Ignoro

9 hours ago, Ricochet said:

 The focal length is also roughly double that of your telescope so you can simulate the maximum field of view by using your longest focal length eyepiece and a 2x barlow. 

That's a very good idea... I haven't thought about it thanks

1 hour ago, Geoff Lister said:

I have the Skywatcher Virtuoso 90mm Mak. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html

It has a Dobsonian mount and the built-in tracking does not consume much power from the batteries. It can be used without power, or for full GoTo, with the handset borrowed from my Skymax 127 Mak. The tracking is very useful, as it keeps the object in view, particularly at the higher magnifications.

For the widest views, I use a 32mm Plossl eyepiece.

Geoff

I'll tell her about this one, it does seem easier to find stuff with buttons, as it's all so small...

Thanks

I'm not an expert astronomer, but while fiddling with my scope in daytime I've realized that a 11mm Tv plossl shows so much better colors and contrast then Bst when observing anything terrestrial (upside down but still...) It's so sharp and lively, like new modern coated binos...

Also I get the best views of planets with the same eyepiece... 

I think it should have something to do with coating...? Or just the plossl design is sharper?

Hi, my friend would like to buy a small scope. She had stumbled upon an Orion starmax 90/1250 dob on the internet, actually the same scope I first wanted to buy and then people on CN forum told me not to, so I bought SW heritage 130 and I'm happy with it... 

I told her to buy the same scope as I have but she wants it to be even smaller and I suppose she can always look through mine..

My question is if any of you have used the small Dob mak, I suppose it's nice on the moon and planets? But how hard is it to use with everything being so close, and with narrow FOV? 

Does anyone have a good experience with that kind of a micro dob?

The only mak I ever looked through was 20inch and that one was good 🤔, so I don't have good advice really...

Thanks

It's pretty simple design, so I don't see what could break... Mine is 1 year old...

I've decided not to take the big tube (OOUK or any other).  I think I'll buy a mount and a tripod for my heritage 130p to make it even more portable and then travel to darkness even easier... That seems more sensible at this stage of life, I just don't feel like owning a big tube... Maybe in a bit time I get a small refractor also (They attract me for some reason, I feel I should have one), so then we'll have two scopes, for my son and me. And soon I may cover the whole family... 🤗

Thanks everyone for the help

Dear friends,

last night my friend and I had a most enjoyable observing session, despite our dark site turned out to be not very dark. I'm not sure if it's due to moonlight or the light pollution, we've been there long after the moon left the skies. I think probably both factors contributed...

We've looked at the very faint Ring nebula, M3 and M13, M4 etc. then realized that there is no point searching for DSO as they were too faint...

But... The two giants saved the day (and the night)...

Jupiter was so great and calm I think we spent hours alternating between the 2 giants. There were 2 moons transitioning Jupiter last night, I'm not sure from which side

This is the first time I've looked at Saturn this year and was completely blown when I succesfully resolved the Cassini division last night...

We have started with Arvo Part whose music fits very nice with the DSO, but the DSO were too faint and Arvo is a bit too spiritual for planets. So after some experimenting with Octavian Nemescu and a few others which were too avantgarde, we found J.M. Jarre was the best background for planets, especially Saturn... 

This is the first time I was sorry not to have more mag eyepieces (162x) as I think I would have used them with no problems, there was no ripple at all...

We mostly used a TeleVue 11mm plossl which is super sharp with a BST 2x Barlow which added just a bit of false color. BST starguiders (8, 18) are noticably less sharp then TV pl, I'm not that much fascinated with these.

SW heritage 130 is great scope, I think I'll buy more plossls, I definitely need a low mag wide field 25-30mm... 

I'll observe tonight again definitely, although there are some clouds threatening...

Clear skies...

I use Skysafari on android, I find it easier to use than Stellarium...

3 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

I agree with all you say - cracking scope for the money and probably my most used scope.

BUT !!

I would carefully get rid of all the grease you have added - if it gets onto your eyepieces it will be a proper issue.

Remove it and put a few turns of PTFE plumbers tape around the threads - it will take up the slack and provide a nice positive but smooth result and without any fear of damaging anything.

Enjoy it !!!

 

It's not real grease but some graphite grease which I use for my guitar nut and you're right I should be careful ... I think I'll listen to you and try with the plumbers tape...

