russ.will

I used to have what I'm sure was a Revelation Astro 1.25" Quartz Diagonal, which like many really useful (and cheap for what they were) bits you think you'll never need again, you flog and live to regret years later. I now have mostly 1.25" EPs and one scope that only takes 1.25" accessories - a Skymax 127. I've looked around but can't seem to find what I think I had, even second hand... By the look of it the StellaMira and Founder diagonal seem to be the nearest modern iteration/clone. Or am I wrong? I can remember having a few diagonals back then and never really being able to tell the difference in any repeatable fashion. On the basis that at this price they're all good enough, that I'm not going to spend Baader/Televue money but do like a twistlock EP holder, is there anything better than the Founder 1.25" diagonal at FLO for the money? The fact the green matches the dovetail of the 127 also appeals to the tart in me. Russ

Thank you @Don Pensack @Mr Spock @Louis D @cajen2 for your input. You put me right and a UFF 30mm will be the preferred purchase when the time comes, however... I did buy an ES68 24deg! Why? I saw complete mint Skymax 127 OTA, finder & gag on one of the FB groups and got it for £120. Thus, I suddenly needed the widest AFOV EP that would fit in the 1.25" visual back of the Mak. Now it's here, I realise I forgot I don't own a 1.25" diagonal any more, but that's athread in its own right. Russ

I'm on more of a (self-imposed where astronomy is concerned) budget these days, concentrating my budget in the middle of the range I use most. I was about to spring for the ubiquitous 24mm and/or 30mm UFF as a natural partners to the 12.5 & 17.5mm Morpheus when I reality checked myself. I might get plenty of use out of the 24, but the 30? Forgetting the 24mm for the moment, I used to have a Panaview 32mm way back when. I seem to remember it being a decent little EP, even in an f5 Explorer 200p. A bit dodgy toward the edges, but contrasty and crisp in the middle 60% or so with the big eye lens and ample eye relief being a comfortable view. I'm figuring that in the less testing realm of an f9.8 scope it should be a very capable little EP and more than up to the task, no? Russ

Whilst undoubtedly a good idea and it looks a snug fit, why didn't they just cut it out of black? I'm currently CAD designing an 80mm mask for my Evostar 120 that is the hood cap with a [threaded] mask aperture over which you can screw a 'cell' for Baader solar film, over which you can screw a cap fort the mask and film holder. All it needs is my CAD accuracy to catch up but having 3D printed a really nice fitting cap already it shouldn't be too much work to print for a couple of quid. Russ

Indeed I did. Binoviewers are, to observational astronomy, the equivalent of surround sound to the reproduction of stereo music within a finite budget. A novelty. Unless your budget is Denkmeier + Televue/equivalent (that your eyes work with) save your money and max out on mono viewing. One higher quality channel beats two at half the price. Russ

