John

I'm going back to using the barleycorn as a unit of measure. 3 barleycorns = 1 inch. My largest aperture scope is a 36 barleycorn newtonian with a focal length of 191 barleycorns. Apparently the barleycorn still forms the basis of shoe sizes in English speaking countries. I do hope this catches on

Similar experiences here. Very, very occasionally I've seen a touch of pink in M42 as well.

Congrats on the "2 comet" session Neil When I observed these two a few nights back I found Palomar a lot smaller than Atlas but not as faint as the then billed magnitude 12 would have me believe. Hoping to observe tonight so I'll probably have another look at them.

For what it's worth I've never seen any colour in the Veil nebula but the largest aperture scope I've observed it with is 12 inches. Plus I'm 60+ now so colour perception might not be my forte now !

I bought my ED120 Pro (an older, "gold tube" one) from an experienced SGL member many years back and also, from the same member, purchased an excellent Intes made MN61 6 inch F/5.9 maksutov-newtonian. I owned these two scopes for some months comparing them carefully on a range of target types. Eventually I concluded that on the moon and planets both scopes were pretty much equal in capability. On deep sky objects the additional aperture of the mak-newtonian showed a little more but there was not a lot in it. Eventually I decided to stick with the ED120 because it cooled down quite a bit more quickly than the mak-newtonian and was lighter and therefore required a less solid mount. I would imagine (I've not used one) that a good quality 6 inch F/8 newtonian would perform similarly to the 6 inch F/5.9 mak-newt with it's tiny central obstruction but the newt will cool down more quickly. I've been, and continue to be, very happy and impressed my my example of an ED120 refractor as I'm sure I've mentioned many times on the forum. Mine does have a Moonlite focuser upgrade which is a very nice addition. Otherwise it's "stock".

Yep - a Fullerscope "Export Edition" (ie: more deluxe) from around the early 1980's I would think. The mount is the Fullerscopes Mk III equatorial. Steve Collingwood is compiling a history of the company here: https://www.bcftelescopes.co.uk/

One of my favourite setups for the Veil is my 4 inch F/6.5 refractor and the 31mm Nagler hand grenade with an O-III filter. That gives a 3.8 degree true field so the whole of the Veil complex fits in there. Good for the N A Nebula too. There are other great combinations as well though

Exciting stuff ! Looks pretty much vertical as well. I wonder who will get the short straw for the first to approach the landed spaceship ? Not for quite a few hours I would think !

I used to have the 4mm Nirvana (the flat top version again) and found that to be an excellent high power eyepiece.

I've never taken so much interest in venting sequences !

It was such a long time ago (13 years ago, maybe) that I owned the 22T4 that I honestly can't recall I remember it being an easy to use eyepiece with good eye relief and a nice big eye lens to gaze into. One of the first premium eyepieces that I owned.

I'm thinking of having my 12" OO mirror done at some point - can you give me an idea of the cost ? A PM would be fine, if you get a moment

I'm still learning how to make the best of the 17mm ES 92. The 12mm I just could not get on with so I let that one go. I had the 22mm T4 Nagler many years back and liked that one. As we so often say on here (including earlier in this very thread) eyepiece preferences are a very personal thing. What works wonderfully for one person may well be just not suit another at all.

Yes I have used the 130mm F/9.2 on the Skytee. That was on a Berlebach Uni 28 tripod though which adds both height and stability over the stock 1.75 inch tripod. I think a 2 inch steel tripod would be much better than the 1.75 inch one. The difference does not sound much but the 2 inch steel tripods (EQ6 type) are much more solid and taller than the 1.75 inch ones. My 130mm F/9.2 is a little heavier than the Bresser 127L ( a bit over 9kg) but around the same length. The Skytee II did a decent job of carrying the scope but it was not without some vibration at higher magnifications which could take a few seconds to dampen out. Eventually I decided to move the scope to a heavier duty alt-azimuth mount. I have owned a Bresser 127L in the past but not when I had a Skytee II mount so I've not tried the exact pairing. On a 2 inch steel tripod I reckon they would work OK together but I have doubts if the 1.75 inch tripod is used.

Ultra-wide (80+ degrees) and Hyper-wide (90+ degrees) eyepieces do take a bit of getting used to I've found. If you wear glasses when observing the 60 - 76 degree ranges are likely to be more comfortable because their eye relief is usually longer than the wider eyepieces. I used to have a Nirvana 16mm which I quite liked but mine had a different eye cup design to the current version: With the above design the eye cup twists up and down. Maybe the newer design with the folding rubber eyecup (I assume it folds ?) combined with 12mm of eye relief (not all of which is usable) does not help eye positioning ease ?

These are pluck foam inners in Maplin and Jessops cases. Rather than removing the foam chunks, I break the cubes in the shape of the eyepiece then push the block down with the eyepiece being held in place by the case lid foam spikes. After a little time neat depressions form into which the eyepieces fit nicely. If I change my eyepieces (which I used to do often ) the foam blocks can be pulled gently back up and a new depression formed for the new eyepiece. These cases and the foam inners have lasted for years this way. Rather worried that I have a small space in the 1.25 inch case that needs filling

I keep my eyepieces a bit above outside temperature to stop them misting / dewing up. The heat of the eyeball can mist up a cold eyepiece in seconds.

I've just weighed my ED120. The OTA excluding a diagonal and finder but including tube rings, a dovetail bar and the Moonlight focuser comes in at 5.7kg. Hope that helps a bit.

Great report ! The Veil is an absolute favourite of mine as well - a good O-III filter really does bring it to life in a way that no other filter can. Such a lot of detail to see as well - truly a multi-element target and the more you study it, the more you elements can see:

When you say "resolvable" it can be visible as a faint point of light in scopes from 90mm and upwards in aperture. It will not resolve as a disk though, in even the largest telescopes, amateur or professional. Stars are just too far away to be seen as anything other than a point of light.

I'd better dig out my Lunt Herschel Wedge. I've not used it for some time

Are you going to project the image via a laptop screen or similar Mark ?

There are far graver things in this world currently to feel insecure about than telescopes for goodness sake I knew that I'd regret posting in this thread again.

Thanks - I was going to ask the same question but @Laurieast beat me to it !

As I said, I enjoy owning and using them. Plus I've no other plans that need funding currently so I might as well hang onto them.