Been getting a fair stack of clear nights lately and have been out viewing Saturn a fair bit. Last night was the first time I got to use 8 inch dob after whipping together a new dob base and attaching a Moonlite Focuser during yesterday afternoon up at SDM. Had it out last night for a bit of Saturn and a few winter objects. Also gave me a chance to see how the new base improved the scope's usability.
The seeing was very good early in the evening, before rapidly deteriorating to mush a couple of hours after sunset.
Saturn
Very clear and crisp with the 5mm LVW at 240x. Cassini Division easily seen around the ring's ansae as was the Crepe Ring. Some faint banding was seen on the globe. Using a barlowed 8mm for 300x, I was still getting a good, crisp view during steady moments with all of the aforementioned features in clear view as well as the shadow of the rings on the planet.
M20
The dark lanes in the Trifid were readily seen with the 13mm LVW at 92x. The reflection lobe was fainter, being hindered by light pollution.
Omega Centauri
Excellent in the 8mm LVW at 150x. Hundreds of tiny pinpricks covering 3/4s of the FOV, or the entire FOV if you count the outliers. The "owl eyes" were seen.
Centaurus A
because this was a quick session I had no charts with me so no way of star hopping to Centaurus A. So, I used Omega Cen as my launch pad and swung the scope to where I estimated Centaurus A would be. I look through the 13mm EP and what do i see? The galaxy nicely centered! The dark lane was clearly visible but beside it and the two lobes, not much else. Really need to get to some darker skies already!
Eta Carina
Very nice and contrasty in the 13mm at 92x. Seemed to stand out better than usual without using a filter. Tried for the Homunculus at 240x but barely seen...probably washed out due to seeing and maybe not enough aperture to really resolve it.
Antares
Seeing was now quickly going bad, but at 240x was just able to make out the companion amongst the primary's glare.
Initial impressions are positive...the new mount has significantly improved the scope's stability, and the Moonlite focuser is superior to the Astrosystems that preceded it. Very smooth and I gotta say that red is beginning to grow on me
Optically, the scope I think will perform very well, I think it'll be capable of handling it's theoretical limits of magnification on planetary subjects in excellent seeing. And being lightweight 5 minute setup job it'll be used a fair bit methinks
a few pics after its visit to the SDM shop...