RobertI

That’s a good idea, at least it will give a light free view in one direction.

I just despair for you, I’m so sorry to hear this. A couple of thoughts from the ‘Astronomy Hacks’ books I have been reading which might help - Now you may feel like a complete berk doing this, but an eyepatch and an observing hood/blanket could allow you to retain complete dark adaption even under bright lights - observing hoods are brilliant for cutting out light and before you ‘emerge’ from your observing hood into the light, cover your observing eye with an eyepatch - even if your uncovered eye is subjected to light the covered eye will retain its dark adaption for when you go under the hood again (apparently eyes work independently in this regard). As Peter says doubles are good to observe under light pollution and there are bucket loads of them - especially with a 6” refractor! If all else fails, if you are prepared to get a bit technical, EAA (aka Video Astronomy) is the the antidote to light pollution and you will never have to worry about it again - but it’s not for everyone. I used it successfully to observe in the centre of a town with three very bright street lights a mere 30 feet away. I am back to visual now that I have moved house, but I know that if I ever get an inconsiderate neighbour with a light obsession, I’ve got EAA to fall back on. A final thought - if you need a goto mount, I recommend the Celestron AS-GT or CG5 - known as the ‘coffee grinder’ it’s guaranteed to wake even the heaviest of sleepers!

Nice report, sounds like good seeing and transparent skies -awesome. So many things to see! Ironically I am missing tonight’s clear skies as I am working late to clear my work backlog so I can attend Kelling Heath for a couple of nights (which will probably be cloudy!). NGC604 is truly huge!

That must have shaken you up. I’ve had Similar incidents, usually involving trying to move the whole setup and forgetting that one of the axes is loose. I don’t think I’ve drawn blood though. I’m glad you’re ok. We live and learn!

Great video Victor, I have subscribed to your channel! I think yours and @Lockie's "DIY Astro" channel are the only two I subscribe to.

Now THAT is a nice dual setup. Should be great for side by side viewing.

On the subject of the dimmer image of the CC, I suspect it could be as simple as a different eyepiece being used with different transmission properties and/or a slightly different magnification being used, both of which could make a big difference to perceived brightness. I once bought a specialist planetary eyepiece which significantly dimmed the image compared to my normal eyepiece of the same focal length.

Yes just recently came across this one myself, it’s a great resource with all sorts of useful information for each object, highly recommended.

Beautiful image of a beautiful object. Lovely star colours. I eyeballed this the other day through my 102ED and was surprised by the number of orange members in the cluster.

I recently bought a 102ED refractor to complement my C8 (and various other scopes). I agree with some of the comments about SCTs giving 'soft' views, but so far the 102ED has not been able to show more detail than the C8 on Mars (though I have only had a couple of side-by-side sessions) and I have had some breathtaking detailed views of Jupiter with the C8 in the past. As mentioned, SCTs do need to be cooled and collimated and sometimes they just don't seem to perform well under certain conditions, but when they do they can be excellent. It should be noted that planetary observing is often a matter of waiting for those fleeting moments of clarity when the atmosphere steadies, so planets often don't look good at first glance (sorry if you already know this, I don't know what your level of experience is). I don't know if you have looked through other scopes to see what they are capable of in terms of planetary, but I wouldn't rush to buy anything else yet without trying some other scopes, and also trying to get the best out of your SCT.

I think that is a sensible start. I would also add the Caldwell catalogue to your list , it’s a list of bright DSOs compiled by Patrick Moore, I think there are some galaxies on there. I think the biggest ‘wow’ will come from looking at the brighter globulars through your 12” 🙂

Nice report Victor, you achieved a lot in one session! Interestingly I also tried my wide field 38mm again recently (see recent report) and like you found that the edge distortion was not as bad as I remembered. For your interest I have managed to split a 1.4” double and I think the scope could do even better than that, so keep at those doubles, I think you’ll find it addictive! I love your Mars images, very impressive - I think the higher magnification version shows more detail - do you agree?

🥳

Super result! The optics are clearly very good. I think your excellent eyes are doing you a great service too - at 380x all I would see is floaters!

No problem! Yes its nice to have scopes sided by side and I've done it alot. I must admit though I think I was a bit too tired and I ended up doing a lot of 'fiddling' instead of observing! I should have just stuck the ED on my CG5 EQ mount, sat down and enjoyed Mars.

My scope really needs one of these! My wallet doesn't. 😋 I think @John's comment that the real spending STARTS when you get a nice ED scope is spot on.

Well how very clever! I don't want to go off on a tangent, but I've read so many differing reports on this. I've always thought RCs have a flat field but I read several reports saying that RCs still display coma, although the centre of the stars stay in the 'correct' position (whereas they don't in a Newt)? Given that most people use reducers with RCs anyway, perhaps it doesn't matter and I should stop worrying? 😋

The skies cleared after raining all day, and I was presented with a beautifully transparent dark sky by 9pm. I set up the 102ED-R and C8 either side of the Skytee and 'did' some Mars. Seeing was ok but not fabulous, however in moments of stillness there was amazing detail popping out. I had intended to sketch but it was cold, I was tired so I just enjoyed looking. I didn't really have a chance to do a direct comprison of the scopes as I was using different magnifications in each, but I would have been happy to tease out detail with either, probably getting more detail out of the C8. The C8 eventually dewed up (I was too tired to set up dew control) so I carried on with the 102ED-R and scanned the area around Cassiopea and Perseus with the 38mm and 21mm eyepieces. What an enjoyable experience just sitting comfortably (on my new observing chair) and scanning those star rich regions. The delights included Kembles Cascade, fitting into the entire FOV of the 38mm, NCC1502, the double cluster, the ET cluster, some large cluster like Stock 2 and numerous other unidentifed clusters, doubles and coloured stars. And still no dew on the lens by the end although everything else seemed to be dripping.

Nice sketch Dave, nothing wrong with that all. Nice sketchbook too, will have to track one of thos down!

Just out of interest John, would you choose a 6" CC over an 8" SCT? I'm asking as the weight of the CC/RC is their main (possibly only) downside and the 6" CC weighs the same as an 8" SCT. Just curious.....

Looking forward to unboxing and first light reports!

I think the adjustment of the optical axis (main mirror) has always been there Chris - my 6" RC is nearly 7 years old and has it. I am guessing when FLO talk about waiting for the design to mature they are talking about the CC versions which are fairly recent (although identical to the 'mature' RCs in every way except the mirrors as far as I can see) and possibly the truss versions, not sure how long they've been around. I can't really fault mine to be honest, amazing build quality for the price, and even cheaper now through FLO. I was out observing with my C8 last night - the mirror inevitably dewed up after an hour without dew control and the focuser was pants for fine focussing on Mars - my 6" RC has NEVER dewed up amazingly (not to say it can't of course!) and has a lovely dual speed Crayford - an 8" CC is SO tempting.

Nice first light Victor! Glad you enjoyed using the scope. I also found that the field was far from flat with my 38mm 2” eyepiece, it annoys some and not others. I imagine more expensive eyepieces would help eliminate this issue - perhaps others can advise? It’s been so long since I’ve been out and used my scope, it’s raining now but supposed to be clear later - here’s hoping. 🤞

I have a guilty secret - I have named all my scopes after sci-if characters (serious or comedy) - the 102ED-R is Lady Penelope (from Thunderbirds). 😂

Very good sketch, nice detail.