Geoff Barnes

Come on! If you're going to go to the trouble of building an obsy like that, for goodness sake put one of these in it.... https://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/telescopes/refracting-telescopes-ota/apochromates/apm-lzos-telescope-apo-refractor-356-4270-cnc-lw-ii.html

I've not seen the craterlets yet, is now the best time to spot them when the moon is just over half full?

I think it's time to face the reality Anthony, that with Bortle 8 skies you are probably never going to be able to see galaxies, they are just too faint. Even with my Bortle 4/5 skies and my 12 inch Dobsonian most of them are still very faint. As others have suggested there are plenty of other wonderful things to seek out, double stars, globular clusters, the moon and planets are all up there waiting for you to point your scope at!

Hi Jazzo, just to be clear, you say you removed the top and bottom caps, you know you have to remove the whole large cap and not just the smaller ones?

Oh yes, well before the move to this server.

Yes I get that too, it seems to be the Imaging Challenge banner loading as a white square before it loads properly. Not a problem at all.

Can you explain for the uninitiated (like me) what exactly we're looking at there John, mineral wise I mean. The orange/brown parts are iron based presumably?

I fitted the Lacerta Micro Focuser today, easy and straight forward job. Yes, the plastic insert from the SW original came out and slotted perfectly into the Lacerta. Once installed the focuser feels really firm but ultra smooth and no adjustments were necessary once I'd tightened the grub screw to a suitable tension. Now looking forward to trying it out but not hopeful for a few days with poor weather forecast.

Ah thank you Mods, that looks much better!

😉 My psychoanalyst assured me everything would be okay and I just needed to be patient.....

Hi Neil, If I recall correctly the video I saw said to take the existing strip out of the Skywatcher focuser and insert it in the new Lacerta one. I will have another look and confirm later. There are no instructions included with the Lacerta so I need to refresh my memory Edit: Yes, you take out the block with the Teflon pad from the original focuser and insert it in the new Lacerta one.

I've been thinking of upgrading my focuser for a while now. As always budget limitations dictate what I can afford so rather than getting a whole replacement focuser I thought I'd try one of these. The Lacerta adapter, gets very good reviews and certainly feels very solid and chunky, and surprisingly heavy. I'm wanting more precise focusing at high power for planetary viewing in the coming months, so we'll see how we go with this.....

Mmmmm, if only! We can all dream! Out of stock though so someone's been buying them!

Hi bluesilver, for both the 14" and 16" Dobs you're looking at an eyepiece height around 2 metres high, probably slightly more for the 16". Even wth my 12" Dob I have to stand on tiptoes to reach the VF at zenith and I'm about 6 feet tall. As for power, well the bigger the aperture the higher the potential maximum power, so yes you will get a bigger planetary image, BUT at the risk of loss of sharpness and brightness even with good seeing conditions. I find with my 12" Dob 250x to 350x is the most I can use before things start to get a bit dim and fuzzy. You will almost never be able to achieve the theoretical maximum magnification claimed for any telescope so long as the Earth has an atmosphere!

A shame you've had no response yet Niall, I was hoping for a few opinions myself. Surely someone has used them on here?

Forum was unobtainable for a while this morning 7.25am - ish. According to this handy website..... https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/

Welcome to the club, you know it makes sense! Really a great all round scope.

Hello and welcome! Given your location and viewing preferences I would definitely choose the 200p. Easy to handle and capable of fantastic views of the solar system as well as deep sky objects, you can't go wrong really.

I'll add a third; 3. Both staircases are dead ends, they don't go anywhere. ?

Good to hear laudropb! With which scope do you use it, or find it works best and at what magnification?

I tend to be a sensible sort of person who thinks things through before acting, ie. not impulsive, so my decision to buy my 12 inch Dobsonian was based on the two main criteria mentioned above - cost and practicality. I bought the very biggest scope I could afford and also the biggest I could sensibly handle, and I'm very pleased I did! ?

Arrived today courtesy of FLO. A bit of an experiment really, to see how far I can push my 12 inch SW Dob on the Moon and planet's without breaking the bank. My 6.5mm Baader Morpheus gives amazing views, but they are still sharp (when seeing allows), so I'm going to try this little beastie for starters. In reality I think that 5mm will probably be the sensible limit most nights. Just have to wait another couple of months for the planet's to be up in the evenings. Initial impressions are it feels solid and well made and surprisingly weighty. The rubber textured grip feels reassuringly secure to hold. A nice big eye lens which I like, and the rubber eye cup feels firm but has a bit of flex as well. For a budget EP I'm pleased so far.

Thanks for all your suggestions chaps! As advised I had a good look through my binoculars today and am pleased to report that I'm sure I was seeing with both eyes, which presumably means binoviewing is going to work for me. Now comes the problem, as far as I can find, no astro suppliers in Australia stock binoviewers except one in Sydney and they're out of stock. So it looks like a trial run before buying is out of the question. I'm quite prepared to order a pair from FLO, they have the special offer on the OVL product at the moment. Will give it a bit more thought first. Many thanks again.

I must say I've been thinking quite seriously of getting a pair of binoviewers for some time now, peoples reports of their 3D image effect is very appealing to me. However, I have a slight squint in my right eye so my eyes don't see in stereo, I always favour one eye at a time, usually my left, which presumably means I'm seeing in mono. Does this mean I won't get any benefit from using binoviewers I wonder? There doesn't seem much point investing in a pair if I'm only going to be mostly using one eye. Does anyone else have this condition who uses binoviewers, and does it make a difference?

You need to spend more time in the bathroom Louis! ?