50% bigger doesn't sound much? But a 12" GSO compared with an 8" GSO is more scope than I expected - even though I had seen a few already.
Many thanks to Scott (Tannehill) for deciding not to take his Bintel 12" dob to the USA with him and selling it to me. I picked it up last night. Took the big family car - the EL Ford - to pick it up. OMG, the OTA won't fit across the back seat by a few centimetres
. Before I took off the armrests (
) , a bit of pushing, twisting, moving passenger seat forward and tipping the seat back forward, and I did get it in and the base snuggly in behind it! This is sure going to be a challenge for my little Lancer
How do I break it to my wife that a necessary accessory for the scope is a big new car/wagon??
I'm not even sure the OTA will fit in my trailer if I want to close the lid on it!!
Scott went over the scope with me - showed me the used of more sophisticated collimation tools - eg. an autocollimator. This is a beauty, a real working scope - Scott has had no hesitation to make whatever changes will improve its performance - just the way I like it. I'm looking forward to tinkering further. It's now standing beside the 8", towering over it!
Now, please reassure me that a second-hand equipment purchase is exempt from cloudy sky retribution?
I have to wait until Saturday to get the scope outside and play with it. Sunday evening before I can get some night sky. I look forward to comparing the 12" and 8", well for a while, then I'm afraid my lovely 8" will probably have to hit the IceTrade classifieds
Very happy - thanks Scott.
Eric
