wulfrun

Near enough, yes. Each day (EDIT: night?) brings celestial events 4 minutes earlier (not totally accurate, nor for everything but close enough for most). So Jupiter rises AND sets about 4 minutes earlier. Eventually it'll set before dark until well into next year when it comes "back around", so it'll not be visible. Do note that's not a totally accurate description but it's good enough. The sun and moon don't fit the description, for instance.

Yes, south-west, it'll set even further to the west. You won't need the darkest skies for Jupiter so no problem with compromising the viewpoint. It'll be at its highest earlier (i.e. clearer view) so start looking as soon as it's dark enough - it'll be one of the first things visible as darkness falls.

There's always something to see on a clear night. Jupiter will be low down in the SW on boxing day, it'll set around 8pm. The view will likely not be very clear but it's unmistakable and you should see several of its moons (up to 4 are readily visible).

Brighter things such as the moon, Jupiter, Mars etc aren't so badly affected by light pollution, so they're always visible (at the right time of course). A telescope will always show vastly more than the naked eye too, even though you may struggle to get a specific object in view. In really dark places, it can also be difficult to see the constellations because your view is overwhelmed (nice problem to have though). There are numerous phone apps that will allow you to point the phone at the sky and reveal what's in that area and potentially viewable. Some allow you to attach the phone to the scope and show you on-screen what it's pointed at, once set up correctly. Not deadly-accurate but can be helpful.

Approximately is good enough, it just needs to be level enough not to be unstable.

The smaller Heritage scopes don't have provision for collimating the primary mirror, it's "factory set" and fixed. At least up to the 114 this is the case, I'm not sure about the 130 but the 150 and upwards have collimatable primaries. The secondary mirror can be adjusted on all but unless you mistreat it fairly badly it's not likely to go out of adjustment in a long time - and it should come set correctly. All scopes work at their best when cooled to ambient temperature, it's not a case of they don't work before. A small scope cools more quickly (no surprise!).

Good point so yes, it's important to know which he has. However, using the "wrong" one does only mean the illumination might not work. Negative earth has been the convention in automotive for many years and seems to be the most common in other low-voltage gear, including astro stuff (I think!)

If you have a test meter and aren't sure which terminal is which on the switch you can find out as follows. Remove the switch entirely, or at least disconnect all terminals. Set your test meter to "ohms" and short the test leads together, it should then read roughly zero. Now connect across two terminals of the switch and see which pair gives zero (ish) with the switch "on" and "infinity" with it "off" (digital meters usually display a "1" or "O/L" or similar for infinity reading). These two are the two you need to connect in the power line. The third will be "earth" for illumination BUT the switch MUST be in the positive side and not in the negative lead as per your original diagram. Switching the negative is unconventional and leaves the output with a permanent "live", this could come back to bite you (not literally, at only 12V!) in future. It may also fail to light an LED, if that's what it uses for illumination, if in the negative lead. If the switch illuminates regardless of on or off, swap the incoming and outgoing power terminals (assuming you want it lit only for "on").

Odd way to wire it up! Conventional method would be negative direct to socket and positive to fuse, then on to switch, then on to socket. If the switch is a simple "spdt" type, the centre terminal connects to the incoming power (from fuse) and the switched side goes from either end terminal to the outlet socket - the choice depends which switch position you want "on" to be. Be careful checking voltages with a test meter, they draw almost zero power so will still show a voltage even when there's a duff connection somewhere. Use a test lamp or connect an actual load once you are certain the polarity is correct, to be sure there's actual power. EDIT: Agreed a photo of your switches would be helpful

Your picture is almost invisible on my screen, you may want to change it! It'd be an unusual tattoo, that's for sure.

The focuser should cope with 337g. I've used an Explore Scientific focal extender plus 20mm/68, combined weight 460g and it coped OK. Not the most sensible use and possibly some slight flex but I didn't find it problematic. If you want the widest FOV, lowest power EP you could do worse than a 32mm Plössl (6.4mm exit pupil). A more expensive option might be something like an Explore Scientific 24mm/68 (4.8mm exit pupil) for just over 2-degree FOV, about the same as the 32mm Plössl would give.

No, if you mean you can see any of the stuff they left behind. You have to remember you'll be looking through the earth's atmosphere, which is turbulent and not completely clear. No amateur scope gets anywhere near enough magnification, at least in part due to atmospheric limitations.

There is a 10" flex-tube go-to: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-goto.html One thing to bear in mind, you'll need additional eyepieces and since it's what's called a "fast" scope it will benefit from premium ones (meaning expensive). The eyepiece(s) supplied with most scopes are usually get-you-started types (= cheapos).

You seem to have got confused over this. The dobsonian is the method of mounting a scope tube, the "mount". It's a simple, cheap and sturdy mount but no-one sells one with anything other than a newtonian reflector on it (I think). EDIT: not least because the eyepiece on a mak or refractor would end up in a very inconvenient place, unlike a newtonian.

Partly personal choice, not everyone gets on with zooms. The downside is that they give the least field of view (AFOV) at their lowest power so the Starguiders will outdo the BHZ, in that respect, at all except highest power. The upside is convenience of not swapping EPs. Usual advice is to get a low-power EP for maximum field-of-view to complement a zoom, e.g. 32mm Plössl. Not sure of your scope details but BHZ + Barlow gives down to 4mm, which is maybe too much magnification?

Just to add to the comments above, your power connections are going to fail unless re-soldered properly. As the failed joint comes apart, it's really pot-luck what the outcome might be but it could be £££ so I'd re-do before serious usage. Looks a more secure power connector though!

How about a planisphere? Inexpensive and an "everlasting" calendar-based tool. Things like "Turn Left At Orion" seem to expect binoculars as a minimum. Not sure about others.

I can empathise with your sentiments, they echo mine! However, English has many words derived from Latin so it has its uses to have studied it (even reluctantly).

Latin has the distinction of being my only exam failure (at O-level) so I stand corrected. I have found what Latin I managed to absorb to be useful at times but clearly it ain't up to snuff here!

"Morpheus" might sound like it's latin-derived and hence pluralised as "morphei". However, it's not, it's a made-up name based on a Greek root. As such, since it ends in "s", the plural ought to be made by adding "es" for "morpheuses". Cf. Businesses, octopuses, buses etc.

I'd need to look it up but I think it was 1m x 2m, way more than actually required. There was only a small price increase for 2m vs 1m so I went for it, gives me plenty spare for re-makes if I rip it. Plus I made a dew shield for my RACI. There's certainly plenty over but it was easier than not having enough!

Telrad, Rigel, RDF or, if you want a home-made thingy, how about this: http://www.jerryoltion.com/Split_pupil_finder.htm

I used 3mm thickness of this (as recommended to me by @Tiny Clanger) https://www.efoam.co.uk/closed-cell-polyethylene-foam.php Probably not that useful a link to you over the pond but I'm sure you can source something similar. At the risk of stating the obvious, it needs to be thick enough to be rigid but not so thick it'll start obstructing the light path.

Good result! The thing with the Heritage 150 is that even if in the future you end up with something bigger, better, with go-to or whatever it'll remain a capable grab-and-go for the future. Not a purchase to regret 🙂

For the first time ever, I've just managed to clock the ISS going over (well, OK, an hour ago!). Spotted it by chance, had time to grab the binos and follow it. Blimey it's bright! Faded to yellow then red then suddenly gone as it went past about 40 degrees up in the easterly direction. Might even get the next pass!