Both! Russ

It's often said that if you don't know what to print with a 3D printer, buy one, get another hobby and you'll have lots to print. So true. To be fair, as a seasoned loudspeaker DIYer that was never going to be problem, but returning to astronomy after an unplanned layoff (divorce, blah, blah, blah...) and the woefully underdeveloped nature of what we are forced to buy means there are opportunities aplenty to have at it. With necessity being the mother of invention, the things you 'need' to print will not only advance your printing skill set, but also your CAD learning curve. Sure, there's a squillion items to download and print, but that bloke didn't quite nail what I want. To whit: A really poor listing on FB Marketplace meant I bagged an Evostar 120 & Explorer 200p OTAs, an original HEQ5 mount, a couple of Baader Hyperions, a couple of cameras and lord knows how many filters for £300. I told Kay that I was going to flip it all for profit, but I was lying and she knew damn well I was. I just wanted to cover my costs for buying the actual astro stuff I wanted. I wanted a 5" frac. I stupidly let go an AR127L years ago and I missed it. I found a nice Minitower II (which I let go years ago, etc...) inc other goodies just as it got reduced to £350 on UKABS. Dang! Now I've spent £650 and I've got a mount I'm well aware of the shortcomings of. But also remember that for visual, it's a really competent mount with a load carrying ability well beyond it's price IF you know the work-arounds. (Un)tightening the alt axis clutch when cold is a biggy and there's a stupidly expensive variant of the knurled wheel that does it. Or you can print one of these for about £2: Excuse the colour; I only had Prusa PETG in RAL2004 to hand and no, I'm not happy with the seam on the surface (I tried a particular printer setting for a laugh) but as an interference fit, I had to stand on the two to get them to fit. I now have a 110mm diameter alt knob and with the extra leverage that gives, it's exactly as tight or as loose as and when you want it. Result. The other iOptron fail in all generations of Minitower is where to put the handset that I guess that (having failed to provide a reliable and/or quality holder) they will charge you £200 to replace. Later mounts have a rubbish bent metal bracket but on mine, it's a screw you hang it from with the wrist strap. 30 mins of CAD, 80mins of printing and 20p of M4 cap head bolt later, I have this: I also remembered that holding virtually any scope of length whilst mounting/adjusting it's position in the dovetail clamp was a real balancing act. An act almost entirely negated by an actual handle so I did one for about a £1.50. These were all quicky prints at what is analogous to low res settings with filament I had to hand. I actually quite like the orange and I may yet double down on that when I restore/re-spray some of the scratched up white bits on the Evostar. Despite being ginger, Kay doesn't like the orange so it almost certainly will happen. I remember 2001: A Space Odyssey and Space 1999 which both affirm RAL2004 as an astro colour and thus, I am right. YMMV. I modded the handset holder for the 2-screw mount of @garryblueboys Mintower Pro and printed in a silver PLA at a higher res. I think he liked it (could be lying!) but for what I calculate to be a 20p increase in print time, it is a quid well spent for the better finish. If he likes it... Next stop is the obviously absent EP tray and somewhere to to put EP caps that iOptron also forgot. In the meantime, the whole ensemble looks like: Russ

One of the very few EPs I deeply regret selling. Okay, there are few nights when I could run magnifications that high in the scopes I had, but when the air was still... Russ

And thank you Garry for your assistance in securing the Minitower. You'll be pleased to know I've already had it apart, cleaned it up and started printing things to make it 'better'... Russ

More of a re-introduction I suppose; so hello from The Fen Edge and here's a story plus advice from a re-beginner.... I joined SGL about 12 years ago, took advice in the early days, gave some in the later days. I had 12" Dobs (one push and one GOTO) SCTs, two ED fracs and everything in between. I started with BST Starguiders and had a full cases of everything from Televue Delos (meh!) through ES82s (some nice, some meh!) to ES100s (Wow!) Baader classic Orthos (nice if you like touching your eyeball) Televue Plossls (also wow!) and a fair few I've forgotten. Mounts? HEQ5 Pro, Minitower II and the only one that I really miss; an Exos 2 GOTO. Dunno why, other than it just worked. There were others, plus binoviwers and all the other silly stuff you can get sucked into. The I got divorced, moved to a cute and rented mid terrace ex-Victorian converted school house with no garden and sold up. Divorce is an expensive business... Early in Lockdown 1 I bought a Bresser 8" Dob and some Baader Morpheus EPs (wow) but mistakenly parked them at my house in France. That sounds extravagant, but you can buy a 400 year old oak framed granite walled farmhouse for less than the cost of a static caravan on the Norfolk coast and oh my word, is it dark in rural Normandy. However, I get out there 5 weeks a year and it rains a lot. The chances of observing have thus far, been nil. A couple of weeks ago a local(ish) chap listed a pile of stuff for £300 and I took a punt. Evostar 120, a seriously ugly (but perfectly functional) SW 200p Newt, ancient HEQ5 mount, two Baader Hyperions and some super-annuated cameras and a pile of bits that are paying off the layout. I got excited and (re?) bought a Minitower II with upgrades off UKABS because I remembered mine could handle a decent size frac with care. The Evostar 120 cleaned up really nice so I treated it to an Astro Essentials dual-speed focuser and 9x50 StellaLyra RACI finder from FLO. Money out and money in and I'm back in the game with a 5" fraxc and GOTO for £600. It should rain for a month, but it is not. For the first time in the history of the world, I'm on the lawn the day after the last pieces came together with a scope, leveled, cooling and parked ready for action. Went down't pub and came back to find the skies clear and so straight out under a full moon. Well, you cant have everything. So why am I posting this in the 'Welcome' forum? I looked up and realized that due to the intervening six years, I do not know where anything is. It hasn't moved - It's all where it should be, but I'm now a man out of time. Hell, I can't remember if I'm heading into galaxy season or glob season. Indeed, have I missed both? It's a mystery all over again. So, I am a beginner again and that's why I'm posting here however, there is some pre-reincarnation wisdom I should pass on to other fellow beginners that I do remember from last time: 1. A decent 4-5" F9 achro frac and/or 8" F5-6 Newt/Dob are a real sweet spot in terms of VFM. Bigger is not always best for a number of reasons under our unstable UK skies. 2. Yes, mega-bucks EPs are very nice but honestly, you're 99% of the way there under £200. 3. Assuming your scope is suitable, buy some Baader Solar Film and enjoy astronomy under The Sun. The Sun is quite literally the only astro subject that can look different from one hour to the next, not to mention the only star you can observe as anything other than a colorful pin-point. It is fascinating. This means for the first time in my astro journey I'm enjoying astronomy for the sake of it and not worrying about what it could be like for a few $$$ more. As such, the time on the lawn tonight was oh so long overdue and despite the full Moon, glimpsing a distant Mars for the first time in a long while was actually more satisfying than how I used to fret about what I could spend to resolve 2% more detail. Russ

