Visual = Live = Analogue = Retina Busting What is the most impressive place you have ever visited? Maybe a waterfall or a monument? Do you remember everyone around you glued to their phones, taking lots of pictures? A lot of those photos were viewed once and then forgotten. But you still remember that view,…
Month: February 2021
Recommended Star Maps
There is a wealth of fantastic resources on the internet I could only have dreamt of when I had my first telescope in 1968. Phone/table apps None of the printed maps are much use when observing as they are not detailed enough and they are difficult to use when observing at night. That is where…
The Zoom Eyepiece
The “stock” eyepieces that came with my 8″ 200P Dobsonian were great for me to get started. A new owner should definitely get used to them before considering any “upgrade”. For me, the stock 25mm produced good results but the 10mm was dim and I was disappointed with the clarity of what I was seeing.…
Telrad Dew Reduction
The glass of the Telrad is rather a dew magnet. To reduce this I have used these anti-fog wipes and built a dew shield made from an A4 sheet of black foam and some velcro cut into small squares. It is very easy to make and the details for doing this are below. More details
Finder safety harness
The findersope bracket and mount on the Skywatcher 200P has been (presumably) designed so that if the OTA is lifted using it, there is no danger of the finder and bracket becoming detached. The problem is that unless the knurled screw is very tight, there is a danger that in the vertical position, the finder and bracket may…
Carrying the Dobsonian
One of the advantages of the 8” Dobsonian is that it gives good views but at 21kg is not too large or heavy. It still needs moving with care of course. For transportation in a car, I separate the base and place it on the back seat with the feet adjacent to the door. From…
Skywatcher 200P impressions
This was my first telescope since the toy 2″ refractor I owned as a child in the late 1960’s. Since then I’ve just been a naked eye and binocular observer. Why did I choose the Skywatcher 200P Dobsonian? It was ordered at the end of October 2020 and was packaged in two parts. It is…
Navigation with a push to app
Push-to apps use the technology of a smart phone to guide you to targets. Astrohopper is an open source web app that get good user views. It’s more accurate than SkEye. SkEye is an app that like the excellent Stellarium allows you to find objects in the sky. It dispenses with ‘bells and whistles’ so…
Top 500 double stars
A file of over 500 double stars selected and recommended as targets because they are a sight to behold. Double stars make brilliant targets for light polluted skies Download The data file is in a spreadsheet for ease of sorting and modifying in Excel, Google Sheets, Libre Office etc. The fields include object name(s), location…