John

5 hours ago, JOC said:

Do they get to keep them?

If found on public access land I believe they can keep them. Otherwise they belong to the landowner. I hope a sample gets to a recognised meteorite analysis lab quickly so that it can be determined to be of extra-terrestrial origin and the exact meteorite type identified. The recent fall at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire has turned out to be a rare type - a carbonaceous-chondrite:

 Gloucestershire meteorite is first UK find in 30 years - BBC News

While it is sad to part with a much appreciated piece of equipment it is sometimes the correct decision to make. I parted with my great 12 inch dobsonian last year, that I had owned and used for over a decade. I sometimes miss it but it was the right thing to do. I will probably part with more scopes in due course and it is quite possible that my wonderful 130mm F/9.2 LZOS triplet will be the next to go. As long as they go to an appreciative new home, that can make better use of them, that's all we can ask.

I think it is better to make a thoughtful but pro-active decision than to let things languish and gather dust. That is probably sadder still.

My 12 inch Orion Optics based dobsonian gave me the most overall observing pleasure during the decade or so that I owned it. 

I had more firsts and "wow's" with that scope than any other that I have owned over the 40 or so years that I've been observing.

3 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

Totally agree, John. Except I think the SvBony 3-8 zoom is equally sharp as the BCO range (within its own range of course) and has a slightly wider field of view. I literally just sold my BCOs as the little zoom has made them redundant. Best of all though, is that the zoom very much falls into the budget eyepiece category.

Each time I pick up and use the Svbony 3-8 zoom I wonder what it's price would have been if it had been produced under, say, Celestron or Meade branding ? 🤔

My guess is that it would be a £200 eyepiece then. Maybe more.

4 hours ago, Zermelo said:

I may have missed it, John, but have you yet tried for the Pup with the Svbony planetary zoom? Light scatter was the main focus when I was comparing mine with other EPs, and I'm still undecided about how much was inherent and how much down to external factors.

Not yet, but I will once storm "whatever it is" has passed and we get some clear skies again 🙂

29 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I’ve just watched that video. Unless I misinterpreted, it seems the 3” eyepiece was destined for their smallest telescope, the TEC 140. Although there were two 3” diagonals - perhaps the single 3” eyepiece was a test before ordering more.

Explore Scientific seem to supply eyepieces and diagonals to some of the really large telescopes. They get some good publicity out of it so I would hope that the equipment is provided for nothing or at least heavily discounted. Here at the 40 inch Yerkes refractor for example:

Inside the World's Largest Refractor at Yerkes Observatory: Explore Scientific Experiences (youtube.com)

The best low cost eyepieces that I have used were the Baader Classic Ortho 18mm and 10mm. They have the usual ortho traits of eye relief about 80% of the focal length and a 45 degree sharp AFoV (+ 5 degrees which is less sharp) but for sheer optical quality I reckon you would need to pay a heck of a lot more to get anything better.

Not for glasses wearers though.

I'm not a binoviewer user but I wonder if they add some light scatter to the view, even the really good ones ?

Light scatter is a killer when trying to see the Pup star, whether it's from the atmosphere, central heating plumes, optics or observers eye. 

3 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

I think that Planewave was the counterweight 😂

I still can’t believe they were 3” eyepieces, I never knew they existed. I can say that the viewing experience was fantastic through them though. I’m wondering if I can put one on my FC76….

The US company Siebert makes them up to 4.3 inches format, for observatory instruments (the Pentax is a 2 inch for scale):

13 minutes ago, andrew63 said:

Good record on here of event with footage, quite a spectacle. 

https://www.imo.net/2024-bx1-8th-predicted-earth-impact/

If it landed in a biggish chunk that would make an impact pit of some sort which will help folks looking for it. Stony meteorites (eg: Winchcombe, Barwell etc) usually break up in the atmosphere and come to earth in small bits. An iron though might make it all the way down more or less in one piece or at least in larger pieces (eg: Sikhote-Alin). The meteorite hunters will be out in force around the likely fall area, as reported later in that thread 🙂

I read somewhere that the very early versions of the MN190 had a secondary diameter of 51mm which, at 27% of the primary diameter, made it potentially a decent visual planetary scope. Quite quickly though Skywatcher decided to put a 63mm diameter secondary in them (33% of primary diameter) to suit the needs of imagers better but perhaps moving it away from an optimal visual planetary scope ?

The Russian mak-newts I mentioned earlier in this thread are optimised for high resolution visual observing with secondaries of around 20% or even less, than the primary. They are still heavy instruments though, take time to cool, and have their quirks so I'm guessing that your considerations have moved on now 🙂

7 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

I'm pretty sure I got it tonight, under strange circumstances!

I was using the 100DC with the Maxbrights, x2.6 GPC and 28mm Erfles. I started with the moon and the views were rubbish. It looked like I was looking through a band of driving horizontal rain! The image wasn't just wobbling, it was being ripped apart! This persisted for 5 minutes before I gave up, intending to call it a night.

A quick look at Rigel and I could just about split it and then remembering this thread thought, "why not!".

So I turned to Sirius and a very light layer of cloud or smog or mucky atmosphere rendered Sirius as a slightly wooly disk rather than the usual flashing disco ball. I thought I saw something at the 6.30 position (see attached pic). Don't know why, but I looked through each eyepiece with my left eye. Nothing in the left eyepiece, but a definite hit through the right eyepiece. No need for averted vision, it was there permanently. I swapped in 18mm and then 12.5mm Tak Abbe eyepieces and got the same result. Nothing in the left eyepiece, obvious in the right! 

