John

28 minutes ago, markse68 said:

That was pretty awesome- had a very nice view this evening in between thin whispy clouds and turbulent atmosphere but at times it was sharp enough to see crisp rings of Saturn and all 4 Galilean  moons- Ganymede and Europa forming a tight double! GRS was facing but not enough clarity even with the ADC to make it out but cloud bands evident. All fitted comfortably in the XW20 fov.  Moon looked lovely if a bit bubbly too.

Took the scope to work as forecast had looked good and found and watched them before they were naked eye visible. Had to put the scope on a table to clear the fence and used a ladder. Showed a few colleagues too who also enjoyed the spectacle  Monday’s not looking good but fingers crossed for Sunday.

Mark

Nice photo !

As John Dobson said:

"...the importance of a telescope is not how big it is, it's not how well made it is, it's how many people less fortunate than you got to look through it...."

Difficult this year and I've missed sharing the views.

24 minutes ago, BS269 said:

Can’t argue with a good deal! Just saving up for an astronomik 2” Oiii filter to aid in my deep space hunting which I’m very excited for! Think it may be a while before I purchase another EP.

The Astronomik Oiii is very good

Just to illustrate the wider field of view that the 2 inch format can deliver, below is the Orion's Sword area with the field diameters marked for the following eyepieces used with your Skywatcher 250 dob:

Green: The Vixen NPL 30mm plossl in the 1.25 inch format.

Yellow: The Explore Scientific 30mm ultra wide angle in the 2 inch format.

Hello and welcome to the forum Nazim

Thanks for sharing your finding technique

Doug has highlighted the main advantage with the 2 inch format - a wider field of view. In an F/4.7 scope though you also need reasonably well corrected eyepieces otherwise the distortion in the outer parts of the field of view, which can be from astigmatism from the eyepiece and / or coma from the newtonian optics, can make you wonder why you bothered investing in the larger field of view

For finding purposes "sharp across the whole field" might not be so important though.

3 minutes ago, BS269 said:

Ooof that is a lovely collection. Sadly way out of my price range though 😂 I was close to going for the ES 100° 20mm but read about the APM being the best bang for buck out there so changed my mind. I’m not sure about their other ranges though so may consider ES 82° if they’re cheaper.

I had the ES 100 / 20 before I had the Ethos 21. The APM / Lunt 100's were not launched then otherwise I may well have decided on one of those at 20mm.

I got an excellent used deal on the Ethos 21 though so could not resist

No chance here this evening due to

Hoping to get another go at them closer to the conjunction itself but the forecast looks rather dodgy. Saturday or Sunday might throw up a chance but I'll have to be on my toes. The 21st itself is not looking good at all.

17 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

Thanks Don! Agree it's easier to use the APMs with the eyecup down, definitely. 

I may order a 7mm XWA this week, that would be 285x in the big scope, ever the optimist for our seeing conditions, but on the right night it will be great for small galaxies, PN, planets, etc in either the 12" or 20" dobs. 

I see APM Germany is showing a 5mm XWA (must be the 4.77) and the 3.5, it would be great to have the entire set, but I doubt I'd ever be able to really use them with our seeing conditions in my 20" dob (f4, 2000mm focal length). The 5mm would be 400x and the 3.5 would be 571x. It fun to think about it though.

The 12" dob might respond a bit better with the shorter focal length to the 5mm, but I'd try the 7mm first.

I appreciate all the information as always Don 👍 I have a friend in the states who just bought a scope, I'll point him in your direction for eyepieces.

 

I'm thinking about the 4.77mm APM for my dob. I had an Ethos 4.7mm for a while and eventually decided that the Pentax XW 5mm was a slightly better performer so I let the Ethos 4.7 go but I think it would be nice to have something of that focal length back in the "big" eyepiece set to save hauling the XW 5mm out of another case.

Actually, that sounds a bit extravagant when I think about it

2 hours ago, BS269 said:

. Makes me want some higher power EPs with large FOV now though! 

That is a slippery slope

This is my 12 inch dob eyepiece case:

The APM 100's are really good as well though. The range of focal lengths available is very useful too

3 hours ago, Dantooine said:

I think I would rather have the 10 Ethos. In fact I would really like to have the 10 Ethos 😁

I believe it is one of the best in the Ethos range. The only one that I have not owned or used as well

Quite a few years ago I picked up a Skywatcher 10 inch dob in fine condition for £100 as a "buy it now" on e.bay. I had to drive about 150 miles round trip to pick it up but it was well worth it.

The owner had not used the scope for some time and had lost interest in the hobby. I think his other half wanted it gone hence the low price - priced for a quick sale, as they say !

My biggest worry with your scope is if an inexperienced owner cleaned the mirror and has left scratches in the coatings. I would prefer a slightly dusty but uncleaned mirror to be honest with you. So check the condition of the mirror carefully before committing.

Great report !

You may well have seen indications of one of M31's dust lanes. I do on a good night here (Bortle 5, mostly here) with my 12 inch dob. The hyperwide 20mm/ 21mm eyepieces are superb for this because you get the image scale and darker background sky AND large true field

I owned the ES 24mm 68 before I moved to a TV Panoptic 24mm. The ES was a very nice eyepiece in my opinion. It was a bit bulkier than the Panoptic but it's optical performance was right up there and it was probably slightly more comfortable to use.

The Baader 8-24 zoom (which I've also owned a couple of) is pretty good in the 20mm - 8mm range but at the longer end the field does seem constricted (it narrows to 44 degrees independantly measured) so you would also need a true wide field like the ES 24 / 68 to compliment it. Get both !

Anyone on here own a Tele Vue Apollo 11mm ?

I know that Don (Pensack) has one but anyone else ?

