Beulah

The 200p is a great telescope! Also well within the sweet spot of decent aperture and portability! I wheeled mine a mile up the road to access some light pollution-free skies... It's a bit of a strange experience when using scopes of smaller aperture. You initially feel disappointed with the decrease in size but as you become more experienced in observing, it's amazing what you can see. I have observing equipment of various apertures and gave had satisfying observing sessions with all of them, whether it's viewing a planet through a 20", seeing nebulae though 8, 12 or 16" of aperture, right through to spotting M31 through 10x50 binoculars during a quick session. The only thing I can attribute to this is years of experience perhaps making me more adaptable? I don't know but is this some sort of recovery cycle from aperture fever? 😁

Nice looking building... where did you buy it? It's an ideal size for something I have in mind...

@Ken82 that's a fab image. Very surprising as I've seen so many good images with the Sony Alpha series. Funnily enough, when I was talking with many photographers for DLS R advice (come across quite a few in my line of work) they always say "Get the 6d or a D850 but a D750 if you can't afford the 850)" ...

The secret is to have other interests....or sometimes you just burn out....

Another fan of the 135mm Takumar...here's one I took on a static tripod...lovely lens. (stacked images). Funnily enough I bought this lens off a member of this very forum.

Lovely set of sketches; really captures what can be seen through the eyepiece. I've seen that scintillating nebulosity of the Pleiades through 8 inches of aperture in a dark sky....

Indeed, it is a problem when some of us work FT+...but the pain and regret at missing out on gazing into the night sky, or missing rare astronomical events seems to outstrip the need for sleep, coupled with the rarity of clear skies at night in the UK.. Life, work and stargazing seem to take their turns in priority and somehow it works...but how I long for more free time!

I own both (300p) 12" Skywatchers: flextube and solid. There are pros and cons to both. The flextube definitely requires more frequent collimation although once set up for an observing session, the truss design is stable. The benefits to this design is space saving, although you may get questions asked, such as, "what are you brewing in there?". In addition, you can use binoviewers with the flextube as there are two stop positions, fully extended for eyepiece use, partially extended for binoviewers. The flextube is also slightly heavier. The two stop positions don't exist with the 400p and I don't know about the 250p. You will also need a reinforced shroud due to the three truss design letting in stray light (astrozap is the go-to brand for these) I like both types of telescope...the solid tube can hold collimation for a few sessions although it is good to check every time. Oddly enough, I prefer the flextube design...

Ouch! That's a heck of an impact to dent the ota edge ring! It looks like it's melted!

Grat mods, @carastro - how long does it take to set up?

Great thread. That concrete base was crying out to be an observing pad, glad you saw the potential.

That is spectacular.

Wow? Where was I when this happened? Ah right, blind drunk in the student union bar...🙄

I found it last night with the 12" during a quick session before an early start - it does look oblong shaped with no coma.

Don't forget Mercury, rising in the SSE as this conjunction is happening. :)

Dave Eagle's book is great for astrophotography - highly recommend it. 😊 It's great that the Affinity suite of software, especially Affinity Photo, is getting more recognition and is a cheaper, viable alternative to the Adobe suite (Which I have through work...). On a professional level and out of curiosity, I published a few design projects, printed and digital using Affinity Designer and was pleased with the results.

Those who are able to obtain a copy of a legacy photoshop program could also use DNG converter to enable newer RAW files to be opened in them. Convert from RAW to DNG, then open the DNG in Camera RAW to edit. https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/using/adobe-dng-converter.html

Absolutely stunning.

Absolutely stunning, Boren - understand totally about the lack of time to do what we enjoy! Life is getting more busy!

Outstanding!

Fantastic!

Great work, Tim - amazing to see the brightness difference in 11 months.

Very evocative of Stephen Baxter's "Glass Earth Inc." story from Phase Space.. 🙂

I'd be interested in your findings. Unfortunately, the weather here is too 'complex' for a planned remote session at the moment! Have been quite inspired by this thread as I don't venture into the Monoceros region much and with very dark skies a very short drive away, (or a walk with a dob on a sack truck), these seldom talked about visual targets are intriguing. After many years of observing I am ashamed to say that M1 is the only DSO I am familiar with from your list!

What observing equipment will you be using for these targets?