NGC 1502

Wow, those prices are great if the service and quality are good, thanks for posting. Ed.

Hi again Mark. I should have previously mentioned that apart from my local club’s 16” in 2003, over the years up to 2017 I’ve personally used them for 6”, 8.5” & 10” mirrors. Also a club member has had his own 20” done with no problems, and a second time after he refigured it his wonderful optical workshop with full testing facilities. Of course if you want hi-lux then OO would be your option. Ed.

Hi Mark. My local astronomy club and myself always use Galvoptics ( Image Optics ) of Basildon Essex - a long standing family run company that gives excellent service. Easy to find on the ‘net, price list and all needed info. Each time I’ve used their services I’ve been pleased with the result. My club’s 16” Dobsonian mirror was coated in 2003 and is still fine. Ed.

I’m happy fully to verify what’s already been said, but would like to add - the chairman of my local astronomy club has Heritage 130 Dob and he’s been into astronomy for decades. A very capable and useful scope for many great years of enjoyable no hassle astronomy 👍 Ed.

Wow, you’re are trying to run before you can walk 😬 no offence meant at all but best to get some observing in first....... Cheers from Ed.

Hi and welcome to SGL. Could you post a photo of the red dot finder on your scope please ? Some of the Celestron 130 EQ scopes had a type of red dot finder that was very frustrating indeed to use. We’ve had several people bring those to my local club for help, and even experienced members struggled. Our advice was to replace the finder with something better. This may be irrelevant if your scope already has a better finder, if you have then as mentioned best to align it during the day on as distant an object as you can. Start with the lowest power eyepiece you have ( largest number ) aim the scope as best you can at the distant object - chimney pot, aerial etc - centre that in the eyepiece field of view, adjust the finder to align with your object. Change to higher power eyepiece, repeat. Good luck, Ed.

You have lots of good advice given already, but this may help..... The mounts on most commercially made Dobs are made from coated particle board as you will know. It make them heavy of course but another issue is if particle board continually gets wet it can swell and break up. Most of us have found our scopes and mounts dripping wet after a good session. Before assembling the mount best to give all raw edges a coat of PVA wood glue/sealant, let it dry overnight then give a second coat. Following assembly seal all joints with a silicone sealant. This simple treatment will give the particle board a very long life. Great to hear of your return to astronomy 👍 Ed.

Yep, been there done that too..........🤛🏿😳 Ed.

Zooming in on the nameplate reveals a TeleVue 85. Very nice indeed. How do I know ? Because I once owned a TV85 and was daft enough to sell it. It was an early model with the shiny finish to the lens cell and focuser just like yours. I had one of those “it seemed like a good idea at the time moments”...............👎👎👎 Ed.

Hi Alan, really hoping all your expense and hard work will pay off, and with the darker evenings arriving good timing to get that fence in place. I’m off to one of our dark sites tonight, but observing from my back yard is where it happens most, due to the convenience. Cheers from Ed.

Ok..............first it’s one scope, now just one EP............ ...................IF I HAVE NIGHTMARES TONIGHT IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT. GOT IT ? 😁😁😁😁 Seriously now, to go with my one scope 8” f6, I’d have my 19 Pano plus my 2x barlow. I could just about scrape by with that......and life would be simpler as a result. Thanks for starting this off, cheers from Ed.

Wotcher Alan 😯 from the scopes I presently own - my OO 8” f6 Dob with the top rated mirror. It’s a tough call but you knew that 👍 Ed.

Sorry I’d forgotten the injury but now recall hearing something about that, hopefully your recovery will continue 🤒 Ed.

Indeed it was. 4 of us went to our dark site on the east Essex coast. With all 3 forecasts I use predicting it would be completely clear, but it most definitely was not 😢 just a very few holes in the cloud that rapidly filled in. But we did briefly catch the GRS and the shadow transit, and some DSO’s in all too short holes in that pesky cloud.... Ed.

July’s Astronomy Now says that Io’s shadow transit commences at 10.17pm BST this evening. Ed.

Hello Mark, no chance tonight down here in a cloudy and wet Essex, hope you get a great session. Your avatar shows several binoculars all listed at the end of your post, and I think I can recognise “Binocular Highlights” by Gary Seronik, excellent book......👍 Cheers from Ed.

Hi Rob, enjoyed reading your report. Many would say that nebula filters work best at low power, and at higher mags the filter is less effective as you seemed to find with M97. But maybe best to try it and make your our own minds up what works for each of us. When using filters and changing eyepieces, do you swap the filter to the eyepiece in use ? That works but it’s a bit of a faff. I have a DIY 2” filter holder to take my 2” Ultrablock, with a semi permanently fitted 2” to 1.25” adapter. That way I can switch eyepieces without changing the filter, works a treat. Of course I’m limited to using 1.25” eyepieces. Best of all would be a sliding filter holder mounted inside the optical tube so you can instantly switch from no filter to how ever many other filters and 2” eyepieces you may own. Maybe one day I may do something like that myself. Of course refractor / SCT / Mak users can attach the filter to the diagonal nosepiece to achieve the same easy convenience. Ed.

Hi Chris, that’s great getting a split with a 5” Mak. The Maks I’ve looked through had very sharp optics, often described as “refractor like” - a well defined Airy disc with one or two diffraction rings. At high power that’s how I would describe Zeta Her with my 6” F6. Also last night in those hazy conditions I viewed the double-double, 61 Cyg, Raselgethi, Izar, etc. Hardly ground breaking but good fun in a relatively poor sky in the middle of a large town before it had got fully dark 👍 👍 Just thin trousers tee shirt and flip flops was a bonus....... Ed.

An update on splitting Zeta Herculis. This evening in SE Essex the sky conditions were poor, veil of thin high cloud blanking out most of the sky. But I thought I’d have a session splitting some bright and easy to find doubles using my 6” f6 Dob. This was the scope that got me back into astronomy in 1994 having given up a few years before that. It was a DIY project using a David Hinds mirror set. This scope doesn’t get much use as I have more telescopes than I’d like to admit................🙄 By now you can guess what’s coming, in a murky but steady sky, the little Dob split Zeta at 200 then 300x. I realise that’s very high power for a 6”, but double stars take high power well. Steady skies plus excellent optics can surprise us. One thing this shows - when you get a larger scope(s) best to keep your old one if you can, it will come in handy. Ed.

Hi, perhaps if you say which telescope you have then folks on here could offer specific advice. As you are in Southend you may be interested in your local astronomy club - Castle Point AC, we meet at Daws Heath near Rayleigh. We have just started our summer break, back in September, details on our website. You would be most welcome, Ed.

Hi Angie. Folks on here are happy to help, but a few more details would let us give advice. You say that the mirror is “completely off”. Do you mean the mirror needs adjusting ( collimation ) or has it been removed from the telescope tube by dismantling ? Ed.

‘Ello ‘Ello ‘Ello............I am the Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police and you are being reported for driving without due care and attention. You could also be in deep trouble with the Northants and Bucks police too............ 😁😁😁😁😁

Erm........many people view things quite differently when walking home from the pub........😁😁

Stunningly handsome, I mean the scope of course 😁 Our club enjoyed a great view that for once the clouds allowed about 20 of us to enjoy from just after moonrise. Some passers by looked through our scops too. When everything comes together it makes up for all the disappointments. Ed.

Indeed it will be great to celebrate Apollo 11 launch day with an eclipse. A bunch of us from my local club are planning to meet at place with good horizons, hoping the weather plays ball for once......... Ed.