It’s things like that which make me think perhaps I should have gone into astronomy rather than networking…
You see? They are working their “Reflection” influence on you! And you are in a state of reflection! 
All we are is dust in the wind.
djm
Thanks for posting these, Denny. You’ve rekindled my interest in amateur astronomy, much to my wife’s chagrin. Thanks in part to these pictures, and the write-ups they link to, I just got a new (to me) 8" Orion SkyView Pro Reflector. Great scope. Now if I could just have some dark, clear skies…
Schweeet!
You can see a whole bunch of stuff with an 8" scope. That skyview pro is on a motorized EQ mount right? You could probably mount up a camera or CCD system and get some great shots like this. Even as a reflector goes.
I don’t think Astrophotography is my bag though. The idea of spending 2+ hours trained on an object to maybe get an image isn’t my idea of a swell time. I much rather enjoy hunting downt the faint fuzzies and having my eye to the scope so I’v been looking at the XT-10s for about 4 years now. I think If Im going to go big that I should just suck it up and get the XT12… that new model with the tracking electronics. Now there’s a bucket!
I’ve got to warn you - a 12" fixed-tube Dob is a big scope, and a bear to move. You’ll need - at minimum - a station wagon to move the long tube, and it’s heavy enough you need to get help or be very careful of your back.
I had a 12.5" Meade Dob - very good optically, and it just fit into my compact station wagon, but I got backaches moving it. I eventually ended up scavenging the optics and moving them into a truss structure I had built for them. Takes 10-20 minutes to set up and collimate, but much easier on my back. When I just want a quick look (especially on bright objects like planets), my 6" scope (old XT-6) comes out.
If you want a decent deep sky scope with minimal hassle, the XT-10 is pretty good - just short enough and light enough for easy transport. The XT-12 looks like a great bargain, but you may need a pickup truck to transport it. It’d work quite well in a fixed location, so if you’re in an area well away from urban sky glow please ignore my transportation warnings 
BTW - if you’re in an area with astronomy clubs, many of them offer loaner scopes to their members so you can figure out what you’d like. (My club, the San Jose Astronomical Association, has a great loaner program). A good cheap way to find out what you really want in a scope.
I could never understand the “chasing the fuzzies” bit. It never attracted me. Give me Hubble images or bust.
djm
Don’t get me wrong. the HST images that are all over the net are stunning and awe inspiring. It’s just that producing those images on anything less than about a two meter scope from earth takes a lot of time for each image and then you run the crap shoot of getting the shot just right to begin with.
The pictures are also “detached” from the sky they are taken from. I don’t find that I get as much satisfaction of understanding the size (aparent view) and location of the objects I am searching for when just looking at the photos. Eye-to-the-scope observing just seems a lot more active, than the passive nature of astrophotography to me.
Scott, what you say is absolutely true. I am reading up on gringing my own telescope mirrors. A 2 metre mirror would be beyond my capacity, but a LAST (Large Array of Small Telescopes) consisting of 5-10 x 0.5 metre telescopes, each pointed at the same object, each equipped with CCD, sounds like something more within my capabilities. Mind you, it would be a bitch loading all of them into the car for the weekend.
djm
The one I have has tracking motors, and there’s an available digital setting circle add-on called “intelliscope.” They’ve just come out with a version of this mount with GoTo.
You could probably mount up a camera or CCD system and get some great shots like this. Even as a reflector goes.
I don’t think Astrophotography is my bag though. The idea of spending 2+ hours trained on an object to > maybe > get an image isn’t my idea of a swell time. I much rather enjoy hunting downt the faint fuzzies and having my eye to the scope so I’v been looking at the XT-10s for about 4 years now. I think If Im going to go big that I should just suck it up and get the XT12… that new model with the tracking electronics. Now there’s a bucket!
Big bucket, indeed. Dobs are neat scopes, but I like the ability to track an object, and the possibility of doing some photography. I’m not doing the astrophotography thing yet, but I’d like to give it a whirl sometime. I still haven’t had a good dark night to get a grasp of what the scop can do, although the moon is waning and rising later and later. Maybe tonight, if I’m lucky.
Thanks for the heads up on this. it had been a while since i saw the true dimentions of the XT-12s. 4’10" tube and 26" base. Total weight 81-83lbs depending on if you get the intelliscope version.
I don’t think the weight will get me that much but the ungainliness of the object will make it difficlult to pick up. I don’t imagine that it is too easy for one person to get the intelliscope version back into its mount either. The standard version will be easier here, but I have heard that even with the “correct tension” springs the 12" models have OTA balance problems at extreme angles or with heavy eyepieces.
There is an astronomy club here in Denver that meets once a month if the sky’s not cloudy. Lots of Schmit-Cassigrains, home-made dobs(one guy has an 18 incher about 7 feet long), and apos. Not too many commercial scopes after that. Luckily there is an awesome telescope store here in town that has all the major brands and if you look like a serious buyer, you can check them out in their back lot after dark.
A LAST. Wow! that’s clever. I hadn’t thought of linking a bunch together like the big boys do. What a great idea, and much more practical than trying to grind a 2 meter mirror!
Hey good luck with that!
What a lot of fun. I’m going to have to get my scope out under the sky again soon.