Space Hopper

Interesting spider design they did back then. I wonder why they discontinued it ?

I can help the OP there..... My old scope was a 10" F6.3 I've still got the Moonlite 10" fitting kit somewhere. He can have it gratis if he wants it. (btw : i used the 12" kit on my 12F4 as i thought i should, and afaik it was and looks a perfect fit)

Fully racked in, yes the focuser tube is just in the lightpath, but its not too bad. I certainly haven't noticed degraded views or anything. A 12" mirror compensates well. And when i'm in mid or high power mode and racked out, no issues. One problem with extensions is that with a big heavy 2" eyepiece in the 1kg range, you can put quite a bit of strain on the focuser, especially if its not a terribly good quality one. My old OO focuser was in that category. Fully racked out with a 2" there was noticable sag on the tube, although you can't fully see it from this image. More of a worry was the security of the eyepiece itself.

We don't believe a word of that Joe ! 😉

When i purchased my 12 F4 i asked John to fit the Moonlite which was on my old scope. It is a non standard 60mm drawtube version which together with the spacer options will focus just about anything. I got the 60mm drawtube because i use a 'Powerswitch binoviewer' and it has a fair amount of focus travel between the 'low' and 'high' power settings. The Moonlite also gives me a little bit more stability which i need with a 2.5kg load. I've been pleased with my F4. Great rich field, low power views with the bino and the scope fits nicely across the back seats as well.

Nice : congratulations on your new telescope. I have the short tube version

One things for sure in this hobby...... Things never stay clean for very long ! 🙄

Its about to go into production, so they say. So things are happening there...... Deliveries expected between mid August - end September.

Probably some aperture loss there as well, due to the increase in lightpath. And with the best part of the primary getting chopped from the outside, the central obstruction by the secondary as a percentage gets bigger. Hence the dim, over magnified view, and a loss of contrast. SA (Sperical abberation) probably in the mix there as well. This isn't really a fault you can blame on the BV, its just when you use one with a SCT / Mak you need to optimise everything first to make it work well.

Nice post. This hobby is great when it all comes together. Next time you are out, see if you can track down M11. (one of my favourites)

Here in Derby, i'm not exaggerating when i say i reckon we have had less than 10 hours sun so far this month. That equates to an average of less than 25mins per day. And i've completely lost track of where the moon and planets are at. If you asked me what the current Lunar phase is, i wouldn't know. Its been weeks since i last saw it at all. Quite depressing : all this nice kit sitting around with me unable to use it.

It'll be cloudy.......

Probably around 2000. Every 20 years (approx) Jupiter 'overtakes' Saturn in its orbit and gives us a nice conjunction, actually a triple conjunction. There is one next year, but it will still be low in the sky for us in the UK Recent, future ones were / are 1981 in Libra 2000 in Taurus 2020 Sagittarius / Aquarius 2040 Virgo 2060 Gemini The 2060 conjunction promises to be very good from the UKs perspective. Problem is i'll be 93 years old.....😩

The spider looks good, if a little on the pricey side.

I think i'll be his next customer John. Klaus looks very good to deal with so far. I've been doing various upgrades to my own scope over the last couple of years and have fitted encoders and a new Moonlite focuser. A tube upgrade with new spider / secondary assembly will be my next step. That only leaves flocking and sourcing an equatorial tracking platform. You mentioned a longer tube to act as a built in dew shield and i thought it seemed a good idea, but then i realised it would no longer fit across the back seats of the car. I currently use an Astrozap shield on mine which works well, and helps to balance the heavy primary end a bit.

It looks very nice indeed John. Thanks for sharing the response from him. Not too bad a price either....? I'd had concerns with the tube end rings, and it says somewhere on his website to retain them, but now i've seen the tube, its obvious they can be dispensed with. Klaus hit the nail on the head in his reply to you......"Anyway, the whole mechanical construction is poor" (with OO) Apart from the mirror cell, which IS well built, i couldn't agree more. My only concerns would be with the slightly thicker tube. Would the mirror cell still fit in ok ?? And with me being a OO Dobsonian user : would the slightly bigger tube throw the OTA out of alignment with the aluminium Dob mount ???? I will also be upgrading my spider and secondary assembly, and have a curved vane design planned. Take a look. http://www.1800destiny.com I hope your upgrade goes well, and i will follow with interest. Keep us updated please ? 😀

I think Klaus Helmerichs supplies TS with tubes that he produces. They have lots of sizes : look at the 'solid carbon without core' tab. They actually do a ready made tube for OO 10" and you can arrange for holes to be drilled for focuser etc. I myself am after something for exactly the same upgrade, but in a 12" F4 size (OO VX12) The job has been on 'the backburner' for quite a while now........

Theres a place in the Fatherland that looks good. Lots of options and customisations available. I have had it bookmarked myself for a while as i want to do something like this myself. How is your German John ? http://klaushelmi.de/en/index.html

It won't be THAT MUCH further away either. I'm looking forward to it too : we are long overdue a good planetary apparition in this country ; i'm sure we all agree on that ! 😀

We'd love to see some photos of the 105/650 in action ! 😀

Indeed. Good post !

To be honest, the wind was far worse in Fuerteventura when we holidayed there 3 or 4 years ago. That windy at times there, you'd struggle to any observing there at all. You are correct : the Eastern side of Boa Vista, is very under developed : there is literally nothing there. Access would the one issue : theres no roads, as you'd expect, only dirt tracks. The Cape Verdes (certainly Sal) often remind me of the surface of Mars) Lots of dust and dirt and sand for the wind to whip up. A bit like Mars !

I was in Boa Vista in April and go there (and Sal) fairly often. I wouldn't recommend it as a PRISTINE place to see the stars.....its NOT BAD, but with it being pretty windy there a lot of the time, theres often poor transparency with lots of sand and dust in the air. I really need to take a small scope and mount there someday. We have stayed on the south side (at the Tourareg) 3 times and it has a good clear view of the southern sky despite light pollution from the hotel. I was observing Omega Cent and the Southern cross in April, and the fabulous area around there and it was a most memorable view. Weather wise its usually good between October and May sort of time but there are cloudy days for sure. June - Sept can be much more unsettled with rain and cloud. The can even get the odd tropical storm from time to time. Temperature wise is nice : not too hot, not too cold. Usually in the day its around 24-28ºC with quite a tropical feel at times. Its rarely over 30º though, but remember, its in the Atlantic, with its active weather and wind. Its quite a good place for dust devils if you like spotting them ! Its a nice place to visit if you want to chill out and do nothing for 2 weeks. Probably why i like it ! Flying time from the UK is just under 6 hours.

Jupiter moves quickly. And you get to learn a bit about each zodiacal constellation as it visits them yearly in turn. It will only be another 2 or 3 years or so before it starts to get good again. And although Saturn seems to take an age to move anywhere, at least its heading in the right direction for us northerners. The sobering thing for me is that its next 'good aperitions' from around 2025 - 2040 will be my final good views of this beautiful planet. I'm afraid i won't be around to see it complete another full orbit.

Going back to M1. (not the motorway thankfully) The supernova remnant and the first object in Charles Messiers' catalogue. From home (Darley Abbey, Derby : AKA 'Light pollution centra'l) i cannot see it with a 12" Newtonian. And i've tried many times. Its simply washed out to the point of being invisible. Comets are the same. Yet a 20 min drive up to Alderwasley, Belper (EMS darksite) shows it is visible on a decent moonless night with my 15x50 binoculars. I rarely look at DSOs from home because of this, and stick with Planets, doubles and Lunar. Have you tried M42 ? You can't fail to spot that, and it will bring a smile to your face.