Littleguy80

I love the simplicity of that. Sometimes I think I’d need less gear to actually go to space than what I take on a dark site trip!

Agree. Just now looked. Definitely the brightest I’ve seen it. Very obvious even in the 9x50 finder.

Similar experience to @Nik271 this evening. Once I spotted in the 10x50s it became easy to see naked eye.

I currently have one eyepiece that I regularly use with a Baader VIP Barlow. I can just screw it directly onto the T2 thread. The eyepiece is semi-permanently attached to a Baader push fit adapter. I’m contemplating getting a Baader quicker changer to make this process even easier. The quick changer has a 15mm optical path so I could use it in place of one of the existing 15mm T2 extension tubes. The eyepiece weighs 620g on it’s own. My question is whether the standard version is sufficient or do I need the heavy duty version? Plus looking for any general comments on using the quick changer. Does it work well?

I got a 40mm Aero ED for use with my frac. I’ve used it with the dob and filters and had some good results. I’m not sure I would buy a 40mm just for the dob. It’s behind everything else on your list for sure.

It's a nice middle ground between binoculars and the dob. When the seeing is good my dob will still outperform on Lunar and Planetary.

I have a short 80mm frac (500mm focal length). It's nice for widefield and white light solar. I got it as a travel scope that was airline portable. Seems funny to think of that as a requirement at the moment. While I enjoy the frac, the dob is always my first choice. I guess that speaks to what I enjoy as much as the quality of the two scopes.

Yep, sold the ES82 30mm and got that as a replacement. Similar idea of improving optical quality with a drop in FOV. The whole FOV feels more accessible with the 30mm UFF vs the 20mm HDC/XWA. The APM is a lot lighter and smaller than the ES so it works better with the frac for widefield. The whole Veil complex in a single FOV is a special thing!

Yeah, HR’s are discontinued but seem to come up secondhand quite frequently. The APM UFF 30mm is very good. The FOV is about the same as the APM HDC 20mm. The larger exit pupil makes it good for filters though. Looking forward to testing it on the Veil soon.

That would make a nice setup. I have a Vixen HR 3.4mm at the top end for those nights when the seeing is at it's best. It's more of an ortho like eyepiece with a narrower FOV but very very good. That focal length will be used quite infrequently with a 10" dob and generally only when the seeing is excellent. That's why I went a bit more specialised with that. The XW 5mm is the normally where I stop for planetary Lunar.

A 10mm will sit well between your 13mm and 8mm. Beyond that, I'm not sure you need to change too much. When you get to the shorter focal lengths it's nice to have a larger selection so you can adjust the view to fit the seeing.

I would say the 2mm exit pupil is an excellent guide but don't take it as a hard and fast rule. With my 10" dob, I have an APM HDC 20mm, Noblex 12.5mm (2.65mm exit pupil) and Delos 10mm (2.12mm exit pupil. After that I barlow the Noblex to get an approximate 7mm eyepiece before the XW 5mm. I recently compared a 7mm DeLite to the barlowed Noblex. Different experiences but the dedicated DeLite showed no more than the Noblex. Lovely eyepiece though. I also have a 9mm Baader Genuine Ortho (1.91mm exit pupil). This comes out when I'm looking for really faint stuff. It goes a bit deeper than the 10mm Delos. I was once told that experience is the best guide on eyepiece selection. Based on current usage, what are you feelings? If you work up through your eyepieces on a DSO, does it feel like a good progression? The 10mm BCO would be a good option. Inexpensive and will go deep when you need it. I find I use my orthos as more specialist eyepieces, used on trickier targets though. Most of the time I'm mainly using the 20mm APM and 12.5mm Noblex. One further note, the Fujiyama Orthos are very similar to the Baader Genuine Orthos are offer a few more focal length/exit pupil options than the BCOs. The 6mm BCO is supposed to be the weakest of that range.

Thanks John Palomar was definitely trickier than R4 Atlas. I agree that it’s brighter mag 12. I think they would have been beyond me with the skies at home.

