jetstream

👍 Its why I can observe so much.

Heres one of the OP's questions- and I dont think there can be much debate over what it takes to see galaxies and DSO- its aperture. Or we can tell the member to drive to very dark skies with his 100mm, or better yet drive to very dark skies with a 10"-12" dob.

Seriously I dont find seeing to be an issue for me- unless I look over the wood stove chimney in the winter When living in town, larger dob always won, from mag 20 skies and observing around other houses. Vlaiv- eagerly waiting your report on M13 with a 200mm dob vs a, lets say 150mmish frac from a nicely dark location!

Seeing has to be pretty bad to affect at this level- and the low/med power views are still much better in the 12" vs the 6" at high power.

Re: colour- my 15" dob the other night presented a bright blue Izar split, on par with my refractors. In general the fracs can deliver better color- but the fast dobs operate at a larger eye illumination for a given mag, where the refractors typically "dim" things down effectively (exit pupil wise) for a given mag. It is a myth that reflectors dont show colour (very) well. Re: star clusters. Aperture is king and there are no magic scopes of any kind including refractors. I had the TSA120 and the 15" dob both out the other night and there was zero, and I mean zero comparison between the two. The 15" blew it out of the water on M13 and M3- M3's view is stunning in larger scopes. Btw, I got NELM of 7 in Ursa Minor. Of course on large nebula, or large field views of M31 the TSA pulls ahead. How about Carolines Rose? Anyone going to say a 100mm,120mm or 6" frac is going to beat the views through a 10" or larger dob? My 15" (so does my 10") eclipses the view of my fracs on this. How about M37? ^^

21 SQM is dark.

Yes I think that over here too- kind of left with a ho-hum feeling after hearing "quite good".

Just an inexperienced thought- better focuser and more in travel? Sorry that this happened btw.

No.

I had a very good 10mm Ethos that I stupidly sold, very high contrast- the current 10mm Delos goes a little bit deeper but I miss the big view of the E. The 10mm Delos is a mainstay of use for me across the dobs. @Stardaze if it were me I'd sell the (very nice ) 6.7 ES 82- go for the low scatter XW 7mm, get a 10mm Delos and thats about it. If a 3.5mm XW came wandering by I would grab it but it would be last on my list. You have a very good EP collection happening. Re: 2mm exit pupil Its a very good place to be DSO (galaxies) wise at your focal length and with a widefield like the 10mm Delos. Just my thoughts.

👍 The only scope that outperforms my 10" dob for planetary is my 15" truss dob... Btw, when Mars was high up years ago the best view I ever had was in the 10" dob...the view is still etched in my brain.

Hey Mike- off topic but you gonna assemble the mob in the new location? once things normalize Are Canucks welcome?

Its all in the seacan lol! I should have bought a 40 footer... the 20 foot is getting pretty cramped

You need a place to sneak in your new purchases 😀 BUT heeding advice can be cheaper in the long run much cheaper... btw, not just my advice..... Ok , the other half is leaving for a bit...time to open the new ZWO camera box...

Hes trying to wrangle with the 400" diameter scope for the second condition lol!

Thats the thing- we knew you would want a bigger TFOV ! Your enthusiasm and access to dark skies indicated a vg chance for early success and buying with the thought of re sale value in mind is prudent IMHO. There are a lot of big nebula out there just yearning for large TFOV! Wait until you tie into IC1318- most say the Hb is the only answer- I love a tight UHC but also raised eyebrows when reporting good views with an OIII. Try it! The whole area is a nest of nebulosity leading to the Crescent. 1.25" eyepieces are limited to a 27mm field stop diameter regardless of the focal length or AFOV... a 2" 30mm 82 gets you into a 43mm field stop or thereabout. Then theres this: Johns knows what hes talking about- for certain objects like the NAN it is hard to beat a widefield refractor- I use one myself- a 90mm f7 with a 42mm LVW- stunning bright views of this object. But 😀 I use a Heritage 130 with 1.25" EPs on the NAN... 650mm fl- almost twice the TFOV of your 1200mm. In your case, maximize the views with existing equipment and plan wisely for the future... there are many reasons people like 10" f4.8 dobs... 20mm APM, 2" OIII and way you go. Eagerly waiting reports!

Keep trying- what scope and eyepiece are you using? filter?

Yes. In our convos it came up about 2" filters and eyepieces- what size filter did you get in the end? For me having a scope sized for use with the 21E class eyepieces, exit pupil wise is a great asset. You can achieve similar results at f6 with a 2" 30mm UFF,ES class eyepiece. I absolutely love 100 deg EPs for this at f5 or below.

The almost 400 Euros off caught my attention. I wonder why the sale reluctance? Genuine issues or just a lack of model/brand momentum? Over here 120ED's sell like hotcakes...but shipping costs peel off a huge portion of the sale.

For this price I would ask around about these scopes and if satisfied seriously consider one. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p3041_TS-Optics-PHOTOLINE-115-mm-f-7-Triplet-Apo---2-5--RAP-focuser.html

The thing about the 120ED is its length- presents challenges for some mounts IMHO. @Mr Spock if we were closer I'd offer mine for a view/ sale. I have a Moonlight focuser as the stock one is adequate but just IMHO.They are VG scopes. Going much faster focal ratio wise means a triplet (to me) but I'm not sure there are any 120mm f6 triples around? TS maybe?

@Kon the doors are just beginning to open for you! Great report and eagerly waiting more, Gerry ps the Bubble is a bit tough... but eventually you will see the nearby Lobster Claw complex and LBN...

where are you with respect to this?

Ya but how do we know?