lawsio

8 hours ago, Franklin said:

You've probably already sorted it but the black rubber washer that is around the finder foot in your picture should be placed around the finder tube, it goes in the recess for fine adjustments when aligning.

 

I feel like the postman will be bringing me a new finder anyway before long, haven't used it properly yet but already don't like the one that's come with it!

On the AZ5 package they swap out the red dot finder for this which I'm sure some people like but I prefer the simpler things, especially on a scope like this.

Oooh has the postman brought me a present today!

35 minutes ago, John said:

If you have the 32mm plossl, that will show you the same amount of sky as the 40mm but with a more pleasing, and wider, apparent field. The exit pupil will be smaller as well so you should see a slightly darker background sky which helps pick out deep sky objects.

I have a 32mm Meade Super Plossl that I acquired many years ago, cant remember if it was an expensive one or not but it's my nicest low-power one in my slower scopes so suspect that will live in it for a while.

Thanks for that, makes sense! Still not a million miles out, will do me for now anyway whilst I decide what others to get!

Fair enough - that's what the AFOV is listed as online. What's a more accurate number to us?

This is what I've based the above comment on ^

Right then. 

Taking on board everyone's comments, I've ordered the scope but not the eyepieces yet. Was going to try and get them all together to save on postage but clearly this needs some thinking about and with the diagonal included it's going to be in the region of £300 extra I need to spend so want to get this right. 

In the meantime, I have a set of 1.25" Orion Sirius Plossl eyepieces, one of which is a 40mm and using the online calculator it looks like it gives me near as dammit the same FOV as the 2" SL UFF 30mm. I assume this will fall very much into the category of 'it's going to look hideous' on this scope but I'll persevere with it for a bit to ensure this is the right FOV im looking for and I'll appreciate the expensive one all the more for it down the line im sure!

Thanks for your advice all, I'll come back to this when it's time to buy!

Thanks all, think the feedback on this EP is pretty conclusive!

On more (quite fundamental!) question - I assume for the ST102 I'm going to need to upgrade the diagonal to take 2" EPs? Any advice here?

Ben

So I've done a FOV comparison between a standard 32mm Plossl (This shows an Astro Essentials one - mine are Orion Sirius ones but for the purposes of this I'll assume they're about right) and the 30mm UFF EPs and the 2" obviously has a bigger view but it doesn't seem that much different. Does this comparison look right?

This will be my first widefield scope so for the experienced observers - is that extra view worth nearly £200 more?

1 hour ago, globular said:

Have you measured your dark adapted exit pupil?

I'm not going to lie, I've not even considered it! Is there a method to this?

1 hour ago, Zermelo said:

You beat me to it.

The UFF performs very well, even in faster scopes.  I compared it (actually, it was the Altair badged version) with the cheaper Stellayra Superview, here.  The Superview did well enough in my Mak, but struggled at F/5.9.  The UFF was noticeably better.

Several recent mentions:

https://stargazerslounge.com/search/?q=Stellalyra UFF 30mm&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=newest&search_and_or=and

Thanks for this. I notice a few comments refer to the weight of it. I plan to use this mostly on the AZ5 Deluxe mount that comes with the ST, and potentially on the AZGti I already have. Is this going to be OK?

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I think you mean the 30mm Stella Lyra UFF eyepiece as there is no 40mm. This is a great eyepiece with good correction across almost the entire FOV.  This to me is important with a wide field eyepiece otherwise the outer area will be suffering from aberrations and not pleasant to view.

Yes you're right, I've edited the post, thanks!

Hi folks.

So I've been dithering on a grab and go scope for a while but think I'm ready to order the F4.9 ST102 now. What im now pondering is eyepeices.

I have no 2" eyepeices so far (Even though my Dob takes them too) so I'm thinking of investing in one to maximise the FOV on the ST.

I know you can't mess about with cheap eyepeices on this scope but it's hard to tell what you can and can't do. So far I've had the StellaLyra 30mm UFF recommended following a chat in another thread but thought I'd ask in the area more people are to get any other feedback.

Looking for something as entry level as I can get away with at this point!

Thanks!

1 hour ago, sojourneyer said:

Ed Ting recommends the 8” over a 10” dob

I've discovered Ed recently (Through his Dob size comparison videos as it happens) and have been watching his channel the last few days. Love the guy!

To answer the question properly, my worst purchase was a Sky-Water Skyhawk 1145p AZ GOTO.

The reason being is that I had the Skyhawk EQ1 for several years and loved it, had a little toolbox on wheels it fit in so I could take it to dark sky spots and up hills to get the most of the sky. I decided after a while I wanted to step up my game and experiment with goto tech so for some reason I sold my whole setup and replaced with an identical OTA but on the GOTO mount instead, and I hated it. I thought it was clumsy, ugly, noisy, inconvenient, I hated the massive synscan keypad that came with it, it drove me mad trying to align it and in the end I sold it and have mostly been using the 8" dob (which may or may not be upgraded soon despite this cautionary tale!) ever since. 

It's only very recently that I've started to trust goto tech again with the AZGTi that came with my SkyMax. It's a long road to recovery for me though!

9 minutes ago, lawsio said:

My worst purchase is probably going to happen soon if I switch my 8" dob for 10". I know deep down I shouldn't, the weight and bulk will be prohibitive, I'll never use it, etc. But I'm sill bloody gonna.

Still bloody gonna.

@bosun21 You may laugh but your 'get the StellaLyra one' response in my Dob thread means it's going to be £100 more of a mistake than the mistake I was going to make anyway! 🤣🤣

My worst purchase is probably going to happen soon if I switch my 8" dob for 10". I know deep down I shouldn't, the weight and bulk will be prohibitive, I'll never use it, etc. But I'm sill bloody gonna.

Still bloody gonna.

On 09/09/2023 at 22:56, Elp said:

NGC7088?

Thank you for sending me down the most interesting Google rabbit hole I've been down in a while!

Is it a good scope or a bad scope that let's you see things that don't even exist, do we think?

Thanks all. Regarding the flextube option, the thing that initially triggered this line of thought is FLO had a couple of the discontinued 250 flextubes with big discounts, although I think at least one of them has gone now.

I gather the flextube ones lose their columaation quite easily and add weight? I doubt I'll ever take it anywhere other than my patio so getting it in the car isn't the consideration. With that in mind is there a benefit to the flex tube?

So after a bit of research my number crunching has moved away from the financial side and more onto the weight side. I've watched the two really helpful size comparison videos that Ed Ting has done on YouTube, and have definitely ruled out a 12 inch. The 10 inch seems manageable, but is about 14kg heavier than the one I've got. Currently with the 200p I keep it on the base and lift it using the two handles that stick out the side, but on that StellaLyra one it looks like they're missing and replaced with much smaller tighteners (you can see the difference int he images below) I assume the idea with these is that you carry the base and OTA separately? One of the YouTube videos I watched suggested removing the OTA and storing it upside down on the base, is this a thing most people do?

I've had one of these recently and so far only used it on Saturn like yourself but very impressed so far!

41 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

What is actually wrong with the telescope that you need someone else to service it? If it is just a case of disassembling, cleaning, reassembling and collimating do you not think you could manage this yourself or do you think that the mirror(s) probably needs recoating and you want an expert to look at it?

I'm not 100% sure on the coating, it's just that its part of the service that they check and advise on it. I probably could have a crack at it myself but I worry I might make it worse if I do 🤣 Bare in mind that its not something I'm looking at doing regularly, it's a once a decade thing if I do do it. 

45 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

With regards to saving the money and putting it towards a bigger scope I think you should consider why you have not observed during those periods when you have stopped getting the scope out.

Nothing to do with the scopes really, life gets in the way sometimes.  We've recently done some work to our garden which gives me more patio space so it's its a bit easier to do now. 

Also, the wife gets bored easily watching me squatting by a dob peering through a telrad so hopefully the StarTravel can keep her amused whilst I'm doing that and buy me some more outside time!

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Here's a 12" next to the shed it's kept in. That's as far as I can move it 

Yeah that looks like an absolute monster to be fair! Maybe I don't want to go past 10"!

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

If I were you I would sell your existing scope and buy either an 8” or 10” Stella Lyra dobsonian. They are better finished than the Skywatcher and comes with some great extras like a dual speed focuser, an 8x50 RACI, and cooling fan. I owned the 8” model before upgrading to the 12”. 4” doesn’t seem a lot but in the flesh the increase in size is very substantial. I use a sack barrow to wheel it to my observing site and it can be a struggle to mount it onto my EQ platform. I would try and see a 12” with your own eyes before making the commitment. Flocking can make a small increase in contrast but it’s nothing significant.

Thanks for this - that's an interesting call. I've had 4 or 5 Skywatchers over the years so that's always my go-to brand but maybe it is time to branch out. The SL ones look good to be fair and not too much more expensive.  

So the one that I've got is manageable weight wise (Ignoring the fact I tweaked my back moving it last time I had it out!), I don't have far to carry it from my garage to my patio so I'd probably be Ok with a bigger one, although I may end up having to moving the tube and the mount separately which I don't currently do.