Beulah

Lovely image Stuart. I was out observing last night - nice to be warm...but not nice for seeing/transparency.

56 minutes ago, The Head Gardener said:

Gorgeous image!. I remember a holiday on Rhodes years and years ago with the most wonderful dark skies.

Jayne

 

Hmmm, when I was last in Rhodes I was 21 and very inebriated. Shame on me for not taking notice - we did moped to very remote areas of the Island, too!

3 hours ago, neil phillips said:

That's a impressive garden

Must take a long time to do the mowing

The sheep takes care of that. 

@DRT, that's a great collection you have there; I hope you will be happy with them. Takes a while to get there... 

10 minutes ago, faulksy said:

aluminum warehouse for the tube http://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/

8 x	Aluminium Round Tube (6063T6) 11/2 in x 16 swg - 2500 mm clamps were from dj superstore https://www.djsuperstore.com/ https://www.djsuperstore.com/product/prolight-rhino-multi-clamp-ch-10.html

Thank you very much sir. You are a champion.  

Great project. A real masterpiece. I am loving everything about it, even the fantastic finish. Look at the gloss on it!!

I am interested in those sturdy aluminium poles - can you tell me which suppler you used?

Also, where did you get those (plastic?) pole attachments, the ones attached to the mirror box?

My 2L 'dobmobile' was written off in an accident on Tuesday (mechanical failure, RIP 306) and the next car is not an estate - I am thinking of converting one of my dobs into full truss.

4 hours ago, niallk said:

1st light for my new 10E

Arty!

A 'constellation' below your feet.. 

My 12" "Dobmobile" looking thoughtful after sunset...photo taken by my pal when observing with them at a remote site last year. 

The Skywatcher 300p is more portable than the 400p!

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.

1 hour ago, faulksy said:

as it has now gone up in price by just over 1k . how lucky am i

How much?!

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!

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.

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...

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.  

Wow, that's a project and a half!

A perfect, elevated position for an obsy. Nice, neat garden you have there. Hope it all goes to plan and under budget.

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?

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.

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...  )

Difficult observing conditions, considering the skyglow from the hi viz and the smoke from the bonfire in front of you ...

Bit of room for some underfloor heating, there.  

Lovely scenery!

Don't die wondering!.                    

With practise you can get quite quick and efficient at setting up and striping down of these big dobs. The video there covers about 22 minutes of real time which includes everything from unlocking and lowering the trailer door, unloading / setting of the table chair and ladder, full assembly of the scope, tidying of gear as I go, finishing off my coffee and laser collimation of the optics. The advantage of the trailer is that you don't need to unpack when you get home and everything's all ready to go again for next time.

I Bill Oddie love it!.

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... 

 Big Dobs are easy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh00nv9wtqQ

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...

Good readings for the Peak District - might be worth exploring dark sky park status from the IDA.