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Lurcher

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  1. Nice to hear from you Andy! Many thanks for your comment.
  2. Oh this is really interesting! Thanks! Maybe it's the different make that's making the difference then. It definitely looks different to what I'm used to seeing. I'll give it a few more tries before rushing into buying another one, but it seemed a lesser view. Thanks for your comments.
  3. Yes they really are works of art and beautiful.
  4. Hi, I've been so focused on seeing deep sky objects I haven't viewed the moon in quite a while. I noticed it was clear on Sunday, and although the moon was bright I headed out with my scope into the back garden with the intention of concentrating on double stars. After a while I thought I'd take a look at the moon, as it was at a phase, (one day after full moon, which I don't normally catch. I noticed a nice line of craters on the edge of the terminator and thought I'd have a go at sketching them. It's probably been a couple of years since trying to sketch anything on the moon, and I felt really rusty to begin with. But I had forgotten how absorbing and enjoyable it is to focus so much on a few craters! - I think next time I'll pick just one or two craters and try to get the detail of a limited area correctly.
  5. So sorry for not replying to your question before! You're probably past caring now! Lol. I want to change it for a larger 9 x 50 finderscope which I'm more used to using. (The StellaLyra comes with an 8 x 50). Sorry I didn't reply sooner! All the best!
  6. Many thanks all. I now own the 8" Stella Lyra and am really happy with it. I must post a review, but so far I've only had the one excuse to use it and was hoping for a bit more than that by the time I write anything! (I was at the Herstmonceux Observatory Science Festival this weekend and saw the Bresser Dobsonian there on the trade stands. It's a nice, clean and smart looking scope! - And as I want to change to small finderscope on the StellaLyra one day . . . . I do wonder if the Bresser might've been a good choice for me?? It's so hard to choose unless you can have three or four scopes delivered to your door to try out and then choose one isn't it!?). Many thanks for all your replies. I'm looking forward to using it a bit more now!
  7. Hi all! Firstly, thanks to everyone who kindly replied to my earlier post on here where I was deciding which Dobsonian to go for. I decided to go for the StellaLyra 200mm Dobsonian, and I had a great opportunity to get out and use it for the first (and at the time of writing, only time. grrrr!), on Tuesday the 15th August. I was immediately impressed with the view through the eyepiece. At times I've felt the view through my 12" Skywatcher were grey and unimpressive compared to my 20" Skywatcher, and I was worried that I'd therefore be even more disappointed with the views through this 8" scope, but it wasn't like that at all!! I was impressed how sharp the stars were, and just how many I was seeing and how pleasantly bright they were. I need to go back and compare with my other scopes again now! I think it's going to take me a bit of time to get used to the right-angled finderscope which shows the view the correct way up. I find that at odds with the inverted view of the scope, and which is what I'm used to dealing with. Although I hasten to add it is alot more comfortable to use on a scope this size. Although I'm used to a 9 x 50 finderscope and I found the view through the 8 x 50 finder a bit small and dim, so I might change that one day. I'm a little disappointed with the adjustable azimuth mounts, (which you can slide back and forth to balance the scope to cater for heavy eyepieces etc). But the only way to move them is to lift the scope out of it's base and use an allen key to loosen two bolts which then allows you to move the position to where you think might be good, retighten and then put the scope back together and hope you got it about right! You can also adjust the amount of tension so you only have to get it about right, but I thought it would be designed in such a way that would enable the position to be altered while actually using the scope so you could feel and see whether it was balanced ok. It might be that with a little more experimenting I find it's balanced to the eyepieces I use and I don't need to worry about it. I need to get some batteries for the cooling fan. I've never had a solid tube dob before and so this is the first fan I've had, and am keen to try that out, although at the moment it's not cold enough to need it and the scope was ready to use immediately. I really liked the roller bearings in the base, and the whole scope was easy to move and position. I was also pleasantly surprised that objects seemed to stay in the FOV for quite a while without needing to constantly nudge the scope. (I was using the supplied 2" 30mm StellaLyra eyepiece but also a 14mm 82 degree Explore Scientific eyepiece). Oh one other little grumble - I wish it had lifting handles on each side of the base rather than only one on the front and the eyepiece holder tray on the side. I feel I could have lifted the whole scope to move it if it had two handles. So pleased with the optics though and the view which of course is the most important part! (It was also quick and easy to collimate with the large plastic handled collimation screws for the primary mirror). I now need to learn how to find objects in the night sky without relying on GoTo, but that's long overdue! I've attached a terrible sketch of two easy to find objects!!
  8. Many thanks for this. I have now decided to go for the Stella Lyra, and looking forward to giving it a try. I own a 12" SkyWatcher Flextube GoTo and have found the optics on that pretty good, so although my StellaLyra will be smaller, I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like! Thanks!
  9. Many thanks for your reply! I'm very much looking forward to being the owner of a 200mm manual scope too! Cheers!
  10. I did have a look at the Bresser dobsonians. I liked the look of that one first too. I then discounted it for one reason or another. I'm afraid I can't remember for the life of me why I ruled that one out now. Ultimately, it came down to which ones were readily available in the UK, other people's reviews, and price!
  11. Ahh that's brilliant. Many thanks for that. So it's only 40mm less then! That's good to know thanks.
  12. Wow, thanks everyone for your fantastic replies, and for replying so promptly. I had read good things about the bearings on the StellaLyra, so it was great to have so many comments confirming that. Many thanks. I haven't looked at the starsense, so I will have a look at that. I was wondering if a push-to scope might be an idea as it still wouldn't use motors, and so would still be quiet. But I think (and I might regret saying this), but I quite like the thought of forcing myself to occasionally find things without any aids! But thanks I will have a look. Thanks to you all. . Martin.
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