Nicola Fletcher

36 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Great purchase Nicola. I now regret recently selling my 12" dobsonian and I'm now considering buying another. What is the weight of your ES please?

The entire thing assembled is reported to be 32.1kg, but I wonder if that’s including the counterweights (I haven’t weighed it myself). The mirror box is 18.9kg and that’s by far the heaviest component. The rocker box, truss poles and upper truss assembly are very light. I can lift the individual components by myself and assemble it in situ, but with two people it’s very easy to just lift it by the handles on the rocker box when fully assembled.

7 minutes ago, jjohnson3803 said:

I've shied away from Dobs due to size and weigth, but I might have to reconsider after seeing your new acquisition.

 

I was the same - I didn’t want to buy a solid tube dob because of the weight and storage issues, but this packs down into two very portable boxes that are easily moved and fit into the boot of a Hyundai i20 with room to spare. I can see myself taking this on holidays and to star parties with no hesitation. It’s surprisingly quick to assemble once you do it a couple of times. I think it’ll need to be collimated every time it’s set up - I labelled the trusses to put them back in the same place each time, but still needed to re-collimate. However, this is dead easy and took me less than 5 minutes in the dark.

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Looks a really super set up, very transportable.

I hope you post a review after some use with what you find from prolonged use, perhaps in 2026 or 27 when the cloud passes might be long enough 😉

I certainly will. The weather has been really awful hasn’t it. The forecast for Friday looked great and the sky was fantastic when I was driving home at dusk - then it was like a carpet of cloud was rolled out over the sky. Oh well, it’ll make the next clear night even more special when it comes!

11 hours ago, globular said:

Looks HUGE....

 

Looks the perfect size...

 

Looks wonderful. Hope you enjoy it 

Thank you 😊

Yes it looked huge in the first photo alright! It’s actually a great size and not too tall or too heavy. I’m glad it worked out as it’s a big change from 3 and 4 inch refractors but I think it’ll complement them well.

Christmas came early this year, and my better half had ordered a 12” Explore Scientific Ultralight dob well ahead of Christmas. When it was delivered last week, he said I should set it up (which I was very happy to do)! Of course I’ve been plagued with cloudy skies and work commitments since I got it, but I did set it up and had a quick check of it earlier in the week. It’s my first reflector so I had a go at collimating it too, which is really easy as it can be collimated from the eyepiece with the supplied collimation tool and the adjustment screws beside the primary mirror.

After setting it up in the house, the scope certainly looks the part and the action is very smooth in both axes. I can’t find any of the issues that were highlighted in some earlier reviews.

On putting it in the garden for the first time, it was obviously out of collimation as the stars were all comet shaped but I had another go with a laser collimator and got it right. 

Last night, despite lots of clouds, @Jasonb and I set up the dob and his Skywatcher 200pds at my family farm in the mountains and got some good views of Jupiter despite not great seeing. The north and south equatorial belts were lovely with great detail, as was the north temperate belt. At about 11.30pm, we had our first view of the season of M42 using an Astronomik UHC filter and 22mm Nagler, and it was just spectacular with beautiful nebulosity and structure. The moon was high and although partially obscured by cloud, was for me the highlight of the evening through the Explore Scientific using a Baader 8-24mm MKIV zoom at 8mm, with exclamations of amazement from all present at the detail and wow factor of the moon through a 12” dob. Ed Ting said that everyone should see the moon through a large aperture telescope and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

(Blurry photo below showing the cloud with tiny gaps, and two very excited amateur astronomers peeping through the sucker holes).

Overall, I’m absolutely delighted with this ultralight-ish scope that’s very portable and very easy to use. The optics seem great and the construction is super. The only thing I’ve done so far is replace the red dot finder and shoe with a Baader universal finder shoe and a Celestron star pointer pro RDF. I’ve a shroud ordered from Shrouds by Heather and I hope to put a Nexus DSC pro on it as well. Looking forward to a proper clear sky in the hopefully not too distant future too.

Welcome to SGL and thank you for posting these fabulous photos of the incredible place you live!

Im from Ireland and primarily a visual observer. Like you, my ‘resources are depleted’ but I have some lovely telescopes to view the night sky from the mountain farm where I live.

I’ve tried to get into wide field astrophotography after a trip to Finland earlier in the year where I was lucky enough to see a fantastic display of Northern Lights. But I don’t think photography will ever beat my love of just observing the objects in the night sky.

16 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Thank you @Nicola Fletcher! Sounds like I need another run to the art store... I'll let the others use their money on astronomy gear

Definitely- the art shop will hurt your wallet a lot less than Astro gear. Sketching is such a great way to really see the detail in objects.

2 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

What pastels did you use, just white on black?

