IB20

I’ve found the BST 15mm is an excellent eyepiece for this scope as is the 10mm BCO, which I found sensational on Mars last Autumn with a polarising filter. I’ll be using it on Jupiter later this year for certain. All the Starguiders are great in the 200P, the 18 & 25mm are probably the weakest however. Haven’t tried the 6mm BCO but have read that it’s a bit tight on eye relief, the 10mm does barlow really well mind.

So I've ranked some of the scopes I've been looking at - scoring on weight of OTA, F ratio, cost etc for what is important to me (entirely my own system pulled from my backside!). It's an interesting result for sure, you lot sure know your telescopes! I might point out that the Tak FC-100DC wins this if it didn't cost nearly 2k more 😅. Another point I'll add is these are all manufacturer specs so possibly not quite accurate, but it's all I could go on. Would the AZ4 aluminium hold the AA Ascent 102ED f7 OK?

Been doing a fair bit of reading and research around possible set ups and I must say it's been an eye opener for weights of mounts, tripods and refractors! The 4" F7 Ascent on an AZ4 with steel tripod and with diagonal, EP etc would come in it at around 12.5-13kg, which I'm not sure I'd class as super grab n go. Could it be done any lighter but without introducing excess vibration? I've also been looking into one handed carry set-ups for super portability, so the 72EDs (of which there are many FPL53s!) and one of these on a Vixen porta or AZ5 aluminium would be around the 6-8kg mark, which appeals but with the obvious loss of aperture. Again can these be done any lighter, without busting the bank? There's no way I could mount a frac on a tripod (unless I left it erected somewhere...) and get it outside quicker than my 8" dob. Maybe I already have my grab n go scope, as it takes under a minute to get outside; it's more the cooling that was the issue. The one thing I am certain of is that I want a frac for cloud break sessions on doubles, planetary views, star-fields, white solar etc but also portability for access to all parts of the sky within my garden and for UK trips to dark skies. Pretty much everything is sold out so I'm in no rush and I must've changed my mind tens of times. Who knew it so difficult to pick a refractor!

I hadn’t shown the zoom EP much love since acquiring it, despite it performing well on Mars it lost out to the 10mm BCO. Similarly it has lost out to a combo of the 25mm BST & 13mm Delite for DSOs but now might have found its niche. I started my session early evening and there was visible heat flux affecting the image; being able to change mag instantly really helped cut through this. As it got darker and everything cooled down the zoom just kept performing, even with the 2x barlow.

Well had a decent moon only first session. I’ve discovered that the Hyperflex 21.5-7.2 zoom eyepiece is an exceptional lunar tool and even beat the 10mm BCO. Spent the majority of the time referencing a moon globe app and putting names to craters. I think my favourite so far is Plato. Also saw Rupes Recta; it does actually appear like a straight line! I think I will certainly dedicate more time to lunar viewing as have really enjoyed it. IMG_6223.MOV

The conditions tonight are forecast extremely favourable so I might spend a night exploring the moon. Can anyone recommend any easy beginner lunar targets or regions of interest for tonight? I’ve only really taken pictures of it through my dob and tend to get a bit over-awed and lost when viewing it with higher mags, so maybe having some targets to aim for will make it more enjoyable. Cheers! 👍

Can’t wait to get stuck into this!

Not yet! I’m on two stock notification lists though. I’ve been told end of this month might be a goer.

Not too much difference in mag tonight, I have started to see SAO 20610 next door however which is recorded as mag 9.0 so certainly getting dimmer.

