bosun21

Exactly the same for me. I was hoping to test the optics on my SW120ED but every star is terrible even at medium magnification. The Jetstream is directly overhead which I checked after the fact. I guess it will have to wait.

Out getting first light tonight and thankfully the clouds stayed away. The Jetstream was directly above my part of the UK which played havoc with trying to check the optics properly.

I'm hoping to get first light tonight with my SW120ED if the clouds stay away. I'm also hoping for decent seeing conditions but I have the feeling that I'm asking for too much. All set up and just waiting for the stars to make an appearance to allow me to polar and star align 🤞.

You are supposed to keep both eyes open and not close the other eye. It's natural and comfortable to keep both eyes open.

I used mine for the first time last night and I was easily able to keep both eyes open . I was on grass though as Alan says above. I always observe with both eyes open as it's much more comfortable for lengthy periods at the eyepiece. I used to use an eye patch often as well.

Lovely new acquisitions @ST_Steve. Hope you have a good first light.

The ED Evostars have very good optics but weren't the best mechanically with the focuser and finish etc. Once you replace the focuser then that's good enough for me. The fixed dew shield doesn't bother me neither. The doublet was FPL 53 but has now apparently changed to FCD-100 which is the Hoya equivalent. I have previously owned the Evostar 80 and 100 and optically I thought they were great. The 120 being f7.5 is ideal as well.

Deliveries yesterday of a pillar for my AZ-EQ6 as I need it for the refractor. Unfortunately not a LZOS but a Skywatcher 120ED. It has a Baader Steeltrack focuser. A Brightstar flip mirror for my planetary imaging, a 1.25" dielectric diagonal, a 50mm 2" extension piece and anti vibration pads. I also picked up a few cheaper eyepieces for my 180 as at F15 they will perform just fine. Oh and a R-Sky observing hood.

The South pivot point is far better if it is metal to metal as metal to wood will introduce a degree of stiction. David used a male pin on the top and a female recessed part on the bottom. They were bought as a pair but I have no idea what they are called.

My EQ platform made by the late David Lukehurst only used one motor. It was his larger size platform for my 12" SL dobsonian. The shaft was belt driven and used a knurled brass shaft which provided ample traction. I never experienced any slippage whatsoever whilst in use.

Why are you looking at com ports and serial connections? With the WiFi dongle you change it to WiFi connection found in the connection settings menu. I also downloaded and installed the Synscan app driver and everything worked fine via ASCOM (Sharpcap, Stellarium etc).

Whatever you do, DON'T! frequent the Ha section or threads then.

I think I just had a particularly poor NPL30. I have however come across others who experienced the same problem and went about resolving the problem by differing means. I also have the Celestron Omni 32mm 50° plossl which to my eye is equally as good. It gets good feedback on CN as well. £20 plus £3.39 postage on flea bay for brand new specimens.

I hope you put those horizons to good use @Zermelo. Good luck with your new home.

I've owned the Vixen NPL30 and as you say I found it optically good, however I just couldn't get on with the plastic eye relief adjustment on it. It was very loose and kept slipping back down. I ended up putting an elastic band around it. It's a pity as I did like it.

Sticky pads are most definitely not created equally.

Welcome to SGL Ben. Lots of good solid advice to be had here.

It will Peter up to a point. If you can still see any light from your forward vision (and I mean ANY light) then you won't be 100% dark adapted. It will still be a major improvement though.

Out with the 10" Synscan dobsonian last night 2/3rd June. There was patchy high cloud about which thankfully got less as the night progressed. After a quick 2 star alignment on Arcturus and Vega as they were the first to appear in the slowly darkening sky, I selected M13 (again). I couldn't see it at all and initially thought my go to was way off. I always level accurately and use a reticled eyepiece to centre the alignment stars so I was confident I was in the correct spot. I went indoors and made myself a cup of tea while darkness descended. On my return I could now see the globular cluster in the eyepiece. I cranked up the magnification to 120x with a 10mm UFF which helped darken the sky. Despite not being fully dark I could easily see the individual stars clearly. I then went to M5 , M3 and M57 next as in skies that aren't properly dark I find that the brighter globulars make the best targets (to me anyway). The seeing was decent although the transparency wasn't all that. Alberio was nice and crisp also at 120x with the colours of yellow and blue looking really nice. Back I went to M13 and this time I sat at the eyepiece and once I checked it was centered I took my eye away from the eyepiece and completely draped my head with my black fabric and sat there for what felt like an eternity. I wanted to get as close to being perfectly dark adapted before putting my eye back to the eyepiece and viewing M13. Wow! What a difference with the brightness and clarity being boosted. I sat there for a good 30 minutes more just soaking up the view. That was my astro appetite fed for the night so I retreated back indoors. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

I also bought and sold a 6" CC for the same reasons highlighted above. This time I bought the 180 Maksutov which is proving to be very good on doubles with very near apo refractor performance. The small CO contributes to this I'm sure as well as good contrast.

I had difficulty connecting to my PC with my dobsonian using the V5 handset. My AZ-EQ6 connected easily but not my Synscan dobsonian. I ended up using the WiFi signal to connect to the Synscan app on my PC and then use the Synscan app driver to connect it to everything else via ASCOM including Stellarium. Have you downloaded the ASCOM software?

Bankrupt probably 😂.

I also used to gaze up at the night sky and just let my mind wander. After many years I am still waiting for it to return.

You could I suppose fit a thin flat bridging plate between the forks and fit a vixen saddle to the centre of it. This will at least allow you to attach a smaller telescope to the saddle and still retain all the functions and benefits of a driven/tracking mount. Good luck.

Is your dobsonian one of the newer models with WiFi? If so it's pretty straightforward as I have recently done just this with my 10" Synscan dobsonian.