Barry-W-Fenner

I fear I might be in the same boat regarding location and pollution. I will certainly try again now i have some knowledge on the target. I am encouraged by what I hear about true dark sky's though. Once i have been to one I wont want to view from my location again! Regards Baz

Thanks for the informative assistance gents. This will be of great help. My weapons of choice will be either the 18 or 25mm BST and O-III filter along with hopefully a clear sky with good seeing. The things that are against me are the fact that Cygnus is low currently. I can make out the full "cross" but cant really see much else I cant even remember seeing 52 Cyg! I will have to have another more detailed look. As John has also pointed out it is also deceptively large, I may have been on it without even knowing, Hopefully the O-III confirm. What do you all recommend as "low power" for this target? The more I hear about darker sky's with low light pollution the more I want to get out and find one. I genuinely thought my sky was ok as I could see all main constellations. How naive of me! Thank you Baz

No joy for me tonight, I waited for the sun to drop below the horizon to try and get a view of Mercury but all I managed was thick cloud roll over. Maybe tomorrow. Baz

Hi Carole, I dont have any pics of any stars before I flocked them, I can try to take a pic tonight if this clear sky holds out! At least that would show how they perform now. Regards Baz

So a combination of my O-III filter and the sky being decent. How about the height? its only about 30 degrees currently at best guess. Regards Baz

I have a (cheap) O-III filter John, In truth I haven't tried to find the Veil for a while now as Cygnus is very low on the Horizon, I thought that it would be to difficult to locate at its current altitude. It would appear though that i should start looking for it through the O-III filter to actually locate it though. Previously I haven't used the filter and assumed I would at least find it this way. Thank you Baz

Hi all, I just wanted a little advice regarding flocking. I fully flocked my 8" dob a while back which made a big difference to contrast. With the spare flock I decided to apply it to each side of the 4 secondary mirror veins. This has made them very dark and not visible in when looking down the tube but made them thicker than they were unflocked. I dont know if this has increased the defraction as i cant really remember what it was like prior to doing this. I just wanted opinions for and against flocking the veins. Has anyone else done this? I am not sure if I should remove or leave this on? Regards Baz

My Nemesis, The Veil. I still cant find it. I will need to start a thread for advice from the pros... Baz

Stunning image, the filter has really brought out the details. I have been using a visual polarizing filter on Venus. being able to adjust the contrast has really helped resolve the disc and take out the glare. A very useful filter. Regards Baz

Congratulations Marv! Really pleased for you with this find. It makes me even more hopeful of seeing it now that I know you can spot it with the naked eye. It's so low though here. Just over 10 degrees. I will struggle to see it over my back fence. I will find a way though. 1st will be l to locate it from my daughters bedroom window, then when I know where it is I can plan spotting it through the scope. Well done, and thanks again for the info Centaur. Baz

So the tube and alt bearings literally sit in the mount unfixed. It all just balances in place? Baz

That's another great feature of the mount you have John, I didn't realise that you just removed the tube with the alt rings still attached. I thought you would need to slide the tube back out of the rings. That's a nice touch for taking apart separately. I am in the same boat with my back, I do have a nasty habit of just lifting the whole scope up by the handles and carrying it straight out, I find the skywatcher base a bit of a chore to unscrew and screw the tube back on. I carry it out and put it down gently so hopefully this is no issue for the scope. Thanks for the advise regarding the size jump, that confirms what I was thinking regarding the 10" what is the best place to keep our eyes on for a used orion? Thank you baz

Nice one Marvin.! I hope it was Mercury, I look forward to hearing you verify. I haven't managed to see it yet, the weather has been quite poor here. Started out really. Nice today then turned to thick grey cloud... regards Baz

If I ever decide to upgrade my scope I think a 12" would be the largest practical size. I can't see any point going from an 8 to a 10 an any more than 12 would be difficult to move around the garden. do you take you 12 from the dining room in one piece John? Or do you take it apart. If you take it apart I assume you also do this when relocating in the garden? Regards Baz

Encouraging to hear that the dark sky's can have a great impact. I am looking forward to getting out to a proper dark site and finding out what the 8" can do! I bet we will all be surprised how capable our equipment can be under these conditions Baz

I have just been having a read and can see that your scope can achieve upto around 260 mag. It might be worth pushing the magnification up to 150 to 200 if possible. This will help when viewing the core. I also feel that averted vision did help draw out more detail. Baz

I am of the understanding that u can only see andromedas core. Although it is very vast in size the outer Area is to feint to see. I have viewed andromeda quite a few times in the last couple of months in bortle 7ish sky with my 8" dob and can only get the core, I can however use higher magnification around 150 and the core is reasonably visible. I world really like to see this through my 8" in less light polluted sky's to see how much of a difference it makes. I would also be interested to hear what andromeda looks like through a larger 10 or 12" dob. Regards Baz

Please don't use the "F" word on these forums. 😁😁

That would site lovely on my dob base "Mini Bar" 🙂

I am sorry I am only able to "like" this post once John. If I had the option you would have got multiple "likes" 🙂🙂

Very appealing Mike, this will be my 1st spring for Astronomy and I look forward to seeing the moon and watch the garden start again. I have been outside this weekend getting the herbs potted and ready,but that's a conversation for the lounge! I am keen to see the spring night sky through the scope Baz

Ive just got out there, had a lovely session looking at the cloud. It goes right the way over the horizon 😢😢🙂 Baz

Or migrated to Florida 🙂

Thanks for this info Stu, These events are very helpful. I really like it that they show the rotation ring for the planet in question. Its also amazing to see Venus & Neptune in the frame circling the Sun also. It puts it all into prospective. Regards Barry

The BST range have a good FOV and a soft cap for you to rest your eye to which is also adjustable. Baz