John

2 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Let’s see how this does around Cygnus then!

Should be good !

When you have a look at the filter, see if the word "Profil" is printed on it or not. Some seem to have that and some don't but I can't find out the significance of it

Thanks

1 hour ago, steveex2003 said:

Apologies for being dim. What does the term; close to the shoulder mean?
Thanks.

The shoulder of an eyepiece is where the (usually) black body section meets the 1.25 inch or 2 inch barrel. It usually is where the eyepiece rests when it is inserted into a diagonal or focuser drawtube.

Field stop position is usually expressed in terms of mm above or below the shoulder.

Tele Vue have a useful page of data on their eyepieces which includes a diagram to explain the various measurements. They refer to the shoulder as the "reference surface":

http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=214&plain=TRUE

2 hours ago, Kirby301 said:

I've been reading and watching YouTube regarding the aperature masks. I like the idea alot. They all seem to do a single hole though. Could you explain in simple terms for a simple mind the way you mean please?

I have one for my 12 inch dob. It is a simple disk of cardboard with a hole cut in it that is the maximum size that will miss the secondary support vanes and the secondary and it's support boss. The pattern is like this with the "E" measurement in my case being around 110mm in diameter. The mask is fixed over the open top end aperture of the tube.

It works and the views I get are quite close to those that I get with my 102mm ED doublet refractor.

Class glass Matthew 

Your 2019 LZOS 130 F/9.24 is #122. My 2006 130 F/9.24 is #020. That's around 8 per year I reckon.

13 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Thanks John, that’s exactly what it looks like but according to that chart a Konig has one fewer element?  Where did you get that image- is it yours?

If you click on the image it takes you to a flickr page by Simon Spiers, who knows a bit about binoculars.

A form of Konig ?:

Two "90's" in action tonight - 90mm F/11 achromat refractor and 90mm maksutov-cassegrain. Very similar optical performance. Nice views of Saturn and Jupiter

Both these scopes together cost less than 100 quid - don't tell the expensive ones that were left indoors tonight

I'm following these events under rather misty conditions here with two 90mm scopes - the mak-cassegrain and a F/11 achromat refractor (Celestron branded like the mak-cassegrain).

Seeing is stable but detail hampered by mist and thin cloud.

I could not see Europa itself but it's shadow is clear against the north equatorial belt. Great Red Spot has come on to the planets disk now. I'm getting 4 belts plus the darker polar areas. Suggestions of a couple of festoons from the NEB diagonally southwards.

The views are very similar between these scopes as might be expected. There is a touch of false colour around the planet with the refractor and this contrasts with the totally CA free image from the mak-cassegrain. I feel that lack of CA gives the mak the edge on contrast and sharpness tonight.

I'm about to loose Jupiter behind a tree but it's been nice seeing some of this unfold.

Thanks for the heads up Chris

9 minutes ago, omo said:

2 tube rings and a dovetail should do it, you need to know the outside diameter of the tube, where its wearing its label. Someone more familiar with the scope may know its OD

John beat me to it

Two answers for the price of one 

You need a pair of tube rings to fit the tube and a dovetail bar to fit in the mount jaws.

Not sure about the tube ring diameter you need - maybe 101mm ? - ask FLO, they will know.

I'm assuming your AVX clamp will fit the Vixen / Skywatcher dovetail bar rather than the wider Losmandy type.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tube-rings/skywatcher-telescope-tube-rings.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dovetails-saddles-clamps/astro-essentials-dovetail-bars.html

These 3 should be close in the sky for a couple more nights at least so all is not lost !

Thin hazy cloud laying spoiling things here tonight. Neowise is visible but the other two not. Even the Ring Nebula is playing hard to get !

It's a double star evening currently and maybe Jupiter and Saturn later ?

I think some people find visual and / or imaging astronomy quite a lot harder than they thought it would be to get satisfactory results and this may well be the reason that they give up.

I have often said on here that I don't feel that practical astronomy is a matter where many "quick wins" are available. A few perhaps but once those straightforward objects are observed or imaged then the challenge curve steepens quite suddently to get onto the successively more advanced levels.

Spending lots of time on fine tuning equipment and skills, investing in more specialised items, late nights, poor seeing, increasing light pollution, there are a host of challenges and it's certainly not "plug and play"

3 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Apart from the lettering you can hardly tell the difference, inside different glass and baffles (to give imaging circle of 44 mm). Wonder what they would look like side by side?

Mine is F/6.5. Vixen didn't reveal the glass type used back then but the ED element is widely thought to be FPL-53. The colour correction would suggest that.

The objective cell, tube rings and focuser design have not changed as far as I can tell.

Comets 2020 F/3 Neowise, 2019 U6 Lemmon and 2017 T2 Panstarrs are all in the same area of the sky tonight - Coma berenices / Bootes. The un-labelled one is Neowise, near Messier 64.

Magnitudes vary between 5.8 and 10. Might be worth a look

10 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

The shorter focus 0.25" further out to be exact, whereas the 14mm focuses 0.25" further inwards, compared to the XWs.

The 14mm and 17.3mm seem closer than that to my XW's

Not that it matters too much though, with those focal lengths.

The shorter Delos are about 8mm from being par-focal with the XW's aren't they ?

I went for the 17.3 and 14 Delos because they reach focus pretty close (but not exactly) to where the XW's do because the two types play together in my 1.25 inch set.

I need parfocal rings for my Nagler 2-4 zoom and Panoptic 24 though which normally are part of the same par-focal group as the shorter Delos's.

I have one on my Vixen ED102SS which is now around 20 years old. The handle is a little younger though

21 minutes ago, Xsubmariner said:

Just to get back on topic a picture of my latest  Frac 😍 and yes it came with a handle should you be interested. 😏

 

Thank goodness for that - a lovely refractor to look at

The mount and the surrounding countryside are very pleasing as well !

Personally I prefer using refractors for double star observing. On your budget, if you have the mount for it, I might be looking our for one of the Bresser 127L F/9.3 achromats.

Mak-cassegrains are also good and mak-newtonians too. They produce star images that are really very "refractor like" and you can buy aperture for less than good refractors per cm.

4 hours ago, Pixies said:

My 18mm and 12mm are BST Starguiders, so it would be rude not to go for the 15mm! I particularly like the 12mm (100x in my Bresser 8"), esp for globs.

 

You may well not need the 15mm

I usually skip straight from 21mm to 13mm or from 24mm to 14mm. 

I can understand the desire to have the full set but sometimes there is redundancy in that approach.

5 hours ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

What barlow do you use John? I might upgrade mine with one that is more user friendly with my Morpheus.

 

Cheers

Baader Q-Turret 2.25x. I only use it with the zoom eyepiece though. The two seem to be a particularly good match. I don't barlow my other eyepieces.

Zooms are great for double star splitting. I use one practically all the time now for that purpose. Either the 7.2mm - 21.5mm plus 2.25x barlow or the Nagler 2mm - 4mm zoom.

You may find this thread started by another member on eyepieces for his 300P dobsonian of interest if that is where your future path may lie:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/356792-eye-piece-advise-for-300p/

That's the sort of view I have of them

16 minutes ago, KeithP22 said:

The comet is quite dim now though John.

I saw it last night with 8x56 binoculars. Still quite distinct but not as splendid as when it was a naked eye comet, of course.