I've attached a couple of pics to go with the story. As you can see the Mak OTA is a
lot smaller than the Newt. Maks are very compact scopes. They are much happier and sturdier on EQ mounts than Newts.
Was out with both scopes again tonight but much earlier, right at sunset to catch Jupiter while it's well placed high up in the sky. Seeing was much better, some moments were very good (could have used the resolution of the 12" but that was too much work). Conclusions are the same as I reported above, but better seeing helps both scopes see better.
The Dob gave excellent high power views at 200+x after 10 minutes of high-flow fan cooling the mirror. The Mak really needs a good 30-40min to settle in.
I spent more time with the Dob than the Mak, but I could see quite a bit of detail in the Mak too during periods of good seeing. Funny thing was that after observing with the Dob - watching Jupiter drift along for 20-30 seconds, nudge, repeat - and then going over to the Mak on the tracking mount, I could see the planet drifting across the FOV at the same speed as in the Dob, but in the opposite direction! Of course it was staying still, just my brain playing tricks on me! But it did it every time!
