cajen2

I use a Baader Clicklock in my focuser, so it's easy to loosen that slightly and rotate the laser in the focuser. If it doesn't move from the centre dot, the laser is collimated.

New shiny thing: Asterion Ecliptica Light EQ platform. What a beautiful piece of work! For any that don't know, this will mount a dob and track a target for 60 minutes before needing to be reset.

Hi Tina and a warm welcome to SGL. Tell us about yourself.

You don't think this one would fit? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-bags-cases-storage/oklop-padded-bag-for-250mm-1200mm-newtonians.html I have the bag for the 200 SL and it fits like a glove. I do have to take off the alt bearings, though.

What you need is a Khazi! 😛

I'm on a short break in Sennen, by Land's End, so brought my Heritage Flextube 6" dob - no room for the 8" in my little van! I was really looking forward to viewing in really dark skies. But the missus could only get this half week off and of course the moon is just past full. So I got out at 1am but dark skies? Hardly - the moon was washing out everything except the brightest targets and there was quite a lot of wispy high cloud and haze. Still, I got reasonable views of Jupiter and Saturn. The images were very small since my highest mag EP was 6mm (125x) and of course I'd forgotten my Barlow. My clearest view was with my new Morpheus 9mil - first light with this. Only 83x mag so not much detail to be seen on either planet but beautiful views nonetheless. All four larger Jovian moons in sight - one right next to the planet. Nice separation of Saturn's rings plus what I assume was Titan. I just wish I could have Barlowed the Morph down to 4.5.

A Barlow multiplies the mag of your eyepiece, so a 2x Barlow would make your 12mm into a 6 mil.

Mind you, she did buy a Stellina, Mike....😉

Well, all I can say is I bought myself the StellaLyra 20mil because it's so impressive and another two Morpheus. Whether something that costs two or three times more is better is for you to judge, or in the case of the Apollo, nearly 10x more. I'm not made of money!

Thanks for that, S.

Yes, I really fancied one of those but since I already have 18 and 20mil EPs (the latter a 2" StellaLyra 80°, which is superb), it would just be chucking money away.

Anyone observed near Land's End? I'm off to a campsite there on Thursday. I'm hoping I can find a spot away from all the site lights. I can't take my 8" dob in my tiny campervan but the 6" Heritage Flextube should squeeze in somewhere.

Problem with both of those: the Nirvana has rather tight eye relief but a good FOV and the Vixen has great ER but only a 45° FOV.

If the 'shaking' refers to the pic quality, that's a good photo for my cheap Nokia! 😛

I'll only have three: 6.5, 9 and 12.5. I like them even more than my Pentax XWs, but there's no point in replacing those (5 and 14mil). They are excellent too.

Next one for my mini-Morpheus collection. I'm just waiting for the 6.5mil now.

Here's my 2" 2x ED StellaLyra. Excellent optics:

Yes, I've just been looking at that. The WO SWAN 33mm is a good price and seems to get good reviews too.

Does anyone have any experience of these? I'm interested in a mid-price, relatively wide- angle EP in about the 30mm f/l range. I'll be using it in a StellaLyra 8" dob (f/6).

The best VFM zoom that I've used is the OVL Hyperflex. Mine is the 7.2 - 21.5mm version. It has only two drawbacks for me: small FOV at low mags (common to most affordable zooms) and a very stiff action on mine, requiring two hands, which is irritating. The optics, however, are excellent.

Don't look up! 🤣🤣🤣

If you're after a reflector, I'd agree with Vlaiv: a Dobsonian is the way to go if you're interested in visual observing only. You might consider the new Celestron Starsense 8": https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/cel_starsense_exp_8_dob.html This would give you an easy-to-use push-to dob setup which will help immensely in finding your way around the sky.

Welcome, Claus. Don't think we have too many members from Denmark, so doubly welcome!

You may also be interested in this: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/392135-stellalyra-80°-20mm-2-eyepiece-first-light-report/ I realise that it's not the focal length that you're after but it may give you an idea of the quality.

I get whinged at for having two.....! Mind you, one is an 8" dob which is a bit difficult to hide.