Peter Drew

It was our turn for a view. 🙂

Wish I could still see it!. A lucky break in the cloud for 30 seconds, totally overcast now. ☹️

Excellent bright prominence today. Double lobed appearance, like two fighting fleas. 🙂

Yes, you do have to enter the time and date for the NexStar system before the mount will track. It doesn't need to be super accurate just to track but if you need the goto function then the more accurate the better. 🙂

I have 14 years experience of not having to work and managing on very little income, it's called retirement. However, rather than waiting to die I'm keen to make my final laps round the Sun just as fulfilling as any previous ones. 🙂

I think these are Helicoids, a system invented by Tatsuro Matsumoto. Two flat mirrors are arranged at precise angles to produce a 90 degree viewing angle with terrestrial orientation. 🙂

Managed to miss this at its best despite experimenting with high res 102mm, 120mm and 150mm Ha scopes. Must have been fairly faint as it doesn't seem to show on GONG. 🙂

If we could travel at a million times the speed of light it would still take us more than two years to reach the nearest external galaxy.🤔

Who knows what lies round the corner considering the advances made during the last century?. However most things are subject to diminishing returns and until we are able to achieve light speed velocity and indefinite human life sustainability, interstellar travel remains a pipe dream. What is overlooked by casual thinking is that acceleration time has to be matched by deceleration time, no brakes in space!, this could double the journey time. 🙂

Recognised seller as well. 🙂

You could lose some pier height by removing the studs holding the upper circular plate and then bolt the plate directly to the top of the pier. There appears to be a side aperture to access to whatever holds the mount to the pier and the mount should already have a levelling facility. 🙂

No photos but I have been viewing it with PST, 60mm Coronado etalon and 150mm PST mod.

I'm just refurbishing one of these. The tube and fittings were in poor cosmetic condition but no dings, they have been stripped, rubbed down and are ready for painting. The objective however cleaned up nicely and pre strip down showed an excellent terrestrial image even at 400x. I have fitted a 2" R & P for future astro tests. 🙂

I rely on you for pics being as you have a very similar setup! 🙂

Stunning late afternoon solar again today. A "perfect storm" of transparency, seeing conditions and plenty of activity from 6pm until 6.30pm produced the best Ha views I've had all year! 🙂

Mars is surprisingly bright and small compared to Jupiter and Saturn. The brightness tends to swamp the detail on Mars. You need high magnification or filters to offset this. At least 200x on your 90mm if the seeing will stand it.

Me too, always cloudy when there's activity and vice-versa. ☹️

Observatory. 🙂

I've had both the 90mm F10 refractor and the 150mm F8 Newtonian. No contest, the Newtonian every time. The Dobsonian will be much more stable for the high powers needed for planetary viewing. The 90mm refractor will have the edge on double star appearances and be more convenient for white light solar observation. The minor quirks of the reflector are more than offset by the overall performance.

Yes, balancing is most important. I presumed, due to the fact that it was a driven Dobsonian, it would have been balanced being as it had been used. If possible, disconnect the drive system and check that the optical tube assembly is balanced in the altitude axis. 🙂

I would still suspect the power supply as many of your symptoms can be due to this. 12.5 volts may not be quite enough for the task, a fully charged battery would be over 13v, doesn't sound much difference but the drives are very sensitive to power supply. easy enough to try a full charge. Connections are another potential source of problems. 🙂

I received 16 off, 52mm o/d stainless and shielded ballrace bearings and a 1m length of bar to make mounting posts for them. The bearings are to replace the 15 year old bearings fitted to the sliding doors of our main observatory that had rusted somewhat. 🙂

Yes, dealers have to make a profit over and above what they paid for the item. There may be a better chance of cover in the event of a problem though. 🙂

All of those images I wold find usable, I would love to have an image as good as that 400x version, unfortunately my local seeing doesn't support it. ☹️

9ox per inch is quite doable with small, high quality refractors under excellent seeing conditions. It doesn't scale up well though, the seeing limits the ultimate magnification useable.. It is also important to consider the object to be viewed, M31 or M42 would not be vey impressive at 90x per inch but a close double star might. 🙂