tuckstar

I told my daughter that polaris is her grandma's star. Her bedroom is north facing, so she can see it at night and I tell her her grandma is looking down at her.

I know the seller, that's a very well looked after scope.

So this the line up I'm working on for my 250px. This is the progress so far, filter is o111 and planning a H beta at some point as well. The es do show some coma, but you have to look for it and it doesn't really bother me. Well, not enough to shell out for a paracor. I do have a 1kg magnet I use for balancing out the extra weight. I also have a set of clavè plossls for planetary work.

I use a telrad and a right angled correct image (RACI) finder with my 10" skyliner. The telrad gets you in the right area and then the finder for star hopping. The correct image makes such a difference when using star charts. The telrad will do just the same but you would need really dark skies to get the same effect. And my back really thanked me after trying to use the straight through. I got an altair astro 10x60 finder which is a great bit of kit. You may find that you want to modify your dob to make it easier to use. A lazy susan bearing, setting circle and digital angle finder make all the difference and with the use of a good phone app give you a push to system. Good advice re observing chair. I use an ironing chair and it makes all the difference when you can sit down and just spend some time looking at an object.

I know a couple of people with fullerscopes. One has a 10" newt and the other an 8". The 8" was up for sale. The 10" is used regularly, and he has had it from new nearly 40 years ago.

That's a shame. I have no issue with mine, I just make sure it's zeroed to start with and usually get the object in the field of view. OK, with my 20mm es 100° that's a big field of view. But it's never too far out.

The higher the mag the dimmer the image. I tend to use low power widefield eyepieces for dso. If your not careful you can look straight through them. A telrad is a great finder for getting somewhere close. I then use a raci for following starcharts. Can be quite hard to follow with a normal finder. A digital angle finder (I use a wixey) and setting circle mod will help you find things. The eyepieces aren't great and you will notice a good deal of improvement with even a modest upgrade. Glad you enjoyed your first light.

Sale pending.

I use a 12ah power bank jump starter from roypow. Along with a 12v cigarette lighter plug. I run 5 lots of dew protection and a cooling fan via a hitech astro 4 port controller and it lasts me a good few hours. Don' know how long it would run a mount for though.

Came out with the kids about an hour ago and just come out again, the terminator has definitely moved closer.to the x. Looking seeing the dynamics in our solar system.

Lots of the dob mob have wheels in some form or other but you might not need it for a 200 or a 250.

I've got the skywatcher 250px skyliner and I love it. The base is the same size as the 8" and the tube is the same length just aperture is obviously more. It does weigh a little bit more but I manage to lug it about with no problems. It sits nicely across the rear seats of a 5 door car and the base in the boot. Dobs are easily modded and I put setting circles and a digital angle gauge on mine making it a push to system with the help of a good app.

Second hand is always a gamble. I have brought plenty second hand and never had a problem. Use respectable places like here or astro buy and sell rather than ebay for example. Astronomers tend to take care of there kit. Always pay with PayPal goods and services or credit card so you have some protection if things go wrong. As for make and model, that will depend on what you want to do with it, what scope you have and what budget you have. If you have a local club it might help to see what the members have. I tried out some es 100° before I went and spent alot of cash on something I might not of liked or got on with.

The hyperions are great, but don't like fast scopes.

I started out with the same scope as you. I upgraded to the baader hyperions and they were great in that scope, made such a difference it was like having a new scope. Not saying they are the best, but a good all round eyepiece for the price and your focal ratio.