John

Nice job 🙂

I'll look forward to seeing it in action when the Red Bull Soapbox challenge comes to Somerset 😁

Some good advice already provided.

I'll just add that, of the ones that I've owned, the ones that had the most impact visually have been UHC and O-III filters (especially the latter on certain targets) branded Astronomik, DGM and Lumicon (an early one). The Tele Vue Bandmate Type 2 have also developed a very good reputation.

Some lower cost filters that I've tried have much less impact. One exception to that is the Orion Ultrablock (a UHC type) but I'm told those can be variable.

5 minutes ago, osbourne one-nil said:

I don't look through a telescope unless I'm wearing a lab coat. This stuff matters!

Agreed. One of these gentlemen is not taking things seriously enough !:

7 hours ago, bosun21 said:

My 17.5mm Morpheus is my most used eyepiece. I always start my observing sessions with it and then decide whether to increase or decrease the magnification for a given target. I just wish that they made a 24mm in the range.

In the 1.25 inch format I skip straight from 24mm (Panoptic) to 14mm (Delos) so 17mm (I had the 17.3 Delos for a while) gathered more dust than photons, sadly.

Similarly with my 2 inch eyepieces, I find the step from 21mm (Ethos) to 13mm (Ethos) worked well for me so I ended up parting with the 17mm Ethos and later with the 17mm ES 92 as well.

Nothing wrong with those ~17mm eyepieces of course, they were excellent. They just didn't fit into my observing approach or scope range.

I don't tend to hang on to stuff that is not getting used.

5 minutes ago, Elp said:

I think a lot of people lament spending significant amount of funds on equipment they can hardly use. It's no good sitting there indoors.

I suppose that is a good reason to post reports on SGL when you do get a chance to use the kit. Then at least you can look back and realise how good it is when a chance does come along to use it. 

A few weeks back (last time there was any clear sky 🙄) I observed Jupiter with my Tak 100mm and, rather unusually, made a couple of sketches of what I could see. During the cloudy weather we have had since then I can at least look at those from time to time and remind myself what that long white tube shaped thing in the cupboard can actually do when it gets the chance 😁

I've had regrets about a few things that I've parted with over the years. In some cases enough to make me re-buy them. Usually (with just a couple of exceptions) though I realise why I parted with the original one and then end up selling on the 2nd one as well after a short time 🙄

I think I have even bought and sold a couple of items 3 times before finally realising that I could actually live without them after all !

Overall though, I probably have the best quality equipment now that I have ever had so I'm content to have let a few things get away to be more appreciated elsewhere.

1 hour ago, Epick Crom said:

Ok, I know most of the astronomers on here can't see this but let me describe my observing session in Carina last night. This is an incredibly rich southern constellation which contains some real heavy hitters! Last night I observed:

1. NGC 2516 "The Diamond Cluster"

Rich and bright open cluster, visible naked eye even from my bortle 6 backyard. Also know as the running man. Beautiful.

2. NGC 3114

Another bright and audacious open cluster, many 6th magnitude stars arranged in a whirlpool shape.

3. NGC 3372 " Eta Carina Nebula"

A wonderful bright nebula. A massive dark lane cuts right across it. It is studded with several bright open clusters and the star Eta Carinae lies almost at its centre. Eta Carinae itself is surrounded by an outburst of vivid orange gas known as the Homunculus Nebula. The whole region is stunning visually.

4. NGC 3293 " Gem Cluster"

A beautiful, small and compact open cluster, bright. Red and yellow stars at its centre surrounded by a swarm of blue white stars. 

5. NGC 3532 " The Football Cluster"

Also known as the Wishing Well cluster. Think M7 on steroids! This is a very bright, naked eye open cluster, very rich. The finest open cluster in the entire night sky in my opinion.

 

I hope my brief descriptions help you visualise these objects in your minds eye, same as I do when you guys describe the northern showpiece objects that can't be seen from here ( such as the Double Cluster)

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Thats a lovely report Joe. I do hope to get down to southern skies again in the not too distant future. Your reports act as further motivation for such a trip 😁

10 minutes ago, LondonNeil said:

If its still there,  add it to your watch list.  The seller gave me an offer of a tenner less. 

I don't need a ~17mm eyepiece but I think that one has been snapped up now.

Oddly, I've never found 17mm a focal length that I used much, despite owning some very good ones over the years 

3 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Now my 105 mm is grab n’ go, why would I go smaller?

 

I'm not suggesting that you would ! 😁

(others might though)

I can understand why folks new to the hobby want to try and "buy once and buy right" but it's really quite difficult to do this because each individual has differing interests, differing observing circumstances, differing budgets etc, etc. 

Often I think it is only by actually trying stuff out, sometimes as a reiterative process, that you work your way towards the equipment that is going to tick as many of your boxes as possible for some time to come. 

A few mistakes or blind alleys along the way is a key part of the process I think, frustrating though they can be at times. Thank goodness for the 2nd hand market !

18 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

 @DirkSteele posted how many time is 180 mm had been used…

I probably use my 70mm less often 🙄

Luckily it didn't cost much !

24 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Ethos eyepiece. I'll have to investigate those. 👍

You might want to review your saving regime though 😉

Tele Vue Ethos 100º & 110º Eyepieces | First Light Optics

At least a couple of SGL members have 7 inch plus apo refractors as I recall, @stuy who has a 228mm F/9 and @DirkSteele who has a 180mm F/7. Both are APM / LZOS triplets.

