GordonD

Yes my objective dews up quite often even with a reasonably long dew shield. So I got a dew strip that certainly helps although it is another thing to have to set up and yet more cabling. I do get condensation on the eyepiece but only when I get too close for extended periods and that evaporates reasonably well with a bit of fanning. (must get a little blower at some stage).

Another vote from me. I managed to catch it one evening a few days ago in the dob and was surprised (again?) at how impressive it was. I have certainly observed it before but it never stuck in my mind as it did this time around. I don't get to see it often though as it is so low and of course at the time of year when it is visible the skies only darken very late. It would be great to see from somewhere further south so it was higher in the sky. I am sure you are right that it would rival M13.

What a wonderful film- thanks for posting it

This has been a good read on an interesting topic. I think @paulastro has an excellent point that visual observers don't leave a trail. I am happily doing visual and have played with a DSLR for AP and have tried a dedicated planetary recently so enjoying both is great.

Lovely report - felt like I was there with you. I sat up for half an hour staring up for Perseids and got the grand total of one as well.

If it is any use I use a couple of bar stool covers on mine (12" SW) to keep the spiders out. The size of your scope is a bit bigger of course but I can see some that may be big enough. This one says it will fit up to 42cm. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BDXCKGTD/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0BDXCKGTD&pd_rd_w=qYeg8&content-id=amzn1.sym.7b0d8b34-54be-4fd2-9baf-2d658b11dc53&pf_rd_p=7b0d8b34-54be-4fd2-9baf-2d658b11dc53&pf_rd_r=BKN9KYSK1K1Z9HWG8Q5F&pd_rd_wg=4pzdE&pd_rd_r=71f6f790-5099-4546-a84c-3c09cb0563d4&s=kitchen&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTzY1TFNZTk1GVVFIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjg4MDkzM0dCSjQyUU1VOThRMyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTI2NDg0MUtZQlBYMjI4WDVSTyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Thank you so much for this. I have been wondering whether I can do any useful photography with my SkyWatcher GoTo 12 inch. I will go through the book in detail and see if I can get there. But you deserve huge praise for making this available. Thank you! Gordon

I didn't see this thread earlier but was out viewing at about 8pm and, never having seen the X before, there it was clear, and obvious even though I wasn't looking for it at all. Must be all about the timing and I got lucky this evening. I have seen other people's photos but I had not realised it was quite so distinctive visually.

A wonderful image group. That is just excellent - well done!

Fantastic images - very impressed!

This a timely topic for me as I just got hold of an Altair 2" prism that I thought would be interesting to compare against the SW Dialectric mirror one that came with the 120ED.I have not had a chance to really compare them optically to see if there is any useful difference yet, but the first target was Venus and I immediately noticed some purple false colouring that is not present with the mirror. I was a little surprised at this as I thought at F7.5 this would not be noticeable. Venus is of course a severe test for false colour so I am certainly not writing off this prism diagonal yet, for sure. Using the mirror the 120ED has always been pretty much free any any false colour. I will continue to test them both but I think it will take a while to come to a conclusion. Ideally a comparison on Jupiter to see if there is any difference in colour intensity and contrast. We'll see, I guess.

Second that. I love being able to observe in a t-shirt once in a while even though aren't too many targets.

Excellent! Wonderful detail in these.

That's brilliant - well done!

Astonishing detail - well done. I just explored around Hadley Rille in the full res version of the last one and it is so clear - incredible.

Great report, I enjoyed reading it - thanks for posting. Sounded like a great evening.

Watching the video the conversion to night use involves removing the etalon and that will shorten the tube length by, what is it, about 4 or 5 cm? But the focus point from the objective would remain in the same place so I guess a 4-5cm extension would be needed. Hasten to add I don't have one, that is just what I would have thought is happening, if it helps at all. Good luck with it - looks like nice scope.

That's a great report - I enjoyed reading it. Felt like I was there with you. Great result in the mirror too!

Amazing images. Not sure I have ever seen anything quite so detailed before.

Oh that is just superb. Well done! Showing it around to everyone I can find. My wife is very impressed.👍

Yes agree with Jim that is a really clear and helpful picture of the the changes. Thanks for posting it. Did you do it yourself?

Fascinating read Gerry. Of course the down side is you have not helped me suppress a desire for a TSA120 (even though I have a perfectly good 120 already). But it's great to hear about your experiences and thoughts.

That's a great report, I enjoyed reading it - thanks for taking the trouble to post. They sound like 2 very fine scopes.

Just spent an hour on the moon this evening too. This has been the first time for weeks I have been able to get out there. SW120ED and binoviewers which for me make the moon so much easier to spend time with. Mono viewing always makes even easy to use eyepieces (Morpheus) difficult to hold the view comfortably for me. Always assumed it is to do with a small iris opening caused by the bright moon, but maybe someone could explain it? Anyway with the binoviewers (18mm Baader orthos plus a barlow) much easier. Picking out Plato craterlets, and I love seeing the tendrils of contrasting shades of grey around Copernicus and Kepler, and the bands on the slopes inside Aristarchus. All lovely and nice to be out again. Reminds me why I do this (strange) hobby.

Fabulous images!