totally sure - although I think I was getting a glimpse of something although this might be wishful thinking. Certainly from home it is possible and will try again.

Brilliant Neil and thanks to Stephan as well. I printed out the star chart last night and set up the 12" Dob. Unfortunately the fog came over and I could only just see the main stars of Orion. Left out the Dob over night for a session (hopefully) tonight.

Jon - Look forward to seeing photos of the scope and hopefully a review in due course. Maybe you will bring it to the SGL star party later in the year.

Jon I just thought someone could log on and use your name and customer number and maybe great further info. I am looking after you ?

Jon - I am really pleased with your decision. However, I am concerned that you have posted your name and account details in an open forum. I think we need to blank out that info - do you agree?

Jon you could wait and go to the Practical Astro Show in Kettering on the 9th March - AA are one of the sponsors. You could ask them to bring along the scope to have a good look plus ask questions. You may even get a show discount.

Sorry Jon I was referring to the scope that @paulastronow owns. However, I have had a look the Stellarvue on offer on ABS and it does look very nice. I am sure this is a similar Stellarvue that I looked through in California viewing the Venus Transit 2012. If it the same model it was an excellent 4" Frac.

I was the original owner of the Astro Tech 102ED before I sold it to Shane. It was brilliant in ever way and I highly recommend this size scope. I only sold it because I had far too many scopes at the time. It still looks great Paul.

Thanks Neil for the more detailed map and I will be pleased to receive further updates from you. I am certainly going to give this quasar a go.

Geoff I look forward to how you get on with this filter. There is a company in the UK that sell Optolong filters and I am looking for another O-III filter to use in my Apollo Binos.

Mark - I was not aware of Vol 4. I found Vol 1 and 2 brilliant so I will be interested in your view of this new addition. I accept it remains sealed for 47 days ?

John thanks for this thread and the link to the website - a very enjoyable video to watc h.

Matt I recently visited the United States and was able to view Omega Centauri in a 17.5 Newt so the delights of the Southern Hemisphere must be fantastic in your new Dob.

Matt that is really nice. I also like the brass refractor on the side table.

That is a nice set up Alan. Its good to see the new tripod for this set up - I have the AZ5 + Pillar so this tripod is an ideal upgrade

Very nice Neil. I will certainly be interested in your opinion of the Baader VIP barlow

Alan that is a great addition to the AZ5 and the AZ GTi mount. The original tripod was too light so this is a welcome addition to the range. With this new tripod the weight allowance (on the standard AZ5 increases to 9 kgs) which makes it a great grab and go. I look forward to your review of the AZ GTi when you get it.

Looks a very interesting telescope and at 399 Euros it seems a very good price for a 6" in comparison to a SCT or Mak Cass. When it arrives it would be good if there was a review comparing a 6" SCT, 6" Mak Cass and this scope. I await in anticipation unless someone obtains one and writes a positive review on SGL.

I will be interested in the comparison between the two scopes - both look fantastic Derek. If its clear over the next few nights have a look at Mu Librae very close to Jupiter at the moment. It has a separation of 1.9" so a great test with the scopes side by side.

Nicely put John. I am sure it will become a popular scope especially for white light and Richfield observing.

I really pleased that this scope is performing well. I was worried when I read a negative report recently. Paul glad that the scope is able to be fitted onto your AZ5. I look forward to more observing report when we get astro darkness back.