bosun21

I already have a 10" go to dobsonian which fills that niche.

All good points you mentioned. Cool down time and weight being quite important to a lot of people myself included. Thanks.

Nice images Kostas. I found that nailing sharp focus can be difficult under poor seeing conditions although you have done a good job here. I hope to be back out there the next time clear skies come around.

A nice well focused image 👍.

Why a doublet over a triplet for visual John?

Yes I have been considering the physical aspects of both of them. I have just bought an AZ-EQ6 so the weight isn't a problem with either. My only concern is that I will probably require a pier extension to accommodate the length, and the 140 may prove to be cumbersome in conjunction with this. There is also the Askar 120 in this range to possibly consider. The SM125 has been on my menu for some months now, and indeed since its release. I basically want it for visual and a bit of EAA thrown into the mix. I've been searching for reviews of the Askar as the SM is a better known entity to me regarding performance etc. I will keep digging as I have about another month before I make the purchase. Thanks all.

I am looking at buying myself a new refractor shortly and I can't decide which way to go. The two contenders are the StellaMira 125 doublet with FCD100 and lanthanum glass and the Askar 140 triplet with one ED element (type not disclosed). I have been reading reports from owners of both and both are said to perform very well for visual. The 140 is bino friendly with a 3.5" R&P focuser as opposed to the 2.5" of the SM 125. It's the question of whether the better glass type of the doublet will be better than the supposed better correction of the triplet with one ED element. This being a considerable purchase for me I want to make the best choice possible. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. Thank you.

You can use ASCOM in AZ mode as well as plate solving. I use Sharpcap for plate solving in both EQ and Alt/Az mode.

If you are doing visual you can always flip your AZ-EQ6 into Alt/Az mode. This will keep the eyepiece in a respectable position for observing with your Newtonian.

Welcome to SGL. It looks like it could be a Bird Jones style of Newtonian reflector in which case I would hold off from buying a Barlow lens to increase the magnification. Can you possibly take a photo of the label on the side of the telescope which should have some numbers on it which is the focal length and ratio/ aperture etc. This will let folk know whether it's a a Bird Jones or not. Regarding the teeth on one of the drives being non existent there's always the 3D printer solution.

Believe me they are more difficult than Newtonians. The RC is even more difficult than the CC due to the distance between the primary and secondary mirror being crucial and not easy to measure.

Another 👍 for the Baader Morpheus range of eyepieces with the addition of the 24mm and 30mm UFF(Stella Lyra, APM etc). All great eyepieces with a comfortable eye relief and respectable FOV.

I only had to paint the threads once when I also bought black ones with steel threads. I just placed a bit of masking tape over the ends of the threads when painting.

The correct back focus is the distance between the reducer/flattener and the camera sensor. This is totally independent of the focal point of the telescope which is reached by racking the focuser in and out. If you don't have a reducer/flattener in the optical train then you can totally forget about it. The reason they are almost universally used is to flatten the field and reduce the focal ratio of the telescope providing a larger FOV.

Interesting new addition. I wonder how they actually perform in relation to standard plossl's.

Hi and welcome to SGL. You will most definitely find like minded individuals among us. Lovely images by the way 👍.

I bought mine from eBay of which there is a huge selection. I chose the black ones as this will prevent any stray light reflections. I have also fitted the washers to all the dobs I've owned past and present. The indentations on the Stella Lyra dobsonians I've owned have prevented the secondary mirror being rotated correctly. I have just carried out the same mod to my Skywatcher 10" Flextube dobsonian. I also spray paint the washers matt black before fitting.

A very nice and productive night of EAA. I also found your post very inspirational. You must have your work flow pretty polished now Peter. All those previous nights of trial and error are really paying dividends now.

Very nice Dave. It's great when a plan or a set comes together.

There are actually two types of Starsense units now. The one costing approx £400 is the basic one which automatically does the star alignment for you and a newer release which actually does the alignment as well as guiding or plate solving I believe. The cost of the newer version was in the region of £700-800. Personally they are not for me but I can wholly understand why people use and like them. I would put the money towards your scope.

Thanks Kostas. It was actually pneumonia which really laid me low. Thankfully 10 days of strong antibiotics and corticosteroids seems to have done the trick. I'm eager to get back out there.

Very nice Kostas. A period of poor health has put the brakes on any astro for me at the moment, however your images give me inspiration. I would have never thought about trying to image a moon so young. Now added to my list. Thanks.

Planetary capture is better on Sharpcap, Firecapture etc as the ASIAIR isn't as refined for planetary imaging as it is for AP.

Sharpcap can be used to integrate with all the other software via ASCOM like mount, camera control etc as well as plate solving Stellarium etc. For planetary imaging there are basically two that are mainly used. Those being Sharpcap and Firecapture. They are both similar however I chose to use Sharpcap as i found that i could attain a higher frame rate using that for the same ROI and settings. I also have set up Sharpcap with ASCOM for doing EAA.

Welcome to SGL Chris. There's always plenty of advice going around when it comes to helping folk spend money on astro gear 😂.