It's the BIGGEST telescope I've ever used!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 чер 2023
- In this video, I try out the Sky-Watcher FlexTube 350P GoTo Dob. This monster has a 14" aperture, officially making it the biggest telescope I have ever used!
The Telescope: bit.ly/3CKPoxW
HELPFUL RESOURCES:
Processing Guide: bit.ly/astro-processing
My Equipment: bit.ly/3dOV0cB
Telescope Guide: bit.ly/3HXz9jN
UA-cam GEAR:
Camera: amzn.to/3uQsGz6
Wide-Angle Zoom Lens: amzn.to/3hViIaN
Low-Light Lens: amzn.to/42OI4fu
Microphone: amzn.to/2MIRbgq
FOLLOW ME:
Instagram: / astrobackyard
Twitter: / astrobackyard
Facebook: / astrobackyard
AFFILIATE LINKS:
Some of the links in my video descriptions are affiliate links, which means at no extra cost to you, I will make a small commission if you click them and make a qualifying purchase. - Наука та технологія
I own an 8 inch dob and I specifically bought the non-goto version because most of the time when im looking at the sky, im not looking at anything in particular usually, I just scan the skies and then get dopamine when I completely by accident see a star cluster or something. Also, they are so expensive
Same here, I love to just wander the night skies with my 8" dob with no real plan...
Dopamine from tik tok❌
Dopamine from astronomy√
Would it be worth buying a 6” dob skywatcher its the only one i can find thats second hand, close and cheap.
@@JC-fv6fq 6" Dobs are nice and also more portable, especially if it's cheap and in good condition! More aperture is allways better but a 6" will show you a LOT, especially if you can get away from heavy light pollution. I also have a 130mm (5 inch) tabletop scope that I love too...that one goes to the beach with me, where it gets *really* dark.
Let me recomend a book, John Read's "110 Things to see with a Telescope". It has charts for four seasons, has every Messier item, and details on how to find each one. I am just over a year into astronomy, and bought several books. This one by far is the absolute best!
Cool to see myself in your video! It was great spending the evening hanging out with you guys and Adam. Your hospitality was much appreciated! - Aaron
You too, Aaron! I know Adam was ESPECIALLY glad you were there this year!
@@AstroBackyard 😂 yeah he was ever so grateful! Hope to hang out with you guys again, I’ll bring the libations next time
Hey, what is the event? May I know where I can find the calendar, really want to join you guys!
I used to do my astrophotography (during the end of the film era) at the top of a local mountain called Mt. Pinos, just north of Los Angeles. In order to avoid the crowds, that were growing every year during new moon weekends, I would go during the week and I was often by myself or just a handful of others in an area the size of a football field. One evening this guy pulls up and asks for help unloading his scope from a small trailer. It was a 43" Dob and it was amazing. We had to get to the eyepiece by climbing a good-sized ladder! He got real excited and called me over to look at the tiny smudge of light that was a quasar. His resource said it was few billion light-years distant. Blew my mind! Enjoy your new toy!
You definitely need a nice big scope to see any Quasar. I’ve imaged one with my 8” SCT (3C273) but that’s a relatively easy task compared to visual observation.
Here's a suggestion. Use a shroud to block ambient light. Even in a perfectly dark sky location. My friend was doing live stacking with his camera on his 17.5" dob under very dark skies without the shroud. The image looked good. When he put the shroud on, the background sky immediately got darker, and the contrast increased. The Milky Way was creating light pollution ;^) I've had a Nightsky 16 f4.5 for 25 years and I love it. It's heavy enough to have given me a couple of hernias. I've taken it around the country to various dark sky locations and my best views, by far, were at New Mexico Skies above Mayhill, NM. Unfortunately, they stopped taking guests. From there, I could see detail in bright galaxies that were as good or better than photographs. M31 showed not only the spiral arms distinctly but also showed the billowing nebulosity at the left and right ends. M51 showed the dark lanes in the spiral arms distinctly and also dendritic-like dark threads coming out of the main dark lanes. When it comes to visual observing, dark skies, transparency and altitude are everything. My favorite locations have been, the Grand Canyon, the Texas Star Party and the Okie-Tex Star Party. New Mexico Skies is by far the best of all of these. It would be nice to observe from Hawaii, Chile and the Canary Islands.
