niallk

Great suggestions - a really important point about your partner appreciating being part of the decision making!

Strongly recommend a dob: 8" or perhaps 10". Fine instruments which can really open up what's visible. Huge fun and enjoyment to be had learning how to use it and learning how to find stuff- and the sense of achievement seeing a target object for the first time! While a dob can be very convenient and manageable to lift and quick to set up, it is worth considering personal circumstances, where it would be stored, and the path to where you'd observe - eg are flights of stairs involved. It is very important that setup is easy! I'd suggest minimising the amount of electronics involved at this price point. A dob puts the money in the optics - which makes a lot of sense 😉. Honestly, I'd not recommend spending £100+ on binoculars and a tripod. It will not deliver anything like the amazing views a 8"-10" dob can. However, using a dob involves one important step: learning to collimate. This involves carefully following instructions with a little patience to align the primary and secondary mirrors. If you think your partner is not the kind of person to do this and learn the process, then a dob may not suit them!

Smashing report John! I must look up NGC2419 👍 Edit: very interesting indeed https://www.universetoday.com/120628/ngc-2419-wayward-globular-or-the-milky-ways-own/amp/

Agreed - its always about following the money. I heard an interesting one: LEO networks offer lower latency than other global connection options (the RF up/down links + importantly intra satellite laser based optical relay links). This can be exploited by market traders... Unfortunately it seems like LEO networks will proliferate as they are a key facet for 6G proposals- BW, latency, coverage

Only spotted this thread now! Saw the original comment in John's thread 😉 For me my 250px was my first scope. Aside from the act of getting the scope itself, three things stand out for me: 1. Getting a Telrad - instantly helped locating objects. 2. Getting a N13T6 + a 2.5x PM - wow compared to the crappy cheap plossl set EPs I had. First look at M42 was strongly green, not grey. 82 deg afov soooo much nicer in a manual dob. The PM is just sweet. 3. Getting the Lacerta dual speed focuser upgrade for Skywatcher dobs - really made a difference at the EP. Wonderfully engineered for 70 quid. If I was to add a 4th it would be my 15" dob - incredible difference at the EP compared to the 250px: not just the aperture but the mechanical movement and balance. A 5th would be the €20 A4 sheet of Baader solar film! Maybe this should even be in the top 3: adding the capability to view sunspots in white light is revolutionary. And I've since gone all in on a double stacked Ha setup!

Man - you've gotta get yourself a dob... 🤣🤣 (couldn't resist!) Fabulous sketches 👌

If with your fix it doesn't need lubricant, it might be good to go without - just in case any gas emissions could possibly corrode filter coatings (???) That might be just paranoia though!

👍 Love Frasier Cain's enthusiasm and passion! Thanks for the list - must check some of them out! 😉

Unscrew it and apply a little lubrication grease possibly?

I've two; I think they are ingenious - really good for appreciating how what is visible varies over the course of a year. But I do use Sky Safari routinely, in conjunction with an atlas to plan a session.

👍 they do look like great scopes, at a good price point too!

