Stu

I think @DirkSteele has used a small tube ring around the focuser to attach a finder to. You can see how he did it here:

http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2016/04/03/takahashi-fs-60-review/

I use MoreBlue Rings and just mount a finder shoe on top of those. It normally ends up on the side when I use an AltAz mount and works ok. You would think for the money Starlight would find a way to fit a finder shoe on!

Some relevant info in this thread where I compared the 76DCU and Q.

Not huge differences but noticeable nonetheless.

Chaps, no buying or selling outside the Buy/sell forum please.

Quasar117 has enough posts to see the section I think, though may need a month’s membership aswell as the post count. 

25 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

Looks like a nice scope, not withstanding the friction issues which can no doubt be solved. Who is the manufacturer? 

It was a home built job, by some one who seems fairly competent. Loosely based on an Obsession type design I think.

30 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Getting back on track, sounds like a good session overall.  I don't wind when things go wrong (so long as nothing breaks!) As you normally get towards a better session next time.

I love M36 etc al.  It's one of those clusters that looks amazing at low or high power, nice cluster of stars at high power and at lower power you lose the detail but it takes on almost an organic quality.

Thanks, yes was good to be out, and I saw some nice targets. I’m not helped by my broken TelRad currently so need to get that fixed. It works but not always easy to see the rings.

I’ve definitely learned a few things; I know how to improve the movement of the scope, know how to avoid it falling off the truck, and nothing broke, so all is grand 👍

50 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Should be WWE, Stu. You'll anger the wrestlers... and the conservationists. That's a dangerous game to play.

Thank you, title changed. Don’t want to annoy any big, ugly wrestlers, or pandas for that matter 🤪

13 hours ago, Billy Bob said:

I have a sky-watcher heritage 150. I'm wondering what the best smartphone is good for photography with a phone adapter. I'm not sure if this is an acceptable question for this forum. I'm new at this.

Billy Bob 

Most of the latest generation smartphones give very good results; technology has improved hugely over the years. Some of the multi lens phones can be a little tricky as they can switch between lenses without you wanting them to. That said, I use an iPhone 15 Pro quite successfully which has three cameras.

You may struggle a little with flex in the focuser and balance of the scope, particularly with a heavy phone, so handholding is not a bad option. Using a phone mount is possible though, so is worth trying.

Some time back, when Mars was at opposition ie nice and big, I took these through either a Heritage 130p or 150p, I can’t recall which. They are cropped, so Mars doesn’t appear this big in the eyepiece but the detail is certainly possible with patience. I think these were handheld and they were definitely single shots, not stacked video.

20 minutes ago, LucciD said:

Hi,

I got a Skymax 127, and use the 28mm eyepiece that it comes with. The setup was brilliant to see the moon with. But what puzzled me was the result I got on the planets (mars and Jupiter appeared really bright in the sky for a period.) - I would catch the planet as a bright blob in the viewing field, and then turn the focus. The blob gets bigger...should be going in the right direction...then it becomes a RING of light!!! 

I'm a complete novice, and would really appreciate any suggestion/advice on what went wrong.

 

Thanks! LucciD

Actually it is the opposite! The planets and stars are in focus when they are at their smallest. The 28mm still gives quite low magnification so Jupiter will appear very bright with little detail, perhaps try to get hold of a shorter focal length eyepiece?

13 minutes ago, apaulo said:

Lucky eacape stu. Why not just leave it on the truck 24/7.

Indeed it was! The truck is not stable enough to observe on currently. I could chock it up off the wheels I guess and use a small step when at higher altitudes. That would avoid some of the issues I agree.

That’s certainly how it felt yesterday evening! I think I’ve done ten rounds with Hulk Hogan!

The forecast was for clear skies so I wheeled the 16” dob out on my scrap heap truck down to the bottom of the garden. All went well, and it proved its worth making the whole process quite easy. The first wrestling challenge though was getting the scope off the truck.  I don’t have the facility to stabilise it yet, and even if I did it is likely then too high. I can manage it by removing the considerable counterweighting under the primary which makes it light enough to lift.

The second wrestling experience came in use because I’m finding the movement very jerky. Once moving it is ok, but there is considerable static friction. I will likely add a lazy Susan bearing for Az, and think I’ve found the issue on the alt bearings; the Teflon pads just don’t lift the bearings clear of the base, so they are in contact with the wood making moment very stiff. I will be able to sort this out too, relatively easily but for now, driving the dob is a fairly physical experience!