I use white, yellow and orange pastel pencils (for coloured stars). I then use soft pastel sticks which I make a powder from on sandpaper and then apply with a paintbrush. Lastly, I use a white gelly roll pen to draw very bright stars. Sharpen the pastel pencils with a blade - they just break if you try to use a pencil sharpener! 
I was intimidated by the moon but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It’s definitely good practice too!

On 20/11/2023 at 13:46, SwiMatt said:

Because the weather is so horrible all the time, I want to start training some sketching techniques for DSOs - notably I want to start learning and experimenting with the Mellish technique (for pastels on black paper). But here's the catch: most images of DSOs that can be found online are extremely far from the reality of visual astronomy - and are not ideal for training for the field.

Do you know of any sources of images that bear some resemblance with what one might see in the eyepiece? One thing I am doing is to scour the astrophotography DSO forum of SGL, but it's a lot of variety and it takes a lot of time to find images that are interesting for this purpose. I also tried using Stellarium, but it's not particularly satisfactory for this.

When I first tried the Mellish technique, I practiced drawing the moon from photographs. I found that it was a really good way of getting used to using pastels and working on black paper. I then tried some DSOs just by pausing the Mellish video and copying the DSO sketches (I used the one by Alexander Massey on YouTube. I then found it much easier to use the technique when I actually started sketching at the telescope. 

I think it’s a lovely way of sketching; I hope you enjoy it!

These are fantastic sketches! They look very realistic - I’m sure they will be a great reminder of the night you observed them.

I haven’t done a huge amount of sketching but I really enjoy using pastels on black paper for DSOs which avoids the need to invert. I’m just getting into sketching on white paper now and I definitely find it more challenging. I’m determined to keep going though, especially for planets.

Thanks for posting your sketches- they’re a great inspiration 😊

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thinking about it, I have three four inch scopes and somehow manage to justify that to myself, however illogical 🤪

It’s interesting to see how different 4” scopes can be and the different mounting requirements. Something to consider for definite when choosing one!

I agree there are a lot of reasons the Starwave/Starfield etc is so popular. I really like mine and would hate to part with it. The 4” Taks are also excellent and all are fairly lightweight which is an important consideration.

But if I had that Genesis or the Vixen, I don’t think I’d part with them either! Beautiful scopes 👍🏻

That’s absolutely extraordinary- thank you for posting it! Does that nebulosity extend much further beyond the Pleiades - I just can’t believe the extent of it!

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Very nice scopes Nicola. Out of interest, why have two such similar setups, do you find each better for certain things?

The honest answer is because I was given the Tak as a gift and I am too sentimental to sell the Starwave 😊

But it’s also because I rate the Starwave so highly. I like its big focuser and I can put a RDF and another finder on it at the same time. It’s very sturdy and the sliding dew shield is great (something I don’t think is shared on the Tak - I hate the sliding dew shield on the DZ and I wish they’d just put a fixed one on like their other smaller refractors). I like going to public outreach events and sometimes it’s nice to have two setups going if there are not a lot of scopes available. I do prefer the views through the Tak but I don’t think there is a huge difference between them. Not sure if that’s enough of a justification but I’ll cling to it anyway!

I can also recommend them. I have two 4” refractors and they are fantastic all rounders and very quick to cool. They are great on planets, the moon and brighter DSOs. You can also get lots of larger objects into one field of view with a low power eyepiece (the double cluster and the Andromeda galaxy are two of my favourites). If you can get to a dark sky, you’ll be amazed what you can see through it!

I have two alt-az mounts: the Skywatcher AZ-EQ5 when I want GoTo (photo below) but mostly a manual alt-az for simplicity (I use a Giro Ercole mini on a carbon fibre tripod). I also have an equatorial mount which works very well but I prefer the alt-az personally.

Hope this helps!

Welcome! I hope you enjoy this forum.

 I had one scope for years (a 5” Mak), and I did enjoy the simplicity of only having one setup, but I’m glad I have more than one now.

My FC76 is my favourite, fun to use and splits in two so it goes everywhere with me. It was in Tanzania in September so I had the opportunity to use it in Bortle 2 skies with the core of the Milky Way almost overhead. Our next trip will be Flagstaff and then a road trip around Arizona. It’s no trouble to bring on trips and fits in a camera bag.

I have two 4” refractors which are great all rounders and pretty much grab and go. They do give a nice step up from the FC76 and I find the FC100DZ in particular superb on planets. I have a Starwave ED-R and some of the objects I’ve observed through that have been mesmerising - it’s great for those showpiece DSOs as well as planets.

I know my other half has ordered my Christmas present - a 12” dob. This is going to be a big step up in aperture but it will be for special nights and star parties. So, I think I’m happier with multiple scopes. Although the FC76 is my favourite, I appreciate the extra detail with the 4” scopes and am really looking forward to observing through a dob for the first time!

