RobertI

Lovely image, really captures what it's like to be under a really dark winter sky, where the constellations get lost in the multitude of stars.

Really nice images. 👍

I’m sure many more knowledgable people will chip in here, but it appears to be identical to the one described in this post (and the linked posts therein). It appears to be a mass produced budget telescope from the 1980’s - probably of little monetary value but might be worth trying out under the stars - if you like what it can do, then keep it!

I use an 8” SCT side by side with my 4” APO. Very nice combination - the C8 has the light gathering for the faint fuzzies and the 4” is great for doubles or wide field work. They are very different beasts and different enough to make it interesting. Often it’s just fun to compare the views.

Sounds like you had a great session, nice report. That's a fine scope, you'll have most bases covered with that. Ah yes, cloud and work - the astronomer's two curses!! It's worth the tiredness though.

Congratulations and good luck, keep us informed.

Me too!

Good solution, I have made something similar for my Rigel Quikfinder.

Sounds totally amazing. I need to find somewhere similar and take a leaf out for your book. 🙂

Inspiring report Victor. Your dual setup would be the business, it's making me think how I could do the same. I had some amazing white light views through my 102EDR during the summer, I was surprised at how high the magnification could go - 180x and I was seeing some lovely sunspot detail.

Another benefit of EQ mounts is that they are usable in the ‘dob hole’ - the area around the zenith where the seeing tends to be the best, altaz mounts cannot do this. Then again observing at the zenith with a refractor is not always a lot of fun anyway.

FWIW I have never bothered to regrease mine - I think if you use the slo mo’s a lot like me, then it’s not a problem, but if you do a lot of pushing around, then you might benefit from a regrease, but it’s not mandatory by any means.

I also use the Skytee with my 102ED which, with the 2” tripod, is super stable. However I do sometimes wish for something lighter and simpler for quick sessions and have been looking at the AZ4. Given the good reviews here I’m more convinced and it’s only £190 including tripod which is tremendous value. I also like the panning handle - I really hate having to grab the diagonal to steer the scope.

Many thanks for your thoughts John. I've looked at the measurements of the TS focuser and measured the 150PL and it might be ok, although the TS focuser is about 1cm shorter across the tube - presumaby the issue there is the old holes will be exposed? I've pinged a message to TS and I'll let you know what they say.

Thanks John, looks like you did a great mod there (as always! ) and that focuser (Long Pern?) suits the scope really well. I'm not sure about my abilities to enlarge the hole though - I'd be interested to know how you did it? You got me thinking though - whilst looking at you suggestion I came across this alternative - it's only 1.25" but I'm thinking that wouldn't be an issue as I use it for mostly doubles anyway, and means I wouldn't need to enlarge the hole, although it does mention an "oversize drawtube" which might be too big for the existing hole. Although single speed, it would allow a motorised focuser to be fitted as the knobs seem removable. What do you think?

My 150PL is a really good all rounder and great for doubles, but it’s really hard to focus at high power. This is partly due to the long tube - every touch induces a wobble - and partly due to the agricultural single speed focuser. I want to add a motorised focuser but the focus wheels are stuck on and will not come off - I’ve tried. The alternative is to replace the focuser with a nice two speed unit but I don’t believe there is one off the shelf that will fit. Does anyone have any experience or advice on this? Thanks.

Very nice session. Must be fun using image stabilised binoculars. 🙂

I certainly often have thoughts about alternative or better scopes, but they tend to be about type/size of scope rather than brand/model. But if money was no object I would definitely invest in a premium 5” or 6” apo - if you recommend the TOA-130 then that’s good enough for me. Now where’s the scratch card….. 🙂

Wonderful image - I've never seen the Pleiades looking like this before - amazing piece of work.

Had to look up what an NFT is! I consider myself educated on both the NFT and the linked star names venture - thank you. On the surface it definitely looks like a repackaged star names venture - shame these NFTs appear to be so energy intensive.

I would definitely try gentle heat first - possibly wrap a dew strap round or someting similar, on full blast for an hour and then give it a go??

Super report, must have be wonderful through your 14" dob. I was out last night too and much of the stuff I wanted to see was high in the sky - really wished I'd got my Newt out instead of the refractor as overhead is so much easier with a Newt IMO.

It was nice and clear last night so time for a session with the 102ED-R. It quickly became apparent that seeing was pretty bad - this was confirmed when trying to split Alnitak - it just wasn't possible! But transperency was good so I persevered and ended up with a nice mix of old and new. First as always was M42 - I initially tried with binoviewers and the views were a mesemrising 3D, but with only one magnification of 180x available, it was a bit too much for the Trapezium with such poor seeing, so back to cyclops for the night. Staying in Orion, next was the beautiful Sigma Orionis - a cluster of four stars which form part of stellar association which includes Orion's belt. The faintest of the four was nicely visible, but weirdly disappeared if I increased the magnification beyond 100x - perhaps due to the seeing? Nearby was Struve 761 a nice group of three stars, two of which make a nice close pair. Also nearby was Iota Orionis, a pretty double with a bright primary and a much fainter secondary 11" away. Now a couple of carbon stars. BL Orionis was unmistakable with a deep coppery orange. TU Geminorum was not quite as vivd, but still unmistakable. Nearby was the M35 open cluster. This was probably the highlight of the evening, filling the field of view at 70x with a rich array of bright stars gently swimming in the turbulence, but with a little surprise in the same field of view - the misty cloud of NGC2158 - a faint but extremely rich open cluster which I was not able to resolve. I finished off with a quick look at the Crab Nebula in Taurus which was nice oval smudge, very easy to see thanks to the good transparency. A good session in the end.

Seeing was pretty awful last night, but transparency was good, so managed a nice two hour session, report imminent!

Nicely demonstrated!