RobertI

I agree with Mike, for most of the faint stuff we like to capture, black and white gives brighter and more contrasty images with more detail. Some of the brighter colourful nebulae look great in colour though.

Really beautiful sketch, really captures the ‘at the eyepiece’ experience. I’d be very happy to have that hanging on my wall! 🙂

Looks like it's built to a very good standard, should give some lovely views. Decent focuser too. Are the mirrors in good condition or is a re-coating on the cards?

lovely image John.

Really wonderful views. Don't recognise them all, but stunning nevetheless.

Nice read! I’ve never seen the Flame properly - I need to give it a proper go.

Thanks mate, shame your Christmas was spoiled too. Glad your getting some ‘sky time’ now. 🙂

Very nice report, that’s a great scope and obviously works well on the SkyTee. Nice and clear here too - shame I’m in bed with Covid!! Look forward to hearing more reports.

Fab Chris! Congratulations and glad we have your enthusiasm and experience here on SGL. I joined in October 2011 - must have been a good year for Astronomy.

Some lovely images there, particularly love the Spaghetti Nebula and NGC3718. That Meade SN-6 is a nice little imager too.

Any pointless external light with a switch on it is just asking to be switched off!! 😆

Good for them. Anything legal that raises the profile of the light pollution issue has to be good in my book.

Funnily enough, me too!

You have done well Doug (as have many other people here). Looking back over the last few years has really made me realise how little I get out (15 'recorded' sessions in 2021 plus a handful of unrecorded planetary and lunar sessions). Thinking about the reasons why (mainly family and work) I can't easily improve this in the short term. But perhaps we will have more clear nights at the weekend in 2022! That's a good result. I must admit, although my C8 is my biggest scope, I never use it for doubles as it doesn't give very good star images, and is especially poor on bright, close doubles. But I've never used it on fainter tight doubles, so might surprise me. It is of course possible that I have a dud!

This is great John! A unique piece of astro desk art.

I have certainly found this with my Starwave 102ED-R, but good performance in everyday observing. Can you remind why this is the case Stu? (assuming it’s possible to explain it in simple terms!)

It’s a lovely looking marriage. A very solid looking mount worthy of the Tak. Not sure I can work out what all the knobs on the are for though! 🙂

If the 8” dob and the G&G refractor are to be your only scopes (sorry I can’t see your sig in mobile view) I’d be tempted to go for something a bit bigger than 80mm if you can. The 102ED with FPL51 glass is a great buy IMO and would sit nicely on the AZ4 for example. Total price less than £700 but may be above your budget? My 102 cools very quickly and is extremely versatile, able to fit in the whole Veil complex and do high viewing of planets moon and sun.

That's another good one I should add to my list - some more astronomy with my 7 old son. I'm sure we could find some fun stuff to do with binoculars or lying on the ground waiting for meteors, and now's a good time of year to be doing it. 👍

Some interesting plans there. I think I will add more some solar observing to my list - my Herschel wedge plus binoviewers plus 4” APO gave amazing views during the summer, would like to try some sketching.

That sounds like a great opportunity John - perhaps an observing report or two from the 18”? 🙂

Yes I was hoping some dark skies would help me see some of the more elusive DSOs that I've struggled with over the years. The Horsehead would be something of a miracle for me but you never know! That's also firmly on my list as last year's apparition was superb.

Crikey, I think I chose a bad day to try and get some positive vibes from people for 2022! Nice to hear what people do have planned for next year though. The weather hasn't been great for me either, I've only managed around 15 'proper' observing sessions this year, but there were plenty of clear nights where I just couldn't manage it, so I shall try and do better this year.

With Christmas mostly out of the way, my thoughts are turning to the new year and how I can improve my astronomy by doing something a little different. Any plans I come up with need to be realistic and achievable (hence I quickly eliminated the observatory build!) and I ended up with the following goals: Do some observing under some dark skies. I'd love to go to the pitch black skies of Namibia or even have a week at one of the wonderful astronomy providers in Cornwall, but with a family in tow and lockdowns/isolations still a reality, the more realistic option is to find some dark sites near my home. There are some pretty dark skies in mid-suffolk which is only an hour's drive away, so I plan to take my C8 and ED102 to a dark site and track down some faint fuzzies. Do some observing with a big dob. I've never used a big dob and I'd really like to experience one. I've got two options so far, rent one (I can get a OO 12" dob delivered to my home for 4 weeks of use for £185 - see here) but this comes with the risk of no clear nights and limited dark skies at home, or I could drive to Kelling Heath for the Spring or Summer Star Parties and see if I can get a view under really dark skies (it's a two hour drive and I would only do it if the skies were clear). Alternatively perhaps there is a friendly astronomer with a big dob in South Suffolk / North Essex who would let me come and have a squint? I think these are fairly achievable goals which shouldn't cost the earth. What do you think? What are your astro plans for 2022?

These are two good options. I have the first one and have used it a lot, especially on holidays, it really is super portable considering the aperture. Regarding the table, if you store it in a sturdy plastic box or tub, you can use the box as a table to stand it on, so no real hassle. You'll also need a stool but seated observing is nicer than standing anyway. A plus point for the second option is that the scope does not need collimating (unlike all the other mirror scope mentioned here). I think that's a really useful feature and has proven to be reliable over recent years. You can see a full review from a fellow member here: