bosun21

I have found that the majority of Newtonian owners settle for decent collimation and never get the collimation bang on. The difference can be seen immediately. The details on the planets are defined as is Luna. When I get a new Newtonian I spend the time on setting the secondary accurately. The primary is just an easy turn of the collimation screws. Once you see the difference for yourself you won't settle for near enough. I am now myself heading towards the apo camp. As much as I love the aperture of reflector telescopes I have fallen for apo refractor telescopes.

I thought we were talking about OTA's. I didn't realise that complete dobsonians were included.

That brought a smile to my face as everytime I have a mug of Ovaltine I think of the song.

Did you take individual frames? As said above taking short videos at a high frame rate is the way to go. You can then look at the graph of the quality of the frames in your video and choose the best percentage to stack. Once stacked you can use either Registax or Astrosurface to sharpen the final image.

Which 150P is F8? I have only seen them in the standard F5. As you said the 150PL is F8 with a 1.25" focuser.

Exactly! The trend now is heavily biased towards imaging. Even the videos on YouTube are the same. Despite there being quite a few of us visual observers still around, I have accepted that we are now seen as a niche group in this amazing hobby.

Do you have a Concenter Stu? I could borrow you my 2" one as they make collimating the secondary easy and accurate.

The last time I seen the E & F stars was with a 150mm Mak. They are much easier to see with my 10" dob though. The 12" I used to own was the same although sky conditions and LP can be detrimental to large aperture scopes.

The 30mm, 24mm and the 10mm are the ones that i have owned and found them to be very good. The 10mm in particular is light and compact with sharp images over its 60° FOV. The 30mm speaks for itself with everyone who owns one.

The OP is in America.

I understand what you mean now. Thanks 👍.

Lovely little setup. Do you have the pier extension fitted on a tripod?

What do you mean 50% drop off in illumination? I didn't get any vignetting with my 6" f8 using a 32mm 50° plossl. Also with a 40mm 40° plossl. I could clearly define the field stops. I'm confused 🤔.

Highpoint Scientific or Skywatcher USA will most likely be able to sort you out with a 1.75" stainless steel tripod with a M10 fixing bolt.

I joined SGL about 2 and a half years ago when I rekindled my love of astronomy. I had no idea which one to join as it was a toss up between CN or SGL. Thankfully I made the correct choice. I was wary of posting at first as I had received a couple of snarky replies when asking questions on CN. I was really pleased to see and feel a completely different atmosphere here and I felt at ease posting and asking questions. Now it feels like dropping into the pub to check in with my astro teammates.

Yes I used to own the SW150PL which indeed had a 1.25" focuser. I bought it for the planets and the moon for which it was good. The achro will indeed beat it convincingly when using 2" eyepieces.

There's not a large difference in the FOV.

Sorry I didn't see that he specified a F8 rather than the standard F5.

According to the calculator the Newtonian wins in the FOV both with a 30mm 70° eyepiece.

6" Newtonian would be my choice rather than the achro. Once collimated it would trounce the 4" achro. Some folk can tolerate CA but I can't. I've tried previously with all the filters etc to cancel the CA but still hated the yellow tint visible.

Personally I would just buy the designated hand controller. They are nice and light and provide good fine focus adjustments. They are not expensive in relation to the EAF itself. Good luck if you decide to go the DIY route.

I found that a stable EQ driven works really well when observing doubles as once centered you can view without having to be distracted by adjusting any controls etc. Just as Michael said it's comfortable viewing.

The HEQ5 with the Rowan upgrade is extremely quiet with nothing more than a quiet hum. I was surprised how quiet it actually was while slewing.

Cup of hot decaf coffee with double cream is my drink of choice when the temperature drops.