niallk

To the OP: I upgraded to the Moonlight option - highly recommended! The stock helical focusser is usable, but the fine dual speed control of the Lunt is just what you want to pull out those crisp fine line details 😎

I got this one I think it's the same as the Lunt (but cheaper): https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4651_TS-Optics-Premium-Zoom-Eyepiece--7-2-mm-to-21-5-mm---1-25-.html It's pretty handy - performance drops at the 7mm end of the adjustable range, but ~9 -15mm is the range I use the most.

+1 for Lunt support! Can't comment on Coronado, but I love my LS50DS 😎

The Telrad is a most worthy winner! 😂

I visited Birr Castle and saw it years ago - before I got into astronomy 🙄 Must go back again. It was very impressive though - I was especially impressed by the commitment to build and use it - given the severe limitations in terms of Az motion!!! (...and given irish weather - limited ability to work around clouds)

All the real winners I'd suggest are already well covered! 😉 This telescope has had quite an influence on ATMers and large aperture for amateurs over the last few decades:

Very cool - I want one! The creator posted a thread over on CN: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/406276-a-solid-30-mm-f10-schmidt-cassegrain/

I want to install boundary layer fans, and they'll blow 😉

The Flame is often disappointing from my location, but one special night - wow, loads of lovely detail!! Those really transparent dark nights are like gold dust, but when they come along... 🙂

Drool.... 😉

My deepest sympathies to his family and friends. His presence here will continue to be missed.

Voila! Makes it sound so easy 😂 Well, now you can just kill those threads with 53 pages of discussion on CN with this!

I notice my eye 'tuning in' - from being blasted by sunlight, to putting my head under a towel to observe with my LS50DS. This happens even when the scope has been out for a few hrs, and has reached equilibrium- and I've come back for another look. I enjoy how very fine detail becomes more apparent as one observes! Just had it out today for the first time in quite a while, and a joy to see the activity on show 😎

Ask it how to collimate a dob, and let's see what it says about secondary offset! 😂

👍👍👍

Beautiful!!

😂 somewhat agree! Visual only, and my set was a 24Pan, N13T6 and a N7T6- plus a PM2.5x. Tbh, could have stuck with that 3 EP set and been very happy in my 250px. Full confession- I also have 2x 15mm TV plossls for binoviewing. Then I got a 15" dob, and succumbed to the allure of 100° afov, and now use another set: 17-10-6 Ethos, with an 8E and a N31T5 thrown in. It was complete indulgence... I could have stuck with my original trio, possibly adding an N9T6 and be done - being totally honest. I just fell for the huge afov experience- a nagler felt narrow after trying it!

At least for a dob, the main weight that is cumbersome is the mass of the mirror. To first order, it is more a function of aperture than focal length. Reducing focal length exacerbates other challenges and increases cost - like the 28" Webster above.

Did the optician also recommend Ethos EPs and a Paracorr 2 for that big aperture? 😉

I certainly consider them pretty The 2nd one is all your own work, isn't it? Beautiful job! (+on the observing chair too!)

Wouldn't kick this scope out of bed 😂 All $78k of it 😯 I love my little LS50DS. I do think it looks pretty - beautifully machined, but it's more than skin deep: how these marvels are engineered on the inside / the physics of how they work is their real beauty, imho!! 😍

Could see this scope design being unmercifully ripped to shreds over on CN 😂😂 Lack of provision for rear cooling, that focusser (yuk!), secondary collimation, looks like vibration suppression would be a nightmare, no provision for a shroud for body heat elimination from light path, etc... It would want to come with a Zambuto 🤣 Give me a SW 250px anyday!

It's a 30+ year old design very much based on practicality and functionality, and parts readily available in a DIY shop (bar a couple of custom cast items), but to my eye, aesthetically beautiful too!

I use 2: 15" dob for everything at night, and a lovely little LS50DS for solar by day!! Well I have a third, a 130P, but I don't use it. If I'm going to go out, the 15" has me spoiled.

10mm Ethos - beautiful performer in my 15" f4.5 dob. Though I love the Pan24, and the N13T6 is a little gem 😉