I manhandled the scope onto a number of objects; M36, 37 & 38, the Double Cluster, the Eskimo nebula, M81 and 82, the 37 Cluster and M42, that was about it. Bear in mind that there was cloud of varying thicknesses coming through, but a number of clear spells, so the views were mixed but with enough ‘good’ in there to be worthwhile. The secondary is quite exposed so that fogged later on which didn’t help, so that’s another thing to sort or at least have a hair dryer handy for.

I mainly used a 31mm and 17mm Nagler, occasionally upping things to the Docter 12.5mm UWA or Leica Zoom.

The image scale and resolution in the Auriga clusters was lovely, really showing their different characters. NGC 1907 showed clearly, and looked great at higher power, resolving well.

The Eskimo looked quite greenish to my eye, central star with a halo that responded well to AV. M42 showed intricate detail and again, a quite strong greenish tint to it. I tried it at varying powers, all of which showed something worthwhile, the best were probably lowest (31mm mag) and highest (Docter 12.5).

To carry on the WWE theme, after finishing observing, we had a knock down!! 😱. I removed the counterweights to wrestle the thing back onto the truck, and thought I was sorted with it stable. I made the mistake of having the scope pointing away from me as I thought that would be easier. As I headed up the hill back to the garage, the whole thing toppled off the truck!!! 🤬🤬 The mirror came out of its sling, sliding up the tube, then back down again as I righted the scope.

Lady luck smiled on me in two ways. Firstly I had locked the scope down to its base using the turnbuckle fasteners which are fitted, so it all stayed together. Secondly, and more importantly, I had refitted the mirror cover which is a substantial metal affair and which stayed firmly in place, totally protecting the mirror. The truss tubes are all padded, so I escaped with no scratches, dinks or chips to the mirror!!

I got the mirror back in place, then more wresting to get the scope back on the truck, pointing uphill this time, and got it back into the garage without further incident. The knock down aside, the truck works really well even down the quite rough garden to the better observing spots.

A quite eventful evening all in all, but no damage done except to ego and plenty of experience gained, I’m a big Dob novice still in many ways.

Learnings?

Point the Dob towards me on the truck when moving it!

Find a way of chocking the truck up so I don’t need to lift the scope off it to observe

Look into how the mirror is secured; it currently has a sling and some pads which tight against the side, no clips.

Find a way to stop the secondary dewing up, perhaps a dew shield or hairdryer.

Think that’s enough! 🤣👍

Some pics of the scope attached. They show the very inadequate Teflon pads which I need to fix. I’ve chucked a few of the lovely sunset in too, for your pleasure 😀.

Stu

EDIT Title changed to WWE!!

9 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

Someone on Twitter was asking about the likelihood of being able to see changes within 30 seconds.  They posted 4 images and I converted 3 of them into a GIF animation 

Unclear whether the result is due to actual change over that period, or whether it's just some variation in the image quality 

Original tweet - https://x.com/la_foley/status/1761641449127371194

 

I would think real change in that time period in white light is unlikely, unless it’s a very fast moving flare visible in white light. I suspect those changes are more likely down to variable seeing conditions.

The most I’ve seen in white light has been by watching granulation cells at high power, and really focusing on one area for around 15 mins, which is about the life of a cell. I did see changes happening then, but it needs excellent seeing.

Thanks for the info and images Paul. I finally managed a reasonable look at this today; pretty amazing but the seeing was very dodgy so detail was limited. I suspect it will be gone by the time it is clear again.

On 24/02/2024 at 11:27, AstroKeith said:

The step up to a 'premium' Dobsonian comes with a significant increase in price and weight

If you consider an Orion Optics dob to be premium, then the aluminium tube weighs significantly less than the steel alternatives.

29 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

I read Roger's review, with interest. One thought that came to mind. Do you think the az-eq6 in alt az mode could handle this in terms of stability AND avoiding the use of rotating rings? And could you look through the eyepiece without a ladder? 😀

I think the mount would cope with it, my concern would be whether the tube would flex too much a you still end up with vibrations. That could be alleviated by a couple of long Losmandy dovetails to space the tube rings out further along the tube I guess.

