Sunshine

8 minutes ago, Jamgood said:

The detail in this shot is just exquisite! Incredible!

This is an astounding image, as you say, the sheer amount of detail is just miraculous.

Nice, my eyepieces are divided between Baader Morpheus and Pentax XW's so I know exactly what you mean.

1 hour ago, Laurieast said:

Some wacky stuff going on out there:

You mean back then 😜

59 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Here is the full thing:

Unbelievable!

 

I find I need to click on the image like 4 times to reach the actually high res image which is so large I have to scroll around but the details are astonishing!

4 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Oh wow, the difference is really stunning.

It's the difference between my 4'" refractor and a 16" dob.

Looking at the high res image my mind is mush when considering this is a patch of sky the size of a grain of sand at arms length. A 13 billion LY distant image, I wonder if it is just a product of processing or 

not but there are so many orange looking galaxies, are they proto galaxies? 

Both fantastic images!

So a few night ago I had a good long session with just the moon and my 8" starsense dob, I will be honest here and I hope I don't ruffle the feathers of fellow mirror users but I wasn't sure what to expect.

Yes the scope had performed well up to that point but fuzzies aren't exactly a test of optical prowess which made me a bit nervous when I noticed that seeing was great while looking at Arcturus before 

turning the dob on the moon. Having been somewhat spoiled with flawless lunar views through my 102 for the last year I honestly did not expect a whole lot. Call me a fool but I figured I would have to

re collimate, adjust this, change that, check this, and try that in order to come close to the wonderful lunar detail my 102 can reveal, I WAS WRONG!. On a night of good seeing this mirrored little wonder

can amaze!. Copernicus was front and centre and as I ramped up the power to roughly 400x, I was treated to what seemed like an HD flyby of this most perfect example of an impact crater. Minute details 

were everywhere, I made a point of picking out the smallest ridges, craters, and boulders my eye could see and I even felt a sense of nausea on occasion as the crater moved by in the FOV. At times I had 

the feeling I was looking out a window, it was great! nearby was a string of tiny craters which looked like machine gun fire highlighted in the oval which was wonderful as they were ever so small but I could count

 them off one by one and at the highest point of the crater wall is a snaking ridge which looked so well defined It seemed like it was knife edge sharp. Within the crater I noticed how one half was smoother

than the other, one half seems like it is littered with small boulders which the other half is more sandy and flat as highlighted by the blue arrow. There was no shortage of detail and it seemed to get better

with time as the scope slowly reached temperature and my eyes adjusted. It seems I have a winner, I really hope that Synta is on the ball when it comes to QC and consistency, I hope that everyone gets the

same copy I seem to have because so far it has impressed me.  It CANNOT produce the same laser cut disc stars which my 102 can, the double double does not look the same when comparing the two

scopes side my side as I have done on a few targets. The dob reveals what the 4" cannot when it comes to fuzzies and clusters but it just cannot show stars the same way, not a chance.

This is fine because I did not buy it for that purpose, for that I have my refractor, I bought it because fuzzies (especially clusters) are glorious when compared to my refractor and i'm loving the advantage

that aperture brings. I'm just elated to see that it it proving to be a fantastic optical performer, too!, out of focussed stars look great on both sides and I am enjoying the most delicate of pinpoints when looking

into clusters and such, diamonds. It seems I underestimated this telescope before I bought it, I was not sure about optical performance on moon and planets but figured I wouldn't worry about it because I have

my 102 for that, I cared about the fuzzies. 

With every session I'm realizing that this scope will be more than I expected, it has been a joy to use, easy to assemble and use, Starsense has been the sweet cherry on the optical cake and I find myself 

wishing Celestron would have released this starsense dob 10 years ago because it is proving to be so well rounded and comfortable to use that I may have thousands more in my pocket right now if 

I had one a decade ago (this doesn't include my 102) absolutely no regrets about that purchase but I would have saved a bundle in other scopes which just got sold after all. One more thing, viewing position

has been great, when I use my 102 on the Vixen it often seems like an exercise in the art of contortion, leaving me with sore knees, a cramped neck and a feeling like I just went a round with Mike Tyson at 

times. All worth the pain of course but it is pleasant to be seated the entire session just leaning forward a bit to look through the eyepiece as the base of the 8" is small enough that i can sit close, open 

knees and the base fits between my knees nicely making it easy to make fins Alt-Az adjustments while viewing an object. Anyway, by now you may get the idea I'm having fun with my new 8" dob, you 

would be correct, I bought it for fuzzies because I naively thought it wouldn't perform well on planets and lunar but boy was I wrong, and I feel stupid admitting I was naive and a bit spoiled. My jaunt 

with Copernicus was a shocker, it really made me gasp when I slowly brought it into focus, I was so taken aback by the fine detail.

