russ

That's really nice. Well done.

Simply incredible 👍

Epic set of images Ant. NLC and the Comet.... Wow. How lucky is that. Wonderful looking image.

That's stunning...well done!

Oh no, i packed away too early. Was the comet easily visible from Portchester? I was looking around 1am in Eastleigh but couldn't spot it.

I need one of those..... I used to have one, it was awesome.

That's a great timelapse. Also subbed and liked.

Yes John, that is absolutely stunning! Wow

That's awesome news. It's gonna be great!

Great to see you getting back into it Ant

The mount looks epic John.

Perhaps ask for Celestron's help first before writing off the SLT mount. Or as you say, it could the chance for an upgrade. You'll have no problem selling the OTA on its own. The scope has a standard Vixen dovetail, so will attach to whole host of different mounts. Perhaps you may want to do that yourself instead of selling the scope. Its a great scope, identical to the Skywatcher Skymax 127. The C6 is also a great scope, we have one, it replaced our Skymax 127 many moons ago. I only did it at the time as the C6 was cheap and the 127 sold for the same money. Otherwise i wouldn't have bothered. Perhaps if you are going to upgrade, it maybe worth going up two rungs on the ladder to the C8? The jump is a good one. Difference between the 127 and C6 is small.

I've had so many dobs down the years, starting in 1986 with a homemade 8.5" f5 in a hexagonal wooden tube. I sadly do not have a photo of that scope. It was a one off and a beautiful thing. I sold it to buy my first car a year later aged 17. Which meant i then had the car to get me to the dark sites but no scope to use. Doh! Anyway here's the dob's i do still have photos for. One is a cheat. It shows my Orion Optics 12" f4 on the EQ6 as i can't find a photo of it on the dob base....sorry. Dobs that i don't have pics are Skywatcher 150P, 200P and 250P solid tube dobs. Orion USA XT8 and XT10 (my fav). I love dobs! Scopes below are: Revelation 12, Meade Starfinder 12.5, SW 250PX Flextube and Orion Optics 12" f4.

That's excellent.

Decided against better judgement to try Jupiter again, last time was 20th May. It was so hot in the house I couldn't sleep anyway. So may as well be outside under the crystal clear skies they forecast. First problem, forecast was pants. 100% covering of high cloud, and only the very brightest stars visible. Jupiter was in the thick of it and Saturn not visible at all. Seeing was 3/10 if i was being very generous. Can't believe I even bothered grabbing the laptop. So after much swearing and cursing I ended up with not much. This was about the best of a very bad bunch. Best 20% from 1698 frames. Taken on the 200P with Explore Scientific 3x and QHY5L-II C. The moon popping out from behind Jupiter is Io.

I'll try and tune in for these, right up my street.

This is my Newt setup. An old circa 2004 black HEQ5 and a newish 200P. I really am pleased with it.

Good that they put it on a standard Vixen dovetail, so the owner has the option to stick the scope on an EQ3-2 or EQ5 if they want to track an object. Nice little touch. Just a shame about the focuser.

That's excellent. Great job! 👍

That's it in a nutshell.

For me a useable magnification is what ever works on the night. Start low and work up until the image looks worse than the previous view. Also depends on the subject and height in the sky. Jupiter looked rubbish the other morning at 100x but the moon, slightly higher in the sky, looked epic at 300x. I never bother with all the 50x per inch nonsense. Some scopes won't reach that, others surpass it with ease.

Yes that's definitely one of the drawbacks to the hybrid and EV cars at the moment. They do impact on boot space with the battery and if EV, all the charging kit. Seems daft not offering the hatch. Have you tried Astroboot for the counterweight and tray? Probably the best chance of finding those. Or a wanted ad on here or UKABS. My EQ3 was missing the polarscope cover and Astroboot had one. Russ

I prefer to Barlow my 12mm rather than use the 6mm Plossl. Keep the viewing comfort of the 12mm BST.

I definitely recommend the ES as an upgrade over the Skywatcher. I only recently got the ES myself and so far dead impressed. Maintains the image quality of the original eyepiece, needs less adjustment on the focuser and the build is excellent.

That's incredible. Perfect glob image.