Thank you for the suggestion! Kevin from SW suggested a shroud, too, for best performance - just haven't ordered it yet!
@@AstroBackyard The Saxon brands one also fit if you have trouble finding stock
Did you go to the New Mexico Skies Astronomy site? Just outside of Mayhill. I'm from Roswell and I agree, NM skies are amazing with high elevation and low humidity.
@@buffhomer Yes. Fantastic location. And Apache Point at Sunspot is just one mountain away. I enjoyed visiting there also.
I live not too terribly far from Death Valley National Park. I would suggest trying stargazing there, but unfortunately it might not be the best time to do it. At this time of year it can get VERY hot. Especially if you aren't used to 80°+F (27°+C) nights.
Ten minutes video with ZERO space pic 😒 shame😒
Exactly 😅
It was such a cool thing to be able to talk with you and Ash in person. Seeing you filming and working on this video all day last weekend, then watching the final product today really inspired me to work hard to share the special moments in this hobby with the world. You guys are awesome.
I've got the same 14'' scope, just not a goto. Which I do enjoy as it forces me to look for my objects. I remember the first time I used it, seeing Omega Centuari happened to come across my gaze. The wonder you get from it all...largely thanks to the light buckets size and ability to show more details.
It was awesome meeting you again Trevor! Thank you for the mention! Meeting so many like-minded individuals who appreciate the night sky was amazing! The astro community truly is out of this world 💫🌌. No pun intended.
It's nice that your wife gets involved. Nice place, nice telescopes. You've got it all.
I LITERALLY just bought the 300P 12" and am going to set it up and look through it for the first time this weekend. I am SO PUMPED!
Good to see you do a review on a Dob. I have always been an astronomy buff. My first telescope was a 6 inch Edmund reflector on a german equatorial mount. My Dad bought me that because as a 11 year old, I was already interested in astronomy. I would drag that outside each clear night to explore the night sky. As an adult, I switched to using Dobsonian telescopes to observe. They are more portable and the mount of my six inch scope was no longer functional. I now have an 10 inch and 16 inch Dobsonian scopes for my visual. I despised goto mounts because half the fun was searching for objects in the sky using star charts and the telescope. Recently, I have taken up astrophotography and I realized i needed one of those goto mounts. A shift in my hobby can quickly change my mind those goto mounts.
When I was younger I ordered a mirror from Coulter and a kit and built a 17.5 dob. Like yours they are nice telescopes. Thanks for
the video. I rolled mine out of a storage building at home and hauled it around with a enclosed trailer.
I had a 13.1" Coulter Odyssey back in the 90's. It was a Beast! Eventually sold it as it was too heavy to keep moving around. The views through it were AMAZING!
Nice one Trevor, glad to see yet another picking up this scope.
By the way, with the Synscan GoTo, it's possible to set up a satellite tracker for ISS imaging. I've used it on my 400P 16" and it's a bit of a pain to setup, but the views of the station beat out the likes of Saturn easily - well worth a shot!
Thank you! Wow, I didn't realize that - I can finally take a better picture of the ISS!
7:38 "Honestly, anything over 8 inches is a big commitment."
Nice telescope!
When I purchased my 16" Dob a decade ago, the first thing I did was also snap a photo of my wife standing next to it! Then I built an outdoor shed to store it in and a cart to haul it around with so I wouldn't have to take it apart.
If it has goto tracking, you can do astrophotography with it. Many experts warn against this due to field rotation, but it can be done by limiting exposures to 20 seconds and compensating for field rotation by turning the camera. Even if you only have a tracking alt azimuth or a dobson like this, you can still take great DSO images, even if it requires more dedication and perseverence
My first telescope was the 12 inch version. I had a blast with it but it was a pain setting up.
