I have mixed feelings about my 10” dob…

[Alan White]

Nice to see you have come to a decision Victor.

I would not dismiss your Grandparents due to age though,
doing that is more disrespectful than asking to store a telescope with them.
I know at 18 everyone is old to you, I was 18 many years ago and thought the same then too.
Now I am older most folks all are young to me now of course!

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Alan White

[johninderby]

Agree with the above.

Most grandparents love doing things for their grandkids and would probably be pleased that you trust them to look after your telescope. That is if they have room for it of course.

Edited September 22, 2020 by johninderby

[Timebandit]

 

 

Yes ask your grandparents, you will have no sellers regrets then ,like many seem to get on SGL when they sell on a lovely piece of equipment.

Its not like you are asking them to store a 20 or 24  inch Dob in there living room, that would be asking a bit much 😀 

 

 

[Victor Boesen]

10 hours ago, johninderby said:

One thing to keep in mind is that the focuser on the ED100 is not exactly the best and many upgrade to a better one such as the Baader Steeltrack or Moonlite. Perhaps a used Equinox100 if you could find one could be a good choice. Same optics but much nicer with a better focuser, retractable dewshield etc.

I have tried finding an Equinox for some time previously but didn't manage to find one... Those things have become rare!!

[Victor Boesen]

Alright I'll try asking them:)) After all I'm not in a rush to sell the dob so I could definitely keep it around for some time until I've settled on my decisions.

[Alan White]

1 minute ago, Victor Boesen said:

Alright I'll try asking them:)) After all I'm not in a rush to sell the dob so I could definitely keep it around for some time until I've settled on my decisions.

If you don't ask you don't know the answer is my view on things, good call Victor 👍

 

[jonathan]

When it comes to personal attachment to objects that were a part of your life at a certain time, I have quite a few of those objects still hanging around in my life!  I'm terrible when it comes to that sort of thing, always attaching memories and feelings to inanimate objects, but there is another way of looking at it, especially for something as useful or utilitarian as a good working scientific instrument, which is what a telescope is.  You are the current custodian, or owner if you like, but that telescope's journey is just beginning; whether you sell or give it away to someone else or keep it until the day you die, the hope is that it will still be in good usable condition and so it's journey will continue.  It's true, plenty of treasured items do get damaged or thrown away by people who perhaps don't understand or don't take good care of things, all you can do is care for them while they are in your posession.  If you sell a telescope be sure to do it in a place where you can be confident that the buyer is someone like yourself, who will care for the telescope, use it and get the same pleasure and joy from it as you did, then perhaps they will sell it on too, and thus the journey for that item continues.

I had a classic VW Beetle, 1972, I loved it to bits but it was terrible when it came to rust, it had a worn out engine and the heating didn't work very well, but I drove it all over the country and had a lot of fun doing so.  It eventually came to the point where I didn't have the money to fix it anymore so it just sat in the driveway crumbling away, sad and neglected.  I eventually sold it to a guy who worked in a garage so had the skills and the tools to do it justice, he was going to fix it up for his daughter to drive.  I was still very sad to see it go, but the thought that it was continuing on it's journey gave me some relief.  The car I had after that, an old Citroen AX, ended up being collected by the scrap man!  I had no qualms about that one, it wasn't a classic and it wasn't a particularly good car, no real character or personality, and I had to get my hands dirty quite a bit fixing things on it that had worn out because I didn't have the money to pay someone else to do it.

If you regret selling it and later have the desire, money and space for another one then you could always buy one again, it should look and perform just the same.  Money is just money, how you spend it on your hobbies is entirely up to you.  As others have said or implied, it is important sometimes to let go and move on, that applies to objects as well.

Oh, and if you're able to then I would suggest making an effort to get the 10" dob out to a dark site and observe Mars in the next few weeks, what better way to make use of such a capable telescope than to observe Mars at it's best, it won't look this good again until you're well into your 30s, and there are no guarantees that it will look as good even then (could be dust storms obscuring surface details).  You won't get quite as good a view (visually) through a 100mm refractor in my opinion, my 8SE SCT usually beats my 102 triplet APO when it comes to visual on planets.

Edited September 22, 2020 by jonathan

[Erling G-P]

Greetings from a fellow Dane Victor - been an interesting thread to follow    Is your local vendor lyra.dk ?   If not, I'd like to give them my recommendation. Henrik who runs it is a pleasure to deal with, and they seem to have your chosen scope in stock.

[Victor Boesen]

@jonathan Thanks for sharing your story!! I can thoroughly see myself having the same feelings towards certain things, the dob being one of them. I had it out on the 18th september after a long time to look at Mars but I ended up stopping it down to 100mm with an aperture since I felt that gave the most pleasing and stable image. At this aperture it could still do over 200X on Mars and details were crisp and sharp. I actually had my small 72ED out last night on Mars and at 90X, which is my highest magnification I can currently reach with the scope, and I was still very surprised with the amount of detail I could see and I may have spotted clouds on the northern cap with my OIII filter (acting as a blue filter) which images from last night confirm.

If I had easy access to a dark sky then I'd probably not want to sell the dob, but since that's not the case and I rarely get to bring it anywhere then I don't feel like I'm utilizing its true capabilities with regards to deep sky observing. If I could get another scope that I could more easily bring on vacation to my grandparent's bortle 4 sky(which I could with the Evostar), or another dark sky for that matter, then I'd be very happy!

@Erling G-P Hello!! Yes, I've talked to Lyra today, who I assume was Henrik, to figure out a good price for the Evostar and AZ4 mount on a steel tripod. Surprisingly it's one of the only places I've seen the scope in stock!

[RobertI]

21 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

Instead I've basically decided that I'll go for the 100ED,

A great choice Victor and your reasoning is very sound. Another advantage is you’ll never have trouble selling it should you wish to. I had an ED100 on order from a UK supplier back in June, but there was a severe lack of stock of Skywatcher products everywhere (at least in the UK) and after two months of waiting  I cancelled my order and bought an Altair Astro ED120ED-R which was delivered in a couple of days! But it was only down to the stock situation, I would still like to have a go with an ED100. 🙂. 

[Victor Boesen]

1 minute ago, RobertI said:

A great choice Victor and your reasoning is very sound. Another advantage is you’ll never have trouble selling it should you wish to. I had an ED100 on order from a UK supplier back in June, but there was a severe lack of stock of Skywatcher products everywhere (at least in the UK) and after two months of waiting  I cancelled my order and bought an Altair Astro ED120ED-R which was delivered in a couple of days! But it was only down to the stock situation, I would still like to have a go with an ED100. 🙂. 

Thanks!! I've also noticed the delivery time is crazy from UK retailers! Hopefully the local vendor can suggest a decent price for the scope and AZ4 mount. How are you getting along with your Starwave, which I assume is the 102ED-R?? I've read some good things about it, including built quality and the optics but it's a little too expensive for my budget.

[RobertI]

So far the ED-R is great! My first couple of outings were not so good due to poor conditions, and I’ve only used it a couple of times since then but in better conditions. So early days, but I’ve had some nice detailed views of Mars and Jupiter at around 200x and some nice wide field views with my 2” 38mm eyepiece, which can fit the whole Veil complex, so it is versatile ! Build quality is excellent, really can’t fault it on that. I am still finding it’s strengths and weaknesses and it is a learning curve. Obviously 100mm of aperture has its limits but I expect it will surprise me! I’ve got the whole winter of observing to look forward to!  

[Victor Boesen]

7 minutes ago, RobertI said:

So far the ED-R is great! My first couple of outings were not so good due to poor conditions, and I’ve only used it a couple of times since then but in better conditions. So early days, but I’ve had some nice detailed views of Mars and Jupiter at around 200x and some nice wide field views with my 2” 38mm eyepiece, which can fit the whole Veil complex, so it is versatile ! Build quality is excellent, really can’t fault it on that. I am still finding it’s strengths and weaknesses and it is a learning curve. Obviously 100mm of aperture has its limits but I expect it will surprise me! I’ve got the whole winter of observing to look forward to!  

Sounds great!!! I hope that my 4.7mm eyepiece will be sufficient for the 100ED at approx. 190X but if I know the Danish weather good enough I think it'll be plenty;)) Out of curiosity, what 38mm eyepiece are you using?? I have a 2" 24mm 82 degree eyepiece but it's VEEERRRYYY heavy at about 900g...

