John

Saturn is excellent here as well

Additional, additional: The GRS seems smaller than in previous years. I have seen this mentioned by other observers but it is noticeable to me tonight. It does have a brick red tint though.

Also, the SEB is quite thin and the South Temperate Belt seems wider and darker, extending N to almost brush the S side of the GRS.

Fascinating how the Jovian features change, night to night, week to week and year to year

Additional: There is a feature in the S side of the NEB which is currently right in the centre of the disk. It is dark and elongated, a major barge I think. Nice to see, I've not seen many barges lately

Looks a bit like the one in this image (not mine):

I saw clear dark markings (probably Syrtis Major and other features) and the South polar cap with my ED120 refractor at around 200x about three weeks ago.

Your dob should be doing as well I would have thought. Unless a major dust storm has sprung up on the planet since I observed it last. That can lead to a largely plain orange disk even at opposition

I've just put my Tak 100mm out for an impromptu look at Jupiter. No cool down time at all and yet the giant planet is showing excellent detail in it's belts just now. GRS crossing the disk as well.

The S side of the NEB is really complex and very uneven. 2, maybe 3 festoons showing well and much structure with in the main equatorial belts and the lesser ones to the N and S of those as well.

High powers not really needed either - Jupiter is crisp and contrasty at 120x tonight. I will apply more when Saturn shows.

I was not intending to observe this evening after a tiring day helping my son and his wife move house but I'm so glad that I popped the scope out

The Meade UWA gives an 82 degree field of view and the stars will be properly shown over most of that field of view. The Skywatcher 66 degree 6mm would not show properly corrected stars across it's smaller 66 degree field of view - there will be distortion in the outer 30% or so of that. That is what you are paying the additional money for - an ultra wide field of view which is quite well corrected all the way across, even in an F/5 scope. F/5 is quite a challenging focal ratio for wide and ultra wide angle eyepieces.

20 minutes ago, Coco said:

Anyone use these on a 127 Mak?   they do look great value for money, I was looking at plossl's but I'm wondering about these as I'll get a frac also shortly.

Guy

Should be even better in a mak - slower scope, less challenging for eyepieces.

13 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

That’s a pretty accomplished image, I really like it. 
 

(I think you shouldn’t still be posting in the beginners section though, as it’s unfair to beginners who may think this is a beginners standard) 

I think he can post in whichever image section he likes

5 minutes ago, starboy71 said:

well,i`m back on my thread....gorilla tape attached Rigel finder stuck on...scope stored vertically,been that way for a week or so...came down yesterday morning,glanced at the scope...Rigel finder hanging off,not quite ready for the fall to the floor but oh so close!...pushed it back on to the gorilla tape applied firm pressure for 20 seconds,gave a slight pull with fingers and the tape isn`t as adhesive as i hoped...it peeled of a smidge towards the back of the Rigel..and the front of the Rigel sits overlapping the black metal scope trim..so thats not sitting flush...any suggestions people?..shall i relocate the finders footprint somewhere else on the scope with fresh tape? i thought gorilla tape was rock solid?

Mark

Mine sits flush to the tube and has stayed solid. The scope lives in the dining room when it's not in use with both the finders removed 

Other forms of adhesive tape are available.

28 minutes ago, KeithP22 said:

Would these eyepieces be ok to use with my 8 inch dobsonian as I need to upgrade the supplied eyepieces. Thanks in advance. 

Yes. They are very often recommended on here as a good upgrade to the stock eyepieces.

Hi Mike

I've not used a DeLite so I can't comment on those from practical experience. They are reputed to be a tiny bit better performers than the Delos so they might have a very slight edge on the XW's in terms of optical performance as well.

I'm very happy with the 5mm and 3.5mm XW's in my F/5.3 12 inch dob but I don't use a coma corrector. I did own the 4.7 and 3.7 Ethos SX's for a while but eventually found that the XW's were delivering perhaps slightly better performance in terms of light scatter so I, rather reluctantly, let the Ethos SX's go.

I tend to go for the widest field that I can when using the dob though, for the reasons that @rl mentions.

I suspect you would be very happy with the optical performance of either the XW or the DeLite so the AFoV difference is the deciding factor. Would you miss 8 degrees ?.

This is my 12 inch F/5.3 dobsonian secondary support arrangement. Obstruction is 21% of primary diameter:

14 minutes ago, Gaurav Mk said:

I have the F/5 1000mm Newtonian

Something around 6mm or 5mm (180x - 200x) would be a useful high power. Maybe 250x on good nights and the right targets.

300x and more just will not get much use wherever you are.

You will also want some mid range magnifications - most observing is done at low to mid range power.

4 minutes ago, merlin100 said:

These, perhaps? 🤔

What are they ?

(the OP is new to astronomy)

The magnifications over 250x will be used very rarely so I would not give a priority to eyepieces that deliver those very high magnifications.

Do you have the F/5 1000mm focal length newtonian or the F/6 1200mm focal length dobsonian mounted newtonian ?

Very nice Paul

Does the Vixen GP do that ?

5 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Why do you keep it when you have the Talk 100? Presume it cannot cope with as high magnification?

The Tak is F/9 so the Vixen can show a much wider field of view. I've owned the Vixen for over 10 years now - I'm rather attached to it.

But, yes, the Tak does handle very high magnifications (200x plus) better than the Vixen does.

On 04/08/2020 at 06:18, DirkSteele said:

I find it amazing that a scope can be put into production that has such low sales numbers.

 

A shame more have not been sold as many more astronomers need to experience what can be described as LZOS’ 9th symphony.

I agree. My 130mm F/9.2 performs fabulously. Probably the best optics I have ever observed through

Oddly, my most "transparent" objective, photographically anyway, seems to be the ED120:

I don't know what glass / coatings are used on the Nagler 31mm but the field lens of that seems to "disappear" as well.

I remember when that Vixen ED150 was reviewed in "Astronomy Now". I have probably still got that edition somewhere. I read the review and looked at the pics somewhat open mouthed then saw the price and my heart sank - it was way, way beyond my means back then, not to mention that only a handful were available

Its great that today we can buy a decent quality ED doublet 6 inch refractor, "off the shelf", for around £1,500

Damian Peach did used to use refractors. A Vixen ED150 was one of them. One of the few of these that made it into the UK. He used it mainly for solar imaging I think. Quite impressive results with that and other refractors:

http://damianpeach.com/solar.htm

The stock tripod is a weak link with a number of mounts that I can think of. Where possible I prefer to purchase the mount head on it's own a choose a suitable tripod for it.

I have the tripod from an old Meade LXD55 mount at the moment. It is aluminum but of the thicker walled type and much sturdier than the latest flimsy ones. All metal fittings as well. It reminds me of the old Japan made aluminum tripod that my Vixen Super Polaris had.

The LXD55 mount itself is long gone but I'm holding on to the tripod in case it comes in handy. It's EQ5 / Vixen GP compatible

Here are the specs on the scope from the Skywatcher web site. The colour scheme has changed recently but it is the same model:

http://skywatcher.com/product/bk-909az3/

Really good to hear of another great ED150

I'm so glad Synta sorted this scope out and made sure that they were delivered in good shape after my unfortunate experiences with those very early ones.

I'd love to try "good un" one day

On my SLR and now DSLR cameras position of the the focal plane of the camera is marked on the body with a symbol:

I wonder if it would be useful to have the field stop position (which has to be at the focal plane of the eyepiece) marked similarly on the body or barrel of the eyepiece ?

Great result on Zeta Herc Rob and the other stuff. Proves that the 6 inch F/8 newtonian is still a top performing option