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John

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Everything posted by John

  1. John
    The scope is still listed for sale on the APM website. Currently at 7,990 Euros. I've often looked at the APM site so as soon as I saw the ad on e.bay I recognised the scope. It's not as if there are many of them about ! I'm pleased that e.bay acted quickly. That does not always happen.
  2. John
    The Starseeker reflector will potentially show a maximum true field of view twice as large as the Celestron 6SE. Of the three types of scopes you mention, Schmidt-Cassegrain (6SE), Maksutov-Cassegrain (Starseeker 150 mak-cass), and Newtonian (Starseeker 150 Relector), I think the most versatile is the Celestron 6SE though. For both the 6SE and the mak-cass some dew prevention additions, such as a dew shield extension, will be needed.
  3. John
    There are a number of good ranges of eyepieces around today that will do well in your scope. The Tele Vue ranges are designed to work well in fast scopes but there are less expensive alternatives from brands such as Explore Scientific, APM and others that are also very good. I would not rush into this. You will quickly spend more than the scope has cost you if you are not careful ! A decent eyepiece range at a more modest cost are these called BST Starguiders: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html While not quite as good as Naglers or with a field of view quite as wide, for their cost they perform well in most scopes You can get 6 of them for the cost of one Nagler as well !
  4. John
    I have some old Will's cigarette cards from the 1920's and they label a galaxy as a "Spiral Nebula". The text on the reverse shows how little was understood about the nature of these objects then:
  5. John

    Newbie saying hi

    John replied to AMG Dave's topic in Welcome

    Hi and welcome to the forum. Your scope is a good one - well worth getting to know how it works. It has great potential as an observing instrument. There will always be a range of opinions on a forum like this but all are given in good faith and occasionally we all agree I don't currently have a Celestron 8SE but I have come across this movie on setting up one of the smaller models on the same mount so that might help you:
  6. John
    This is a scam listing. This scope is genuinely being sold by APM Telescopes in Germany and on E.Bay at 10x this starting price. This advert has cut and pasted the APM photos and description. Just in case anyone was tempted: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope-Nikon-100-MM-For-1200-MM-Ed-Apochromatic-Lens-Refractor-Telescoping/174523109853?hash=item28a26351dd:g:2E0AAOSwEvJftDtk I have reported it to E.Bay.
  7. John
    Looks like Mordor !
  8. John
    The top mount of the Skytee II really only works with small scopes. If you start adding a lot of counterweighting to the downward facing counterweight bar, it starts to foul the mount body. I hardly ever use the top mounting on my Skytee II. Some folks have modded theirs to add a 2nd side mounting point. Are those the stock dove tail clamps ?. I would be a little wary of mounting a heavy scope on those. Upgrading to an ADM or similar clamp is a good plan, unless the stock clamps have been improved. With upgraded clamps and using the side mounting point, the Skytee II will handle quite a load. This is a 9.5kg 130mm F/9.2 refractor:
  9. John
    The Ethos 21 is 1020g so the ES 17 / 92 is the heaviest that I own.
  10. John
    The OP says that he has not used it or the scope yet. I found that Hyperions (not the zoom) do show quite a bit of outer field astigmatism in faster scopes. Some find this more bothersome than others.
  11. John
    We had an interesting discussion on moon filters last year:
  12. John
    It rules out extended deep sky objects such as galaxies and a number of nebulae types but asterisms, open and globular clusters, planetary nebulae, double stars, asteroids and the planets are still quite accessible in a moonlit sky
  13. John
    The vast majority of the time that I'm observing the moon, I am using quite high magnifications, which has the effect of dimming the brightness of the image making it comfortable to observe for extended periods. I would not start looking for targets that need dark adaptation after observing the moon. Usually because such targets are not at their best anyway when the moon is in the sky !
  14. John
    I've used a 10 inch F/4.8 newtonian on a Giro-type mount which I reckon had a similar capacity to the Losmandy G8. It worked pretty well. It was an Orion Optics newtonian which are a bit lighter than the Bresser or Skywatcher ones.
  15. John
    The 17mm is a bit heavier than the 31N at 1160 grams. The 31N seems to be 200 grams lighter. I've just weighed them both I reckon the 12mm ES is a little lighter than the 17mm.
  16. John
    I observe the moon regularly with my 12 inch dobsonian and don't find the need to use a moon filter If you find it uncomfortable by all means do though. I have a moon filter with me at outreach events in case any one looking though my scope would like to use it.
  17. John
    I've owned both the 17mm and 12mm ES 92's. I still have the 17mm. They are superb optical performers - the best ES eyepieces that I've used (that includes the 20mm 100 ES) and my 17mm fits nicely between the 21mm and 13mm Ethos without giving anything away in performance. I found the 12mm eye placement just didn't suit me as a non-glasses wearer though so I let that one go to a new home. The 17mm is better for me although that took some getting used to. The weight and bulk is the main challenge with these - you do need a good solid focuser / diagonal setup. I'm sure you will enjoy your 12mm 92 Michael
  18. John
    A localised dust storm tends to change / blur the boundaries between the pale and darker areas (the later image below shows a localised dust storm) A more extensive dust storm considerably obscures the darker features across much more of the disk so it basically appears plainer and relatively featureless:
  19. John
    I don't have experience of the Astro Fi 125 but I have owned a couple of other Celestron C5 SCT's and they looked, paintwork apart, exactly the same as the optical tube of the Astro Fi 125 and the specification of the Astro Fi 125 seemed just the same as the other Celestron C5 SCT variants.
  20. John
    At least we were spared a major dust storm at opposition this time around
  21. John
    Sorry Chris - I missed your question yesterday. Yes I would but I didn't have the 17mm Nagler at that time, I had the 13mm Ethos. Having tried an Ethos, I was sold on them ! Good to hear that David Nagler was able to offer some good advice.
  22. John
    I take a similar line with my refractors. I have a 1.25 inch eyepiece set which are mostly used in those. The 82-100 degree monsters are what I use in my 12 inch dobsonian.
  23. John
    The Tele Vue Big barlow is good for newtonians but I understand will not work well in many 2 inch diagonals due to it's length. The Powermates that I've owned have been pretty much flawless in their operation. You just don't know that they are in the light path, apart from the amplified magnification. The stack can get long though !
  24. John
    Here is an example: https://astromart.com/reviews-and-articles/reviews/telescopes/refractors/show/orion-120ed-vs-astro-tech-127edt Both good scopes but the ED doublet did seem to show less CA than the triplet in this case.
  25. John
    Me too.
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