Cuto100200

Thank you! And yes 100% agree, I was thinking they'd look a lot more real if they were more faded according to brightness with slight size according to brightness, definitely something to improve on!

So tonight (or this morning), I attempted to sketch the Ring Nebula, I'd observed it once before earlier this week and was quite surprised at how visible it was. Some of the surrounding stars are definitely out of position in places so sorry for this. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Thank you! I downloaded GIMP, if you load a photo in there, use the circle selector tool to select just the FOV, then go to ( colors > Invert ) it should do it. I believe you can do this with various other software, but GIMP looked like the most popular, easiest to use free piece of software. https://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Here the download link - I used the "download GIMP directly"

So tonight I tried sketching for the first time. I chose the M13 Cluster, I've only observed it around 3 times now on separate nights, as I've only had my scope about a week now, but tonight I decided to attempt to sketch it as conditions were good and it seemed a lot clearer than other times I've observed it. Any feedback/criticism would be much appreciated as i'd like to get better. I think I most likely missed a good amount of stars, and many are probably quite out of position and I believe a few things are out of proportion. Apologies for the awful handwriting lol Thanks for any advice!

The more experienced guys can give you some recommendations on barlows, there are definitely different qualities depending on brand and price, just like in eyepieces. I'd ask around and see if you can get some good well reviewed barlow options, and then weigh up their price points and how much you're willing to pay etc, then make a decision. Search around the forum and see if you can find any threads already discussing barlows for beginners, if you can't find any you could start a new thread as i'm sure that would garner a good few well informed responses. Hope this helps

No the focuser works very well, and is a really nice focuser just as it comes, though the upgrade allows much finer control, making it easier to focus on different objects and to a more pinpoint accuracy, though it's perfectly achievable to do this with the default one. I got a Barlow and a moon filter as a first purchase like you're considering, the Barlow is definitely nice as it gives you some good flexibility magnification wise, though I haven't used the moon filter much even on the full moon lol. First time I tried looking at the moon it was so bright and hard to see at first, though as my eyes adapted to how bright it was it made for a nice viewing experience. I think the moon filter generally makes it more comfortable, though I'm sure the more experienced guys can give you some more in depth details about the moon filter and how exactly to use it/where its useful. I'm actually considering getting a UHC filter now for nebula viewing. Personally for me I think getting a UHC instead of moon filter would have been beneficial. Again all depends on what you're looking to observe

I got a Bresser Messier 8" very recently, just a couple of things to bare in mind, mine actually also came with a Solar filter, Planisphere, and smart phone holder. This isn't listed in the "whats in the box" section on FLO website listing, I believe its around £70 in extra stuff. Also bare in mind it only comes with a 25mm eyepiece, unlike the skywatcher dobsonian that comes with both 10mm and 25mm eyepieces. The finderscopes are also different, I ended up getting a red dot as I find them a little more useful as you can see exactly where in the sky (relevant to what you can see) your scope is pointing. Red dot wise, a lot of people seem to give the Telrad and Rigel good reviews, personally i got the telrad, though its a little heavier than rigel and can lead to balance issues at lower angles if put too far forward. I believe the focuser on the Bresser is a little better, along with the way the mounting system works, though i'm sure the more experienced guys can give you a better opinion on these as I haven't owned a skywatcher 200p. Another thing to think about is that there are a lot more people who own skywatcher 200p's as the scopes been around longer and are very popular, therefore there is more modification advice, and information about it available. Someone said the Bresser has a lot of upgrade potential, i've noticed it has fan mounts at the back, and has a gear set upgrade that bresser sells, and apparently is easily fitted to an equatorial mount, though i'm not sure how this compares to the skywatcher. Other than these things I haven't had the scope long enough to give a comprehensive review or report on it, but just message me if you'd like to know anything. Links: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-8-dobsonian-telescope.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-1-10-gear-set-for-hex-focuser.html

How difficult is it to fully split double double, do conditions need to be near perfect? and what sort of magnification would be needed? Also thank you all for the suggestions, got a list now lol

Regarding eyepieces, i'm a newbie, but i believe you need to get an eyepiece with higher eye relief, if i'm correct in saying, the more eye relief, the further the distance your eye can be from the eyepiece in order to see down it properly, essentially the less exact the position of your eye needs to be. Generally i believe an eyepiece with better eye relief would help with your problem. Basically allows for a more comfortable viewing experience, even more so if you wear glasses. Might want to look at different FOV's eyepieces can have, as they provide a wider viewing angle, and a lot of people take comfort in seeing wider.