The skies were forecast to be clear from around 1am last night. "Too late" I thought, work and the school run beckoned in the morning. Around 11:30pm, I belatedly got around to doing the dishes. A quick look out the window and nothing but solid cloud greeted me. With the time a little after midnight, I decided to quickly empty the dishwasher. Another look out the window and stars had appeared. "Just a quick 20 minutes.... maybe half an hour" I thought. Ten minutes later, me and my friend, a 10" dob were outside. "What shall we look at?" I asked. "Cances Venatici...The Coocon Galaxy" came the response. Answering your own questions is OK when you're talking to a telescope. Makes you seem a little less crazy for asking. From Cor Caroli to Chara we journeyed, only a small adjustment was then needed to reach the Coocon. It stood out bright and bold and it's companion galaxy, known to it's friends as NGC 4485, was also enjoying the attention. We meandered onto another nearby galaxy, NGC 4449, which we'd seen before but enjoyed revisiting. This was followed by another galaxy, NGC 4460 which was harder to spot. "That's a new one for us" I commented. The only this response was from the rabbits rustling in their hutch. Looking at the Atlas, I realised we were close to a carbon star known as La Superba. A brilliant, bright orange star that's deserving of it's name. I find it's appearance more striking in the smaller 80mm frac I have. I kept this thought to myself though, given the dob already wasn't speaking to me. The call of Messier 106 caught our attention, so that's where we went. The brightest and most striking of galaxies we saw together. "Did you know Messier was more interested in Comets than galaxies?" I asked, changing the subject. "That gives me an idea...". A short time later, and with careful study, Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) appeared as a faint hazy patch in the eyepiece. Perhaps a hint of a nucleus? Not far away was a galactic pairing of a Whale and a Hockey Stick! The Whale showed really well while the hockey stick was a bit more tricky. My main motivation for getting out to observe was another comet referred to as C/2020 T2 (Palomar). To find this Comet, it was time to visit another Messier object, a globular cluster which is number 3 on the list. A brief observation at medium power resolved a good number of stars. Leaving the collection of thousands stars behind, the hunt for the comet began. This required careful study of the star field and comparing it to electronic atlas known as SkySafari. First look and no comet could be seen. A switch of eyepiece and I thought there was something there but not sure. I started to move the dob slowly back and forth in what I coined the "Comet dance". As the star field moved back and forth, a hazy patch became increasingly apparent. One more eyepiece and a little more dancing and the observation was confirmed. This felt like the right time to call it a night with time showing 1:30am. I took my friend the dob back inside and thanked it for our dance under the stars and all that we saw together. Thanks for reading my slightly silly observing report!

I spotted Mercury in my 10x50bins Thursday night. It seemed really bright in the Bins but I couldn’t see it naked eye. Looking forward to catching it with Venus later in the month

Agreed. For WL Solar I always use the Nagler Zoom. Very tempted to get a Pentax XF zoom for Ha. That will be another test for the APM Zoom when it’s released

I got it mainly for use with my 80mm Frac so not a massive amount. Most of the time I get the dob out. The zoom and frac are great for when you want grab a quick session. It was originally bought to be a travel setup but travel hasn’t been an option lately! The zoom has been getting a lot of muse recently for Solar Ha. I recently got a Daystar Ss60 and it pairs well with that.

Managed to get this tonight at home with the 10” dob. It’s listed around mag 10 which felt about right. Classic hazy patch. The nucleus of the comet didn’t seem well defined but maybe that was just down to conditions. It’s all the way up in Bootes now so well placed to observe. This is the 14th comet I’ve observed and the first one since Neowise gave us such a great show last summer.

I got the parfocal rings this week. This Evening I tested all my eyepieces and they all reach focus with a little wiggle room each side. The extension tube still feels good and secure. Thanks very much for the suggestion. Works a treat

You’re welcome. I look forward to the response

I got my first telescope in 2017 with my only goal being to see the rings of Saturn. I now have 3 telescopes! My sister has my original telescope. For me, I find seeing these things gives me a more personal connection to them. I’ve seen countless images of the whirlpool galaxy but what I remember are the nights of dark, clear, transparent skies where I could see the spiral arms of the galaxy myself. Sure, the images show a lot more detail but what I saw with the telescope was earned. I had to find a good dark site location, I learnt how to navigate the constellations and practised my observing skills so my eye could pick up all the detail available. Astronomy is a challenging hobby. I’ve often come home elated at seeing the faintest of grey smudges in the eyepiece. Whilst visually not as impressive as what you see on the internet, I had the satisfaction that photons from galaxies hundred of millions of light years away ended their journey at my eye. Better than that, they travelled all that way and when they arrived, I knew where they’d come from. It’s not for everyone but I really do love astronomy.

This was shared on my local Astro societies Facebook page. Made me chuckle.

Lovely to hear that you had a good session after your hospital trip. Good on your son for helping you out. Hope the recovery goes well, Paul.

It really depends on whether you’re interested in doing some basic astrophotography. The motorised version is most useful for that. For pure ease of use, I would still be inclined towards the Heritage. There are quite a few very experienced astronomers using the Heritage 130 as a grab and go scope. It’s reputation is well earned. If your budget stretches to the £250 for the 130M then I’d get the Heritage 150. Bigger aperture and longer focal length. A great all rounder. It’s not been around as long as the 130 but also has a great reputation. I’m sure @Stu or @Mark at Beaufort could share their experiences with the 150.

Hi Mark, my first scope was the SkyWatcher 130M on EQ2. I really loved it but it has quite a steep learning curve with the EQ2 mount. The Heritage 130 is more intuitive on the dobsonian mount. One other difference to point out is they have differing focal lengths. The shorter focal length of the Heritage will give wider views but requires much shorter focal length eyepieces to get to the high magnifications. My inclination would be towards the Heritage but the Explorer certainly won’t disappoint once you get to grips with the Mount.