Very cool. Perfect description of this scope!
I built my own 15" f4.5 Truss Dobsonian years ago and added the StellarCat GoTo Tracking system to it a few years after I built it. I recently converted my 20" f3.6 Explore Scientific Truss Dobsonian to a StellarCat GoTo Tracking system as well, running both with Nexus DSC Pro computers. Both are a bit of a lug to set up, but tracking with aperture is much better for staying on the eyepiece to allow your eye to pick up the subtle details of the object. It is hard to go back once you use a big, tracking dob.
I used to have a Coulter Optical 17 incher. Amazing seeing. Lately I've been obsessed with the Obsession 22 inch ultra-compact.
How do you like the ultra compact? I hear it shakes a bit when windy.
This is a great video helps me learn more about telescopes. Especially me not having the money for even a 400 dollar telescope, I like dreaming about them though.
I thought my 18" f4.5 Dob was big, but then you look through a 30"... Aperture fever is real 😂 That said, in theory, even a 12" will detect just about everything published in any deep sky atlas. But when you get to see the central star of M57, and realise it's blue - only aperture can do that.
So great to see you both! Was so fun to see this scope. Awesome video.
My first scope was also a push to 😅. 8” Dob.
I recently sold my 12 inch version, had a blast with it for quite a few years , fantastic visual scope and like you will see great for solar system imaging.....have fun.
As always, love ALL of your videos, but especially this one because I make an appearance! It was great briefly meeting you and Ash in person, and I look forward to chatting with you more next time around! Thanks for inspiring me to dive into this hobby - one that I'm sure will last me a lifetime. :)
Was so great meeting you and Ashley! Thanks so much for stopping by the CCTS booth!
Frank!! Great meeting you too, man. Matt was pretty amazed that you were able to fix his telescope, too!
I must say... That is the ONLY ceramic tiled garage I've ever seen! 😎
It's a monster!
You are more of a photographer, so what you say may not necessarily apply to lightweight truss tube Dobsonians. I will be getting a 414/1868mm truss tube Dobsonian in July. The mirror was ground by an expert, and the tube was
built by the owner with Martini altitude wheels. The mirror weighs 7kg, 12kg with the mirror box, and the entire system weighs about 36kg. It is still easy to transport and set up alone without tools.
My 10 pens to the topic of "goto," mine has digital readouts and endconder, similar to push-to, but actually a Telrad is sufficient. Tracking is not necessary even at 320x magnification due to its good mechanics, but I will be adding an equatorial platform underneath for planetary photography. Since I occasionally observe with guests from the region, it is more convenient.
Clear skies from germany Felix
14" dobs are nice and portable. I enjoy my 14" f4.7 at Cherry Springs, PA. However the universe OPENS up with my 22" f4 dob
Thank you so much for putting me in the video. This experience meant everything to me Trevor. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and many others🫶
A nice 14" Dobsonian is on my long-term wish list, thank you for getting this one and sharing the experience. Looking forward to your planetary images.
We are relocating near Pennsylvania so I hope to get to that star party too!
That’s my primary scope! I love lugging it to the Grand Staircase to observe the Great Wall from Leo to Coma Berenices…. Only drawback is you need to wiggle it around after setup to make sure the extenders are in position, otherwise it can abrupt pop out of collimation.
I designed and built a removable wheelbarrel style attachment for my 14” since it weighs 148# fully assembled. I leave the entire base and primary mirror assembly together and with a wooden ramp I built I just wheel it into my Nissan pathfinder and have the secondary mirror assembly and 4 trusses in carry bags. I can roll it out of my vehicle and in 10 mins have setup and performing a collomination. Without designing that integrated wheelbarrel assembly I never would have been able to get a scope that big but I set it up faster than most guys who have 9” SCTs😬
Having transported and setup a 16" Sky-Watcher DOB a few times this winter... I know what you mean! We had an 8" and 16" DOB in the back of a GMC Yukon. Took up the whole back area and left zero room for our bags!