The eyepiece height can end up as a problem, but @Captain Scarlet (Magnus) uses a 12” of similar focal length on an AZ-EQ6 so may have some insight, particularly on eyepiece positioning. Magnus uses a CF tube which I’m sure helps with stiffness.

13 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Hi Stu, what kind of view do you get with the planets with the extra focal ratio, compared to say an F6? 

I honestly don’t know as I haven’t compared it with an f6, but theoretically the smaller central obstruction and 1/10th wave hilux mirror should give better contrast and detail.

These may be of interest. First a report I made after a really good session on Mars at opposition:

Secondly a review of a similar scope by Roger Vine:

http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/OrionOptics200Dob.htm
 

I often use mine on an EQ platform (as pictured in previous post) which alleviates some of the problems Roger identified with nudging and missing the moments of best seeing. I also have a dual speed Moonlite on it so focusing is much more accurate and with a lighter touch.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 strangely I could see it perfectly!

I’ve reposted it as plain text now, is that any better?

Remarkably there were some clear skies on Thursday night for a couple of hours so I wanted to have a look at Jupiter in the FS-128. Normally I would just put it on the Uni-28/AZ75 for a quick session, but I took the time to put the Planet and AZ100 Goto out as it is noticeably more stable and has the benefit of tracking.

The AZ100 is already quite a lump and adding the motors makes it a little more so, although they do provide additional places to grip the mount by. I can manage the whole lot fully assembled but it is quite a strain so separating the mount from the pillar and tripod makes it a lot more manageable to carry out. This just requires loosening three Allen bolts so it is worth the effort despite requiring three trips, plus eyepiece case.

I guess the main reason for writing this post is really just about how satisfied I am with this setup. Starting with the mount, it is so easy to setup and align, not requiring you to be particularly accurate; just level and point south and away you go. The gotos are near silent, not super fast but fast enough, and very accurate. This production mount certainly feels polished and refined, far more than during the testing phase I was involved with; testament to the amount of work the Rowan chaps put into responding to the feedback given. Alignment with the web app is easy, then switching to SkySafari is seamless giving you limitless targets to choose from.

The scope is also near perfect for me. Somehow I didn’t get on with the LZOS 130 f6, no idea why, but this scope suits me just fine. It is relatively lightweight and manageable, cools quickly given the aperture because it is a doublet, and fitted with the lovely Feathertouch, focus is so much easier to nail than with the standard focuser.

It really does just perform like a larger version of the FC-100; lovely contrast, noticeably more planetary detail and resolving power, and colour free performance visually when in focus. The longer focal length means field curvature is not an issue.

Last night, the seeing was unfortunately not that great, but I persevered just to enjoy a rare clear sky. I started off using the SvBony 3 to 8mm Zoom which gave nice sharp views of Jupiter at the medium settings, within the limits of the seeing. I switched to binoviewers after a while and still find these more comfortable and make floaters much more manageable so the detail is easier to see.

The Moon was pretty shimmery with fine detail fairly hard to see, so I didn’t persevere with it.

I spent more time on M42, switching back to mono viewing for this, trying a range of different eyepieces. The Docter 12.5mm was possibly my favourite for the lovely sharp views but also taking in a decent field of view to show the nebulosity clearly. The E star is just visible with this eyepiece, impressive for only x83 mag I guess. Upping the mag gave me fleeting glimpses of F, would have been easier with better seeing.

A quick flit around M35, Rigel, 32 and 52 Orionis and the Eskimo nebula and that was it before the clouds came over. 32 split ok, like a snowman wearing a very thin black belt 🤪, 52 was just elongated, seeing not up to this one even with a 2.4mm HR in the diagonal.

Having lusted after an FS-128 for years, the reality lives up to the hype, for me anyway. I’m sure scopes like the StellaMira 125mm run it very close and are lighter and more manageable, but for me the character, age and history of the scope is as important as the views. I don’t want to go any larger in a refractor as I doubt I would get as much use out of that, although I have actually used my 150mm f10 PST mod more than I expected, mainly because it is setup downstairs and fairly easy to put out (much to Mrs Stu’s displeasure!)

So, I’m happy with this setup, but like us all I’m just desperate for a few more clear nights so I can get some decent use out of it, and look at something more than just Jupiter, the Moon and M42!!

