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Beulah

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Everything posted by Beulah

  1. Thanks Raanany for your review. What a beautiful image. I have always wanted to stargaze in the Negev. I have heard from other Israeli members here how great the skies are there. Sounds like the mirror is up to Synta's usual great standards; which is pretty good. Such a shame about the build quality. I was quite keen to own one; now I am not so sure. If it were mine I would consider some serious retrofits, and even then, it might not be worth purchasing at that price point to have to make serious adjustments for optimum alt movement.
  2. One thing that comes to me from reading this thread. I want a 20 inch dob!!! Thought I was going to stop at 16 inch... Great thread and great craftsmanship!
  3. NOT BAD!! For a crop sensor and 13 seconds!
  4. Interesting review, thank you, Raanany. I have the smaller brother (400p) which is built like a tank. I was thinking about getting a Stargate if my ship came in, but might have some second thoughts. As a further comment, one or two frontal elliptical dust lanes in M31 can be seen in skies around Limiting Magnitude 5.5 and darker.
  5. You don't have to go over the Mynd - you can avoid it. Assuming you are heading down on the A5 from Shrewsbury, you can hit the A488 and pootle around the lanes via Shelve: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.5834142,-2.9678148,13.25z Long Mynd and Stipertones uplands is a no-go in icy, snowy weather but the lanes should be relatively OK - they aren't gritted, so it's a case of checking the weather forecast... Going by Bridges/Rattlinghope is a bit of a tedious faff, but nice scenery...
  6. The locals at The Bog are passionate about their skies, too. A number of years back one of them told me that they had successfully fought off plans for street lighting installation! Fabulous area for walking, too. Fantastic part of the county I know well.
  7. A perfect, elevated position for an obsy. Nice, neat garden you have there. Hope it all goes to plan and under budget.
  8. Another fascinating obsy build. Will follow this thread with interest. Just a bit concerned about the roof runner beams...I am assuming you own the land to the left of the iron railings?
  9. Good modifications, DRT, especially the handles..... Let it be known to the readers that the 400p, 16" Skywatcher is MASSIVE. If you are less than 5ft 10, you may need steps or a good ballerina's Pointe... I moved my finderscope underneath the focusser as I was on tiptoes on the steps, trying to reach the finder in its default position.
  10. Sweet stuff, LaH. Won't be your last. I thought I was happy with my humble 400p...... Roll on SW Stargate 500p!! (and maxed out credit card... )
  11. Difficult observing conditions, considering the skyglow from the hi viz and the smoke from the bonfire in front of you ...
  12. Bit of room for some underfloor heating, there.
  13. It's more likely that us UK residents would die of frustration! I've had to pack up more times within an hour on a trip out to a dark site than successful sessions. You sit there for a bit, hoping the cloud will go away, but alas... Honestly, you are lucky with your stable Australian climate...
  14. That's awesome. I have thought long and hard about having a similar setup; one very large telescope in a box trailer with all the kit - and just taking it out of an evening. If I had predictable weather patterns it would definitely be a possibility. The worse thing is, taking all that time to set up only to have the skies cloud over...
  15. Good readings for the Peak District - might be worth exploring dark sky park status from the IDA.
  16. This Dob wins the mojo contest. It ought to have those travel stickers on its OTA, seeing as it's been to some of the highest and remotest places of the UK.
  17. A reading of 23 MPSAS is achieved in 50 seconds. Of course, in a darkened room on a cloudy night.
  18. Excellent products - I have one myself and have obtained the darkest reading of 21.6 MPSAS at Zenith, January 2015, dead of winter, in a remote location in Wales so far. That's the 'best' reading from many dozens of readings over six months. 21.9 in your area is amazing - 22.0 is very probable. They aren't necessary as part of the astronomy hobby but can be useful when scouting out dark sites.
  19. Looks like progress is being made.
  20. Hey Alan, how did I miss this? What a great review and a stunning scope! You have to try and get out to darker skies. The Flame nebula can look fairly impressive under NELM 5.5 skies through a 12" Dob, let alone an eighteen incher.... REALLY getting the bug for a portable dob monster...
  21. Oops, I didn't mean in that way, I apologise to both David (Dark Star) and soupy! I simply want to encourage more people to share their astronomy related stuff, especially in the area of ATM as it's interesting. It's just that I have an interest in mirror making as I came very close to grinding a 12" blank myself. I was looking into building a mechanised grinding machine...
  22. If you have time, starting a thread on this and your progress would be great.
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