Moonshane

Look through the eyepiece in your hand not the scope. This will get you used to the correct position to avoid blackouts. Then you can translate this to the in scope position. As for eyepieces an often stated ideal for maximum magnification is the focal ratio should be about the same as the eyepiece in mm. Or the aperture in mm the same as the magnification (130x or 5mm in your case). You can sometimes get more and sometimes substantially more but most often, the most stable views will conform with this and often with not much gained (and often something lost) if you go above this. Never used a Morpheus but they are good I believe. One possible option is to unscrew the Barlow element from the housing and screw this onto the eyepiece. For a 2x Barlow this equates to around 1.5x so with a 6.5mm Morpheus this equates to about 4.3mm so 150x pretty much allowing you to test the scope, conditions and your collimation (!) at basically no cost.

hi Baz Sorry, been off SGL for a bit. One option (if brave) is to router some circular sections, and cut the side panels of the dob mount, and fix the circular sections to either side of the mount with a radiused block to act as a rocker box. It would then be carried in two sections.

South Locked East West 😂

There's a great way to remove false colour inside and outside of focus. 😂

Hi all Yes, sorry been busy on other things! I have got to paint the pier, floor, the door and set up the HEQ5 set up and I'm away. My dobs are all down there though so once I clear out the bags of sand and cement - for building a small wall round my pond with flags on top - then I can start observing, ready for the main autumn/winter season.

Superb! It also shows just how much skill is in the processing.

Never used one but interesting to hear views. Like John I get (got) decent views when Jupiter (and other main planets) was (were) fairly high but I struggle now to even eyeball them having a north facing garden and a large hill to the south. If the spot was on show I cannot ever think of an occasion when it was not visible even in 100mm of aperture. Must try harder this year. All that said if it works for you then don't knock it 👍

The best scope I have for doubles generally is my 120 Equinox but when conditions are right I think my 6"f11 OOUK newt beats it. The Equinox is 'easier' to use though. For £200 used the newt wins. For £1k used the Equinox is also great. My 16" f4 newt when masked to 160mm beats both probably. I think a tracking mount is in some respects most important as it allows you to concentrate on moments of good seeing which often reveals a tricky split. Big aperture sometimes also allows an easier albeit fuzzy split. Newts are dirtier, fracs pretty and cleaner with distinct airy rings. Colours often better in fracs I find. Swings and roundabouts.

Blimey Michael. That's incredible.

I am sure I have probably had a few others but here's a selection: My first dob, a 12" f5 OOUK. Loved it. Made this one for a friend, my first home made project. 6" f5 on a home made stand. Another home built unit. Based on a OOUK f5 made to pack down small for camping (glamping really) etc. My 6" f11 OOUK on a home made equatorial platform. Sold the base etc now and swapped for a 1/10pv OTA only. 16" f4 OOUK with home made base. Stunning scope and still my biggest aperture. 12" f4 OOUK on home made base excellent for being so portable. 18" f4 made for a SGL friend and as far as I know still going strong. Hope you enjoy my tour!

Might be a silly suggestion but you are taking off the whole cap not just the smaller one? See image below. This whole thing comes off. It's also possible that your secondary is rotated. Take the eyepiece out and if you see something like the second image, you will be effectively losing aperture. Both images from random internet searches.

I didn't notice!

I have never used or collimated one but the link below might help. Re Jupiter, the GRS reveolves with the plant so you need to look at the right time. This link is useful for establishing when the times will be. On average it's about every 10 hours. Planetary observing needs long periods of observing and concentration with conditions being the key factor affecting what you see. I always found magnification of about 100-150x yields the best results most often. It's surprising what can be seen on a small disk. https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/interactive-sky-watching-tools/transit-times-of-jupiters-great-red-spot/

That's a fab image. Very atmospheric. I think this really shows well how less (magnification of the object) is more. The landscape creates a real sense of being there.

Cheers all for the usually warm SGL welcome back.

City.....also like Royston Vasey! 😂 As I always say to the kids at our school when I challenge them about being muppets for supporting United....and they refuse to back down .......well done. Changing your footy team is like changing your mum.

SGL is like Royston Vasey......you'll never leave 😂

Cheers Dave Hope your van is still going?

Cheers banjaxed. 👍

Most impressive. A quality build.

Moderating already! (Myself) I seem to have created two identical threads so I merged them LOL

Cheers guys. Great to be back 👍

Cheers Kerry. I made the bold move of taking all my scopes down to the obs so they are ready - although there's still the odd bag of sand/cement in there - working on a pond at the end of the garden!

Well I have been busy for a couple of years with a business studies degree, creating a lovely garden, making an observatory (almost finished bar the painting and fitting my mount) etc and of course work and a family. Oh, yeah and (probably contracting) COVID-19! However, the talk (even on the TV for goodness sake) of a decent comet has given me the impetus to dust things off and have a look again. Looking forward to getting going again and posting on the forum again. Hope everyone is keeping safe and looking after themselves. Cheers Shane

Well I have been busy for a couple of years with a business studies degree, creating a lovely garden, making an observatory (almost finished bar the painting and fitting my mount) etc and of course work and a family. Oh, yeah and (probably contracting) COVID-19! However, the talk (even on the TV for goodness sake) of a decent comet has given me the impetus to dust things off and have a look again. Looking forward to getting going again and posting on the forum again. Hope everyone is keeping safe and looking after themselves. Cheers Shane