Fantastic! Just managed a very quick peek through cloud today, it’s huge! Not looking promising tomorrow unfortunately. Nice to see it in your image though 👍

I often put my 8” f8 dob on an EQ platform, particularly for lunar or planetary sessions at high power. It is quite tall and spindly (hence his name, Basil…) and prone to wobbles because of the narrow base. I fitted a dual speed focuser (Moonlite) to help reduce vibrations but the EQ platform makes the biggest difference, giving long periods with no need to touch the scope. Generally the planets aren’t too high, so sitting on my Catsperch chair works well. At the zenith it is more of a challenge obviously but that is rarely needed.

It looks like mine is the same brand as Michael’s, which is WatchHouse, sadly not made any more. I believe Sumerian and TS make good ones, and it looks like FLO stock one too.

44 minutes ago, John said:

The EQ platform added around 7.5cm to that which just put the eyepiece too high when observing objects high in the sky

Simples…..🤣

4 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Thank you all for the answers!

Actually, I was aware of the undersize aperture when I bought it, believe it or not. I had read about it but don't remember where. I haven't tried to split many double stars, the lowest I have gone is probably 4 arcseconds (Algieba comes to mind), so cannot confirm what @Zermelo says. I'm not the most avid double stars observer. And no star tests either.

I observed the planet in all sorts of conditions and one thing that I can tease out is when seeing is bad 😂 and in terms of cooling, for my planetary sessions I normally put the Mak out well in advance to cool it down (even 1 or 2 hours sometimes), I'm not sure if temperature gradients would be so strong to actually affect the optics once the scope is acclimated, but maybe this is something to account for.

Let's put it like this: after few long sessions (probably more than 10 sessions at this point), I find Jupiter quite boring since I can never tease out more than just the equatorial bands. I have seen possible traces of festoons and GRS, but far from conclusive certainty. So far, I thought I didn't have enough optical quality of the OTA or experience: now I am starting to think that the erecting prism might exacerbate the other limits. I will buy a star diagonal and come back with answers as soon as possible (when the weather allows again)

 

I can’t say for certain, but there is a good chance the erecting prism will be hurting some of that detail.

My understanding of the aperture is the same as Peter’s ie the mirror is full sized at 127mm, but the corrector plate diverges the light so that it overspills the mirror resulting in a smaller effective aperture.

Beautiful image, the star colours are very strong, didn’t appreciate they were so varied. @NGC 1502 will like this one 😀

1 hour ago, SwiMatt said:

For additional info, I found out that the particular bundle I got (Skymax 127 with AZ5) comes with an erecting prism, not a star diagonal. I wonder why SW would make this choice, considering that on the page of the SW erecting prims it says that it is designed primarily for terrestrial observing. It seems to beat the point of a beginner bundle at that price point...

It is not unheard of, I believe the ST80 also comes with an erecting prism. As said, I doubt it’s particularly high quality as it is just bundled with the scope. I have a fairly expensive 2” William Optics erecting prism and although it is decent, I can still see an improvement at high power if I switch to a normal diagonal. The benefits are obviously the correct image and 45 degree angle which makes use as a spotting scope more comfortable but for Astro, use a proper diagonal.

7 hours ago, John said:

How do you think a couple of the Svbony zooms would fare in a binoviewer Mike ?

I did try this John, when I had both @Zermelo’s eyepiece and mine had just arrived. Personally I didn’t get on with the combination. I think that’s because somehow barlowing lower power eyepieces tends to work better and be more comfortable than using high power eyepieces. Others may find it works for them.

Nice report Mike. The SvBony is certainly an excellent eyepiece and if it was your only high power eyepiece I don’t think you would be missing out on much, if anything. I’ve not seen a difference between it and the Nag Zooms which is a fine achievement. Need to try under really excellent conditions though, I suspect any small differences would need this to show up.

I currently have 2.4mm and 3.4mm Vixen HRs, the 2 to 4 and 3 to 6mm Nag zooms and the SvBony, aswell as 3.5mm XW and a set of BGOs. With some decent seeing I’ll give them all a run out at similar mags and see what happens.

So far, as I’ve reported elsewhere, I still think the BGO 6mm and 7mm have a small advantage vs the SvBony, but it is small. Given the BGOs legendary reputation that’s good going.