Damn! Missed you again! I was one of the many who didn't know that CSSP would be sold out in THREE DAYS! Sorry the star party was such a washout. Glad you got one night in, though. So, crossing over to the dark side, are we? Never thought I'd see you with a visual scope! LOL! Good luck with the Canadian Star Party later this summer. Maybe you'll make BFSP? If so, I'll see you there! Keep up the great work, Trevor!
Still on my first scope; it's a 114/500. I'm about three weeks away from ordering a 10" dob (apertura ad10), and I'm really excited to see what such a large scope can show me. I just don't have the frame of reference for what a 14" can show.
So want more of this. Would love to see some photos through this beast.
It would be interesting to see you get your hands on a Sky-Watcher Starlux 190 mm Maksutov-Newtonian on an equatorial mount. Excellent aperture, relatively fast at F5.3, and built-in field correction. Somewhat like an SCT, I suppose, but different enough it would be interesting to investigate and use. Might be the best all-around scope out there, considering aperture size, speed, field correction, cost, and ability to view or photograph equally well.
Great Video! My Wife has this scope in the 10" version. the Optics are incredible and also with the secondary focal position, it will focus with my stereo ocular. 🔭👍
Cool scope! Star parties are always a blast!
Surprised there is not a mass produced ultra compact dob on the market yet.
It was awesome meeting you and talking at the Cherry Springs Star Party! (I was the one who mentioned using per-channel deconvolution as a way to handle chromatic aberration from an achromat--and attached two cameras to a Star Adventurer)
Fantastic images of the exterior of the telescope, great selfies and video of transport and unboxing. Great images of the star party, campsite and grassy fields. Gee, I wonder what stars, galaxies, planets and other celestial bodies look like through the 350P.
Thanks for your video. I used to take astrophotographs of the night sky, back in the pre-digital era. It required a whole dark room, film processing chemicals, enlarger after the night of pictures. Long half hour tracking and exposures. After I got married, didn’t do it as often. All back in the last century.
Since then I’ve retired to the high desert and have been thinking of a Dobsonian light bucket. I still have the Takahashi parabolic mirrored reflector, but not the camera or darkroom anymore. I have to figure out how to stack photos and do the photoshop things, and how to mount a digital camera on my telescope. Its mount is still working great with 4 D batteries but no goto capability. That came well after when I bought my telescope.
I didn’t do much with it when my wife got sick and when I lived in a large city.
Last few times out with my scope I was having a hard time contorting my old bones to find some targets through the spotting scope. But I can usually see the Milky Way even with a half moon. Nice dark skies outside my front door. Maybe I should build an observatory for a big light bucket. Yours looked nice, 14”. I wonder how big a 24” would be. Might need a ladder for it.
Always enjoy your videos, been following pretty much since the beginning. Great video but...how were the views through the eyepiece?
Thanks Trevor. Awesome scope. Looking forward to future pics. Had a sneak peak on Daylons channel. What fun.
Hello, Mr. Backyard;
I wish you would try to photo a few DSOs w/ the 14", just to see how well it works.
I wouldn't expect it to do as well as a refractor for astrophotos but it may do well enough.
Well enough that we viewers can get an idea of a star cluster or a nebula or a galaxy.
But in any case, "THANK YOU!", for sharing.
Have a GREAT day, & clear skies, Neighbor!
Brilliant video and excellent editing!
Love all the great shots of stars and planets, really good image, might pick this up
You seriously made this video without showing any pictures!!
I’ve had a 14” DOB for several years and always bring it to my Club’s outreach events. It happens to be the biggest scope in our Club and the line to look through it is never ending at these events. I’m also one of those guys you find on CN who does night vision astronomy. If you the view is amazing through the 14” with a glass EP you should see the universe through a 14” with an NVD attached to a 10mm or 7mm Televue. The first time I showed someone the ring nebulae or Orion or even M15 they thought they were looking through Hubble 😎. The love my WO GT81 for AP but aperture is everything in visual!