This is not my image, It's uploaded so I could highlight my observations.

5 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

Post man brought a second (!!!) Baader Classic Plössl yesterday

I am expecting another package early this week. Can anyone guess what it may be

Victor

A binoviewer!! Nice

When NASA releases the first images on Tuesday, this and other JWST threads here on SGL (and other forums) for that matter are going to blow up, can’t wait to see that.

Not the postman but still happy to pick up this sweet catsperch mini adjustable chair! even though it’s not a large model it is rated for 350lbs and I can raise the stool to 31 inches at its highest, handy for new dob.

2 hours ago, TheycallmeRiver said:

Finger?  It’s a toe, surely?! 😆

Yes that’s what I meant 🤣

35 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I'm curious if anyone has the patent number(s) because I'd like to read up on their claims section(s).

Under the module, does that mean it’s not yet an approved patent? I’m not familiar with the process.

1 minute ago, Louis D said:

Does anybody know if Celestron has patented any part of their Starsense technology? 

It’s a sure bet they patented the module and software, and who knows what other aspect of it.

On 06/05/2022 at 11:01, Pixies said:

Some on this forum have purchased the cheapest Starsense scopes just to get the phone cradle for their own scope and the app license!

Interesting that you mention this, when I picked up my 8” model at my local shop the owner said that he has had customers buy the least expensive starsense scopes just to plunder the starsense module. I though he was kidding, I guess it does happen.

Maybe we should start a Starsense dob section, I can “sense” there will be other joining in the near future.

9 hours ago, Dave scutt said:

Not the postman,  my wife brought me some socks. 

I can get rid of these now

A finger poking through a sock is not what I initially saw 😂😂😂

My local shop owner where I purchased my starsense dob from was nice enough to make me a set of collimation screws. He says he sources the screws from hardware shop and has a press to press the heads on, nice! the long ones are for locking and the short with washers are for adjusting.

To me, that secondary looks pretty well centred, more importantly are you happy with the views? issue is that once you begin adjusting the secondary (unless you're glaringly off) it is really easy to make a mess of the whole thing. If it were me I would not split hairs especially when it comes to the secondary as its position can be easily messed up, adjusting for one angle usually affects others and it becomes a pandoras box situation. Just my opinion but I would gauge using a star test and whether or not things look sharp through the eyepiece on a night of decent seeing.

Oh nice shot!

16 hours ago, Spile said:

My Skywatcher rarely needs the primary mirror adjusting and the Allen key/Phillips screw really isn’t a problem. Ref https://astro.catshill.com/collimation-guide/

Thanks, I have collimation as good as it can get, a perfect concentric pattern inside/outside focus using just the collimation cap before first light and now after several sessions it seems it hasn’t moved a smidgeon which is great. Tonight I was treated to some fantastic lunar views at 350x which were sharper than I expected showing a wealth of fine detail, I’m impressed with this dob, so far it has been just great.

On 04/07/2022 at 05:19, Pixies said:

A big box!

Quite some packaging by @Franklin. I'm never going to have to buy bubble-wrap again!

Et voila!

Oooh congrats,it’s a beauty!

12 minutes ago, Seryddiaeth said:

Any advice on which ones happen to fit the 8" Dob?

My local shop keeper made me a custom set which he mailed out but I did confirm that bobs knobs makes them for the 8" skywatcher dob which is the exact same OTA, they will also fit the celestron OTA perfectly.

It seems both are Synta OTA's and are just rebranded.

Welcome to SGL! have a look at the binocular section here on SGL, I’m sure you’ll enjoy that. BTW it’s just a short hop to a telescope from your first binoculars, hint hint!

I like the thick HA ribbon, super contrasty, great work!