Second Light: Skywatcher Heritage 76/300 Dobsonian

[dark_marc]

Alright, so after my comprehensive introduction into the little scope I did give it another chance tonight after another round of fine tuning / collimation.

Being lazy I did convert my mancave into the 'Mencave Observatory' tonight. So doors closed and windows wide open. When temperature hit <10 degree I was ready to go. Alright, wasnt only lazyness that drove me up the stairs into my first-floor room...There were clouds predicted tonight so wanted to get a view on Jupiter before that did happen, apparently - when down in the garden - the neighbours garage is blocking my lower FOV so the elevated position did allow me to overcome this obstacle.

HOWEVER, scope aligned and off we go, apparently with slightly better results this time. This time, at 20mm/15x magnification Jupiter was less wobbly than on first light a couple of days ago. At 15mm/20x its moons became visible with Callisto, Europa, Io and Ganymede being nicely lined up like on a pearl chain. Certainly todays constellation of the moons did really go well with the little scope. The 10mm kit EP and 6mm NPL still didnt bring any results.

Really big problem across the range of EPs is the CA which is pretty distinct on EPs <12m. Best results still with 15mm Vixen NPL, even did throw in a 2x barlow today...CA is increasing with the barlow but still better results with barlow and 7.5mm / 15mm EP than with non-barlow 10mm or 6mm EPs. 20mm and barlow also does bring okay results.

However, regardless of EP power it still wasnt possible tomeven assume any of Jupiters bands.

Good night!

[Schorhr]

Hello,

great that you could see the moons like that, I agree, if they are lined up like that, Jupiter is a delight in such little telescopes!

I've seen two of Jupiter's band with a 76/300 clone, so it's definitely possible.

Newtonian telescopes don't have chromatic aberration, so without the barlow you should not have as much problems with that, at least if the eye piece is alright?

I would imagine you may suffer seeing / air turbulences mostly - even if the room has cooled down, the building will still be warmer then the outside air.

Quick and dirty rough sketches from my balcony

http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6//2013-05-05_Sketch2_76_jup.bjpg.jpg

Lost the high-res image, but two bands where slightly visible.

Saturn is also fun with the little telescope, from the front yard

http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6//2013-05-04_Saturn-h76p_3.jpg

though I doubt the mirror's good enough to see the cassini division even with the 3.2mm or 2.5mm HR Planetary :-)

Sometimes the conditions such as transparency won't allow better observation anyway, and especially when the planets stand over the city's roof tops I can sometimes not go over 100x :-(

[dark_marc]

Well, still do have my 200/1200 dobson for good quality gazing. Reason why I did buy the little Heritage is because I do look for a travelscope that does fit into hand luggage :-)

Well, its not the 76/300 I am going to take abroad....that will end up on sale shortly. Next test will probably be with a 102 Mak or a AR90S refractor.

[Schorhr]

A small Mak is great for travel, especially if It doubles as cheapo Tele lens

[cantab]

I picked up one recently from FLO on an impulse, partly so I could know whether it should be recommended to others and partly because my 4 1/2 inch has been on an unfinished mount for too many months now. Had it out twice so far. The mount's great, moves when I want and not when the wind does. The views are OK, not super-impressive. At 12x the secondary shadow can be a bit annoying. M42 was a clear fuzzy patch but I couldn't make out the "wings", M35 I think I got (but might have been the wrong spot, I need to double check). Moon showed detail and Venus its phase. For Jupiter I couldn't get banding at 30x, but at 75x (with an SR4...) the two main belts were visible. Finder...works, and stays in alignment well enough. Of course with 12x low power the finder alignment and even the finder itself aren't too critical.

The biggest challenge is focusing, the optical aberrations meaning it sometimes never seems 'right', and through the SR4 it boils down to trial-and-error. I've come across a claim that fast scopes are more sensitive for focusing, anyone know if that's true?

Certainly I can come inside after using this without the neckache I get from binocular sessions!

[Tonys]

Long live small scopes! For info, my Skywatcher 90mm Mak easily shows Jupiters main belts, splits fairly close doubles like Castor and gives a reasonably steady image on nights when my bigger scopes begin to struggle. Quite amazing really, the only annoying feature being internal reflections (needs re flocking). Just bought an AZ3 mount for it, complete with a Mercury 705 refractor, 2eps, erecting diagonal and red dot finder for £99-99. I don't know how they do it.

[cotterless45]

Just grabbed the Heritage this morning and got a lovely view of comet Lovejoy. I keep it handy just inside the shed door, it gives superb results, thoroughly recommended.

The scope sits on an old Az4 tripod and I made a shroud out of a black stuff sack,

Nick.

[dark_marc]

For all those who want to get their hands on this telescope....ALDI is currently selling the National Geographic version for just under £40.