46 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

@Nicola Fletcher might be interested in this. It looks like a cost-effective way of discovering whether you get benefit from a CC without blowing £500 for a Paracorr2. Its specs look remarkably similar to the PC2 actually.

Magnus

Thanks Magnus, really good idea. I don’t want to splash out on a Paracorr unless I really think I’ll need it. 

30 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Lovely! I remember driving through Glen Coe and seeing Orion on New Years Eve one year. I'd never seen so many stars. We pulled over at the next layby and stood there for ages gazing up at it. Not like that here, this morning, we have fog.

I hope you asre going somewhere better than here and have a great trip.

Thank you! I’m off to Madrid and Seville which have clear skies forecast but light pollution of course. Lots of sun though!

I left for the airport at 5.30 this morning and Orion was high in the sky and looking fantastic. I’d have loved to get my 3” refractor out for an hour. Really hoping for a bit of a clear spell as the autumn comes in - here’s hoping.

Thank you very much @HAsun, I really appreciate your reply. I’m glad you like the setup, from online reviews it looks like a great system once you get over the QC issues with the scope. I first thought about getting this after reading that review in Astronomy Now as well, especially after I found that I could use the Nexus DSC with it. I like the idea of colour coding the truss tubes and flocking/lining the upper truss assembly also.

Do you find a coma corrector necessary with 2” EPs? At F/5, I think it’s on the border of needing one. 

Thanks @Captain Scarlet,

The Nexus DSC looks brilliant and I never thought of putting it on the AZ-EQ5. I also suspected I’d need a coma corrector so thanks a million for that. I think, if all goes well, this has the potential to be a great setup. I’m going to buy from a local supplier so I’ll have someone not far away if there are any issues with the ES. I had another look yesterday for alternatives, but the Celestron Starsense 12” is the closest to what I’m looking for, and  I’m really not keen on a solid tube dob in that size. I’ll let you know how I get on @inedible_hulk👍🏻

Thanks both. I’m aware of the collimating requirements @Mandy D and like you, I suspect I might need a coma corrector but I can get started without it.

@John, I’m not dead set on the ES, but I do want a light-ish truss tube dob. Obviously I’d prefer an Obsession UC or a Hubble Optics, but these cost a lot more. Of the rest, in this size, I think they will either be too heavy or unwieldy for me. I have read all the reviews and seen the YouTube reviews, including the fairly damning one by Dakota Starry Nights. It seems to me from reading other reviews that the QC has got better since then. In short, it sounds like the best available to fit what I’m looking for. People seem to have come up with clever mods for them also. 
 

Hi all,

Im after a bit of advice.

My very generous other half has said that he will get me an Explore Scientific 12” UC dob for Christmas. I picked it myself - I have a hankering for some aperture and I really like the idea of a truss dob. I’ve had a 10” SCT and 127 Mak in the past and I currently have a 3” refractor and two 4” refractors. However, I’ve never had a Newtonian before so this will be quite new to me.

I had originally thought of putting a Starsense on it, but I see that Astro Devices sell encoders for the ES dobs and I was thinking of getting the Nexus DSC pro instead. As I imagine this will be a somewhat special occasion scope for clear weekend nights and star parties, I thought some form of guidance would be a good idea. Has anyone used this combination or is there a better system for this scope?

It will also fall to me to get accessories for the dob, and I’ve already ordered a shroud. Do you think a coma corrector is necessary for this scope? If so, is a Paracorr significantly better than other brands? My EPs are mostly 1.25” Televues but I do have the 22” Nagler, 41mm Panoptic and Baader 8-24mm Mak IV zoom in 2” EPs.

Really, any advice would be most welcome on the wisdom of this plan and anything I haven’t thought of. Thank you in advance.

Many thanks Matthew for your fantastic website.

Im not a bit sorry about the damage to my bank account, but your site is the reason I now have a Nagler 3-6mm zoom, a FC76-DCU, Gitzo tripod, Airport Essentials camera bag and a hankering to visit Namibia!!

Thank you very much for posting your sketches and descriptions. They’re fantastic! I really like the idea of using blue paper for twilight. Your whole post is very inspiring.

My enthusiasm for astronomy has had some dips over the years, but it has always come back. I agree with others that a small setup that is easy to take outside for short sessions is a great boost and helps you make the most of nights where for whatever reason it’s a hassle to get a big scope set up. My biggest game changers have been a 3” refractor on a manual alt-az mount and a photo tripod, and a pair of binoculars. I did the thing where I ignored all the sensible people advising me to get binoculars, but I was given a present of a pair three years ago and it is honestly one of my favourite pastimes, scanning the sky and ‘discovering’ things. 
 

I also enjoy armchair astronomy, doing things like reading books and perusing this forum. Maybe try reading Starlight Nights by Leslie Peltier. That book boosts my enthusiasm like nothing else!