Ian McCallum

9 hours ago, johninderby said:

The gov in the UK is finally getting around to legislating disability access for landloards ( The National Disability Strategy ). Minimum legal front door clear opening in the UK is 775mm but older houses may not be up to standard.

I live in a ground floor flat, owned by the local Council.  I believe it was built in the early 1970's.🤔

10 hours ago, Louis D said:

I'm guessing there's no ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) equivalent in the UK dictating such things nationwide.  Getting a wheelchair through a 28 inch doorway would be a serious challenge.  Getting a washer/dryer set through that door would also be tight.

You should see the fun and game getting a couch through the front door!🙄

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

How narrow is your front door?  Most construction codes dictate a minimum 32 inch wide front door; however, most are 36" wide.

28 inches, but the base of the dob is 25.5 inches. I'm in the UK, so US building codes don't apply. 

I did a bit more research and discovered that the base diameter on both versions I mentioned above, would be very tight going through my front door.☹️  I can see that being a problem, even using some type of dolly or platform with wheels.🙄

1 hour ago, YogSothoth said:

I live in a small village where the street lights turn off at 12am. I get fairly dark skies with reasonable views of the Milky Way. That is until a couple of days ago, when my neighbour installed a very bright, unshielded light which he’s been leaving on all night. 

There's always one!🤬

Here's what I use with my Sky-Watcher 200P...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/stellalyra-premium-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html

28 minutes ago, Ags said:

I am of the school that thinks larger aperture is a mixed blessing in light polluted skies. My situation is Bortle 8-9 (sometimes it seems like Bortle 11 😀 ) and my goal is pretty views in the eyepiece. That goal means the background in the eyepiece needs to be relatively black, not milky white. That in turn means a viewing exit pupil of 2mm or preferrably less. Given a 300mm dob, that would mean a minimum magnification of 150x, which would mean (assuming an 82 degree eyepeice) a field of about half a degree, which is getting a bit tight. 

I've got the full range of BST EP's, minus the 2x Barlow.

2 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

I've not heard that one, but there is a line about larger scopes being worse when the seeing is bad, supposedly because their larger apertures are more affected by the moving air cells.
And then I've also read other people saying that's rubbish.

That's probably what I read, as that rings a bell with me.  I hate when I've read something somewhere and either can't remember where or what exactly was said.🙄  Thanks for correcting me.👍

I'm sure I read somewhere that if you have light pollution issues, then bigger Dobs would show this up more (or something similar).🤔  

If I got a larger Dob than my present 200p, given that I live in a Bortle 6 area - would my seeing/observing be impacted by the larger aperture because of increased sky glow?

I use the red Cheshire from FLO, for my 200p.

I see that @FLO has got quite a few of both models (SW 200p and StellaLyra) in stock. They must have had a recent shipment in.

If that's Ed Ting, I subscribe to his YouTube channel.😉

Is there an online resource documenting refractor developments over the last 40 years, preferably without too much technical jargon?🤔

4 minutes ago, HiveIndustries said:

So jealous of Bortle 6...

Even though our streetlights are predominantly LED's, there is a sodium streetlight that does cause some problems for me whilst I'm in the back garden.  Also, many neighbours have bright flood lights that cause light pollution too!🤬

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

So, what is your situation, what are your eyes like and what do you want the scope to achieve?

My situation is a Bortle 6 sky, in my early 50's and need glasses to read, but not for observing or distance work. My eyesight prescription hasn't really changed that much, as I do get them tested every 2 years.  The scope would be for some lunar work, planetary, etc.  For DSO's and wide field, I can use my 200P with a 2" 28mm LET eyepiece which does give some lovely views.👍

I'm still reading through everyone's suggestions and recommendations, thanks.👍  This does raise another question though...🙄  The late Sir Patrick Moore, used to recommend a refractor of no less than 3" (76.2mm) in diameter.  How does that advice hold up in the 21st Century, with modern optics and advances in technology?🤔

Stunning!

I think I'll hold off for a while and see what comes along, in due course...

2 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Agree. Modest light bucket and a grab and go set-up (frac) has made it so I can observe on the hoof but also plan proper sessions when the conditions to allow for more deep sky observing. Not to mention WL solar viewing too. 

The more I observe though the more I am starting to gravitate to a more specific field, i.e. planetary!
 

 

The funny thing is that I'm moving away from DSO's and more towards planet viewing. I'm still intrigued by the ScopeTech Maxi... 

I guess I'll just have to lust after another type of refractor then! 🤣

What's frustrating is the lack of what's in stock (no offence intended towards retailers). 

2 minutes ago, John said:

I'm sure that these 80mm refractors are lovely things but the original posters scope should show all that they do and more besides and catch challenging stuff like Neptune's moon Triton which is simply beyond a 4 inch refractor no matter how good it's optics are.

Having a small refractor AND a medium aperture scope is a great way to go though

 

 

 

Would you say my Sky-Watcher 200P is a medium aperture scope? 

On 28/09/2021 at 09:47, johninderby said:

So it’s this mount. Might be better to consider something like a Skwatcher AZ5 manual alt az mount.

I've just seen the price of the mount that I've been recommended by FLO!😮 Well, I guess that knocks that plan into the bushes...🙄

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5-deluxe.html

I'm still drawn to the Scopetech Acromats that Aunty FLO sells...😲  The price on this one catches my eye...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/offers/offer_scopetech-stl80a-l-80mm-f125-classical-refractor_155968.html

Mind you, I'm still eyeing up the f15 version!🙄

3 hours ago, johninderby said:

Would recommend buying from Astrograph as they are a UK dealer so no customs or high shipping costs to bother about. Plus top class service and the owner Rupert is an expert that can answer any questions you might have.

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGTEC125F78

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Categories/Shop/"Telescopes %26 Binoculars"/Apochromatic_Refractor_Telescopes

 

https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGTEC250-35