Astro_Dad

There’s a reason many say if only one ‘scope could be owned it would be an 8” Dob. I’d agree with this but also with the quote above from @cajen2. For example my (so far) only view of the Veil nebula as I posted elsewhere on SGL was with the Heritage 150p - albeit in excellent Bortle 3 (+) skies.

Yes normal on the Virtuoso GTi model- as mentioned earlier the way to remove this movement for manual use is to fully loosen the clutch. It does not impact use when controlling electronically using SynScan.

The official guide suggests helpful but not critical to start in the “home position” when using star alignment - but like yourself I’ve also had success not doing this first - whether the inbuilt default pointing model (used in N level alignment) improves accuracy or not I’m not sure.

Great you got it working! Might be worth downloading and printing the SynScan manual (attached here) as provides useful guidance, including the details of different star alignments and when North alignment is used etc. Good practice in V2 also is to always start in the "home" position - i.e. level and pointing N as noted above by @happy-kat Sky-Watcher | Sky-Watcher Global Website (skywatcher.com) synscan_app_manual_en_20201008.pdf

My connection only works with the option “Skywatcher SynScanLink”. Note there should be an option with Link in the suffix- it looks like you’ve selected the other SynScan option. Check in the menu.

Could we create a dedicated forum within this “Science” section of SGL on the broad subject of Astrobiology? Posting this here for now as may be of interest to some here. The public session will be recorded and available to listen to later. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/events/planetary-science-division-townhall-decadal-survey/

2011! Time flies. https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/buckyball-traps-single-water-molecu-11-08-04/

Well worth a read - brings together many of the themes and questions posed in this thread. Also has brief discussion of how geothermal radiation (mostly infra red) can extend into the visible light part of the spectrum in just sufficient quantity to sustain very low rates of photosynthesis in vent organisms. Fascinating stuff.

To achieve free smooth movement the altitude clutch wheel needs to be fully loosened off. If not you get a slight movement up/down that can't be adjusted. @happy-kat has just written same as I type. To connect to SS you need to go into the SS app "settings" under TELESCOPE> Presets, and ensure "Skywatcher SynScanLink" in selected as the connection protocol. Then out of "settings" go into the "Scope" option on the main screen and connect - it will divert through to the SynScan app and then take you back to the SS connection. connection.

Some of the most interesting and opinion led debates happen on ‘scope choice threads I’ve noticed. The quoted response is also ironically a subjective view- most if not all respondents are offering a view based on the experiences they have personally had - not necessarily theory or a quantifiably objective view - not necessarily “right” but a worthy view nevertheless. That’s the way a largely unregulated niche website operates - in the end common sense and prevailing wisdom should prevail - but important to remember that newbie experiences are as valid as “old hands” to a point, and time on the forum is not necessarily a function of experience in the hobby. The second hand vs new from retailer debate is largely unanswerable - my personal view is to buy new for the reasons @Ricochetand others extoll, but buying from respected sites including this forum (though admittedly one requires a certain level of posting activity to participate) can be a very economical route forward, particularly in the current climate. I for one have sold a number of instruments here and on Astro Buy & Sell, and I’m pleased people do buy second hand! But I found early on that experience from specialist retailers such as @FLOand my more local dealers to be worth their weight in gold.

Nice sharp views of Saturn at medium power using the 10” inch Dob but struggled to make out any detail features. Seeing not ideal. The rings have noticeably brightened over the past views days leading up to tonight’s opposition. The sky was fairly washed out due to nearby moon - so Saturn moon hunting proved challenging too!

I think this is one of the most fascinating aspects of viewing targets like moons - just knowing some of phenomena occurring on (or below) the surface as you observe and note the colours- in this case condensation of volcanic gases. Always thought provoking.

In preparation for a spot of planetary imaging, wanted to try a 5x Barlow along with my new Skyris planetary cam to get to approx. f/25 on my faster ‘scopes - planning ahead for Mars opposition. The only thing that softens the blow of end of holiday is back home playing around with newly arrived kit!

Back home from a couple of weeks holiday - the day started with me being asked if I’d seen the noctilucent clouds and aurora borealis the preceding night! Clearly I hadn’t but apparently the images on a local group in Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway) showed a fine Northern lights display in the wee hours (about 3.40am). Should be a thread called what I didn’t see last night ☹️ But back on track and despite being fairly tired last night took the 102mm Mak out for a quick look at Jupiter and the full moon. No Perseids spotted, but as always the Maksutov was able to cut through the seeing to provide some excellent banding detail and colour on Jupiter. Looking forward to turning the 10” inch to the planets soon.

+1 for this. It represents super bang for buck and despite its quirks will show you a great deal and is fun to use. I liked mine so much I upgraded to the Virtuoso GOTO version. Although I have other instruments including a larger Dob, this one still gets frequent outings - particularly on holidays or for quick grab and go sessions where you want to capitalise on breaks in the cloud. The 8 inch Dobsonian mounted reflector is the oft recommended starter ‘scope - for very good reason! but in respecting your budget parameters the Heritage 150p could well be the way to go. I’d also add that the StarSense Explorer telescopes in the DX class are superb for beginners (eg the 130 reflector or 102 refractor) but are more expensive. The larger aperture of the 150 will pay dividends if you can live without a tripod (to start with - you can add one later) and are prepared to learn enough about the night sky to star hop.

