niallk

I had the same experience recently on my mirror in my dob! I left it out til the morning. I'll be doing exactly as @OK Apricot said 😉

Sharpie marker! (as recommended by Dave Kriege, Obsession telescopes)

My best planetary views have been with my 15" dob!!

Wow! Thanks for posting 👍👍

👍👏 Great gesture! Who knows how many young folk you might inspire 🙂

The biz! 👍👍

Saw this and it gave me a giggle! (Note what's written on the flag 😂)

One of my top go-to resources too!!👍👍

Yeah, I know 😉 - just messing, as it's one of those perennial topics that pops up on SGL! Nice graphic 👍

Wonder if the JWST designers ever considered curved spider vanes? 😂 Thanks for posting- amazing what's out there!!

Defo agree - I typically Google sketches of objects I've observed- using scopes of similar aperture, and look for a variety of sketches - kinda like maybe capturing different seeing & transparency. It's fun to compare what you could see vs others, and what to try to catch the next time!

More wonderful innovation from ES. Where do they get their ideas?

I use TV plossls

My Naglers: 13T6 and 7T6 are excellent EPs: remarkable performance in compact lightweight form factors. 31T5 also a stunning ep. I also have Ethos which are great, which I use now in my 15", but they come with additional weight, cost (plus greater afov ... helped to convince me to purchase a Paracorr II: => even more cost & weight!).

Wow! Nice one 👍

Very cool! 😎

Congrats to you both!!

One of the most memorable sights from the Skellig Star Party in the Bortle 1-2 skies of tip of the Iveragh peninsula was M31 naked eye. There was a light shower, and I put my 15" to bed (note to self - bring a tarp next time), and cracked a few cans while chatting with some other guys there. Then the skies cleared again around 4am, and WOW!! Andromeda naked eye was HUGE - with averted vision. Truly spectacular to see it like that. I can detect it from my back garden but this was truly amazing 🙂 You really don't need a scope down there to thoroughly enjoy the skies in late August!

Excellent! Yep, an O-III is a revelation 😉

Good stuff! What I like to do is Google sketches of objects I've observed - you often see them for different sky conditions, and different apertures. Useful to get a sense of how much you got - or missed! I find DSOs can be highly sensitive to conditions, and hence revisit targets repeatedly. Some rare dark really transparent nights can deliver jaw droppingly good views - and only then you realise the difference of an average night!! Collimation is scarey at the start. I messed my secondary alignment up so badly on my 250px I wished I'd never tried😂 But maybe it was a blessing in disguise: I studied how it was constructed and what adjustability is provided. Then studied AstroBaby's guide, an several others, and approached it methodically and it may take a few iterations between primary and secondary. I used a Cheshire/ sight tube combo tool. Now I use a laser - buts that's more for helping in the dark. My 250px held colimation ridiculously well - I'd only collimate in the daytime and it would be fine even after carrying out to my back garden. PS the hex bolts in the secondary holder are evil: I never did it, but replacing with Bob's Knobs thumb screws would be a really worthwhile thing to do. I have thumb screws on my 15" and it makes a world of difference!

In my skies, the view of M13 through my 250px was similar to what's shown on Obsession's comparison marketing chart for an 8": https://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/m13/ Spectacular to see, but rather dim at ~200x, with a lot of stars resolved. When I got my 15", wow - the effect on globs! The marketing blurb is not bs!! 😂 They really respond to aperture - bright and resolved.

Nice report @Stu! I haven't been out in >6 months meself... run ragged with work, family plus my unwell elderly mother. I also totalled my alt encoder (😖) but replaced and have a bodged soldering job working - need to sort it robustly for cable strain relief though. Itching to get back out there now tbh - as darkness returns during August and the late summer DSO treats near Sagittarius become possibilities 😀

The reports for Taurus and Geoptik which I've read have been positive. I'd expect similar set up as my 15" Obsession- ie pretty convenient and no fuss. For the ES, there are several videos on YouTube doing reviews, assembly, collimation. You'd have to look at the dimensions and your car to figure out if feasible. I stacked two couch cushions which approximated the size of my 15" mirror box, and used to check if I could get through the doors, and onto the back seat of my Avensis!

A compact truss dob could be nice... links to 12", and they have big brothers too https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p15130_Taurus-T300-S-12--f-5-Classic-Dobson-Telescope--Professional-optics.html https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6879_Explore-Scientific-Ultra-Light-Dobsonian---aperture-305-mm---Generation-II.html https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p2236_Geoptik-Nadirus-12-Truss-Dobsonian-Telescope---12-inch-Aperture-f-5.html