If you are nervous about handling a 21mm Ethos, the price tag of the Apollo 11 will make things worse

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/tele-vue-apollo-11-special-edition-eyepiece.html

You might think that the small plate had never been on Dave's GP. There is no wear mark on the lug which the 12mm bolt would bear against to hold the latitude angle of the mount

3 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks John,

I actually meant to cut and paste this link..

If you search "Any Vixen GP2 owners here" on the Mounts forum - it's from 2013 I think..

I don't think GPs could be used in Altaz mode, there's no facility for the mount to rotate through 369 degrees horizontally as would usually be the case?

Dave

I think you are right Dave. It was the older SP that could do the alt-az thing.

I've just found a photo of my GP and it did have a plate where those 2 holes are on your mount. One of the latitude adjustment bolts runs though it like the EQ5.

I only sold the mount a few weeks ago and I've forgotten the details of what it looked like already

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

That just sounds like poor stray light control.  Not awful, just not optimal.

SAEP manifests itself as full blown blackouts midway across the field from center to edge in the worst cases or simply as fleeting shadows that cause consternation because you can't get comfortable viewing the image.  In both cases, slight head or eye movements in any direction (left, right, up, down, in, out) cause the shadows to dance around giving a nervous or jittery aspect to the image.  Never does it manifest itself as a halo of light.  It's always a lack of light.

Thanks Louis.

I thought it was odd that the 4mm Radian showed this characteristic quite strongly and the 3mm did not. Either way I prefer the XW's that I now use

20 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks Dave.

I don't think I've seen such a plate on a Vixen GP before.. however I did find this short thread..

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/651821-vixen-gpdx-and-gpd2-latitude-adjustment-bolts-question/&ved=2ahUKEwjc6NDzy9PtAhUKAcAKHQZOB4UQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1Y_QSlbhDmpZK7v6WNaUKz

..it might explain why mine had the two empty (but threaded) holes. I believe they may be M10 size, I will try to guage how deep they are and see if I can source replacements..

Dave

The odd thing is that I've seen that plate on some GP's but not others. I've recently sold a GP but I can't for the life of me recall if it had the plate or not

That "Cloudynights" thread seems to about the GP-DX  / GPD2 mounts which have a different design for the latitude adjustment bolts and their mountings.

Back to the GP mounts, is that plate removed to allow the mount head to be used in alt-azimuth mode ?. (I maybe incorrect on that)

11 minutes ago, Ships and Stars said:

Yes, a substantial weight savings, especially on the 20 vs 21E. I weighed mine but can't remember what the difference was, but it's a fair bit. I'd like a widefield 80 Deg plus APM in the 25-27mm range for its exit pupil at f4, but don't think they do one. Nagler territory!

Since getting the ES 17mm 92, the 21E does not seem so heavy to me now

I think the Ethos 21 - APM 20 / 100 weight difference is 160 grams if their published weights are accurate (they are not always I've noticed).

ES do the 25mm 100 but I've read some very mixed reviews of those

1 hour ago, Ships and Stars said:

I really like my APM 100deg EPs, the 20mm would be my favourite out of all my eyepieces. I have the 20/13/9mm set.

The APMs offer near Ethos (some say equal!) performance at a price that won't make you cry as much if you drop one on the floor. 269EUR for the 20mm APM vs £819.00 for the 21mm Ethos. That's why I sold my 21E and bought the three APMs with the money. I loved the 21E but was a bit nervous using it in the dark. I change eyepieces and filters frequently and rush around a lot when fatigued, so it was only a matter of time before I accidently pinged it off the concrete one night with cold fingers or *gasp* it somehow rolled out of my van at a dark sky spot.

Imagine a walker coming across this strange heavy black and green lump covered in frost, then googling 21mm Ethos...while I was at home sleeping the next morning🤣 The stuff of nightmares!

So that's the main reason I sold the 21E. Lighter as well. My only complaint is that the eyecup isn't as comfortable as the 21mm Ethos I had, a bit too stiff, so you have to push your eye into it to get the full FOV and the 21E had a bit more immersive feel, but that was intensive side by side comparisons. With just the APM I don't think anyone would be upset. 

I would love it if APM made a 23-25mm 100 deg EP, even if the edges weren't perfect, just for larger nebulae.

Anyway, really happy with the APMs. 

They do look nice

I've often wondered if they are optically the same as the Myriad 100's. I think Don Pensack might have confirmed that they were when I asked the question a while back on another forum but I can't remember for sure. I'll have to try and find that thread on there. They look very similar apart from the design of the top section / eye cup.

The clear sky here was a bit after the pair got too low to observe so I missed them tonight

I found that the 4mm Radian showed a sort of halo of light when observing the moon's terminator that extended on the opposite side of the field of view to the illuminated portion of the lunar surface. The 3mm Radian did not seem to show this. Was this SAEP ?

Whatever it was, I moved to Pentax XW's and found them really nice lunar eyepieces. I think the 5mm is my favourite when I'm using my 12 inch F/5.3 dobsonian.

27 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Also got the 12.5/10mm version.

I love them both so very much, had for circa 5 years and I have no intention of changing them. 

Well Steve, it's going to be difficult to find an "upgrade" to the Nav HW's !

A Skytee II on a beefy tripod could handle it. You would need to add tube rings and a dovetail bar to the OTA.

I do grab and go observing mostly and that has been challenging over the past few weeks with most sessions only lasting an hour at best. Goodness knows how folks who have complex setups for imaging are getting anything done

Although it has been an awfully challenging year outside of this hobby, 2020 looked at from an astronomical perspective has been quite a spectacular year with the best comet for over 20 years, the best opposition of Mars (no planet-wide dust storm this time) for many years and a once-in-a-lifetime grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurring right now.

We are going through a difficult period weather-wise just now but there will be better times ahead, I'm sure