IB20

Agree. Modest light bucket and a grab and go set-up (frac) has made it so I can observe on the hoof but also plan proper sessions when the conditions allow for more deep sky observing. Not to mention WL solar viewing too. The more I observe though the more I am starting to gravitate to a more specific field, i.e. planetary!

I’ve just been out with mine again. Negligible CA even on Jupiter, GRS transit with colour at 80x & 62x, Io emerge from Jupiter’s shadow and the beginning of Europa’s transit onto Jupiter’s limb. Only had a cloud break of about 90 mins, it’s just so easy and pleasing to use.

I have just swapped the stock mirror diagonal I got with my Starbase 80 f10 for the Tak 1.25 prism diagonal. I did a few comparisons on Jupiter and my conclusion is that the Tak prism reduced light scatter which seemed to enhance colour, contrast and detail. It wasn’t a huge difference but I could definitely tell. Anecdotally, using the prism I could see Europa transit in front of Jupiter’s disc and continued to observe it in front of the planet which I have never seen before. I was too in the moment to swap the mirror diagonal in to compare so don’t know if it was the seeing or the prism. I love the locking mechanism, the only EP it doesn’t play nicely with is the Delite but I was happy to leave it in the diagonal unsecured. No more thumb screws! Very happy with the purchase. 👍🏻

I’ve just watched Io appear from Jupiter’s shadow and observed Europa ingress onto the planetary face. Amazingly I could still see Europa in front of Jupiter even after it was entirely on the disc, I can’t quite believe it, that’s the first time I have been able to observe such an event, in a little 80mm too! The seeing was good at times and I could also see the nice colour in the GRS at 62x and 80x. The clouds have rolled in now unfortunately so I think that’s me done.

My first blue box! 😃

I love my Scopetech Starbase, I might have gone for one of the longer ones had I not purchased this. A 1 metre tube is long however! There’s a Stellamira 80ED in the For Sale section (if you can access it yet) that’s available for <£500. Looks a beautiful scope.

I had no idea SkySafari gave this information, that’s ace. Cheers Stu!

Ahhh, I thought it was just selling that was restricted. Well maybe you'll get lucky and it'll still be available when you've hit your quota @Murray06!

There's currently a Heritage 150P dob in the For Sale section for an incredible price. That'll do planets, lunar and DSO work very nicely.

I think rather than that you'd be better off spending slighly more on something like this https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-starwave-102f7.html#SID=1706 and stick it on a AZ4 or AZ5 perhaps? It's more money but I'd expect the false colour you'd see would reduce dramatically.

Clouds have finally come over although I still have some hope as it’s not blanketed. Managed to view Ganymede’s shadow just after ingress, looked the same size as Callisto’s shadow to start with, as this was more centrally positioned on the disc. After some transit time the relative sizes of the shadows could be discerned, Ganymede far bigger and inky black, which started to make Callisto’s appear more grey. Short and sweet with some glorious views but that’s what a small refractor does so well.

I am using the 6mm right now in my 80mm refractor. The seeing isn’t the best but there are moments when it is showing me delightful views of Callisto’s shadow transiting Jupiter. I heartily recommend.

Ganymede has just egressed from the planetary face. There’s a real celestial ballet going on. 😃

Jammy or what! Clear after an afternoon of rain showers. Seeing not perfect but better than the previous few nights. Can see a nice black dot just under the SEB. Let’s hope the conditions hold out til Ganymede transits.

A for me, prefer the contrast.

Those skies man… 🎉

I think if my circumstances were different and I could house it in a garage on wheels I’d be thinking differently. At the minute though it’d very much be “Quick there’s a break in the clouds, push the grand piano outside”.

I’ve sometimes pondered upgrading the 8” to a 12”. These weight figures of 40-55kg has really killed that idea stone dead though. I know I wouldn’t ever be bothered to use such a beast.

I’m sure my best views were with the 18mm BST, it seemed to frame the object better. I have the 17.5mm Morpheus now which is an amazing EP, I cannot wait!

I seem to remember M42 showed a slight green hue in my 8” dob under Bortle 5/6 skies. This was enhanced slightly with the Astronomik UHC filter. It’s been a while though, very much looking forward to observing it again soon.

I have just been observing Jupiter and it was quite clearly displaying blue and red fringes at opposite sides of the disc. There were moments where details (EBs) on the disc were showing but there were also plenty of blurred and wobbly moments. It is quite windy outside though and checking the jet stream location, it is just clipping my skies. So my questions are: Is AD more likely to show in poorer seeing conditions? Anecdotally that seems to my experience so far. Would an ADC help with removing these coloured fringes in conditions similar to these? This was in a 3” achromatic f10 refractor.

Not too hopeful about seeing this, although the jet stream is forecast to be missing my location the weather forecast is for rain. Fingers crossed 🤞🏼

I was seconds away from purchasing that too, it was only the thought of saving to buy a 76DCU that stopped me. Reading this review I’m starting to regret it now!

Also don’t underestimate the importance of seeing and their current position in the sky. I’ve had some nights this year when both planets have truly knocked my socks off in both my scopes. However, last night the conditions were woeful and if it were my first time viewing, I’m not sure I’d have tried again!

Agree with Stu, almost certainly no. The image in the Scopetech will be smaller and dimmer and although I’ve found reduction of brightness on these planets improves contrast and makes some detail easier to see, the dob will out-perform a smaller scope when seeing is better than average. The brightness of these planets can also wash out detail in the dob, have you tried using a moon filter or even maybe think about binoviewers?