Thanks

I bought the Heritage last summer as a complete beginner and I still didn't buy anything bigger, although I'm a bit tempted to do so. It's a great and portable scope and you can see stuff with it. The moon, planets and clusters look great, nebulas and galaxies are a bit fainter but still fun. If you find really dark skies probably they're less faint... 

I enjoy manual tracking and star hopping with a red dot finder, but for that you need dark skies, if you want to observe from a light polluted location then you're limited to planets and the Moon.

The good thing about the scope is that it's very light, cheap, good optics (I'm no expert but they seem good), for storage I keep it in my not very big apartment and it actually looks nice on a shelf. 

The focuser is not very good, you can focus with it on small mag, but on bigger mag I find it very difficult... I've added some grease so it's better, but still...

If storage is not an issue you can get a full tube scope of same aperture which should have similar weight but it's larger as it's not foldable, but should have a better focuser...Also I'd like to have a sun filter which doesn't seem to be a good idea with an open tube...

As for the mount I use dome aluminum ladder and an improvised wooden box, it's actually very stable. Sometimes I use just the wooden box and sit on a small stool, that's also comfortable...

So whatever you buy it should be fun...

This guy apparently also sells a TS carbon tube upgrade for the scope, for a small increase in price. 

Do you think it would be possible to use it with AZ4? It should be lighter with carbon, but still too long or?

Although the white tube looks better which shouldn't be an issue, but somehow is... 😊

EDIT: I'll go see the scope in a few weeks as it's not very close to me, otherwise I would have probably decided by now (or maybe)...  🍇

1 hour ago, JG777 said:

Have a read here http://www.astrodevices.com/AllAboutDSCs/index.html

Encoders are small rotary devices that measure a mounts position in altitude and azimuth. They send a signal via cable to a unit that is pre loaded with astro objects, and the user just pushes the scope into position usually following the guide arrows and co-ordinates on the units screen. Once the co-ordinates are "zeroed" the telescope will be pointing at the chosen object. This is referred to as "Push to". Advantages are silent running, custom catalogs, fast easy set up and minimal power requirements. Disadvantage is cost ( more than GOTO usually ) and some folk do not like nudging their scopes to view objects. Personally I really like it and have two set ups, but I am not very good at finding stuff manually and my local skies have a fair amount of LP.

Thanks for the explanation I understand now

 I actually enjoy finding the process stuff manually, sometimes I fail but it's fun anyway  so probably won't be installing electronics...

And those 2 mounts look great, but maybe I'm not patient enough to make them precisely... I'll think about it more...

What is encoder compatibility?

Ok I've realized that this one comes on a DIY mount, which I don't like. So the price would be just below 300£ for the tube with a focuser, finder, rings (which also look different than scarp15's image).

I'm not sure I want a big and heavy eq mount (or maybe I'm sure). 

AZ would be ok but I would need something heavier and more expensive than AZ4. I actually can't find any suitable AZ, except those double scope mounts, but then I'd need one more scope 😨.

The mount on the scarp15's image looks so classy ✨ ,nicely made and practical. But it costs 330€ on TS site and I have other stuff to spend money on in life so... 🤔

So is there a good dobsonian mount I could buy for not too much money, any thoughts?

Thanks

2 hours ago, scarp15 said:

The VX8L (F6) on the OOUK dob base is a great combination. I have this version with 1/10PV mirrors. Balance is excellent, as mentioned the tube rings are applicable for if modifying the profile at the eyepiece. Quality mirror cell, nice two speed focuser etc. The tube is light and the metal mount is smooth and engineered to a high quality. Second hand these will provide excellent value.

 

 

 

 

Nature is so nice there, I've been only in London... Next time I go to UK I must go a bit north.

The scope and the mount look great...

1 hour ago, Timebandit said:

 

 

 

If I remember correctly the Standard VX8" is  F/4.5 .So mine seems fine on my 2" Steel leg AZ4. 

Not sure what a F/6 would be like. Bit of a balancing trick to far I suspect 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, John said:

I have an AZ-4. It's a great mount but I can't see it being able to cope with an 8 inch F/6 tube assembly, even an Orion Optics one

Even my ED120 refractor is too much for it at more than medium magnifications.

I have used a 150mm F/5 newtonian on an AZ-4 and that was fine.

 

I misunderstood, sorry...