NVD only comes in white phosphor and green colors, correct?
@@knight2255 that is true only for what is available to civilians
Even with the green NVDs the views are so amazing you quickly ingore the fact that the universe has a green tint to it, it’s really no big deal and with the ability to get a WP tube even that minor effect is gone
Wow a wife who helps you build a dob, thats the most amazing thing here for me!
I have the (non motorised) 12". Bought it about 10 years ago, the shroud is completely disintegrated :) I loved my 10" more because I could take it places. The 12" is larger than my self-motivation to lug it along xD.
Amazing video trevor as always. Wishxi couldve been there myself but a bit far from AB unfortunately. Hopefully one day!
I just got a 8 inch 200p newton. That 14 inch must be enourmus
I have the 12" and Kevin is right...The base on the 300p isn't something you lug round unless you are young and have a van! Be interested to see how you get on with the AIR in video mode as mine suffers with interference patterns and is almost impossible to use.
I had this exact scope, just 12 in. Good value but the size and weight made it a pain to lug back and forth. A laser collimator device was helpful. I think the mount was the weak point as there was a lot of play when slewing across the sky. And of course, with an azimuthal mount, it wasn’t appropriate for photography.
Great video! and congrats on the scope; it's going to be a beast for planetary and Lunar imaging, and maybe ISS flyby's. You'll probably want a light shroud before long to reduce stray light and reduce the dew on the secondary mirror though.
Cool video work!
Thank you both for a fun review. Don’t over do that lifting our good Astro friend.
Congrats on the big 'scope! Visual observing is my jam.
Thanks so much for taking the time to video the star party, I really felt I was there through your video. Keep up the great vids.......or
Wow! That’s a beast Trevor! Not the most portable rig! Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦
Dude lovely scope. I have one! They are surprisingly good at planetary imaging. Will probably be your best scope for Jupiter this year 👍
I have the manual 250P, great scope. I also took some pretty cool images of the ISS with it (manually tracked in video mode).
Can you look at the zenith with that scope with your feet on the ground, not a step or ladder? That was the reason I stopped at my 13.1" dob. I stop the van, take out the rocker box, extract the tube and place it on the rocker bearings, clip on the Telrad, insert eyepiece, oh yeah, shut the door and I'm observing! The poor guy with the equatorial mount is still wrestling with the inherently unbalanced mount and a tube assembly that's just too heavy when you have to lift it to the level of your shoulders or maybe just a bit below. THEN he has to polar align. By the time he's done I've been observing for half an hour. There's beauty in curbing your ambition and "settling" for a 13 or 14" scope.
I know you and a few other U tubers are considered the best individuals teaching and demonstrating astrophotography methods and testing new gear. I am a fan and appreciate all the help and advice you and others provide us who are learning this hobby. I asked this question also to the “lazy geek”…how come none of you have tested the new AWO ASI 2600 DUO camera? I am considering an ASI 2600 but would go with the DUO if I had solid advice from you and other astrophotographer pro’s that the camera can provide great guiding and excellent photos as demonstrated by the 2600 Pro’s. Thank you for all your help along the way. I love the excitement of photographing the reality of the night sky.
you should mount that in the observatory, it would look insane
I had a 10-inch Dob and the views were awesome.
Great review, as always. Is goto accurate enough to track the objects during few minutes? Could you provide the OTA weight and the base weight? I am thinking of buying this telescope. Thank you & kind regards from Spain.
_Really_ liked this video! This was the deal-breaker, and I bought mine (the 350P -with a shroud) the same evening -after some negotiation with the GF... 😅 Any suggestions what lenses etc. I should be looking at (in addition to the OOB ones)..?
Even my 10" Skyline manual dob is a PITA to drag up from the basement, transport and set-up. I'm tentatively planning on bringing it to the Manitoulin Eco Park later this summer, which would be the first time it's been used in six or so months. Otherwise I have my 4" apo refractor on my permanent pier at home that I use virtually every clear night.
