bosun21

One of my regular targets at this time of year as well as it rises in my SE sky

There’s a great detailed review of this achromat by Ed Ting on YouTube 👇

I bought two of mine from the classifieds and the other four new. I was too impatient to wait for them to appear on the classifieds 🙄.

Great addition. Just keep going now until you acquire all six 🙂.

Here we go then. Tilt the scope to the horizontal position to stop anything dropping on the main(primary) mirror. As the collimation is already way out loosen or remove the three screws on the small mirror (secondary). Looking through the focuser tube tighten or loosen the centre screw until the small mirror is directly below the centre of the focuser draw tube ( ignore the tilt of it whilst doing this). Once centered place a sheet of paper directly opposite the focuser, this will outline the shape of the mirror easier. Replace the three screws and screw them in until they are almost touching the mirror holder. Next turn them a little bit each in succession until they lightly touch and hold the mirror in position. Looking through the focuser or collimation cap adjust the screws one at a time until the mirror appears perfectly round and centered in the focuser tube. Once this is attained gently nip up the three screws. Double check the mirror didn’t move whilst tightening the three screws. If you do this and reach this point I will then take you through what to do with the large mirror (primary). I will follow this thread to keep an eye on your progress. Good luck.

I fitted a small square of black Perspex and a standard finder shoe. The photo of mine is earlier in the thread. Works great every time.

The Celestron Starsense dobsonians are 200mm shorter focal lengths than the Stella Lyra.

I last viewed the chain about a week ago with the 12” dobsonian. I started from M84 and M86 both easily visible then crept up as far as NGC4458 accompanied by NGC4461. I was flitting between direct and averted vision. That’s as far as the transparency would allow this night. I always drape myself with a black piece of fabric which I keep specifically for this purpose. I also find that tapping on the scope is great for noticing the really faint fuzzies. The darkness being gone has taken the fuzzies off my astronomical menu.

I viewed several of the well known globular clusters the other night and all were impressive. However my target of the night was M81 & 82. I spent a good bit of time with differing magnifications on it, drawing out more detail the longer I observed. I use a black cloth draped over me to eliminate any vestige of extraneous light.

Yes it’s pretty straightforward. I just fitted a small black Perspex plate and a finder shoe.👇

I have the 12” Stella Lyra dobsonian which I upgraded to from the 8”. The difference is considerable and easily noticed. Optically it’s very good. I have never tried the 10” but the 12” has 44% more light grasp than the 10”. I just bought the cheapest Starsense scope (LT70) which is under £200 and removed the Starsense unit to fit on the dobsonian. It works great.

Welcome to SGL. Good luck with your foray into the world of astrophotography.

Great captures of our sister planet. The cloud formations are particularly clear.

Out last night again to catch our last sliver of darkness. Had a decent night with clusters in twilight and several galaxies and PN’s. An enjoyable night considering how short the astro dark was.

You mean M57?. I actually viewed them on the crossover from twilight to dark. The ring nebula was the best for me and the dumbell a little fainter. The UHC helped with them both. Your 10” dobsonian will be better and brighter. I’ve never actually viewed them in twilight. HTH.

Are you using it in EQ mode or Alt/Az?

Your 16” assuming an 1800mm focal length will have a magnitude reach of 15.49. So that’s 0.59 more than the 14.9 of the target. These figures are calculated without taking into consideration the seeing conditions or transparency of the atmosphere. No harm in trying i suppose.

Out again last night with the Starfield 102. Set up at 9pm, polar aligned at 10.30pm and started observing at 11.30pm. The sky is only dark for a really short period now hence the times above. I kicked off with a few globular clusters, M13, M3, and the open cluster M11. All were defined well with the Morpheus 17.5 and 12.5mm despite the seeing not being the best. M11 was particularly pleasing. I then viewed the two PN’s M27 & M57 with the addition of an Astronomik UHC filter increasing the magnification with a 9mm on the ring nebula. I then had an impulse to view Albireo which I did with the 9, 6.5, and 4.5mm Morpheus. The colors were very bright and standing out really well tonight. It had now reached the point of astro darkness so I tried a few galaxies next. M101, M51 and M81 & 82. All were clearly visible despite the seeing and transparency dropping. I spent a good time on M81 coaxing out more detail. The sky is already starting to brighten so I called it a night.

No, they will draw the required operating current as normal.

At the start of imaging you need to align your mount to the NCP with the polar scope. Your telescope should be in its home position with the telescope also pointing at the NCP(Polaris) depending upon the cone error you have on your telescope. The telescope can move to any position to attain your target but the mount will always be aligned with the NCP.

Welcome to SGL Ian. There’s a wealth of astrophotography knowledge here. You will not be disappointed.

Hi Malcolm, welcome to SGL. I used to travel all over the Highlands and Islands salmon and sea trout fishing. I used to sleep under the stars with my trusty binoculars. The views used to take my breath away.

Same here 🙄.

Upgrading the springs alone sorted out the problem of holding collimation for my 12”. I have only needed to tweak it once in 5 months which I did with the locking screws.