I wonder is it possible that the dulling effect of the seeing, due to light cloud/smog/muck, dimmed the usual glare of Sirius making the Pup much easier to spot?

Just as a sanity check, I checked out the moon again and the seeing was pretty good. What a difference 10 minutes can make!

Anyway, barring a weird internal reflection in the Maxbrights, or my brain playing tricks on me, or someone reading this telling me it's in completely the wrong position, having only logged a possible sighting before, I'm going to log this one as a hit!

Malcolm 

 

Nice report but the position angle does not seem quite right 🤔

@Mr Spock's chart posted above has it at the correct position I reckon. The field shown is about what I get at 250x. 

Unless binoviewers change the orientation of the view - I don't use them myself.

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

... I did a tour of that area some thirty years ago, and saw many of the sights you mention, but stupidly never visited the Lowell Observatory. 

That was almost exactly the situation that we were in. We had toured the western USA back in 1989 but astro related sites were simply not on the itinerary. When we were there I realised that we were not far from places such as the Lowell Observatory and Meteor Crater but too late to change the plans to actually visit any of them.

In 2019 my other half gave me the thumbs up to arrange "something different" so I did 😁

What a great trip and super photos !

They bring back lovely memories of a similar trip that we did in 2019. That was in early September though and keeping cool was the challenge rather than keeping warm !

The observing deck was opened just after our visit so it's great to see the scopes installed and in action now.

As it happened I bumped into @Saganite at the Lowell Observatory doing a similar tour 😁

Magnus mentions eyepieces. Here is a video posted by the Lowell Observatory showing a delivery of eyepieces for the public observing sessions:

Quite a large chunk.

The Barwell Meteorite in 1965 was thought to be about as large as a turkey before it broke up. That is the largest UK fall.

1 hour ago, Chaz2b said:

.....Don't like the fittings for the starfinder, much prefer the dovetail type.

 

It looks like Bresser are still using the old Meade-style finder mount. Those can be swapped out for a Skywatcher compatible foot but you need the type of foot that has slots rather than holes for the fixing screws because the screws on the Bresser mount are further apart than the Skywatcher ones.

Something like this:

StellaLyra Finder Shoe | First Light Optics

Nice haul Ian.

What scope were you using ?

I seem to struggle to get convincing sub-arc second splits whatever scope I'm using 🙄

I guess this should not be a surprise. It seems to be the way things have been going over the last few years, in all sorts of fields, and I don't think the pace will slow.

The application of new tech to make things that were hitherto difficult and challenging, somewhat easier.

With these new binoculars you still need to get out and find the birds to point them at 🙂

Thanks 🙂

Currently listed as mag 12.8 so medium apertures can see it.

I agree with the advice above that you will need to move to a 200mm aperture scope, or more to see noticeable gains visually.

31 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

I had an extraordinary observation last night, I watched Europa slowly materialise out of Jupiter's shadow! Wow, that was the first time I've seen one of the Galilean moon emerge from an eclipse.

I tell you, it's an awesome spectacle! Sky Safari told me that Europa would emerge from Jupiter's shadow at 9:39pm local time. At 9:35pm I decided to go inside for a quick drink of water ( its summer on this side of the equator) but when I got back to the eyepiece I saw that Europa was starting to appear, as a very tiny light source. Sky Safari was off by about 3 minutes! But nevermind I watched as Europa slowly started to brighten beside Io. What a fascinating phenomenon and I can wait to see another one again!

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Watching the moons come out of Jupiter's shadow is, perhaps, even more interesting than when they start their trip behind the planet. The start of the journey is a gradual slide ending in a sudden disappearance whereas coming out of the shadow is rather like someone turning on a light using a dimmer switch slowly, and well away from the planets limb 🙂

The solar system mechanics in motion before your eyes - you can't beat it 😁

Excellent report and sketches 🙂

Great stuff to catch Uranus's moons. I have only managed two of them and that was with my 12 inch scope under a really dark sky.

Bristol AS meeting tonight for me and by the time I got back, the sky was mostly obscured by clouds so I've not put a scope out. Nice to read the reports on here though - it did look quite nice out there when I set off for the meeting.

Interesting talk about the Beagle 2 mission so that made up for not being at an eyepiece I think 🙂

4 hours ago, Celts88 said:

You would have to assume the light baffles, etc. were all installed correctly as seems a bit silly to use such a good lens & focuser then only do a sub-standard job.

Agreed.

I've never thought of doing visual with Astro.....

That is all I have ever done with scopes 🙂

16 minutes ago, josefk said:

After some of your comments earlier in the week about Sirius this was on my “to do” list last night as well. Unfortunately even really late on (after midnight) Sirius was a scintillating disco ball. I knew roughly where to look for “B” but even holding Sirius out of the EP it wouldn’t come for me. Next time! 

I had tried with my 130mm refractor the night before last but it was not to be despite the larger aperture.

Last night must have been a little steadier - Sirius A showed a number of diffraction rings rather than the mushy, flaring scatter of light that is often the case. Sirius B popped in and out of visibility just on the edge of the diffraction rings. Very faint and not the most stable view that I have had of it though. I'm finding that my eye needs quite some time to adjust to this task and allowing that to happen on such a cold night tested the patience to be honest with you 🙄

Good luck for the next time 🙂