Pixies

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Follow Astro Baby's guide - and check steps 2 and 3. http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/ It looks like the secondary needs adjusting. If you only have a collimation cap, you can still get close. A laser is OK for adjusting the primary, as long as you are certain it is collimated itself. But for the secondary, it can be a bit hit-and-miss

I've attached a pic of their relative location M81 (Bode's nebula) and M82 (Cigar galaxy) To star hop, my method is: follow the two stars from Ursa Major to the triangular 'arrow' asterism (all very visible in a 6x30 or 10x50 finder) then double-back to the 2 brighter stars that the arrow points towards from there, it's a similar distance as the separation of those 2 stars to the 2 galaxies. I've shown the FOV of a 25mm plossl in a 1200mm 8" dob (I've got a Bresser)

Try M81 and M82 - easy to find and relatively visible in less than perfect skies.

Nice report Baz. Sounds a little like one I had earlier this week. Which scope were you using? I've never heard of Iota Cas. I'll have to check it out next time. In fact I've missed triples in general - I'll need to find a good observing list. I like M13 at around 100x, I think that's because this is at a 2mm exit pupil with my setup and the image is really contrasty. I can often see the propeller at this magnification.

Well, they haven't been too successful recently! The worldwide stocks are now so low that people are turning to other manufacturers.

Worth checking Telescope House too. They are Bresser UK, effectively. I think they will be able to give a good indication of when the next shipments are due to arrive.

Yes - they are very reputable and known for Astro stuff.

At 68x I split one pair and resolved the other - using that excellent graphic to describe the difference.

And what about this beauty! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope-Portable-Professional-Tripod-Lever-Space-Astronomical-Spotting-Scope/193454712545?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225114%26meid%3D3da8201471514018a1d79b1db7b1f495%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D254668357536%26itm%3D193454712545%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithDarwoV2BBEV1%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 I want a "just like zenith mirror"!

Back to the original pink 'un. That's the same finder that comes with the big Bresser dobs, isn't it? Except pinker

As they don't appear to be available as separate items, is this similar? https://www.astroshop.eu/reduction-rings-adaptors/omegon-2-1-25-twist-lock-adapter/p,45633

This is what a zoom EP would be useful for!

How do these compare with the Baader ClickLoks?

Cool idea. Bresser Messier 8" Dob. My first attempt back in April would have been a failure at 200x (with my starter 6mm plossl). Then after learning to collimate better and fixing a mirror problem, I could split them at x200 (6mm ortho). But back then I had a more limited range of EPs. I could split one pair but not both at 68x (18mm EP). I had nothing inbetween. I'll have another shot when the sky is clear next - assuming Lyra is still around by then!

I used to occupy my time when taking the dog out for his evening walk, back when it was dusk. I'd try and spot which stars appeared first. These were obviously the brightest, and main star-hopping stars. Capella, Arcturus, Vega, Sirius, Procyon, Castor & Pollux. Like IB20, my main view is S (well, SE) so these constellations have been the main ones since I started with my scope this year. Before then, though, I used my bins to observe, so I'm pretty familiar with the main constellations. But I notice that I am very familiar with the winter ones, but less so the summer ones. My theory is that I grew up learning the sky. I was always interested as a kid and was lucky enough to be in what must have been Bortle 3/4, so could see the Milky Way from the back garden. Evenings spent in the garden was usually looking up. So come the summer months, I was in bed before it was dark! Slightly older and more light pollution and then more indoor evening pursuits - so I was never as familiar with the summer sky. But I'm making up for it now! Oh - and Sky Safari helps!

Tried it out in the dark last night. The red light even when on the dimmest setting is still a little bright. It's fine if you were on your own, but as the light source is so small, it's quite intense. So if you (or someone else) were to look into it, it would muck up your night vision. Also, there are 3 tiny blue lights on the side that show the battery charge when you turn it on/off. These would ruin night vision too, if close enough. So basically, if it's on your head and you're on your own, it's great. If you want to hold it and use it as a torch, as well as the above, you have to be aware of what BlackDiamond call the 'power-tap'. This is a tiny sensitive touch-switch on the side of the unit. Just brush a finger against it and it goes into full-brightness, for whichever lamp you are using. So if you are using the red led, it will turn the red led up to 11. I found when I was using it to illuminate the cheshire to collimate in the dark, I hit it a couple of times. Not great. As a normal head-torch, though, it's fantastic. I'm not sending it back and will continue to use it. I'll cover up the battery indicators and see if I can somehow disable the power-tap switch (tape probably). I'll think about covering the red led with packing tape if I were to be out with others, though. If it was full price, I'd be unhappy. For £20 I'm not complaining (well - apart from the above)

I'll post my review later tonight. It's not all positive

Some colours were £20. hence the yellow one!

