Stu1smartcookie

Welcome to SGL .. and congrats on the scope. You’ve made a timely start as the winter constellations are on their way

This is right up my street ! I bought a 12" dob from another SGL member and the only thing "wrong" was that the primary was really dusty . I actually had to get the primary recoated in the end because it was quite badly stained. BUT... when my mirror was caked in dust etc i still got acceptable views through it maybe just losing a bit of contrast . I took the mirror out and cleaned it which made a difference. The views became sharp again , despite the staining The point i am trying to make is that the primary on my scope was in a very poor state but still produced fine viewing . If you are getting great views then why clean it although i bet you are like me ,can't stand seeing dust on the primary . But cleaning a mirror isn't the perilous procedure that we are led to believe .

I concur with this . The skywatcher steel tripod was one of the best things i bought ( and i regret selling) . There is no getting away with the tried and tested " a solid mount is imperitave " that is always written when people ask about new equipment . Many , including myself have tried to get round this but failed . Learn by others mistakes .

Unexpectededly clear last night , out with the 12" Dob , looking at M13 ( my first ever sighting of this ) and of course the Ring Neb . No Freak rain but a chill breeze which heralds the cold nights to come . You know , the ones where you look like a complete idiot sitting outside whilst everyone is warm indoors 🤣

Alas no, Heather ... i packed away at about 10;30 last night as i have a 5;30 alarm call during the week . Tonight is not looking too promising but , if its ok i will be out a bit later Isn't it nice to at least be outside and able to view the night sky ? Remembering the shocking weather we experienced last month , September is proving to be a god send for astronomers .

Absolutely , Heather .. i feel even more annoyed as i have such a large aperture scope and i still haven't bagged the little blighter. lol. The street light acutally gets turned off at 1am ( or so i'm told ) . I have a fairly good southern sky , although no southern horizon to speak of . I think tonight is going to be the last one thats really clear in my area for a few nights so i am going to try and make the most of it . As for the Moon , it rises tonight at 20.05 so its going to be a pest although , Neptune should be do-able . Watch this space ! ( er , no pun intended )

Thanks for the tips Nik ... one bonus is that the moon rises just a little later every night . I only observe up until around 11pm on a school night but im going to give it a go .

I think we were spoilt with the previous night being so wonderful for observations . I was a bit disapointed last night if i am honest and Neptune is still an enigma for me ( damn street light washes a lot out ) . But , a fairly clear night forecast tonight , hopefully better seeing .

Nice report Nik... and for our younger readers , ask an older person about vinyl records 🤣 Can't wait to get out tonight !

You certainly need to do a North level alignement , at least , everytime you set up but it takes 5 minutes ... the beauty of the 150i scope is i believe it has a fixed primary mirror which means it rarely need collimating . ( although its a good skill to learn )

Hi, yeah , i used the weight arm because i was at the time using celestron 102 mak , which has a fixed dovetail ...the trouble with the star discovery is that the scope has to be mounted on the left side whereas the 102 celestron had to be mounted on the right ( it has a non rotatable 90 degree eyepiece holder ) .. it actually worked really well .

Yes i second this ... a ready made system designed for purpose and no decrease in aperture .

Which brings us all back to your first choices . Personally i think your flextube dob is already on the best mount . I know you want goto functionality though ( and i understand that its an attractive proposition ) . Having used both AZ-Gti and Star Discovery the star discovery acually has a slightly better payload capacity ( the orion version sold in the USA is the same as the one here and quotes 6kgs ).I actually used a weight arm that added a counterweight system to the mount and my scope sat directly above the mount . I was using a smaller scope though than the heritage 150 but it did seem to work very well

Your logic regarding the EQ5 is pretty sound and on reflection i agree .. however the AZ-Gti would never be able to take 9kgs ... think about the motors and gears. I used the AZ-Gti with a WO ZS73 together with a dslr and various other bits and pieces and to be honest it was heavy enough . The thing about weight ratings for mounts is that you shouldnt go anywhere near the limit .

i think at some stage most of us have tried to cut a corner or two where load capacity is concerned , but , in reality you have to have stability . I may be wrong but a flextube scope on an AZ-Gti may introduce balance issues as well . As has been written above , its best to get an EQ5 . Of course a lot more expensive than a Gti and it will be a lot more bulky too . Its a difficult balancing act ( no pun intended) but , im afraid the old rule is still the best rule that you buy the best , most sturdy mount you can afford and then worry about the scope later .

Welcome Back ... my dob is in our (very) small living room ..... its now the third member of our family lol

I recall a very similar experience to yours on the same night , I too was mightily impressed with Jupiter , and Saturn for that matter and , like you i got a bit lost looking for DSO's . Thats the only thing i find frustrating using a large(ish) dob ... so many stars that its actually quite difficult to navigate the night sky . Nice report .

The moon rarely disapoints

Honestly , if you would have seen my primary mirror prior to recoating ... full of caked on dust , it still gave really good views . Even after recoating there was some "staining " on the glass that couldnt be removed but the views i get are absolutely stunning . I think people get hung up on this and every spec of dust is seen as an enemy . It really makes no difference .

Thanks to everyone for the replies .. I fixed the cork pads with the sticky dots . I replaced the collimation screws with the bobs nobs but reverted back to the original locking screws which I barely tightened . The secondary is fine @Pixiesas the laser dot doesn’t move out of the doughnut . Anyway it’s better than it was but although I have better springs than the original I am going to buy some stronger springs .

Hi John .. a revelation 12” which is basically a GSO …I’ve uploaded a picture of the layout .. a fairly standard one .. I changed the screws back to the original but will be changing them back to bobs knobs shortly . I am certainly going to follow Ed’s suggestion about the clip screws . I like the idea of not “sticking “ the cork pads to the mirror although if it helps keep the mirror from movement then I will fix it .

Yes Ed , thats a really good point about the clips . There is so much empathise put on a gap of a "card " . As you quite rightly point out , that gap is in fact abe to introduce a fairly substantial error . I will certainly re check this tomorrow morning . i also believe that paper thickness is more than adequate . Stu

Thanks guys , I bought some strong sticky dots to put on the cork pads today .. going to try them tonight . It’s strange but I collimate the scope and then when I check collimation after pointing the scope to the zenith the collimation has slipped ( as per the laser dot has reappeared outside the centre hole . It can only be a bit of mirror movement . I used bobs nobs from RVO and stronger springs from them but I have to say I may get some heavy duty ones from Amazon .. apparently 3D printer springs ( green colour are the ones to go for ) . Stu

Continuing to amaze everyone with your excellent images on here , Neil . Brilliant

As Pixies said ... best do a star test . I think collimation is made harder by the fact that we are always critical of our own efforts ... the proof of this particular pudding is to look through the scope and defocus on a bright star ( use a low-ish power EP) If you see concentric circles and the donut is in the middle then its fine . Don't get too hung up on collimation if you are just into viewing .