paulastro

Good luck for clear skies tonight. Be sure to let us know how you get on 🙂.

As a non-imager much of this discussion leaves me feeling cold, though I do understand enough to know it's important for my imaging colleagues. As a visual observer, I'd be more interested in which would perform the best visually - the Askar 103 triplet or one of the 102 F7 doublets which use an FPL53 element and a Lanthanum element. The price difference is to some degree mitigated by the fact that the Askar has the removable tube section, which I believe would satisfy the requirements of most if not all airlines. Also it comes with two Vixen finder feet - many of the doublets don't seem to come with one, never mind two. Also a handle is supplied with the Askar. PS Vash, I love your image. Your comments on its visual performance are also much appreciated, thank you.

Many thanks Josef. I agree, and over the years S&T seem to be better than most. Alas, I can't buy S&T locally any more and the subscription is rather a lot to pay in one go.

Many thanks Stu. Yes it's always a special time every year when I have my first good look at the winter constellations in the early hours off a late September or October morning. My first look at M42 is always a magic moment for me.

Posted this in Observing Deep Sky, and thought it might be of interest here. Thanks, Paul https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/414900-october-25th-a-star-hop-in-the-heart-of-orion-courtesy-of-alan-m-macrobert

Awoke at 4.30 am, and from the landing stairs I could see Orion showing well just past the meridian. Quickly dressed and was outside setup with the Celestron Starsense Explorer 10 inch Dob by 4.55am. I was keen as I hadn't had a good view of M42 yet this Autumn. This usually happens at Kelling but I hadn't been able to go this year because of medical issues. I spent most of the time looking at the Orion Neb, and other objects in the vicinity. The views were stunning. In the 10 inch the complexity and extent of the nebulosity were wonderful . Also the many background stars including variables I used to observe regularly going back over fifty years, mostly with a six inch reflector. I used 17.5 and 12.5 Morpheus eyepieces, a Baader zoom and x2 barlow giving mags from to x50 to x250. This enabled a wide range of different field sizes. The 17 .5 and barlow probably showed the best detail, providing a mag of x136 and a field of close to half a degree. I also looked at some other objects briefly including M37, M36, M38, M35, M1 and M41. Venus was irresistible, showing a small gibbous phase, just over 50%. When I came indoors around 6.30am, I checked what I had seen in an article (same as this posts title) by Alan MacRobert which I had kept from the January 1998 issue of Sky & Telescope. It is a wonderful guide to the many objects in the vicinity of M42 and I'd recommend it to anyone interested. I've only included one page of the article below as I haven't asked permission to reproduce it in full. Its five pages in total.

Well done FLO 😊.

I would have thought most people would have heard about it (using a dark cloth) as its hardly a new idea - though of course, there's a difference between knowing and doing.

Mike, I think many people on this forum do have good observing techniques and a lot of experience. Even some people who may think four inch aperture scopes don't cause an explosion of stars right to the centre of globular clusters 😊.

I agree John. They are by far the clearest indication of the resolution of scopes of different apertures. However good a four inch telescope is, it doesn't get beyond the fuzzy snowball stage for me when looking at globulars. I feel that for a good all round telescope, a six inch aperture is the least that gives good views, of some examples, of the majority of different celestial objects.

And Dobs of course Peter. A cannon will always be better than a pea shooter for deep sky. I keep my pea shooter (80ED) mainly for the sun. 🙂. In the dark world of imaging of course, a 50/60mm scope seems quite acceptable.

I suggest you sell all but one of your scopes. Problem solved 🙂

Don't you mean 'it's been a good year for cloud' ? 😊

If you sell it, you'll find the clear nights increase ten fold. Scopes don't mind waiting for the next clear night - they are more patient than humans.

Too much detail. Just wait untill you're 69 😅.

Out of curiosity, a question for you refractorphiles. Would you choose 110mm f6 StellaMira (£799) with 'FPL-51 equivalent', or the Starfield 102mm F7 FPL53 (£899)? Presumably, according to the numbers of each sold most peoples choice is the latter? I know what I think, though I'm not in the market so no money is involved 🙂.

Many thanks for the information Stevie. Yes, the weather around here has certainly been quite torrid for the last month. Thanks again.

Glad to see people posting re Dwarf 2. I have been considering buying one for months, and have just ordered one today - from a supplier in the UK. It's amazed me how little mention of it I've been able to find on SGL. In fact it had crossed my mind that it had been banned for some reason - though I couldn't think why 🤔. I am not an imager, so it should suit me fine, most result for least input - I dont have enough clear sky to waste too much time on imaging in the more traditional sense 😊. After the initial learning curve I'll post how I'm getting on. Naturally, it'll be from a non-imagers perspective 🙂.

Lovely, I had one too. It looks like yours may be F8.

Thanks, but no chance in this corner of West Yorkshire. Good luck to you!

I have some medical issues and discovered this on FLO. I bought it, and to my amazement it really helps in moving my 10inch Starsense around. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-bags-cases-storage/oklop_61395.html

FLO are not listing the 12 inch Dobsonian at the moment. However, for anyone who buys it, they have to install the primary mirror cell and the mirror into the tube themselves! Celestron posted a video on u-tube yesterday showing potential buyers how to do this.

I just noticed that the Celestron Starsense Explorer 114mm, 130mm and 150mm smart phone enabled table - top dobsonians are now in stock at FLO.

Thank you Nigella 🙂.

Look forward to seeing your images Nigella.