There are probably others too 🙂

Roger Vine (Scopeviews) has this 175mm F/8 TMB/LZOS (I think it is his own instrument):

TMB APM LZOS 175 Review (scopeviews.co.uk)

You don't see much about the larger Astro Physics, TEC or CFF refractors on here, I agree.

48 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks to everyone so far. I guess I'm testing the water here, as I've been saving up for nearly three years (yes the old fashioned way of buying something 😆), and I've got the C9.25 in mind. Fortunately no one has used this scope in any rgrets(so far). 

Neither of the scopes that I mention were poor in any way. They were very good examples of their type in fact. It was my judgement of my needs and circumstances that was at fault.

I have owned a few SCT's and they were good too but I didn't seem to hold onto them for long being drawn to refractors and dobsonians rather more. Those are just my preferences though - yours may well be different. 

I got over ambitious when I bought an Istar 6 inch F/12 refractor. By the time I had found a mount and tripod tall enough and strong enough to deal with the really long and heavy tube I had a setup which weighed over 50kg and with no observatory it needed to be assembled and disassembled each time it was used. Not really a practical proposition, unfortunately. I learned a lot from that project though and it was not too expensive so not a disaster by any means. If I go for a 6 inch refractor again I will stick to a focal ratio of around F/8 I think.

Another one that did not work out quite as planned was a Meade Lightbridge 12 inch dobsonian. Again it was not expensive particularly but the overall weight of the scope and mount made setup and tear down hard work and once set up the scope could not be moved around the garden easily at all, which is a disadvantage with the obstacles I have around my horizons. Having learned from that experience, my next 12 inch scope was based on an Orion Optics tube assembly and with the custom made plywood base, weighed about 20kg less than the Meade Lightbridge 12 - around the same as a chinese made 10 inch dobsonian, so somewhat more manageable.

Having owned dozens of scopes and mounts over the years, having a couple that did not quite work out is not too much hardship I feel and I did learn some lessons from those experiences 🙂

7 hours ago, Zermelo said:

I have a saved search on eBay for second hand Morpheuses. It finds one about once a month, but they're often priced more than the new price.

There is a 17.5mm Morph on e.bay currently priced at a touch below 75% of retail.

I missed this thread as well.

I'm in a conundrum over this to some extent. I've seen what large reflecting apertures can do in opening up the deep sky and I've really enjoyed being on the receiving end of that but refractors do seem to have a different hold on me and it's difficult at times to work out entirely why 

It may be because my first astro scope was a refractor, it may be the link with early astronomers, it maybe those grainy black & white pictures of the Victorian astronomers at the bottom end of a long telescope ( complete with top hat or deerstalker sometimes 😁) or it may be because Sir Patrick Moore was reportedly a big fan of refractors.

There are definite qualities to the views through a good refractor that have certainly contributed to my fascination with them - the lack of diffracting features in the optical path maybe ? The contrast for the relatively small aperture. The robust and unfussy nature of a well made refractor perhaps ? The consistent performance is a plus - a good refractor often seems to punch above it's aperture.

While I struggle to tie down why I feel like I do about the refractor, the evidence of my leanings is hard to refute. I've owned more refractors than reflecting scopes over the 40+ years I've been observing. When I visit forums I'm drawn inexorably to refractor discussion threads or sections. When looking through used astro equipment adverts (an unhealthy obsession I know 🙄) the refractor filter is the one that I use more than any other.

Perhaps I've given up trying to rationalise this now and I'm just rolling with it. All my scopes are currently refractors. 

I'm probably a hopeless case, but it's fun all the same 😁

14 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

I hate to say it, but the Tak video is cooler 🤣

 

Let's face it, neither is as cool as this one - British mirror making in the 1960's 😁

This may well have been posted here before but it might be new to some. The sub-titles are in Japanese but most of the movie is self explanatory I think. The glass making segment early on seems to have been filmed in an Ohara optical works. The scope and mount manufacture at Vixen.

1 hour ago, Beardy30 said:

I’d personally pick a massive SCT - something like the Celestron CGX-L 14" (1400) SCT Telescope - its a beauty 

I've used a couple of 14 inch SCT's and the views are impressive. One owner had their socks blown off when I put my Ethos 21mm in the scope and showed him Messier 13 with it 😁

I currently have a top class 5.1 inch refractor and that is very impressive as well.

Still a massive dob for the "ultimate" for me though. Not practical where I am now but I can use my society 18 inch from time to time so that is something to fall back on (not literally !) 🙂

Lovely looking scope - congratulations Dave 🙂

20 inch plus dob for me as well.

Having observed with a couple of 20 inch dobs, the views under the right skies are simply incredible. 

1 hour ago, Neutrinosoup said:

.....the Orion Nebula almost looked like a picture taken by an astrophotographer…..I don’t quite understand why the detail and view of this was so good compared to the planets 🤷‍♂️ 

 

Probably a case of the sky transparency being good but the seeing mediocre.

Some nights it's the other way around.

Very occasionally, both are really great 🙂

There is some interesting information on all this at the Spaceguard website:

The Spaceguard Centre | The National Near Earth Objects Information Centre

I didn't use zoom eyepieces for quite a few years but now I find them in my focuser very often even though I have a case full of excellent fixed focal length eyepieces.

I think todays zoom eyepieces have reached a level where their optical performance is close enough to fixed focal length units that the facility to almost instantly change the magnification is often enough to pursuade the observer to just "carry on zooming" rather than to change to a fixed focal length in the hope of a very modest enhancement of the view.