Barry-W-Fenner

Am I allowed to pick "clear??" For all our sake! 😁

Same here, Shorts and t-shirt most of the time, I dont tend to feel the cold to much, These socks were in the bargain bin at a local builders merchant so I thought I would snap a pair up for the cold months ahead!

Some very informative eye piece info from @Louis D as usual 👍

I can't comment on the XW or Delos. I own a 14mm Morpheus and am very pleased with it. Star clusters are very clear and colourful with a nice dark contrast. The 37mm lens gives a brilliant wide field of view. I have gone back to 60 degree eye pieces after using the Morph and find the view quite restricted. The Morph also has a very generous amountof eye relief. I don't think you will find many eye pieces that are as high end as the Morpheus range at this price point. I own 3 of the range and inteend to get more 😃

Hi Popeye85 I tend to give the scope 30 to 60mins cool down time. I store it in a cool utility room so it doesn't tend to take to long. As you say opportunity's to get the 300p out have been few and far between..

The secondary bolts are definitely Smaller. I would say they are 4mm x 30mm. If its any indication I used a 2mm Allen key to screw/unscrew. Worth a look on fleebay, even if they are wrong it's £3 lost and I will owe you a pint to make up for it. Just make sure the screw head is not to large to protrude over the secondary holder to much. I just searched "M4 x 30 thumb screws" and loads came up. The flater headed ones are best rather than the chunky heads.

Good to. Know. I will try one of my M5 primary bolts in the secondary, but like you say not force it. If it doesn't fit I assume that the bobs knobs for the secondary mirror are 4mm

Hi Merlin. I also purchased the 30mm for my 200p I purchased some 5 x 25mm thumb screws for the primary mirror from ebay for £2.94 they were from China and took a couple of weeks to arrive but work perfectly. It might be worth checking the gauge of the secondary thumb screws. If they are also M5 you can get them at 30mm long on ebay for around £3 also. When I get chance I can check to see if one of my 25mm primary screws fit the secondary. That way we know it is also M5 Alternatively if anyone else knows the size that would be great. Yiu could buy 6 screws for around £6 and do both primary and secondary. Cheers

Great choice of scope. I can have my 300p set up and fine tunes in under 10mins. I took a similar path to you and went from a 200p to the 300p I was also pleasenty surprised by the bearing in the base, it is a huge improvement over the Teflon, I think they should offer the bearing on the 200p model. I have added my RACI finder and a regal quick finder, they compliment each other well while dso hunting. I also added a duel speed skywatcher focuser while was a quick 10min job, this was a nice improvement over the standard focuser to achieve fine focus and has smaller less cumbersome wheels to adjust focus. This is not essential though. An astrozap dew Shield made a big difference and imo is essential to keep the stray light out, In addition to this I have flocked the whole tube internally both top and bottom sections, it is now pitch black when looking down the tube and there is no sign on internal reflection. This had a noticeable improvement on contrast for me in my bortle 6 location. The next thing I would like is an astro essentials light shield for the secondary mirror, this will help with stray light entering the back of the focus tube. These additions might not be as critical to yourself as you are in bortle 3-4 locations. For me I need every advantage I can get 😁 All in all I love the scope and can't wait to get it to a dark sky location at some point to unlock its potential. Regards Baz

Interesting to read it was the jetstream causing my viewing woes. Neptune and Mars looked very poor in my 12" dob. I was starting to think something was wrong with my setup.

Great report John. I managed to find Neptune tonight aswell! Very pleased as this is my official 1st viewing of it. I think I found it on my last session but got clouded out before I could confirm. Anyhow, I was probably looking at Neptune in my 12" dob at the same time as you! I didn't quite get the great views that you had unfortunately, I could make out the very small bluish disc at x230 but it was a bit on the blurry side. No luck with the moon. I am however pleased to have finally seen the last planet on my list. I had a look at Mars but couldnt see much detail in it tonight, the ice cap was clear and grey banding did pop in and out of view but not great. I also had a look at the various clusters in cas aswell they were also less than idea, in fact not much did look good tonight except the moon. That was astonishing. I'm now questioning if it's my collimation of the conditions. Cheers Baz

RACI and rigel for me. I really like the compact size of the rigel. It is excellent for lining up you target quickly. I do however find it difficult at time on the back and neck as you have to look through it like the straight finder. I wish I could find a way to mount the rigel so that my back can take it. Baz

A very unexpected observing session tonight. A great view of the ring nebula and cat eye nebula. The double cluster. Andromeda and the gas giants. Had to pack up before Mars cleared the houses sadly but a great viewing session! I'm really glad I spent some time last weekend doing a thorough collimation.

Stunning!

A crystal clear sky here with the moon and Jupiter directly above it! I'm jumping for joy, just hope the seeing is good now!

I assume you would like to buy both the Baader laser collimator and flocking next? If you do decide to get the flock, I managed to do my 200p with 2 rolls of the flo product. It definitely darken the inside of my tube quite a lot, I also remember seeing more detail in the Ring Nebula after applying the flock, I cant confirm if that was down to the flocking or just better seeing on that occasion. However for the small outlay of the flocking it is well worth the investment to help darken the contrast and remove light reflection in the tube. Baz

Nice read Merlin. Glad you had an enjoyable time. It looks like a lovely remote location for some peace & quiet, Not to mention a nice dark sky to observe from. The 200p is a fantastic piece of kit, I rate mine highly. I can see the Andromeda Galaxy though it even in my Bortle 6 sky at home. Its not great but it does show what the 200p is capable of. Have you considered flocking your 200p tub for added contrast? Don't be to hard on yourself. You forgot the sleeping bag but remembered the all important Beer! Priority's... Baz

They are great eye pieces, I still have 2 or 3 of them in my collection, They compliment the Morpheus well. The combination I now have work very well with both my 200 & 300p 🙂

The 8mm & 15mm BST eye pieces were my favorites and were my goto lenses. They offered very good powers in my 200p and performed very well. You cant go wrong with the BST range. Baz

That looks an amazing place to set up camp and enjoy the sky John. How long are you out there for? I bet the sense of freedom and the views are unreal. 850 miles is some commitment, that's greater than the length of the UK I believe! 😂

I will be interested to hear your thoughts after some time assessing Peter. Do you own the PC or a coma corrector for your explorer?

I hear you there Nigella. Weather has been dire! Wallets and purses in pockets people 😂

Great eye piece the 8mm bst. It used to be my goto in the 200p

I will be really interested to hear your thoughts on the PC Captain. I am toying with the idea of a coma corrector of some sort for my 300p. It will be good to hear how sharp your stars are after installing this. Baz

Lovely looking scope Steve, I bet you cant wait for a proper session using it, I hope it gives you many great views! Whats the assembly time like? is it fairly quick to put together and take apart? Baz