I wanted to try a 16" dob for DSOs, and looked around - Skywatcher, Orion, Orion Optics.... I wanted something portable. ES announced their truss dobs, and I really hoped to go for one. I was also tempted by the advertisements for the Skywatcher 18", and wanted to read reports... >€2k is a lot of money... and when I read reports of issues with the ES dobs, I was dismayed. I would not be happy having committed that money. Then there were the issues with the SW 18" mirrors, and tbh, I was not impressed at all with the assembly ergonomics. I was very very tempted to go for a Sumerian Canopus, but then one report (an Alkaid) left me with cold feet. They are fine scopes, and I'm sure I could have been very happy. I also was tempted by Lukehurst. I had clicked on the website and received the Obsession DVD. I really liked what I saw. A lot of legacy and well regarded - and lasting decades. The 15" base cost was on par with Sumerian... shipping was the hit to swallow. I liked the no-fuss, simple setup. It was a tried and trusted design, perhaps perceived as old school - and yes there is a tradeoff in mirror thickness, weight, support structure and thermal equalisation. With Kriege's book I have the 'Haynes Manual' for the scope - and instructions for any fixes in the future if there were any accidents. I earned some bonus money and for my 40th birthday my wife encouraged me to spend it on myself and indulge my interest... and eventually I went for it. To me, it was an investment- not for resale... for enjoying using it for hopefully decades and seeing the universe we live in fleetingly with my own eyes. It's a joy to use: assembles / dissembles without fuss in minutes, all captive components; it moves beautifully, and is portable for my car - though the mirror box is a little heavy. Collimates quickly, and holds collimation. It's a very solid design and manually tracks well, damping fast, and can move a fraction of the fov precisely without overshoot frustration at high magnification. The mirrors came with interferometry data. Nice touch to come with wheelbarrow handles with big pneumatic tires too. But don't get me wrong: my Skywatcher 250px was the best value money I've spent on astronomy gear. It is incredible what a few hundred can get you! I'd love it if there was a better 2nd hand market in Ireland: I drool at some of the deals on dobs in the US 😉

With my 250px and for quite a while on my 15" dob, I had 3 EPs: Pan24, N13T6 and N7T6 ... and a PM2.5x. The N13T6 was probably my favourite ep in the 10", and the N7T6 really came into its own in the 15". I didn't really *need* to upgrade to Ethosessesss, but did. There's a lot to be said for the lightweight and compact T6 Naglers: I think adding the extra weight at both ends - Ethos (+PCorr2) and counterweight did degrade the damping response on my particular scope a little.

A great 10" 250px dob (in my 30's). Very versatile, had lots of fun augmenting it with a Telrad, dual speed focuser upgrade from Lacerta, Naglers, a binoviewer, and solar film! Each little upgrade was something to save and look forward to - and then enjoy. It showed me so many diverse objects... really incredible: the best money I spent on astronomy. I gave it away as a present to a kid who lives close by, as I have my 15" dob and the 10" just wasn't getting the use it deserves. He and his family now gets to enjoy a 10" as their 1st scope 😉

I used to observe from my back garden, but neighbour's lights means that I now travel 20 mins for Bortle 4 (or maybe better): but no light domes to the south, being on the coast.

I drove from Cork to Dunsink Observatory for my first views through a Ha scope - they were hosting a solar party. It was a stunning blue sky sunny day, and also got a tour of the Grubb 12" Refractor housed in the observing dome. My 1st view was through 60mm Lunt - double stacked - with a Televue Binovue 😜 Simply stunning... I went back for 4 more turns. I knew as I was getting back into my car that this was a very expensive 300 mile round trip... I knew I had to get a double stacked setup! I got a LS50DS... and view mono - my pockets are not so deep... but it's fantastic- I still love it several years on! 😉

I used to only observe from my back garden. Now my neighbour has lights - I never observe from my back garden anymore, and I get out observing significantly less overall, though I'm fortunate to have an option within 20mins drive, and a scope I can dismantle to travel with.

Seeing stuff with your very own eyeballs, magnified by 'just' crafted mirrors and glass is what it's all about to me Yes, sometimes it IS a grey smudge, but you know looking at that Hubble image that you saw it it with your very own eyes 🙂 Can't beat that - amazing to see something of the universe we fleetingly live in! As for planets - what a privilege to detect details on other worlds no human has ever visited.

👍👍👍

Congrats @John looks like a very nice mirror there!

10" beside a 15":

...me three - I want one! Thanks for posting 👍

Think I saw a Zeiss EP being sold for $5k being discussed on CN... and it apparently sold fast!

Fair play - nice job. I'd welcome them on my Obsession, but I'm too much of a wuss to attempt drilling 😂

My dob by night, and my lil' Lunt by day