15 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

 

I have a standard OOUK 8". Great little scope and have never regretted buying it. It was purchased second hand and was well below 500. If you are looking for a guaranteed spec mirror and a light alloy tube assembly ,then the OOuk are the way to go IMO , but buy second hand, as new they are priced top heavy. I use mine on a AZ4 set up. Easy to handle and load in the car if need to. The 8" Newt are a very flexible and worthwhile step up in aperture, but still sensible money. 

Hope this helps 🔭

 

 

 

So you're using 8 newt on AZ4 and it's good. I never thought about it... I might just reconsider again as this lightweight is very appealing...

Thanks, I thought to buy 200/1200, I'll just wait for the right ad to come up.

There is a GSO 200 f6 now for 300gbp including a few colored filters, a Barlow and 4 EP 9mm UWA and various plossls...

Maybe that's not a bad deal... I'll think a bit no hurry. It's uncommonly cloudy here these days anyway... We never had this many rainy days in May, or April...

22 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Wish I had never sold my OO 8” f8 OTA. “upgraded” to something bigger. Should have mounted the OTA on a dob base and kept it.

If buying new would go for the Bresser 8”. Better fit and finish, a proper mirror cell and an excellent focuser and similar optics. The dob version with it’s proper alt bearings beats the Skywatcher any day.

The Skywatcher is OK but price can quickly go up if you add what I consider the necessary upgrades.

Bressers look great... 

43 minutes ago, Stu said:

Out of interest, was the OO scope just the OTA or was it on a dob mount?

For context, I recently picked up an OO 8" f8 scope with 1/10th wave optics for £200 without  mount. A VX8L 1/10th wave went on eBay recently for just over £200, again without mount.

Personally, provided the price is right, I would choose an Orion Optics scope for the guarantee of optical quality and the lighter aluminium tube.

It's on a Dob base, I didn't even check ebay as the shipping here should be costly...

32 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

2nd Hand only! Their new prices are rather aggressive (in my financially challenged opinion).

Paul

I never thought about buying this until I've seen the used ad, but it's still a bit of a stretch for me...

I think I'll go for something like SW and used. I just wanted to see if I'll miss much if I don't get this scope as it won't come up in the ads again very soon, but something else will...  No hurry, I have a scope already

Thanks everyone

This was easy... 😎

Thanks

Hi, I'm not really in the market for a new scope, but maybe I am, I'm not sure... Or if you want: I'm undecided or maybe I'm not... 🐸

I'll post, I guess that's what forums are for... 

So there is an Orion UK VX8L (1/8 lambda) dobsonian with a used price of 500€ currently available near me, so I'm wandering should I buy it, I wouldn't like to miss it but still I'm not sure for visual astronomy how much difference is between this one and the GSO, SW or similar scopes which are avaliable very often. Orion is also a bit lighter to carry and has a smaller secondary so it's allegedly sharper on planets...

I'm still not sure do I want a 20kg scope as now I'm quite happy with my small Heritage 130p, but still I think I'm slowly overgrowing this scope and in would like to see stuff a bit better. I often observe with my kids, so we'd be good with 2 scopes. I understand it's good for AP but that's too much for me now, maybe when I can have a permanently positioned scope somewhere...

I also thought about buying AZ-4 for my heritage and then in time maybe get a Mak or a smaller APO and use it with a mount and stick with smaller scopes, but this route is much more expensive and I suppose I'd still want a bigger scope eventually... 

So if this Orion is better I might even buy it, so if any of you have experience with this scope or some, it would be great if you tell me about it...

Thanks

I got the same scope last summer as a complete newbie.

I think for starters you can use stock eyepieces as they are not that bad, after some time you'll know better what you need. I was very happy with the views last summer with just stock EPs. Also beginners eye is not the same as the experienced observers eye. 

If you buy all EPs now, what will you do later...? 🤨

Heritage is a great scope, very light and fast to setup...

I also have TENTO 12x40 in completely new condition from the late 80s, even the yellow filters have probably never been removed from the protective paper.

I'm no expert but I enjoyed the looks through them, actually they seem very good, bit unsteady this 12x, but maybe with practice...

And the scent of the leather case somehow reminds me of my childhood... ?

Also old school stuffs seems as if it'll last forever and has some nice charm, unlike these 'all the same' new, although new stuff is more advanced of course.

There is something special about buying good binos for 10€... ?