So, I bought a 200p F5 ( not pretty, but works perfectly) an Evostar 120, HEQ5 (Original) with pier adaptor, a couple of Hyperion's, a QHY6, A an Altair guide camera, 2x SW straight through finders, a bunch of average Plossls and a pile of filters (some Baader and some generic) for £300 collected off FB Marketplace. I've owned some or all of that in a previous life, but had retreated from forums in general and therefore upgraditis, to a ES 8" dob and a case of Morpheus EPs. They live in France where the skies are proper dark, but I only get to visit them five weeks a year. You divide that by cloud and full moons... I miss my old ES AR127L and Exos 2 GOTO mount. A 5" frac and GOTO that just works were very usable for quickie sessions between the clouds and given that I'm up at 5:30am most days, gave me more viewing than anything with slabs of glass that needed an hour+ on the lawn first. So, as I'm into this pile of stuff for pennies, I'd like to hold on to the Evostar 120, possibly the Hyperion's too, but I'm looking at this original black HEQ5 and pondering. I mean a well fettled HEQ5 Pro is realistically all you need for observation, but this ain't a Pro and not even a Syntrek. It has the bones of a solid mount, but prehistoric internals and the cost of the Pro upgrade seems a lot, seeing as people then spend money on converting to belts, etc. However, this is a hobby (spending money even if it doesn't make total sense is allowed) and I like tinkering and tuning, so is there a route, however labour intensive that is worth pursuing? I'm also wondering if there's a Raspberry Pi angle as I have them as music streamers, 3D printer/webcam servers, etc. Throw it out there! Russ

Well, I had another couple of hours free of cloud to play tonight and tried out the extension ring with and without the eyecup up. No problems achieving a steady eye position with either, although I preferred it with eyecup up from the point of view of blocking out extraneous light. What it also showed is what easy, relaxing EPs the Morpheus are to spend time looking through. I spent over an hour on the Leo Triplet first through the 17.5 and then the 12.5 probably only removed my eye from either eyepieces a couple of times. Considering what I have spent before, I'm very happy with these little EPs. I have an ES82 24mm arriving as a bit more of a finder EP, so it will be interesting to see how my somewhat distant memories of that line stack up in comparison. Russ

You should sit in that chair and pretend you're Kate Bush Cloudbusting! Russ

Which water butt stand is that on the bottom? Russ PS. that barely qualifies as a 200p anymore!

