John

I've heard back from Paul at the UKAB&S website. Apparently my IP had been blocked for some reason. He has asked me to check a couple of things and then he will unblock my IP address. Very odd but very helpful from Paul. First time this has happened in all the years I've been using the site. I've not actually logged onto the site to post any adverts for the past 6 months which is a little unusual for me. So hopefully that will be sorted soon. Maybe you need to e.mail Paul, Paul ?

I much prefer very simple, low tech setups that I can put out and bring in within minutes and also move around the garden reasonably easily. I have tried some GOTO / computerised setups in the past but they were not for me so that's why I've stuck with simple dobsonian or alt-azimuth mounted scopes with little or no setup up complexity / time. It's also why I've not gone beyond mobile phone snapshots taken though the eyepiece or snaps of the sky with my DSLR on a tripod. When I've dabbled with imaging through scopes the accompanying power / setup requirements have not been the way I like to do things so I've not pursued that. There is room for a wide range of preferences and approaches in the hobby thank goodness and endless equipment options to support this, budget allowing. The trick is to find the one that works best for you so you keep coming back for more

I got that last week as well and the backup site worked fine. Clearly they have been having some issues there recently. The latest seems more selective though.

Still not working here from either laptop, browser etc. No reply from the webmaster as yet. It was fine yesterday - I posted a number of items for sale !

I'm a big fan of dobsonians having owned them through 6, 8, 10 and now 12 inch apertures over the past couple of decades. I'm purely a visual observer and happy to find stuff myself and track by nudging. I've used up to 400x and more without particular problems and the large aperture at relatively a affordable price really opens up the deep sky. Not shabby on the planets either ! My 12 inch dob takes just a few minutes to pop outside and around 30 mins to cool down. I do use wide field eyepieces which are nice when using a manually tracked scope. Might not be what you want to hear though ?

Not working for me. Tried two laptops with different browsers and Windows versions but does not work on either. Just get a dialogue box citing an IP address issue and the 401 message asking for a logon and password. I didn't do this but I have e.mailed the admins of the website to see what is going on.

I have owned on of those Lunt scopes but I didn't image through it. On question 4, I would suggest that a zoom eyepiece is very useful. I used a 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom with mine but the Baader 8mm - 24mm is also a very good zoom: I used my Lunt 50 on a simple undriven alt-azimuth mount but a tracking mount might be needed if you are imaging with it. Here are links to the zoom eyepieces that I mention: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-zoom-eyepiece.html While the scope is easy to use in terms of viewing with it, observing in H-Alpha does take some practice to be able to tease out the finer details.

I think the left hand one below is actually an 80mm F/5. Another version of the ST80: The right hand one is a clone of the Celestron Travel Scope 70 / Orion GoScope II 70mm Of the two I would much prefer the 80mm if that is in budget. No slow motion controls on either though.

We need more information - can you provide links to them ?

This Cloudynights thread might help a bit Steve: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/634406-all-eyepieces-makes-and-models-that-can-take-tele-vue-dioptrx-lenses/

I'm not sure that this thread will go anywhere positive now so I think it's time to lock it.

I started a thread about them a few weeks back. It got deflected by those who were thinking of making their own version but there might be some useful information in it: I have not as yet purchased or used any of these.

That's where I have my counterweights and they work fine. I realize that the optimum position for them would be on the lower tube opposite the focuser and finder but on my scope the weights would hit the mount uprights so I've put them on top of the tube and they work well:

Thanks Jeremy Phobos should be straightforward at 11th magnitude but less than 1 planet diameter from Mars is going to be even harder than splitting Sirius I think !

Also known as the Orion Versago III: https://www.telescope.com/Orion-VersaGo-III-Micro-Motion-Altazimuth-Mount/p/101903.uts I've seen them at shows but never used them. 365 Astronomy used to sell it as well.

If only it was clear ! When planets have been close to the Moon I've found them outstanding to observe.

Agreed, but most of those are also visible and rather nice without a filter.

Looks like a pseudo-Masuyama to me. The Orion Ultrascopic range included a 15mm which looks identical to the one you posted: 5 elements as I recall. University Optics probably ran a similar range for a while. Also available under Antares, Parks, Celestron brandings a few years back as well. Decent eyepiece.

My understanding is that that the older X-Cel line of eyepieces are not as good as the newer X-Cel LX's but even so the F/10 focal ratio of the SCT should mean even a humble plossl should work well. Some of my best views of Saturn ever were with a Celestron C8 (older one) and an 8mm Tele Vue plossl.

My understanding is that the NBP is a UHC class of filter. My way of thinking about this is that a UHC enhances things which I can already see so that's a "nice to have". The O-III shows me things well that are practically invisible otherwise so that has been a tool that I have always wanted in my tool box. There have been periods when an O-III was my only deep sky filter and I've not really missed not having a UHC. The UHC's that I have now don't get used all that much but the O-III's are regularly used and I would really not want to be without one. I know what I'd be missing Knowing what I do now, the O-III would always be a higher priority for me than a UHC I I found myself with no deep sky filters. That's my findings over the years given my observing preferences, scopes and skies. Yours and others may well be different though

It could be down to the seeing conditions, which have been rather mixed of late. Perhaps they were rather good when you recently had the Baader zoom in use and not so good when the X-Cel 10mm was in use ? I would think that the optical quality of the X-Cel would more or less match that of the Baader zoom. The 5mm and 3.5mm eyepieces will be giving too much magnification to be useful most nights I think.

I've moved this to the imaging section but left a link in the observing section where it was originally posted. Hope that's OK

Lovely mounts and lovely scopes as well. Don't see many DSV mounts over here. Lumicon diagonal as well - another rather unusual item !

General rule is not to shine a torch on your optics !

I am John and I agree with Don ! IMHO nothing is as good on the Veil as a premium quality O-III filter. A UHC helps you to see it when you otherwise might not. A good O-III gives you a target that you can study and explore over multiple sessions.