I’ve also struggled using a phone adapter (Celestron NexYZ) to take images using the Heritage - it’s possible but tricky. My best photo attempts to date have been taken by simply holding the phone by hand over the eyepiece such as this moon shot: Or using a dedicated planetary camera - small and lightweight and easy to achieve required focus by adjusting the degree of extension of the tube. My first attempt at moon: @Louis D Ah yes I remember finding this thread on the focuser mods when I was investigating the possibility myself. 6 years to the day - timely coincidence ! Quite a lot of work required to achieve this for sure. The GSO Newtonian suggestions could be sensible if looking to purchase a main or first ‘scope - or upgrade perhaps? These are high quality impressive instruments - there is a lot to be said for a well mounted traditional 6 inch Newt. The Heritage option with Virtuouso though is a great grab and go package that for me pays dividends when waiting a quick look see or for taking on holiday as I’m doing now. @Hits having already purchased and I think enjoying the Heritage 150p you’d possibly now benefit from some of the photographic suggestions mentioned here to make the most out of the investment you’ve made - unless you wanted to go down the ‘scope switch route to get a better focuser in the same aperture. There are some good videos on planetary imaging using the Heritage such as here: Let us know how you get on 😀

Photo not doing justice but lovely naked eye and binocular view of the almost full moon and Saturn making a nice pairing on my last night of holiday. Jupiter just rising up towards the East.

@Zermelo has effectively confirmed already but I wanted to test this with my set up (Heritage 150p Virtuoso GTi mount) as not done so before. Similarly to @happy-kat I performed a simple indoor pre-dark and approximate 2 star alignment. Once completed I toggled on the auxiliary encoders in the advanced settings. Then connected across to Sky Safari Pro. As expected the planetarium view in Sky Safari moved in accordance with the ‘scopes pointing direction as controlled by the SynScan app. I then loosened the clutches and moved manually - the view continued to track my pointing direction. On switching the auxiliary encoder position to off again (back in Syn Scan Pro ) and then back into Sky Safari, manual pointing was still tracked in the planetarium view. Excellent stuff - I hadn’t known this was possible previously. I then also tried another attempt at connecting to Stellarium pro (I’m on iOS) - but still no luck there. I’ve tried changing the port and host details but no joy. If anyone can point me in the right direction there Id be interested, just to be able to have a play around with the app.

Thanks for reporting your findings - I’m looking forward to testing this on mine when I get an opportunity.

Attractive waxing gibbous moon (illumination 90%) set against sunset sky. Impressive by naked eye and even more so using 10x50 binocular.

Lovely spot down there and clearly a great evening of holiday astro !

Yes odd that a key advertised feature is so buried in the settings and “opt in”, rather than the default. Took me a while to find the setting the first time I used. Should be an easy fix software wise I’d have thought.

The forecast and apps of course don’t always get it right… Scope Nights in particular I’ve found to be uncharacteristically less than satisfactory recently but that maybe due partly to the harder to forecast microclimates I’ve been in over the past few days. So the planned deep sky session was aborted due to quite heavy cloud. Jupiter was still clearly visible having risen above the Eastern horizon - so an opportunity to refocus the late evenings plans. Seeing was quite poor - Jupiter appeared as a shimmering blob at times through the six inch Newt but did present quite sharply with interesting banding detail intermittently. The best views using the SvBony 7-21mm zoom were achieved at the 11-12mm focal length position (approx 68x power). Good colour and contrast could be seen on the two main belts and zones but no GRS visible. Contrast and detail was enhanced to some extent using an 80A blue filter, but I preferred the natural hues shown without. The moons were in an interesting formation with Ganymede and Io apparently “paired up “ to the SE of Jupiters disc. Europa and Callisto in particular flanking a good distance either side. Europa featured prominently in the astrobiology video on show yesterday at the planetarium in Kirkcudbright, emphasising the salt water ocean beneath the moons surface and speculating on the possibility of primitive organisms (single cells) residing there, along with the slightly more “ambitious” ideas of elaborate reef structures/ colonies thriving around black smokers (hydrothermal vents). All speculation of course (and well put together in a CGI based sequence), but fascinating then to ponder these ideas with a fuelled imagination whilst observing Europa telescopically last night. The clouds were rolling in thick and fast by 12.30 or so, unfortunately completely masking Saturn which was going to be the next target having been shining prominently slightly early in the evening.

Looking good here in Scotland too - all set up for some more holiday astro …

Not always about the high end here…I’ve sold off previously owned more premium end zooms as didn’t get enough use (preferring single eyepieces) but have recently missed having one in my kit bag for convenient grab and go - particularly on holiday. This one delivered direct to the holiday cottage in Scotland courtesy of Amazon. It’s no Baader MK IV but it’s light and compact, ideal for grab and go with the Heritage 150 - surprisingly good and even better value 👍