It came with it. I was expecting and would rather have had the red dot. Flimsy it may be, but the 6x30 is plastic (quite clear though) but back breaking to use! Russ

@johninderbySome questions if I may? Which length Bob's Knobs are they - 35mm? I assume it's the tiny grub screws on the focuser base that allow the focuser to rotate? Did you do anything to ease the action of the base? Russ

Like so many things since I was last passing through these here parts, things have moved on. The trusty SW 200p is still the king of cheap views, but the Bresser makes an exceedingly strong argument for spending a bit more to get a properly equipped and finished scope. It simply feels and operates a lot more expensive than the price difference would suggest. Of course, that does not mean I won't tweek it a bit, but my expectations and wants are very different this time around. Serious amounts of road cycling has joined hi-fi as my joint money-pit, so astronomy expenditure will be focused on value for money rather than doubling budget to chase an extra percent. 8-10" Dobs fit that bill and based on previous experience the extra £100 (is it even that?) for proper bearings, tube rings to help with balance and a very good standard focuser is money worth spending. When I was last about you almost needed to spend double £100 to get shot of that bloody awful SW focuser and now scopes come with this?!?! Russ

Actually, a first light for everything. After a 3 year lay off for one reason or another, my 8" Messier Dob and a brace of Morpheus turned up this morning. First impressions? I would perhaps prefer a millimetre or two of extra depth on the eyecup to assist in keeping eye position constant, but even then it wasn't exact;y an issue. I've struggled with long ER EPs in the past. I did not enjoy my Delos despite them having the eyecup to end all eyecups. Even with that assistance, I felt like I was treading a very fine line between losing view of the field stop and kidney beaning. I spent more time concentrating on using them than relaxing to look through them. Of course, other's mileage varied greatly in this respect and although I wear glasses, I do not need them to view. The Morpheus are bang on for me and from memory the 78deg AFoV (much like my old ES82s) is a very natural viewing experience. I had the Maxvision SWAs and other 68/70deg EPs and found it adequate. I adored my ES100s for many reasons, but mainly because they removed the field stop and what happens near it right out of view; it was just a limitless pool of stars and I also had no trouble with eye position with them. Very relaxing. The Morpheus, on first acquaintance seem to offer ample AFoV, an easy relationship with eye position, are happy in an F6 Newt (as should any EP be) seem to be very colour neutral and do it at a price I would not have believed when I last swam in this pond. I simultaneously overjoyed at the value progress has finally delivered and slightly miffed at the money I spent before. I look forward to spending more time on the lawn with them and hope that the inevitable APM UFF 30mm that seems likely next month delivers on the internet hype like the Morpheus have. Russ

I can't complain. Both it and a pair of Morpheus turned up by 10am this morning, out on the lawn early evening to cool and a quick collimation check. Not much wrong there, so returned after 9pm for first light. Venus a crisp little crescent, then revelled in some moon for the rest of the evening. May add a knob or handle as per John above, because by the time I've added a camping mat dew shield, it's nice to have something to tug it around with.

Yep! Tactical astronomer look is possibly a bit extreme for this side of The Pound though. Russ

Wear them round your chest gun-slinger style. The warmth may keep them from misting up. No? I'll get me coat... Russ

14mm. You decide which one fits your budget. Russ

I'm not one to procrastinate. After a quick play with the FoV calculator, I ordered the Bresser Messier 8" Dobsonian and Morpheus 12.5 & 17.5mm EPs. In concert with the ES Tele Extender, that's magnifications of 70, 97, 139 & 195x - A good coverage. the TFoV of the 17.mm is slightly larger than the supplied 25mm Plossl, so that has no reason to leave the box. I could see an OVL Panaview 26mm joining shortly, just for the 50x wide field/finder view and with the scope being F6 the humble Erfle won't be exposed, They also have a nice big ocular lens and a good twist up eyecup. 20mm eye relief is almost too much for me, but at £69 I may forgive it.