Was just wondering what DSO's are good to see in summer, that aren't too hard for beginners to locate? Moon is full currently so I guess it washes out a lot, but this is more for when the moon is no longer quite so prominent This would include, globular and open clusters, nebulae, galaxies, just about anything really, with emphasis on beginner friendly I have an 8" dob Thanks for any suggestions

Brilliant, thank you!

Thanks for the advice! May consider this a good upgrade then as i noticed it's slightly fiddly to focus on small stars. How do you go about installing this? Has that black hole (on the photo) got a screw in it that keeps the knob in place or?

Is this the televue you have? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/televue-filters/tele-vue-bandmate-oiii-filter.html

Just wondering what gear sets on focusers actually do, what difference do they make, and are they at all really worth it? Saw this a lot when buying the Bresser Messier dob and was wondering what exactly it did: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-1-10-gear-set-for-hex-focuser.html Thanks

Thank you Kev and John, I was wondering what that black ring was lol

Just a quick question regarding focusing, I own a Bresser Messier 8" dob, I got it not too long ago as the moon came up today (still daylight) I tried focusing in on it with a 25mm, as I extended the focuser more and more back, I noticed it coming into focus slowly, though the focuser reached maximum extension before it reached focus, to fix this I just pulled the eyepiece out of the hole a bit and locked it back so it was protruding out a bit, this gave it enough length in order to focus but only just about. Was wondering if this is common to not push the eyepiece all the way into the focuser when observing the moon or is this a sign of a problem? I'm using a 2" to 1.25" adapter which also gives the eyepiece further extension back a bit, without this in I doubt I'd be able to lock the eyepiece in far enough back in order to focus on the moon at all if I owned a 2" eyepiece. In the image ive actually moved both eyepiece and adapter back a little so the eyepiece isn't so close to nearly falling out Hopefully I'm just being silly Thanks for any suggestions

Thanks John this helps a bunch, I'll most likely go with the Astronomik then as a more long term investment, then I won't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon Thank you!

Just looking into general purpose filters, discovered that generally UHC and ND filters are good all-rounders, with IIIO being a little more specific to certain objects. The ES UHC is half the price of the Astronomik, how much higher quality will the Astronomik be at double the price, and would this be worth the price increase? ES: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uhc-oiii-visual-filters/explore-scientific-uhc-nebula-filter-1-25-2-inch.html Astronomik: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uhc-oiii-visual-filters/astronomik-uhc-filter.html Thanks

I'm very new to this and won't be attempting this anytime soon until i'm more experienced with finding and tracking objects, though I thought sketching looked quite fun and a nice way of imaging and keeping track of what you've seen and what they looked like without using astrophotography. So anyway I was just wondering if anyone had any advice of experience with sketching, and could provide any tips for future when I do eventually attempt it. Besides this some questions I do have regarding the subject: How difficult is sketching with different types of mounts? (dob and EQ) How hard is it to get into, and what sort of equipment would you need to help you start? How much of an influence do higher and lower bortle classes of skies have when you're sketching? If anyone has any sketches it'd be really cool to see them too Thanks for any responses!

Just trying to get a good broad amount of information on all the stuff, I don't want to rush into buying stuff and then realise I should have got something else lol, and thank you for the suggestion, never heard of astigmatism, time to go search that up haha. I have an 8mm eyepiece, though I don't know much about the value of having an eyepiece in the sort of 14-18mm+ range

Are there any other eyepieces in the 16-18mm type of range I should look at or would the Nirvana be the optimal choice?

Any right-angle finder scope recommendations for dob?

Thank you! Seeing as they're half the price would you say it's more worth getting the Nirvana 7mm and putting the extra money I would have spent buying a scientific toward something else? And would you say 6/7mm are appropriate flexible eyepieces for looking at some of the brighter DSO's with an 8" dob (1200 focal)?

Anyone have any experience with this eyepiece? I'm stuck choosing between this (for wider field of view) and the Vixen SLV 6mm Link to Explore Scientific: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/explore-scientific-eyepieces/explore-scientific-82-degree-series-eyepieces.html

Ahhh great, thank you, do you know if certain eyepieces scope specific? like does the aperture of the scope effect which eyepieces you should look at getting in terms of 6mm 8mm 10mm or even brand etc I read your review/report on the Vixen SLV John which I thought was really informative so I definitely had this one in mind, quite a good price in comparison to some ive seen upwards of 150-200+ which at this stage im not quite willing to spend