For a few days, Clear Outside has been showing a few green squares for tonight. Then this morning: green from 11pm - dawn! At last - it's been weeks since I had a proper session. Still not properly dark yet, but getting closer all the time. I've got a new (to me) Aero 30mm 2" and I was desperate to try it. At 9pm, I was taking the dog for a walk. My son called to say his pals were going to come over for a sleep-over. Oh no - that'll make things more complicated. 3x15 year olds raiding the fridge all night. Then... clouds. Load of them. Thick dark clouds!!! Anyway, after giving strict instructions to the boys about the kitchen light. I set up my Bresser 8" Dob and crossed my fingers. It started to clear at midnight. A few patches, so I was going to have to pick my targets a little less randomly than usual. I started with Albireo - nice and sharp and the colour contrast was very clear. The seeing looked quite good, so I checked Mizar and the double-star split very clearly. So time for the new EP. I found the double cluster in Perseus first. It fitted the 68deg view perfectly. The small tight central parts of each cluster were well defined, with the stars incredibly contrasting and bright. A real high-def effect. The outer parts of the view were not so, unfortunately, but not surprisingly. So I just sat and admired the star-dust. Next was M31. It was obvious in the finder and didn't disappoint in the EP. The central core was there, but some nebulosity around it too - not quite stretching as far as M32 though. Still, much brighter than I had expected. M110 was barely visible with averted vision. The clouds were increasing now, so I had to move around. First view of Saturn! It has eluded me so far, due to obstructions in the garden, but tonight I found it (x100). Shimmering with little definition, but still an engrossing sight, so I stayed with it for quite a while. Jupiter was too low and hiding behind a wall. I'll need to find something sturdy to stand the dob base on. One last target, so I decided to have a shot with the Blinking planetary nebula. which I haven't seen before. Hard to reach as it was almost at Zenith, and the clouds were occasionally intruding, but I found it and commenced the averted vision trick. I couldn't see any colour, so the grey nebula kept blinking out of existence whenever I stared at the central white dwarf. A neat little trick, and hopefully more colourful when dark skies return. I find I like to write things up afterwards, to make sure I don't forget any part of the session. So I hope you excuse my ramblings. Quite a few firsts tonight. Boys are still awake!

Hi. you have so many pieces of good advice above, I'm sure you'll have your first light soon! But to add my small piece of advice - do you have a pair of binoculars? If you do (say a 10x50), try to do your rough star-hopping with the bins first. Once things are a little darker, you should be able to make out M31. Once you have that - it makes it so much easier to spot in your finder. I use a RACI finder - so the view is the same as with my bins. I'm at latitude 56 in Scotland. Tonight I saw Andromeda pretty well for this time of year: some diffuse light around the central core. M32 was clear too (M110 was very faint). But seriously - this time of year you need to be hitting the globular clusters! M13 is magnificent. Also, M57 (the Ring Nebula) is really easy to find and bright enough to be clear in lighter skies like ours.

Let me know if you do

It has arrived. It's pretty well made and comes with batteries (with the copper coloured top). Very good value for £20 After blinding myself with the main beam, I had to wait a while to test the dimmest red setting! You just need to touch the side of the lamp to activate the brightest mode, which I'll have to be careful of! Otherwise, it's controlled by the 2 buttons on top. One on/off/hold-for-dimmer. The other switches between headlamp, 'side light' and the red led. Performing the 'standing in a cupboard' test, the dimmest red setting is fine for the user - but I wouldn't want to be standing face-to-face with someone wearing it. The beam angle is around 90deg, with a sharp cutoff. I'll test it properly in-the-field (back garden) tomorrow.

Don't forget @Second Time Around's advice on a Barlow too. That would give you down to around 3.5mm focal length with the x2.25 Baader Barlow

Are there any features that the 'pro' version has over the 'plus'? I thought the difference was with the various databases available?