[RobertI]

If you can see clouds on Mars with your 72mm, then 190x will be more than enough in a 100mm with your eyes! 😆 I use the Panaview 38mm which has 70 degree FOV, it’s big but I don’t think it’s 900g, I’ll weigh it. It does have some distortion in the outer half of the FOV but it’s tolerable and would probably be much better in the F9 ED100 - one advantage of a ‘slower’ scope. 

[Victor Boesen]

2 minutes ago, RobertI said:

If you can see clouds on Mars with your 72mm, then 190x will be more than enough in a 100mm with your eyes! 😆

At least it looked like it with an OIII filter The local vendor actually suggested a Panaview to go with the refractor but I said I already had some eyepieces. Perhaps I could ask them if I could add a 38mm Panaview at a reasonable price;) After all it's a little over 30£ more than from FLO!

It would probably suit the 100ED nice as you say yourself because of the slower focal ratio.... Thanks for recommending!

[mikeDnight]

If you're not too bothered about wide field, a 35mm Baader Eudiascopic is a bit special, as the eye piece almost disappears leaving star fields suspended before your eye.

[Victor Boesen]

4 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

If you're not too bothered about wide field, a 35mm Baader Eudiascopic is a bit special, as the eye piece almost disappears leaving star fields suspended before your eye.

Looks interesting... Whereabouts did you pick it up?? It seems to either be out of production or not in stock a lot of places.

[mikeDnight]

I bought mine from a European supplier but can't remember who. If its out of production, you could put a wanted add out for one. They also come under the brand names of Celestron Ultima, Orion Ultrascopic and Parks Gold. They are very light weight! 

[Victor Boesen]

2 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I bought mine from a European supplier but can't remember who. If its out of production, you could put a wanted add out for one. They also come under the brand names of Celestron Ultima, Orion Ultrascopic and Parks Gold. They are very light weight! 

I'll definitely keep it in mind!! I'm excited to see what the local vendor suggests with regards to price... I don't really know what to expect so I don't want to settle on anything else before I know the price of the required equipment, scope and mount.

[jonathan]

12 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

At least it looked like it with an OIII filter The local vendor actually suggested a Panaview to go with the refractor but I said I already had some eyepieces. Perhaps I could ask them if I could add a 38mm Panaview at a reasonable price;) After all it's a little over 30£ more than from FLO!

It would probably suit the 100ED nice as you say yourself because of the slower focal ratio.... Thanks for recommending!

I have the PanaView as well, it's definitely a go-to eyepiece for wide field (the double cluster in Perseus looks amazing) or something like the moon.  I also really like my 14mm Explore Scientific 82 degrees eyepiece, a very nice one for clusters too.  My PanaView is a heavy beast though, it will upset the scope balance a bit, weighing at least twice or possibly three times as much as a regular eyepiece, so either adjust this or don't use it for too long at a time.  Consider a 2" ND filter if observing the moon or planets, a 2" diagonal should have a filter thread to save you some effort if you might switch eyepieces often when viewing a bright target.

[Victor Boesen]

1 hour ago, jonathan said:

I have the PanaView as well, it's definitely a go-to eyepiece for wide field (the double cluster in Perseus looks amazing) or something like the moon.  I also really like my 14mm Explore Scientific 82 degrees eyepiece, a very nice one for clusters too.  My PanaView is a heavy beast though, it will upset the scope balance a bit, weighing at least twice or possibly three times as much as a regular eyepiece, so either adjust this or don't use it for too long at a time.  Consider a 2" ND filter if observing the moon or planets, a 2" diagonal should have a filter thread to save you some effort if you might switch eyepieces often when viewing a bright target.

I too love my 82 degree ES eyepieces but my 24mm is very heavy at almost 900g. I've also heard very good things about the Baader ND filter for planets and the moon (even as an LP filter) How's your experience with the filter on the moon and planets? I don't know if I should rather get proper color filters for studying specific features of the planets or if a multi purpose filter like the ND filter is the best solution.

[jonathan]

2 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

I too love my 82 degree ES eyepieces but my 24mm is very heavy at almost 900g. I've also heard very good things about the Baader ND filter for planets and the moon (even as an LP filter) How's your experience with the filter on the moon and planets? I don't know if I should rather get proper color filters for studying specific features of the planets or if a multi purpose filter like the ND filter is the best solution.

