cajen2

Great news, Sarah, I hope you both enjoy it! Let us know how it goes ( if we ever lose these clouds, that is!).

Piece of seaweed? I've learnt to ignore forecasts completely. True (off topic) story. My father was a navigator in Lancasters during the war and was involved in the notorious Nuremberg raid, where the RAF had some of the worst losses of the war. Partly, this was because strong, unforecasted winds blew the bomber stream off course, straight over the German night fighter boxes. My father was a 'windfinder' navigator, who were tasked to assess winds on the approach by measuring drift, then radio the result back to base to be issued to the crews. He measured a 100mph northerly, was told not to be so stupid and to maintain the planned course. He ignored this and gave the pilot an adjusted course, so missed the fighters and the plane returned safely. My father was reprimanded for disobeying orders! 😄 So all in all, I'm not impressed by weather forecasts!

Haha, you saw this before I did and corrected it! Yes, a 150cm scope would be great, if not exactly portable!

It does look like you might be leaning towards the 130/150p options, Sarah, which pleases me as I'm convinced the views will be better. Don't worry about putting it into the car: the scope comes off the mount really easily. Personally, I've upgraded the eyepieces for a huge visual improvement, but that's something that can easily wait till later.

I've got loads of room.....but no sign of my Pentax yet....😥

One more small factor: the dob will need a small but solid table to rest on, which will also need to be carried. The tripod for the ST80 will be adjustable for height, making it easier for you and your daughter to swap over. I think if it were me in your situation, I'd find the ST80 the more practical solution, even though I'm a dob lover and owner!☺️

Hi again. It isn't so much the weight of the setup which controls portability (though the 130 dob does come in at a not inconsiderable 6.2kg), it's how awkward it is to carry. A refractor of that size is easy to shove in a bag or backpack and the mount/tripod similarly. With the dob, even with the scope removed, you have an awkward wooden assembly for the base to cart around.

Hi Chad and a warm welcome to SGL. Vermont, eh? I imagine you can get some nice dark skies in parts of that state? Is that the SS2 130 reflector?

Ok, Sarah, chill...! It's not too difficult, honestly. Inches or mm? Well, the Americans have never trusted the nasty foreign metric system and so still often use inches to measure aperture (yes, the diameter of the scope), focal length, etc. For some reason, inches are still commonly used for reflectors, though many manufacturers now use cm. A rough rule of thumb is 25mm = 1 inch, so 150mm is about 6". Generally, a wider aperture will allow in more light, which is why people who want to see distant galaxies, nebulae, etc often choose Dobsonian reflectors. Refractors are preferred by astro photographers and people who want to concentrate on planets. Both types of scope can be used for these different targets, of course. So the answer to your search depends on what kind of things you'd like to observe. I got the Heritage Flextube dob because it's portable enough to store, carry to and from the garden and will catch more light than any affordable refractor. If you want something to carry around when travelling, a smallish refractor like the ST80 (or smaller) is better. Oh and 90 degree diagonals are often preferred for astronomy, where the scope is often nearly vertical. The 45 degree ones are handy for daylight use but can lead to odd positions when stargazing! Note to experts: I'm trying to keep it simple and as jargon-free as possible, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers, Dan, though I think you've slightly missed the point of my question. I'm not looking to buy a cadioptric, I was just reading new scope listings (doesn't everyone?😄) and wondering why they didn't seem objects of lust to the assembled great minds of SGL. I wanted to be educated as to their advantages and pitfalls. I'm very happy with my Flextube dob, but like a newlywed husband, it doesn't stop me looking....🤭

Please don't get too concerned about collimation for Heritage dobs. I have a Flextube 150, which people think must have unstable collimation. I collimated mine when I first got it (it was only fractionally out). Since then, I've checked it and it's still spot on. It's also very easy to do on the Heritage.

Yes indeed. A scope which impresses me more and more......which doesn't stop me looking for upgrades, of course!😄

You can....if you have a diagonal or an adapter. I haven't. ☺️

A small factor in favour of a zoom which hasn't been mentioned: it's far more convenient if you're observing with a filter. One filter for several different mags rather than swapping it each time you change EP.

Got myself a Baader Neodymium filter as a general-purpose anti- LP. I'm hoping it'll help with planets as well as improving contrast for M42 and suchlike. Of course, nothing but cloudy skies...... Now you're all going to tell me the BN is rubbish, right?

Now that looks a serious piece of kit, John. Are you happy with it?

Interesting. Do their internal design make a cooling fan difficult or impossible to incorporate?

Just a general question. As a newbie, while I have used refractors and own a reflector, I know very little about Maks, SCTs, etc. I note that in the recent 'dream scope' thread, most of those mentioned were either Japanese triplet refractors or enormous dobsonions. I hear very little of cadioptric scopes on this forum, apart from the odd 'grab and go' Mak. Surely they have other strengths apart from portability? I was looking at some on FLO (as you do☺️) and I imagined they'd have the light-gathering capacity of a decent dob with the potential high mags of a refractor. So where's the catch? I imagine I'll have hundreds of fans now telling me that they're wonderful!😄

As a fellow beginner, I'd suggest getting the best scope for visual that you can afford first. There are mobile phone holders to go over the eyepiece that can produce excellent photos of the moon and planets to assuage your need to start astro. After you have some experience and do a lot of reading on here about astro, I'm sure you'll have a much clearer ideas as to whether you want to take it further with a dedicated setup. Just my opinion - I don't do astro! 🤭

Update. The non-parfocal bit is rubbish: please disregard. It was all my own fault.....the twisting force needed to change mag is greater than that on my helical focuser, so every time I wanted to change mag, I defocused. Stupid boy.....🥺 I now realise changing mag is a two-handed job.

Well, I eventually bought a (second hand) OVL Hyperflex and I'm quite pleased with it so far. I've only had clear skies for a few minutes, but tried it on M42 and was quite impressed. At first, I thought the focus point at different mags was wildly different, but then realised that the torque needed to change mag was greater than that on my helical focuser, so it was my fault!😄 So it's now a two-handed job to change mag.

I have the same scope and use a Vixen NPL 30mm for wider FOV. It's a beautiful, sharp EP with long eye relief....a step up from a bog-standard Plossl. My other EOs are an OVL zoom, a BST Starguider 8mm and a Svbony 6mm UWA redline. All work well on the 150. I'm waiting for delivery on an ES Focal reducer (Barlow) and a 14mm Pentax XW...😛

Parts 1 and 2 are good too. Pure speculation, but the graphics are great!

You never got that scope into that car, did you? 😳

I know,.....but I'm a bit fed up with always trying to find an economical option. I want what my partner calls "a little bit of good"!