John

Very interesting - I enjoyed that

Famous US mailbox

Not so good here Steve but it's been a bit like that lately Vixen do know how to make a good objective lens I reckon. Not just the glass types used but the figuring and polishing as well

It is either a Skywatcher Explorer 200 or 250PX optical tube on what looks like an EQ5 mount head on what looks like a Bresser tripod. It's not the standard Skywatcher tripod but it should work OK. The 250PX would a bit undermounted on the EQ5 mount though. Might be OK for visual observing. There is a black label under the focuser which will have the specs of the scope printed on it - perhaps the owner could confirm for you ? She might have measured the tube diameter rather than the main mirror diameter which is what defines the aperture. The eyepiece position can be awkward at times when observing with this type of setup but you can, with some care, rotate the scope in the tube rings to help with that. The mount does not look like it has motor drives so you use the manual slow motion controls to track with it. The main thing to check is the condition of the mirror coatings. Ideally they should be very good, clean and bright but slight dust is not an issue. I would have thought £200-£250 might be a fair price if all is in good order ?

Lovely scope Steve A longer version of my Vixen ED102SS.

I enjoyed reading that - thanks for posting it

Vixen made a lot of stuff for Celestron in the past. Scopes, eyepieces and mounts. Way back I owned and used the Celestron 1.25" 32mm Erfle (also circle V). There was a short bodied version of the 2 inch Erfle as well: Many of todays low cost super wide eyepieces are derived from the erfle design.

The 1.25 inch or 2 inch barrel internal diameter restricts the max AFoV regardless of what the specs state. There used to be a 1.25 inch format 32mm Erfle eyepiece under various brandings that claimed a 60 degree AFoV. Once I got my eager hands on one I soon realised that the AFoV was no larger than a 32mm plossl because the field stop could not be any larger. I'd been a little naive to believe the specs If a manufacturer is using a smaller field stop it's likely that is because the optical design would show unacceptable distortion if a wider field stop / AFoV was used. There are examples around where a manufacturer has "pushed" an optical design beyond it's capabilities eg: the Meade 5000 super plossls where they pushed the AFoV out to 60 degrees and the results were not pretty.

Action mans watch !

I've reported a 2nd one as well. There will be others though. From past patterns I'd expect this to crop up frequently for a while as the scammers work through their list of hacked e.bay accounts. This, by the way is a genuine advert from APM Telescopes in Germany who are actually offering this scope for sale on their website and on e.bay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-100-MM-For-1200-MM-Ed-Apochromatic-Lens-Refractor-Telescoping/131977350869?hash=item1eba768ed5:g:AVcAAOSwCNJfLg6Z

While browsing the web, as you do, I came across this website created and maintained by the American Institute of Physics. Some very interesting articles covering the development of thinking on cosmology and the development of tools to study it: https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/cosmology/index.htm Worth an explore on a rainy evening

This is a Peter Drew creation. These are 150mm each I think.

No problem - I've reported the one you spotted as well now. Trouble it, I suspect more will follow

At the third stroke it was three thirty one and forty four seconds

I have a Skywatcher dual axis drive system (non-GOTO) fitted to my Vixen GP mount (which is very similar to the EQ5) and that seems to run for ages from the stock battery pack which comprises of 4 x "D" cell alkaline batteries. For me it's a bonus not to have to have an electric supply out to the mount or use a portable power pack. If you don't feel happy with the stock battery pack then maybe a portable power pack would be a possibility ?: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-7ah.html

Just a quick update on this, for anyone who might be interested. I measured the upright eye cup of the ES 17mm 92 eyepiece more carefully and found that 67mm was the correct diameter. My brother, who has a big box of old photo / video stuff, had a rummage and found an unbranded dust cap of 67mm inside diameter and sent it on to me. It fits pretty well and does not drop off when the eyepiece is turned upside down.

I agree with David. I used to have a Celestron C8 that was probably 20 years or more old. It performed really well. A couple of my current scopes are 14 and 20 years old respectively now but perform as well as the one I bought brand new 4 years ago. If you are happy with it, I'd stick with it.

Lovely coatings on that eye lens ! It's got that "come look in here" appeal

Nice post and sketch David Describes and illustrates very well what I saw last night with my Tak FC100.

Orion will stay the same size but trees can me made smaller

I'll report it again when I get a moment. I suspect it will keep popping up though - they don't seem to give up easily

That would be fun ! I've owned the 3-6mm Nagler zoom twice in the past and also found that I didn't "bond" with it either. A couple of years ago I picked up the 2-4mm version and found that I got on much better with it. Odd really because the two are very, very similar to use The 2-4mm does have half mm click stops rather than 1mm though but that's not a showstopping difference.

It is a magnificent constellation and packed full of interesting targets Those that have joined this hobby over the Summer period and are yet to explore Orion are in for a treat

I had a look at it last night through patchy clouds and it looks the same to me as it always has

Thanks for that information. My dobsonian is a 12 inch Orion Optics F/5.3. I usually prefer using my refractors for double star observing but I will need to try the dobsonian more often on those targets I think.