Jiggy 67

1 hour ago, AstroMuni said:

That is expected. Polaris does move around the clock face through the day. As long as its still moving around at the same distance (radius) from centre of reticle then you are good, as the centre is hopefully centred on True North.

That’s a good point but, if perfectly (which very few will be) aligned Polaris should move around the clock, not inwards as the centre of the polar scope will be bang on the NCP.  More likely to be imperfect pa which would be worse the more imperfect it is. The fact it’s moved so much in an hour makes me think mount instability 

19 minutes ago, wheresthetorch? said:

I have a 2" eyepiece that can't reach focus in my Revelation dob.  Instead of using a focus extender, I just don't put the eyepiece in all the way - just out by about 5mm and it reaches focus.  Might be worth a try.  

That’s what I do with a 30mm ES ep I have. Worth a try, no point in forking out if you don’t need to 

20 minutes ago, Neila1975 said:

to be honest Ive haven't bothered to set the home position (is there any need to?

If you’re using GoTo, an accurate home position is essential, not so much if you’re just tracking 

On 01/02/2021 at 17:36, astrocanito said:

 

Sooner or later people realize that lasers aren't good to collimate (even if they are collimated). Just have to align all and then mess with the focuser screws or move around the laser to see all messed up again.

Might be true of cheap lasers (as it’s true of all things that are cheap) but not true of the better more expensive versions 

I have recently taken delivery of a 100ED after a 3 month wait. I’ve been out twice with it. I’m no expert on the intricacies of refractors. 

 I only do visual and I also have an 8” reflector. I found the 100ED to be excellent visually, no chromatic aberration that I noticed due to the ED glass and it was great on double stars with lovely sharp images. It hasn’t got the aperture of the reflector so, in my light polluted skies, it won’t be my first choice for dso’s but it works perfectly well for visual use and will work well with double stars, planetary nebulae and brighter dso’s........and then you can turn to the dark side and take up AP

This was my first night with the 100 ED

This might sound daft but are you polar aligning with scope and all accessories mounted including the counter weights. If you’re not then when you mount everything, the mount could move and lose alignment 

Sounds like the mount is moving slightly 

9 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi Kon. Sorry to give you false hope mate! We are lucky here in Australia as clear skies are the norm, well at least here in Western Australia. One or two overcast nights and we going nuts! Clear skies 😊

Alright!!.....No need to rub it in!!  😀

Great report. The Eskimo Nebula is a lovely object...as are most planetaries.....I'd be taking a chain saw to that gum tree!!

I would never go back to OO after they allegedly serviced my SW reflector, I’m convinced they never touched it......oh and his parting words when I picked it up....”maybe we’ll see you again with a real scope “....

1 hour ago, domstar said:

As for Wasat, I don't remember it being a particularly difficult split (I've never observed at more than 150x). Just across from that towards the Eskimo Nebula HD 57900 made a real impression on me and needed the best conditions. I can't wait to try them both again.

I’m gonna have to reconfirm Wasat ☹️ and while I’m at it check out HD57900. Good call. It’s actually looking reasonable tonight at the moment 

29 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Great stuff - you can't beat a frac for viewing doubles, esp. the trickier ones (tight; faint secondary).  I'm itching to get out and take on some challenging ones, so during the cloudy period have drawn up lists of targets.  Interesting exercise - I've found a number of errors in CDSA and Haas, and confirmed that many of Sissy Haas's entries are not physical arrangements (not gravitationally bound).  They still look good, but I must admit to a preference for true physical doubles: they have that special extra appeal.

Doug.

Absolutely, optical doubles are nice, there’s no doubt, but gravitationaly bound, true doubles are more interesting. I have my phone with me at the scope so it’s nice to read the science and the facts on SkySafari for a particular object as you are observing it. You’re right about CDSA, I was really surprised to Sigma Orionis named as it was in CDSA

2 minutes ago, John said:

Plus an handling charge of £8 or so I think. That was the 25% that I was on about.

 

That will make it an extra £40 odd on top of the price which is £30 more than the UK price, I'll just have to take it on the chin. I waited 3 months for a scope that I was told 30-40 days so I'm not confident with the lead times retailers are giving at the moment. The industry is in a bad way due to covid, brexit etc, not the retailers fault but I'm not planning to buy anything else any time soon

6 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Better read this https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

20% VAT added on top of that by customs will make it considerably less of a bargain.

Yeh, well you know I said i'm a patient guy........

5 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

, I’m a patient guy and it will arrive when it arrives and it will cost what it costs 😀

........Turns out i'm not!!!.....😀

2 minutes ago, John said:

Is that including the UK import duties / handling charges ?

 

No , VAT pluss 2.5% duty to pay on arrival

20 hours ago, Louis D said:

Astronomics (CN sponsor) just got the 24mm ES-68s back in stock.  Hurry if you want one.

Just ordered from Astronomics in the US, thanks @Louis D.........free shipping!!....strangely,  so total cost - £145, £10 cheaper than UK!!.....bit nervous really, never ordered from the US before

1 minute ago, John said:

It's a shame that the prices are escalating. I sold my mint condition ES 24mm / 68 about 18 months back for £65.00 which included delivery. I think they cost about £110 new back then.

 

 

 

£155 now with a 40-60 day wait from FLO. I’ve looked everywhere on the internet, it’s surprising how few retailers sell them and those that do haven’t got any stock, RVO told me no chance for a couple of months!!! It’s ok, I’m a patient guy and it will arrive when it arrives and it will cost what it costs 😀

Looks amazing!!...Nice music to

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Astronomics (CN sponsor) just got the 24mm ES-68s back in stock.  Hurry if you want one.

