Woj2007

Greetings to all!

Good evening, I've made a small compilation of the Mars views from last month. 28th October, 1st, 5th, 7th, 14th, and 21st November respectively. Taken through Mak 150mm with ASI 462MC. Looks like 28th Oct/1st Nov were the days with better seeing. Best regards and clear skies!

Neil, Take a look through your focuser without the eyepiece, set at about half-height. Can you see the whole reflection of your primary in the secondary? How much room is left on the borders? If the secondary embraces the whole primary and there is still room for further size reduction you could do it. However, I'd go with the 2.14", as you already have a low-profile focuser and the secondary size is optimized for this. The difference between 1.83 and 2.14 will not degrade contrast visibly, the quality of the primary mirror is important here. And you can fiddle with numbers here: https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/diagonal.htm

As John wrote, it can be used with wedge or solar filter. When I am observing the Sun, the heating air causes turbulent views. Baader Continuum somehow reduces the shakiness and makes me see more steady detail. Some of my colleagues are even using it for Moon observations to fight poor seeing. Green Moon, that's something Attached Sun pictures are shot with a smartphone through Baader and a 10-inch telescope, post-processed to turn green into yellow or so. The last one shows Mercury transit.

Hi there, Could be off-collimation, but if the scope is well-collimated, most probably it was a tube current. It happens to my views when I don't ventilate the tube, even when it is cooled down. Do you have a fan on the rear of the tube? Try the star test: if on one side of defocus the star image has a spike and on the other it is somehow flattened, that's the tube current. If the stars in and out of focus have spikes, than collimation is needed. You could also rotate the eyepiece and see what happens to the spike to eliminate eyepiece errors. Finally, rotate your head. If the spike rotates too, that's your astigmatism.

If you think of 8", treat yourself with 10" and you won't regret. Always get a larger aperture than you think you need . The urban sky is often unjustly demonized when it comes to DS, but it is forgiving when it comes to details on the Moon and planets, even in poor seeing. Poor seeing doesn't cover optics or aperture disadvantages. Even in poor seeing there are moments when higher resolution can show more. So, good optics and large aperture is always better than mediocre optics and small aperture. I am living under an urban sky, Bortle around 7, and I was always desperate to get 8" as the maximum. My capable local astro seller convinced me to get 10" and he couldn't be more right. I have now a 12" for dark sites, but the 10" (250/1200mm) remains my main urban all-rounder.

John, what a lovely family with a corner on their own!

I really like the spirit level attached

Hello, Some great scopes over here! Here is my little family of 10" and 12" ready for the night a month ago, when the weather was nice and no rain. Best regards, Wojtek

Hello everyone at SGL! I've been a long time reader and follower of the forum. Joined officially tonight Thank you for this great place Best regards, Wojtek