John

I think the mounting holes are in different places Baz (that one is for Skywatcher type finder bases) so you need something like this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/baader-universal-quick-release-finder-shoe-base.html The elongated mounting slots give you the flexibility to match the mounting holes in the scope tube. There are less expensive ones around than the Baader if you search around.

Any of them could get the Pup but I would think that the 150PL, in good collimation, might be the best bet. My 130mm refractor showed it quite well tonight at 200x and above.

I had a look at 4 Vesta tonight with my 130mm refractor. At magnitude 5.9 it is easily visible in my 9x50 finder and currently forms a convenient pattern with stars between Chertan and Denobola in Leo: It showed as a pale golden spot of light in the scope eyepiece. It's apparent diameter is around half an arc second so no point in trying to see it's disk !. After observing 4 Vesta, while warming up inside, I was prompted to have a look at 3 small specimens from my meteorite collection. These are samples of meteorites from the H.E.D. group, Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite, achondri

Some wonderful lunar views tonight with my 130mm refractor Rich detail of the terrain visible along the terminator of the 97.7% illuminated disk. The Rimae Sirsalis was easy to pick out running for over 400km across and between craters, mountains and plains. A little more challenging was the Rimae Darwin which bisects the crater of that name near the prominent, smooth floored Crüger and eventually appears to join with the Rimae Sirsalis, at right angles to it. The floor and walls of Darwin Crater might be best described as chaotic with a wide mixture of terrain visible besides the Ri

A little milky here but otherwise quite good. Steady for doubles. Sirius B fairly easy to see at 200x +

Hmmm - the Posterior Rille ?

I use eyepieces with apparent fields from 110 degrees to 50 degrees (which is the Nagler 2mm - 4mm zoom in my case) and, yes, the zoom field of view does seem small but it's quite easy to adjust to that even with scopes mounted on undriven alt-azimuth mounts, as all mine are. My "in between" eyepieces in terms of field of view are Tele Vue Delos and Pentax XW's which give you very good optical quality and a decent field of view and comfortable eye relief. With my 130mm refractor I don't use the 100/110 degree eyepieces very much to be honest. The Delos / XW's / Nagler zoom get the bu

I've been through Orion doubles from Rigel to 52 Orionis so far - it's looking good out there ! Alnitak is particularly splendid at 400x

Thanks Paul I've got the 130mm frac out tonight - ideal for lunar exploration !

It's surprising how often that seems to happen !

Well, it's going to be clear, and the scope is out, so why not point a camera at it

I used to use my Vixen 102 F/6.5 refractor on an AZ-4 and it worked very well Nice and portable combination.

Very nice ! There is really not much between these and the Ethos's. I'm sure you have seen the review that I did a while back: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/236613-skywatcher-myriad-100-110-degree-apparent-field-eyepieces/ I understand that optically the Myriad's, Lunt / APM XWA's, Stellavue Optimus and TS XWA's are the same.

Planetary nebulae such as the Eskimo Nebula and The Cats Eye Nebula seem to "survive" under moonlight quite well

Nice idea Here are my early ones from the late 1980's: .956 inch fitting and all fitted into an old cigar box !; And then where I was 11 years ago: quite a step forward:

For "no motors" you seem to have done very well. Around 10 of the Plato craterlets does not seem such a "disaster" to me

It's a great looking scope John I'm looking forward to hearing how it performs. There has been much posted on these scopes under different brandings over the past few years but little in the way of a balanced and comprehensive assessment. If the performance matches it's looks then the current purchase price looks a bargain

2 inch eyepieces can show much larger true fields than 1.25 inch eyepieces of the same focal length. With the 72ED though I wonder if the 2 inch focuser is mainly aimed at imagers ? Baader likes to give lots of options for use with their gear. Generally these options work well but with the Hyperion 1.25 inch eyepieces removing the lower optic assembly leaves an optical set based on the Erfle eyepiece design which can work well with a slow scope (eg: F/10, F/12 etc) but struggle with edge correction in faster scopes, such as the ED72 at F/5.8. As you have the 8mm Hyperion, if you

Without the 1.25 inch nose and the optics within it, the Hyperions (except the 24mm I think) become 22.9mm focal length eyepieces but not terribly well corrected ones. As indicated above, the general feeling is that they are best used as 1.25 inch eyepieces.

As I do. As I said, this was the thinking when I was a Mod. Maybe it's changed now ? There is a part of the forum where such suggestions can be made: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/50-forum-suggestions-bugs-errors-and-foibles/

Sorry I distracted this thread with a picture of a bag of money. It was not mine - my astro budget is practically zero currently. Fortunately I don't actually need or want anything astro-wise just now though Back (sort of) on topic, there are also refractors around that are termed "Super Achromat" just to add to the confusion: I don't think there is any agreed "industry standard" definition of these terms though, no matter how much they are debated on forums like this

I used to have the TV Gibraltar mount on the ash wood tripod, which I think is a bit heavier duty than the Tele Pod ? The Gibraltar was good with a 102mm F/6.5 refractor but was not anywhere near as happy with my 120mm F/7.5 refractor. It was pretty hopeless with a 127mm F/9.4 achromat on board I'm afraid. Normally I really like Tele Vue products but I found the Gibraltar mount I bit underwhelming really.

Great report - thanks for putting it together I've had a lot of enjoyment from similar low cost plossls over the years.

Very interesting piece of equipment. I used to use one with a Leica ASPH zoom lens to get a wide range of powers, provided that I could remember the different spacer combinations ! The optical element on the VIP is very high quality I think. Baader's modular approach to their products allows a lot of flexibility and opportunity for those who like to experiment

Thanks Peter. These cells have no facility for adjusting the tilt or centering of the elements so it's a matter of using tape or similar as a shim to apply tilt. My issues rotate with the objective. Next time that I feel like playing with it I can get the objective out and try rotating one element relative to the other and see what happens.