DhamR

Hard to tell the size from a photo, but could it just be an already bright star having a flare up? Only other thought is a weather balloon.

If you can see the colours are straight (i.e. in the same order both ends) from one connector to the other then any RJ12 straight cable bought online should work.

My word the world of wide angle of view lenses is something else. The Nirvana seems quite fussy about eye location and definitely one for seated viewing, but I got the hang of "looking round the corner" to see to the edges of the frame. Seeing was poor and the moon was being a pain but the views of the beehive cluster actually took my breath away, it'll up there with the Plieades now on my list of regular stops. Orion was particularly affected by the moon but I saw more of the nebulosity than I had with the 25mm. The moon, whilst inconvenient took on a more 3D appearance than I'd seen before through the scope. It really added something. Definitely need a lunar/planetary EP now...

Got a "through the clouds" look at the moon and confirmed, it's absolutely not a problem at night time.

Have done a bit of research and found a post on "some website" that explains it really well visually. Also explains that it should be less of an issue when the eye is dark-adapted, as your eye aperture is bigger:

I've received a used Nirvana-ES UWA 16mm today from the classifieds here and it's lovely thing (thank you seller). Have tested it out on a neighbour's roof and the field of view is similar to the 25mm as expected, but so much bigger, much better contrast and colour, and it appears crisper too although hard to tell as I wasn't being too picky about focus when swapping from one to the other. I struggled with what I assume is pupil constriction in daylight though, getting black patches in the opposite side of the view if I moved my eye off-centre or even looked towards the edge of the field (is this what's called kidney-beaning?). Assuming this won't be so bad in the dark, but it was avoidable even if it is, just might not be very good for showing family/friends. Can't wait to get out and use it. Thursday night looks good 🤞

I find the most annoying thing being the need to disconnect from home wifi and 4/5G. Also find I lose phone battery very fast outside in the cold I've been thinking of setting up an old phone purely as a syncan remote, nothing else installed, all services stopped, etc., with just synscan setup.

I use my android phone to control my heritage 150p virtuoso and with brightness down and "vision comfort" on I have no issues with adaptation.

I can get two xcels second hand for the price of two bst's brand new, warranty, box etc. Plus if I go with the starguiders I have my pick of focal lengths. That's the only thing stopping me really. BSTs feel like the unimaginative option though 😂

Struggling for responses from the seller on the Nirvana I've been looking at. Someone else is selling the Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm for a good price though, which is appealing. The UFF was mentioned in here but not the x-cel range. Any thoughts?

This Angle/FoV business ontop of the magnification factor is making my head hurt. I'm using https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=10054|67|||1||&fov[]=10054|68|||1||&fov[]=10054|806|||2||&fov[]=10054|105|||1||&fov[]=10054|806|||1||&fov[]=10054|122|||1||&solar_system=moon to get a feel for the range I'm looking at. 16mm Nirvana Even if the edges are a bit iffy, it'll help finding things, and I feel like the immersion factor is pretty cool. FOV-wise it seems to replace the 25mm that came with the scope, which is my most used EP. Next decision is based on things I'm seeing available second hand really, thinking being I'm not sure how I'll get on with them, so if I buy second hand I shouldn't lose too much cash if I dislike them. Barlow the 16mm Nirvana This (in my head at least) will reduce edge iffiness, and concentrate on the central portion of the EP where it's good, at the cost of light collection, maybe a bit of vignetting. Will it mess up my idea of parfocality? Will I need to rack the focus back in to use the barlow? 8mm Starguider Alternative option - well loved EPs from what I can see, would be a slightly higher power replacement of the 10mm, but mag (ignoring angle of view) sits bang on the barlowed mag of the 16mm Nirvana. You'll also see a 40mm Plossl on there, but only because I've seen one going and wonder what that size exit pupil and light-catching ability would be like.

Definitely seek out the Orion Nebula (M42) if you want to see something other than a dot of light.

Missed this earlier, is it only the edges that suffer at f/5 or across the range?

Thank you, very much appreciated. I like this field view, so whilst I was possibly going to go more mag first this will (with a barlow) be an upgrade on both my existing EPs. Unless anyone can see anything obvious wrong with that approach.

I don't tend to wear glasses when viewing, can't get close enough with my current EPs, so this won't change things from my perspective. Are the edges notably poor? I'm guessing I'd still see a huge improvement from the stock 25mm Super.