Another clear moonless night so decided to get the 8" dob out again. After cooling for an hour, my first target was one of the hardest I've gone for yet, the Ghost of Jupiter. I had to relocate my scope to a far corner of the back garden to create the necessary elevation to have a go as my neighbour's roof and chimney were the direction I needed to explore. After locating Alphard, I popped in the 25mm BST and tracked across the stars of hydra which kept fading into the brightness of the lower altitude skies. I finally pinpointed mu hydrae, which was a lovely yellow colour and then just a small tilt downwards revealed an diffuse sphere of pale green, a beautiful object. Swapping in the 13mm Delite didn't offer any better clarity, as the object had got so close to the chimney that it was becoming blurred. Returning back to the 25mm returned the nebula to its initial glory. I watched as it drifted out of view for the rest of the night. As I had moved the scope I could actually now swing 180° and get at Cassiopeia too, so thought I'd check on the nova. However having such a small field I couldn't find either M52 or the 4 Cas rhombus which I'd been using with such regularity in the 15x bins, very frustrating! Spica was now coming into view so I went for the Sombrero galaxy as it had impressed so much on me Tuesday night. Aiming for Algorab (a lovely double btw!), moving northwest and locating two sets of triplet stars, the Sombrero is very easy to locate. I found it didn't present as well as Tuesday, either I wasn't as dark adapted or it wasn't as transparent, or both! Still it's a brilliant looking DSO, a long thin strip of light with a bright bulging core. Next up was a pair of globular clusters, M53 and M3. M53 is a fair bit fainter than M3 and I spent more time with the 13mm Delite on M3 but I start to resolve both clusters after some patient viewing. M3 has really been one of my favourites during this galaxy season. My last few outings with the dob I've always tried to get a clean split of Izar, tonight was no different. I cranked up the mag to 240x with the 5mm BST, as I'd been reading that doubles should be really pushed in dobs (can anyone confirm this is true??) and although I could make out two orbs of differing mags and in the correct orientation, I was never satisfied as the image was a constant bubbling mess. I'm not quite sure if this was due to atmospheric seeing or tube currents, but I had left the scope out for a good hour before I'd started, maybe I do need a refractor for doubles... So back to DSOs and the Sunflower galaxy which had evaded me on Tuesday was next up. After lining up Cor Caroli (another nice easy coloured double!) I first jumped to M94 to gauge transparency and it presented with a nice bright core so I had hope for my target. After some toing and froing between a 4 star T shape asterism and Cor Caroli, I glimpsed a pale smudge below 19 Cvn. It's pretty faint but nice to finally bag it! Last one of the night and I see M106 is close by on SkySafari which appears between Chara and Phecda, so line up Chara and using the telrad I pick a spot in the middle of the two stars. Unbelievably there it is, again just a pale grey smudge but it's another messier object in the back pocket and with that I decide to call it a night. Well, I did take the 15x bins out to check on an old nova friend.

Some very nice conditions tonight, got the nova in the 15x bins again and see it between mag 7.8 HD220770 and mag 8.1 HD220138.

With the 15x70s I’ve just seen some nebulosity in stars in a Y shape under Caph, which SkySafari tells me is van den Bergh 1. To the left of Shedar and under a mini Cass W asterism, there was clearly more nebulosity which was in the correct position for the Pac-Man nebula. To the far left of Segin, I could detect nebulosity surrounding two clusters of stars, possibly the collinders and open clusters within the Soul nebula? I’m fairly astounded at this and think these are maybe some of the most transparent conditions I’ve ever had at home.

I am using the 200p as it happens!

Thanks Barry, that’s everything I wanted to read (or not 💸!). Now just the case of trying to locate one.

I’m thinking of getting the 17.5mm Morpheus for my 8” dob. Does anyone have any experience with this eyepiece in similar equipment? What’s the contrast like, as the 25mm BST which it would compete against seems to present fairly bright background skies. Does anyone know how the Morpheus range barlow, particularly the 17.5mm? 👍

