Gonariu

A few years ago I too was attracted by a nice refractor of this type but I left it alone because I had read that it was heavy and I chose a Nexstar 8 SE. Post a link to a site of a well-known Italian amateur where the first 150/1200 released, the Antares IO, is tested. https://www.dark-star.it/astronomia-articoli-e-test/test-strumentali/antares-io-150-1200/

For a couple of months to look at the Sun with my achromatic 80/400, in addition to the necessary sun filter at full aperture, I have been inserting a green W58 filter which, in addition to making the image more contrasted, removes the residual chromatism. I usually observe the Sun at 50X, but when I have time I put 80X, very rarely 100X.

Try to see if it is convenient to at least assemble a Dobson 1200/150, that is 150 mm of mirror and 1200 mm of focal length instead of buying the optics you have proposed; in the 80s here in Italy it was the way to have an optic that was starting to be a little big without spending too much (before Chinese production the telescopes here were still expensive). Among the instruments proposed by you (I state that I do not know those brands) I would prefer the 900/70 refractor which is certainly superior to the Newton 76/700 as it does not have the obstruction of the secondary, which implies having more contrasted images. By buying a 40mm eyepiece later you would have a magnification of 22.5X which is also good for extended objects (Pleiades, M31 for example).

Surely Australia is the joy of naturalists with its very particular fauna and flora, to any person less than ....... About twenty years ago I followed some documentary on television where they talked about a specialist in capturing snakes that entered houses (snakes in Australia are a bit too poisonous ........); almost a year ago in my house I found a snake in the house and I killed it: I did wrong, it certainly ate the mice that entered my house (here in Sardinia we do not have poisonous snakes, I can say that it was a snake with safety!). Surely for the night sky Australia must be fantastic, on seeing it one would say WOW !!! Too bad it's on the other side of the planet .........

Thank you, very kind.

Very nice photograph.

A few years ago I bought the Semiapo filter from Baader, it satisfies me with my achromatic 80/400 as it improves my vision of the Moon and Jupiter, with my other short focus achromatic 120/600 looking at the Moon I like it because I see the image less bright, however the excess of Chromatism is reduced by seeing the Moon and Venus but not canceled. I would like to buy the Contrast Booster filter this month to see what results the 120/600 that performed well on the Red Planet in 2020 gives me with it (as everyone knows, it's not a tool for planets).

In this period I am not observing the Sun constantly because between taking the dog out in the morning and then going to the sea to take the usual dip, the time is reduced; it is true, however, that in these days (but already in December) our star deserves to be observed. I always do a pencil drawing, at least half an hour leaves to make a well done sketch, with all the smallest specks and the smallest details. With the heat here I go roast but it's worth it!

Beautiful photographs of our satellite !!!

In September-October I looked at Mars with an achromat 120/600 (Ziel Gem 60, now out of production) at 200X and 300X seeing a little bit of something (I am attaching the drawing I made on September 30, 2021, on October 6 the planet was at the minimum distance with an apparent diameter of 22 ". 4). I think you will surely see at least something with your instrument even if this year Mars is smaller (17") and your Newton must have some obstruction, being an f / 4.4; on the other hand, my short focus achromatic is not ideal for observing the Red Planet.

Well, with 21 C it's definitely good!

Envy!!!!!

Of course, these are historical records of heat for you, from a weather app I see temperatures in Great Britain from 39 in London in the south to 30 in Edinburgh in Scotland: simply incredible! Here we are not better off, we boil and sweat like you, but for us it is chronic here. I really want a lot of mistral wind which, when it blows, makes you breathe decisively here in Cagliari and lowers the temperatures.

I am both nearsighted and long-sighted and with a slight astigmatism. To observe through the telescope I always take off myopic glasses, to consult maps and make a pencil drawing of what I observe I have a focus point about 10 cm (more or less 4 inches) from the eyes. The astigmatism I have does not cause me problems, I have read that if someone who is very astigmatic can take off his glasses if he observes at high magnifications.

I have always heard bad things about telescopes like the PowerSeeker 127EQ in the Italian forums, both for the optical yield and for the great collimation difficulties compared to a classic Newtonian, even for expert amateurs. For the achromats 80/400 I do not pronounce on the brand, I have a Konus Vista-80 that I like for its optical performance but they told me that it was made when Konus imported Japanese (and not Chinese) optics into Italy. 80/400 made in China I have always read the things you read on short achromatics: good for low magnification but painful high resolution observations on the Moon & planets, I have an achromatic 70/400 (the Travelscope 70 by Celestron, also made in China) which has these characteristics.

Whoever sold you the telescope strictly would have had to give you a discount on the price, once the defect was reported. You can see if there is any company or artisan who can change the piece for you, in Italy where I live someone is there, I think there is someone in America too. However nice telescope, good observations and enjoy it with health.

Beautiful observing evening, I also love looking at the Moon, it is beautiful with any instrument! Reading what you wrote I remembered two sentences I read, one in recent times: "a refractor shows little and good, a reflector instead much and bad"; clearly the sentence should not be taken too literally otherwise it loses its meaning. I read the other in a very old astronomy book, bought by my father about fifty years ago ("Conoscere le stelle" by Pierre Kohler) where the author said: "if you are not simply curious about the sky, turn to the spotlight "; even this sentence should not be taken too literally, then it was also the time when ED apochromats / semiapochromats were not even spoken.

Beautiful image. Have courage and trust doctors, medicine has made great strides in every field. Hurry to heal (as we say in Sardinian) and good observations!

I have it. Soon I go up to the condominium terrace and I will follow your suggestion.

In 1984, a few months after the opposition of Mars that had occurred in May (maximum apparent diameter of 18 "), I had seen Mars at evening twilight with a achromatic refractor 60/700 at 117X (eyepiece H6 supplied with the telescope) and seeing very distinctly a dark area of the planet (Mars then had an apparent diameter of 14 "). I had never seen the Red Planet with 60/700 so well as that time!

Excuse me, I made some mistakes, the quote came to me in Italian and not in English and I don't know how to remedy it. Can the staff please provide? Thank you in advance.

For some months I have been looking at the Sun with an achromatic 80/400 and, to the indispensable full aperture solar filter, I add a green W58 filter (which is clearly not enough on its own to avoid burning the retina). With this filter I saw that both there is no trace of chromatism and that the contrast is much better.

Years ago I bought the 4 mm LV Lanthanum Vixen, certainly nowadays it is vintage but its duty does it; in used it is still found. I don't know about apochromatic barlows, it seems to me that Televue did good ones but I think that any brand that has a name has decent ones.

Is it a 150/1200 achromatic? I have read some nice reviews on the achromats 150/1200.