Geoff Barnes

Yay! My first clouds sticker from FLO. Unfortunately it sent clouds ahead of itself about 3 weeks ago and I haven't seen a clear sky since! Anyhow, after being so very impressed with the Skywatcher Planetary 4mm, which held its own against the Vixen SLV on Saturn and Jupiter I felt a 5mm FL would give me the best views of Jupiter which were bordering on being a bit soft, so it arrived today..... I really don't know why these aren't more popular, they really do perform far better than their low cost would suggest. Hoping the forecast for clearer skies at the end of the week actually materialise.

Oh Brad, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! You must feel such a chump! (friendly English way of saying fool if you're not from UK). Need to know your budget really to get an idea of what to recommend. Best in the budget line that I know of I would say BST Starguiders, Celestron XL or Skywatcher Planetary. Middle market I think Vixen SLV's or Explore Scientific 68 or 82 degrees. For value upmarket I would not go past Baader Morpheus, my favorite EP's. Top range then Televue are considered the best money can buy, I've never used them myself but those that do seem to keep them forever! I've only used a SW 9v50 finder which I like, others will advise different types. HTH.

Are you absolutely sure your Dob is perfectly collimated? As others have said, it is absolutely capable of resolving Jupiter's moons as tiny discs. Using your 5mm eyepiece you should carry out a star test on a bright star (say Becrux in the Southern Cross) and follow these instructions from Gary Seronik (apologies if you've already done this)…. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:N-pi-KfT2OkJ:https://garyseronik.com/no-tools-telescope-collimation/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au I do this before every viewing session to ensure collimation and it literally only takes a minute or two.

Here's some reading for you on CN Forum..... https://www.bing.com/search?q=1000+Oaks+narrowband+filter&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=1000+oaks+narrowband+filte&sc=0-26&sk=&cvid=44FD46A19F5147EBAC6CD8934888515D

Oh I don't know, I quite like the prospect of it breaking up into lots of littler GRS's moving around all over the disc, what a sight that would be!

Outstanding Steve, razor sharp images! High quality equipment delivering high quality results!

Yes, collection would be preferred to shipping. Your location may be a factor in how easily you can get a buyer, what country are you in agulotta?

I've no experience of such a scope myself, but if I had that much money to spend I think this would be near the top of my list.... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/sky-watcher-evostar-150ed-ds-pro-ota.html.

Grrr, went out to have a look and Mars is already down behind the trees out of sight. Hope you folks up north have more luck, though it will be very low down I dare say.

Good stuff Avani. We are lucky to be in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment with Saturn and Jupiter both in prime positions!

Just noticed on SkySafari that Mars will be in the Beehive Cluster this weekend, particularly on Sunday. Should make a nice sight if you can get a view of it.

Welcome agulotta, I think you will find it is a 105mm telescope and of the highest possible quality. I think you may well have a queue outside your door any time now! http://www.company7.com/astrophy/refractors/105trav.html

I've got the Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow as well and good though it undoubtedly is I prefer the views without it. I've never used any TV equipment so I can't compare to it. We did discuss recently in another thread about certain brands of EP being more suited to certain brands of telescope. I know with my Skywatcher 12 inch Dob that I much prefer the views through my Skywatcher and Baader EP's than through my Explore Scientific 82 degree EP.

🤣

I was about to press the button on the Astronomik 0-III, but now I'm interested in this Lumicon version. Are these available from the UK or only the USA?

Just goes to show the quality of the Tak John, you were seeing the same details as I was a few nights ago at 375x with the SW Dob and with Saturn at 74 degrees aloft and superb seeing. Though I did catch glimpses of Enceladus as well as the Encke Minima which I guess would probably be beyond the reach of many scopes at such low elevations in the UK.

Looks the bees knees Stu! I was reading up on the Altair finder, looks like the illuminator can cause problems with being too heavy.....

Too true Gina, some of the nebulas and globular clusters we can see down here that you can't are truly breathtaking!

I'd love to explore Cygnus but it hardly gets above the horizon here.

I would think the things I see on my north horizon will be pretty much overhead in the UK. Likewise, the stuff on your southern horizon will be overhead here.

What a view! I could never tire of a view like that! Here is my only horizon, looking north at sunrise this morning. Leo, Virgo, Lyra and Andromeda all creep along just above to tree tops. All other directions are blocked by huge trees.

Yes I find that too, the black shadows on the Jovian surface always look much bigger than the moons themselves, perhaps an optical illusion? I can't really say I've seen any colour in the moons either, though I did think Europa had the slightest yellow tint to it with the 4mm SLV the other night.

Hi Peter, I have the 12 inch f5 model and with a 5mm EP giving 300x I can clearly see the moons as tiny discs, not points of light. If your scope is f5 as well I reckon a 5mm EP giving 250x will enable you to see them as tiny discs as well in good seeing conditions. We both have Jupiter at about 75 degrees altitude down here at the moment and at opposition too so this is your best chance to see them.

I don't want to drag this out any longer, but this post of yours John does illustrate how confusing some of Jupiter's features can be where barges do look like ovals. ( click on John's name at top)... Satis dictum! 🙂

Probably not the best example I could've shown, these images by Damian Peach are much more akin to what I saw, are these dark ovals not barges?.....