If I was in the US I would be all over that!...thanks

2 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Another consideration, at a little more power in a 1.25" format and just as with John, I have to mention TeleVue, would be for an 18.2mm DeLite. This compact lovely eyepiece, yields a pleasant 62 degree apparent field, same glass composition as Delos, relaxed eye relief / eye placement and field stop presentation on subjects. Initially purchased for a winter deep sky reasoning, I have non the less used it quite a lot on backyard lockdown sessions as my starter, wideish field, low power e.p. Mine was as new / second hand from ebay, they do from time to time come up used of course. 

I’m not sure I need that focal length as I have 17.5mm Morpheus which I think covers all or at least most of the advantages you mention but certainly something to keep in mind

35 minutes ago, Louis D said:

If memory serves me correctly, the 24mm ES-68s were often in short supply long before the lock downs put everything in short supply, so be prepared for a long wait.

Yeh, FLO state 40-60 days, I’m not holding my breath though and if it’s likely to take longer I may switch to the TV

4 minutes ago, John said:

I didn't know that the OP wore glasses when observing ?

 

No I don’t wear glasses. I’ve had a good read of the reviews @Louis D posted. There really doesn’t appear to be much between the pan and the ES so l think I’ll go for the ES . Only problem is there is a bit of a wait for these to come into stock. Thanks all for your opinions 

Thanks Saganite, I am leaning that way but that darned pesky @Second Time Around has put the cat amongst the pigeons!!

Hi all,

So I'm in a quandary. I want a low power eyepiece with as wide a fov possible in a 1.25" format. I don't want to go to 2" at this stage, mainly because of filter requirements and I can do without swapping adapters in and out mid session. The eyepiece would be used on both a 200PDS reflector (F5) and a 100ED refractor (F9).

I have settled on two choices:

TV Panoptic 24mm 68 degree ep

Explore Scientific 24mm 68 degree ep

All the figures appear to be very similar, they have similar field stop dimensions, similar eye relief but NOT a similar price, the TV being double the price of the ES. I'm not sure if I want to go down the Televue rabbit hole either.....as I still have a mortgage to pay!!

What are your thoughts?.....Is the quality of the TV worth double the price of the ES?......or is there an alternative?

10 hours ago, cotterless45 said:

For those puzzled by V1030 Orionis, it's sigma Orionis )

Yep, I didn’t realize this so I looked back in my logs and found that I have observed Sigma Orionis previously. This confused me as V1030 is recorded separately In SkySafari with no alternative name of Sigma but Sigma is recorded as well on its own so I looked at the Cambridge Double Star List which records the system as V1030 and no mention of Sigma. They are clearly the same multiple star system and the different catalog names must refer to their constituent stars.....Could be confusing 

Thanks Nick , planetary nebulae are a favorite so looking forward to that

It appears to me that recently, I have only been reporting on double star observing sessions. It is true that I have developed a bit of a love affair with double and multiple star systems, I find them beautiful and very interesting when observed alongside their fact sheet on SkySafari, but that's not the only reason, the fact is that the only real clear skies I have had recently have also been filled with the moon on full beam. The full(ish) moon and my level of light pollution make DSO's pointless so I save them for darker nights.

It is also the case that I have now taken delivery of my first ever refractor, a Sky-Watcher 100ED so Monday night (and an hour on Sunday night) were to be First Light and what better, or easier targets are there to open it up on than multiple star systems. I have to say that I found the scope to be wonderful, a different experience to my 200PDS, displaying beautifully formed stars as sharp points of light. It worked exceptionally well with my Morpheus eyepieces, at all focal lengths, with none of the chromatic aberration associated with fracs, that I noticed anyway. I love this scope, made for evenings like this.

Delta Genimiorium (Wasat)

Very tight double which could only really be split with the 4.5mm Morpheus (X200 mag) Large bright white star with a very small and faint secondary at 11 o’clock. Very close together and could only be split when seeing allowed. A lovely double but quite challenging, I hope i had the correct star because SkySafari reported a much easier split than this!

M45

Thought I would just try the new scope on this. Wonderful sharp image of numerous stars with 17.5mm Morpheus (X51 mag). Bit too close with the 17.5mm so switched to the ES 30mm (X30 mag)(I need to invest in a good low power wide field ep!). The result was stunning! I've struggled to focus this ep in the 200PDS, not enough back focus meaning I have to pull the eyepiece out of the focuser a bit, but no such problems with this scope at F9, the result was an amazing view!!.....though I still need a low power wide field to fit the whole cluster in.

V1030 Orionis

Lovely multiple star system at all focal lengths. Large white star with two companions quite close at 3 o’clock. One faint and small blue/white quite close and a second larger blue/white star x3 distance away. Also visible with 6.5mm (X138 mag) and 4.5mm (X200 mag) is a fourth much fainter and much smaller star at 9 0’clock. SkySafari records this as a double or multiple system without stating how many stars but I could clearly identify it as a quadruple system. Also visible in the same fov at 4.5mm (X200 mag) was a second binary system called HD294272 in the top left corner of view. In the whole field of view, at high magnification, a quadruple system and a binary system........who says double star observing is boring!!

Iota Orionis (Nair al Saif

Bright primary with a clear split to a much fainter and smaller star at 5 o’clock. Rich area with other surrounding stars so unsure which make up the 3rd and4th stars of the quadruple system. Viewed with zoom 8mm (X112 mag)

Epsilon Monocerotis

Nice double, easily split with 14mm (X64 mag) White star with lilac companion at 1 o’clock

Clouds starting rolling in after a couple of hours, by which time my feet were like blocks of ice.......it was very very cold so I called it a night.

Overall, very satisfied with the new scope and the night's observing.