Orion Optics 8" Dob

[DRT]

I am very pleased to announce that I am now the proud owner of this immaculate 10 year old OO UK 8" Dob, courtesy of an extremely nice gentleman in Bridlington...

 

In true Eric Morley style I am very pleased to announce that the vital statistics are as follows...

 

Advertised as a 1/6th pv it turns out to be closer to 1/7th, with a very encouraging Strehl rating.

I hope to compare it to its younger and more illustrious VX12 1/10th sibling this evening

 

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Derek is this Orion UK number 3?

[John]

Looks great Derek

My 12" F/5.3 had the same focuser on it when I got it. Even though it's a single speed it worked pretty well for my 1st year with the scope.

Hope you get a good 1st light

[DRT]

11 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Derek is this Orion UK number 3?

No, Number 2. The post yesterday was an Orion Optics 8" Dob mount with a SW 200P, which will be up for sale soon

11 minutes ago, John said:

Looks great Derek

My 12" F/5.3 had the same focuser on it when I got it. Even though it's a single speed it worked pretty well for my 1st year with the scope.

Hope you get a good 1st light

Thanks, John. I plan to swap the focuser with the Moonlite CR-2 that is currently on my SW 200P and then sell on the 200P. The OO focuser does look and feel better than a standard SW Crayford so whoever ends up with that will hopefully not be disappointed

 

 

[nightfisher]

Nice...............but not a TAL............runs for cover

[DRT]

17 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Nice...............but not a TAL............runs for cover

I couldn't agree more, Jules. I put it through a scanner and it couldn't detect any plastic whatsoever  

[nightfisher]

sorry for pulling your leg, looks a lovely scope, is it F6?, the good old 8" dob is the workhorse of uk astronomy

[Ricochet]

Given you've got that and the SW200p a side by side comparison of those would be interesting, i.e. If you can actually detect the claimed improvement in optical performance in the OO mirror. 

[DRT]

1 hour ago, nightfisher said:

sorry for pulling your leg, looks a lovely scope, is it F6?, the good old 8" dob is the workhorse of uk astronomy

No worries, Jules, I deserve it for crossing the line with the Talites in another thread

1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

Given you've got that and the SW200p a side by side comparison of those would be interesting, i.e. If you can actually detect the claimed improvement in optical performance in the OO mirror. 

Indeed it will. I plan to test them on M13 and M57 this evening if the clouds clear and will report back.

[DRT]

It was too windy and with lots of fast moving low and high cloud and appalling seeing last night to do a fair comparison but I did look at M13 through all of these scopes with the Ethos 13mm. As you would expect, the VX12 was a country mile ahead of the other two in terms of resolving power. It was a close call between the other two but I did think the stars were slightly clearer in the OO UK 8", although I am happy to admit that could just be personal bias due t my desire for that to be true

I need a clear night to do that again properly.