A quick check on Clear Outside convinced me to set my 8” dob up. After a quick collimation check and 40 mins of cooling I was ready to go. I decided tonight was a night to try for some new targets, so using the telrad and 25mm BST I centred Alkaid and tried to locating M101. After 10 mins of re-treading star hops to where it should be, I had to admit defeat that M101 wouldn’t be achievable tonight. I did see some lovely doubles in Asellus Tertius and Asellus Secundus though whilst frantically roving about! My next target was M51, so back to Alkaid and hopping to 24 Cvn and the triangle of HD mag 7 stars I caught a glimpse of grey fuzzies. Swapping over to the 13mm DeLite confirmed that I’d located M51. A faint spiral structure showed but more surprisingly to me, its companion NGC 5195 was also visible, truly fantastic. After M51 seemed to be showing so well I popped over to M66 & M65 just to see how they differed from a clear night last week. I actually felt that these weren’t as easy to see as the previous night, which made M51s visibility even more surprising. Moving on, I quickly got the 8x42 bins out for some majestic views of Melotte 111 and then decided to go globular cluster hunting for M3. Well I’ll say it’s one of the easier targets to find and just wow, the 13mm DeLite was beautiful on this, single stars beginning to resolve, an image improved no end by me pulling my hood over the EP to shut out some neighbouring LP. Note to self, I must get an observing hood! M3 is stunning, I could’ve looked at it all night, and in fact went back to it 2 more times. Next up was M94, after locating Cor Caroli it didn’t take long to find the very bright centre of M94, again surprisingly visible! Checking SkySafari I see that M63 is only a short hop away, but after locating HD115270 I just couldn’t tease it out, so it’ll have to wait another session. Coming to the close now and I can see Spica and Corvus, so for a laugh try and snag the Sombrero not overly hopeful as the sky was fairly light towards to horizon. As bold as brass, there it is, so bright with a central bulge looking phenomenal, I can’t quite believe it, I was almost certain I’d struggle to see this from my location. Absolutely buzzing at that session, I can’t quite believe how good it was. The 13mm DeLite is an extraordinary bit of kit in my 8” dob. I have been thinking about getting a frac but tonight was so good I can’t wait to go again with the dob, maybe I just need to invest in more DeLites! 😂

I couldn’t resist after seeing other members receive their copies!

Really appreciative of all the comments, lots of experienced members suggesting 4” frac which I think I’ll start looking into. My idea was to buy a Tak 100XX for my retirement in 20 years, I guess I could start saving for that now, but feel I’d like to learn how to use and care for a frac before jumping in at the very highest end. The Altair 102ED F7 looks like a really good bit of kit for the money and not much heavier than than the SD81s or Stellamira 80mm. I’m not really much of a goto fan, I don’t really struggle to navigate and take enjoyment from locating some hard to find targets. Airplane travel is not really required at this stage, but portability to a UK dark site now restrictions are lifting would be welcome. 8” dobs and baby car seats are not compatible!

Thanks for this, your report is extremely helpful!

Oh double stars will be the one of the primary targets, not sure how ive missed them off 😂

👍🏻 I have 8x42s and 15x70s, I’ve been offered some 25x100s. If the consensus comes back binos then I’m happy with that.

I have an 8” dob, which I love, but having recently had a baby I’m finding I struggle to have the hobby time to plonk it outside for cooling and then have adequate viewing time! Also the weather over the last few months has been somewhat changeable but there have been noticeable periods of cloud break, which got me wondering if a ‘grab n go’ frac would be a good tool in my armoury? Ideally something I could get outside and be viewing within the drop of a hat. I’m fully aware that my dob will provide better views on every target than any 3” in existence but have a few questions with the below statements in mind: Targets - mainly solar system objects planets, lunar, asteroids, white light solar, bright sky objects - M31, recent nova in Cas etc Bortle 7-6 skies, the later it gets Budget - £1000ish 1. Would a 3” frac make a suitable complementary grab n go scope to my dob? 2. Would a 3” frac be better than 20-25x bins? 3. Would a 3” frac be affected less in poor seeing than my dob, I’ve had a few session when the jet stream has been over the UK which has just been bleurgh. 4. Doublet, triplet? APO or Achro? 5. Recommendations, I know nothing about mounts, tripods, diagonals I.e frac things! (I am eyeing up the Vixen SD81s). By all means, feel free to go off piste if you’d recommend a different direction of travel. Thanks kindly!

I took the 8” dob out tonight and bagged my first views of M65, M66, M84, M86 and M60. No luck with NGC 3628, just couldn’t tease it out but very happy that I can find the Leo triplet without too much effort in the future. Also looking forward to probing more into the realm of galaxies next session when my neighbours aren’t trying to outdo each other with who can leave the most house lights on. Tried a few times to split Izar too but only got the occasional glimpse of separation as the atmosphere seemed very turbulent. A quick and cold but fruitful session.

Was it Collinder 65?

Grabbed in a very clear break in the clouds last night. 🦁