The Baader 2" ND filter is mostly just for cutting down the brightness, this may enable you to see some detail that was washed out by the brightness before, definitely makes viewing bright objects easier on the eye.  Personally I would only use a 2" ND filter on the moon if I really wanted to use my PanaView 38mm or if I was going to be swapping eyepieces a lot (in a 2" - 1.25" adaptor), most of the time I think better views can be had with 1.25" and even using the front OTA cover if it has a small aperture cap one can remove, anything to reduce the amount of light arriving at the eyepiece.  I don't think refractors usually have this smaller cap, although I think maybe my ST80 did.

I've tried ND filters on Jupiter and Saturn but honestly I think opinion could go either way on their effectiveness.  In recent times I've observed Jupiter and Saturn just fine without any filters, though I read that using a red filter on Mars can help, and maybe a yellow filter on Jupiter.  Probably worth having two or three basic colours and just try them out.  I have an OIII filter which turns the Orion nebula into a fantastic ghostly aparition!  The trapezium stars come through as bright green, and it does help to show some more structure in the nebula clouds; this may also work to some degree for LP, or so I've read.

Not sure about using an ND as LP filter, I've never had one nor needed to when observing bright objects (I am under Bortle 4 skies); local LED street lights are bright and annoying, I can see one or two directly depending on where I stand in the back garden, but I don't think they generate enough LP to be concerned about (unless the target is very low to the horizon).

I'd say definitely have an ND filter at your disposal, whether it is 2" or 1.25", and in addition think about having red, yellow, or blue filters to try on planets.

Edited September 23, 2020 by jonathan

[Victor Boesen]

9 minutes ago, jonathan said:

The Baader 2" ND filter is mostly just for cutting down the brightness, this may enable you to see some detail that was washed out by the brightness before, definitely makes viewing bright objects easier on the eye.  Personally I would only use a 2" ND filter on the moon if I really wanted to use my PanaView 38mm or if I was going to be swapping eyepieces a lot (in a 2" - 1.25" adaptor), most of the time I think better views can be had with 1.25" and even using the front OTA cover if it has a small aperture cap one can remove, anything to reduce the amount of light arriving at the eyepiece.  I don't think refractors usually have this smaller cap, although I think maybe my ST80 did.

I've tried ND filters on Jupiter and Saturn but honestly I think opinion could go either way on their effectiveness.  In recent times I've observed Jupiter and Saturn just fine without any filters, though I read that using a red filter on Mars can help, and maybe a yellow filter on Jupiter.  Probably worth having two or three basic colours and just try them out.  I have an OIII filter which turns the Orion nebula into a fantastic ghostly aparition!  The trapezium stars come through as bright green, and it does help to show some more structure in the nebula clouds; this may also work to some degree for LP, or so I've read.

Not sure about using an ND as LP filter, I've never had one nor needed to when observing bright objects (I am under Bortle 4 skies); local LED street lights are bright and annoying, I can see one or two directly depending on where I stand in the back garden, but I don't think they generate enough LP to be concerned about (unless the target is very low to the horizon).

I'd say definitely have an ND filter at your disposal, whether it is 2" or 1.25", and in addition think about having red, yellow, or blue filters to try on planets.

I tried an OIII filter on Mars a couple days ago and it actually worked decent as a blue filter since the polar cap and event some slight clouds were visible so proper color filters would probably work better. I'll think some more about the filters but I'm still waiting for the vendor to return with a price suggestion for the mount and scope.

[Highburymark]

Great choice Victor - a 4” ED frac is a superb all-round telescope. The supplied SW 2” diagonal is excellent too - I’m not sure that my Baader BBHS diagonal (or any other diagonal) adds very much in performance, so that would be one way to save money. It’s also a nice scope for solar white light with a Herschel wedge - maybe something for the future. Unfortunately the Eudiascopic eyepieces Mike pointed out are all discontinued, though a couple of European dealers still have new stock - in Spain and Norway, but they’re fairly pricey......

[Victor Boesen]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

It’s also a nice scope for solar white light with a Herschel wedge

I totally forgot about that!! I have some spare Baader solar film I could start with. I'd be very interested in doing white light solar observing;)

Thanks for reminding me!