bosun21

Nice neat job Peter, and well documented 👍.

That makes good sense and is more than likely why they changed it. I still liked seeing the crucifix though.

Lovely image of M107 on your Astrobin. The crucifix aspect is easily discerned and I wonder why they decided to rotate the image.

From your description it suggests that something is wrong with them. The images from them should be very similar to your other other pair of 10x50's from the same manufacturer (Opticron). If they are as bad as you say then I would return them.

What f ratio are your scopes please Alan? I was actually looking at this range of eyepieces.

The newer GSO dobsonians definitely do require the mod if you want to have fine adjustments available for the secondary mirror holder. In fact the GSO (Stella Lyra) dobsonians require the mod even more so than the Skywatcher scopes. The former having much deeper indentations on the holder which prevents fine adjustments.

Having owned quite a few Newtonians over the years I was never bothered nor really noticed diffraction spikes. However after reading a few threads on the question I now do indeed notice them, and find myself actively looking for them. This was one of the reasons I bought a 180 Maksutov for high magnification planetary observing minus the diffraction spikes. I now primarily use my 10" Synscan dobsonian for observing everything else where they are far less noticeable. Planetary imaging however isn't really affected by diffraction spikes as far as I have noticed so the 10" dobsonian can redeem itself in this regard. Love them or loathe them it's a penalty we pay.

Just the screw 👍.

The scope that I bought the washers for unfortunately is a Skywatcher 10" Flextube Synscan dobsonian which has a completely different secondary mirror holder. I have carried out the mod to two Stella Lyra dobsonians as well. One was an 8" and the other a 12". As long as the washer is smaller than the diameter of the secondary mirror and that the centre hole is large enough for the central screw.

I totally agree with you regarding being dark adapted properly and that the art of observing is very much a learned experience. I do also think that spending longer periods at the eyepiece is very conducive to learning the skill. For instance last week during the first light outing for my 180 Mak I spent about 30 minutes observing M13 at the eyepiece hooded for each eyepiece. The longer I observed using both direct and averted vision the more details were being slowly revealed to me. In fact details that at first were only visible with averted vision were slowly becoming visible to direct vision. Anyway that's my ramble for this evening.

The Celestron 0.63 reducer is not suitable for Edge SCT's apparently? This is what some suppliers are indicating.

I always carry out this modification to every dobsonian I've owned. Last time I just bought ten plain washers from eBay and sprayed them matt black. This mod eliminates any stiction when positioning the secondary mirror holder and has worked great every time.

Beautiful image and great processing. I have never attempted a mosaic before. Perhaps I should start considering them and read up on their procedure.

The Stellarium mobile and PC app are not the same.

Good to hear a conversation between two amateur astronomers where the word imaging was never mentioned. If only the gasoline filter was more practical for us to use much more often. Thanks for bringing this to our attention @Nik271.

"Welcome back James" it is James I presume?

The more recent models have the USB port and can connect to your PC or ASIAIR with just a straightforward USB A to B cable. I have connected several mounts to my PC and AIRS with zero problems. This eliminates the need for an EQDIR cable.

I use an AZ-EQ6 mount on its 2" Stainless steel tripod. I know that it's a heavy mount but I don't mind as I love it for high magnification planetary observing and imaging. I will be adding a > 120mm apo refractor shortly to my kit so I will be needing a pier extension for it. I am also intending to purchase a Berlebach tripod for it , probably either a Planet or Uni. I much prefer EQ mounts although the alt/az setup of my 10" Synscan dobsonian is growing on me.

The O Optics aluminium tubes do appeal to me. I was considering buying a 10 or 12" OTA when one of each size were recently advertised in the classified section. I was thinking of putting it on my AZ-EQ6. I then realised that this would be pointless as I already had a 10" Synscan dob. I really do need to keep myself in check when browsing the for sale astro sections!

It's still only 600g less than the GSO . The Bresser is 18.9kg with accessories and the GSO is 19.5kg also with accessories. I suppose the tube rings will contribute to to the weight of the Bresser, but then it's finder scope is made of plastic, probably to save weight.

Exactly. Plus he would have a insanely steep learning curve with a 12" Newtonian as a starting point for AP

If you are serious about astrophotography then you are buying the wrong telescope completely. Buy a refractor.

A shot of Copernicus crater taken on the 19/5/24 with my 180 Maksutov and ASI462MC . Converted to monochrome in processing.

What is a good 32mm plossl or the like Don? I just want it for a 180 Mak for outreach.

I have owned both the 6" SL CC and the 150 SW Maksutov and for doubles and stars in general the mak is far sharper with no diffraction spikes. I see hardly any mirror shift with the newer maks and even then it's tiny at very high magnifications. You could always fit a standard dual speed focuser to the visual back and eliminate the mirror shift altogether. Oh and the CC is a pain in the proverbial to collimate.