RobertI

Totally agree with this, it’s a pain with the Skytee. These days I actually pick up the whole thing (scope, mount and tripod) when pointing to a different part of the sky so that I keep the azimuth cable pointing towards me - a bit extreme I know!

Some advantages for slo mo: - You don’t have to remember to lock the clutches when changing eyepieces. - You don’t have to rebalance the scope so much - Finer control at very high powers - Less chance of accidentally knocking off the target To be honest I think you get used to whatever you have. The most annoying thing when pushing is if your mount suffers front ‘stiction’, only my smallest mount suffers from this, my other larger Synta mounts are fine. As an experiment I recently used my Skytee without the slo mos and it was fine, although I didn’t like having to touch the focuser to move it. It’s probably better to have slo mo and not need it I guess!

It’s not often that I get a clear moonless night on weekend, so I felt I should make the most of it. I really didn’t feel like it in all honesty, so I took out my little 66mm frac which sits ready in the house on a photo tripod and mini giro-wr, with zoom eyepiece installed. Sitting at my usual usual spot on the patio facing west, I felt the skies around Leo just didn’t hold enough interest for a small scope, so I relocated to the other end of the garden to catch some more interest in the eastern skies. Auriga was well placed so I spent the entire session enjoying Messiers 35,36,37 and 38. M38 first - a large cluster of numerous evenly spaced and similar magnitude stars. Nearby in the same field of view was another little cluster which I later found out was NGC1907. Slewing over to M36, a smaller cluster, with a scattering of stars some of which were brighter than M38. Then over to M37. Probably my favourite, a beautiful compact cluster with. numerous stars which looked like a loose globular cluster without the core. Wonderfully peaceful under the stars - I spared a thought for my friends in Ukraine who are going through some tough times. Finally over to M35, very different again - large, loose, bright with several bright members. Last time out with the 102 I viewed its close neighbouring cluster NGC2158. Sadly not so easy in the 66mm and I could not say I saw it for definite - those extra 36mm make a big difference! An hour later I packed up, but very pleased with what I saw and grateful to have a grab and go scope, otherwise it probably never would have happened.

Lovely report Dave. Getting the pup in the 102 achro was quite an achievement, well done. I agree with you about observing less during my sessions. Slowing down, relaxing and spending more time on each object is very rewarding.

119 Tauri is especially nice with the contrasting white/blue star - nice catch!

It was wonderfully dark and transparent here earlier too, but half an hour later when I stepped outside, the sky had somehow got brighter. Funny how things can change so quickly.

What a beautiful and classic scope. I love the tripod too. Must have given some amazing views. My first scope was a 6” F8 Newt on an manual EQ mount bought by my amazingly supportive parents when I was a teenager. Described in more detail in this post a few years ago.

It’s never a bad policy to “leave well alone”, especially if you’re perfectly happy with how it is performing. 🙂 I guess part of my reason for suggesting the clean was that I have had an RC6 for many years (different to yours I know) and the primary has never dewed up, even when everything else has, so I’m wondering whether your dewing indicates a film on the mirror. My SCT corrector plate was much less prone to dew after I cleaned it, but that was 10 years worth of gunk I removed, so a bit different to your situation! Of course, none of this explains the misty ring after dewing.

Very odd. More annoying than anything, as you say probably won’t affect the viewing significantly, but you’ll just know about it’s there. Also, I find that any kind of dirty film on the mirror will make it more prone to dewing, so that is another good reason to clean. If it was just dust I wouldn’t bother. I’d be inclined to give it a gentle wash with something that can remove dirty film, but that’s just me.

“Revised and enlarged” - as if they need to be any bigger! 😆 Very nice purchase, I have all three, owned from new, now 40 years old, treasured possessions.

A quality looking scope. Looking forward to seeing how you get on, as it’s on my wish list. It’s difficult to appreciate the size from a photo, but zooming in on the focuser on the first photo, the tube does look very big! Would be good to see an average height human next to it 🙂.

Perhaps you could start a separate thread explaining why?

Very nicely designed site, thanks, now bookmarked.

Looks like a wonderful observing site, something to really get excited about. Keep us posted!

Excellent work!

Bit of a dilemma indeed! I think if you get a 4” Tak you’ll want to be able to use its high power abilities on doubles and solar system, so you’ll want a mount upgrade too to keep things steady. The alternative is more light gathering for DSOs, so a 115-125mm would be better, but you’d need a mount upgrade for the increased weight! So I think it boils down to would you like to specialise on doubles and solar system or do you want brighter DSO images? Just my thoughts, probably doesn’t help! You’re probably already aware, the alternative to the 102ED F11 is the 102ED F7 either FPL53 at around £900 or FPL51 at £500. I have found mine much easier to mount and use than my longer 4”F10 Tal. With the money you save over a more premium scope, you could upgrade the mount, get a binoviewer and some other accessories. But if you can afford a Tak…….

Superb!

Just couldn’t resist these, having been reminded of how much I enjoyed them. The Moon, Mars & Venus book is actually a really nice detailed little guide which I will definitely use. The Constellation book less so.

Fantastic report, sounds like you had a great time. Those 8” dobs just can’t be beat. 🙂

I have a similar solution for my small G&G setup - put together from spare parts, but it works very well!

They are basically two Nikon camera tele-extenders tied together with cable ties! But you can buy the ‘proper’ versions for less than £100 now - worth a punt I would say as you wouldn’t lose much when selling them on.

Good session and some nice objects, it must be encouraging to see your skies improving. I was also out recently in my garden, which is ‘ok’ from an LP point of view, but not always easier to navigate around the the more empty parts of the sky. I got out my homemade 2x50 ‘constellation binoculars’ and was treated to some ‘super vision’ and could easily see cancer and some of the fainter constellations in full together with several open clusters such as M35. It was almost like being at a dark site. Highly recommended to improve the back yard observing experience.

Interesting read. 🙂

Great session, fantastic to hear what you can see with a 12”. I guess transparency was really good after rain, perfect for galaxies. 👍

Great project. I think the two speed focuser will be the expensive bit but you should have a super light setup when you’re done. 🙂