10 minutes of video and not a single picture of a planet ...
Thanks for this, imagine not sharing a sine picture.
Keep dipping your feet into visual, after all you've done with astrophotography ( I believe you started right out of the gate?) I went big in the start of the 90's with a 10in. F-6.3 SCT (somewhat rare, still have it (disassembled) when we tracked by hand on the controller with off the shelf film or hypered film! Now it's easier AND harder to capture amazing results, but the time involved can be daunting! I slowly wound down to simply plying the sky with smaller wide field instruments ( 80mm, -104mm, 150mm and an excellent Zhumell 8in. Dob and can't be happier! Full circle achieved!
I have a 16” f/4.45. Plus at my star party in chiefland FL where Tom Clark founder of Tectron he has a 36” and in his Dome a 42” dob. Where i use to go for deep sky astronomy a 16” scopes were considered medium size scopes.
Awesome!!
I cant wait to see EAA dso images with it
Has the Go-To function been working well for you? Appreciate your videos.
Damn dude ! Nice editing
Hi Trevor, I have the 16" version of the same scope. I have been able to capture some nice DSO shots with this scope. So you can image more than just the Moon and Planets. Good luck with your setup. Cs
Cannot wait to see the amazing pictures that youll get from this
This is awesome!! If you are ever in NC, you're welcome out to the farm anytime. We are designing an observatory for the island in our 5 acre pond. Keep up the great videos!
Dobsonian RULE as big telescopes. The mount is included, saving huge!
Refractors over 4" or 6" are prohibitively expensive. SCTs are nearly so, but need big mounts.
I own binos, 2 small APO refractors, and a SCT .... I'm missing the Dobs.
If I lived in a dark site, I'd own one.
Nice video!
That eyepiece alone will give you great views!
Have looked through 1 on the past was amazing , with my back not possible to use anything bigger than a 8 in don
Hi Trevor! I have a skywatcher 200p solid tube , i use it for astrophotography, i have a homemade equatorial platform which is have a bit of "target bouncing" , the tracking accuracy will be repaired soon.Will you use this dob for astrophotography because its possible with it .
I use small refractors for Astrophotography just like you but for visual in dark skies I have a Meade 16 inch Light-bridge scope. It woks especially well with globular clusters. M13 is unbelievable . I feel like I am in the cluster.
Tha design approach of Sky-Watcher is a bit of a hybrid between the classic solid-tube dobs and the light-weight truss-tube designs. I have an 18" truss-tube and it can be loaded to, offloaded from the car and set up alone no problem.
I enjoyed the edit and B role at the beginning nice 1
When I was in my early twenties long time ago, used to have a 10” Newtonian, mounted in a shed, myfather put shed on rails and cut it in half, so when viewing just rolled both parts of shed apart, got a small reflector now, but looking to get possible a 6” refractor, when I was young the biggest usable refractor was a 3” but was very expensive, how times have changed, especially with the optics.
Thanks for all your videos, I love the content. This is very off topic.What is approbate star party etiquette? Would BBQ grills be frowned upon from a smoke perspective? It would be prior to dark sky but I understand people may be setting up.
Nice video again ❤
You are sp cool bro in imaging and telescope collection. Keep it up forever bro ❤
Thanks for the video. I have been looking at the 8" version of this scope to do both visual and astrophotography from. Would love your thoughts on this. Thanks again!
It is my pleasure, Frank! The 8" version is a much more practical option - and still plenty of aperture for great views and planetary images
And it looks like no ladder needed! I like that.
Very cool! Did you ever try the space station again?
My first Dob was a 10 inch model. It was GSO pro Dob 10. Its still serving me
What are you using instead of “ dark skies” since the app is no longer available for iOS?
I use the 300p version, without goto, and it's a really good telescope. I have not regret !
Go big or go home. There's nothing better than a big dob. Later this year I'm hoping to start building a 16" truss dob with a tracking platform. Going to mount my Starsense explorer dock on the mirror box to act as a DSC system.
Awesome how much and where did you get it from