John

I agree with the above. Moving from the 25mm to the 9mm will show a much smaller portion of sky so unless a target is centered before the eyepiece change, it might well "disappear" when you get to look through the 9mm eyepiece. Also, if the scope is not tracking accurately and the eyepiece change takes a little time, the target may have drifted out of the field of view before you get to put your eye to the 9mm eyepiece.

I think it is one of the "pseudo Masuyama" eyepieces, made in Japan.

This is the 3.8mm branded by Orion (USA) as the Ultrascopic:

There was also a version branded as Parks "Gold" series and I think an Antares branded version as well.

In order to be certain you will need to get a sample analysed by an accredited laboratory such as the Natural History museum:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/meteorites-and-meteor-wrongs.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Oiw--e06gIVGdGyCh0gMQG5EAAYASAAEgJkuPD_BwE

The vast majority of finds turn out to be of terrestrial origin.

Ataxite is a type of iron meteorite.

Balance seems pretty important to the smooth operation of many alt-azimuth mounts. Of the ones I've owned (in that class of mount) the Skytee II and Vixen Porta I have been the least affected whereas the "T" style ones such as the Giro II and Ercole are more sensitive and benefit from counterweighting across the alt axis to get smooth motion.

Can you catch anything from licking a laptop screen ?

Oh dear, the wife has seen me. Have to come up with an excuse now !

11 minutes ago, Alfian said:

Isn't it good how threads like this really bring out the passionate enthusiasm that the good people on SGL have for astronomy. I have a liking for refractors but a view of the Leo triplet through a 22" truss dob (wow on both accounts) on an evening of less than ideal seeing left a lasting impression. Size does make a difference!  Getting the best out of what we have is a worthy goal in itself but its perhaps inevitable that we always want more.

Views with scopes of that aperture live with you for for a long time

I can still vividly recall M13 and M51 observed with a 20 inch at the SGL star party quite a few years ago now. Jaw dropping 

This one is more apt though, for this thread

It's the Lick 36 inch:

29 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

It needs counterweights though, and a dual scope setup has never been a requirement for me....

 

 

 

Same for me. Glad to have found a T-Rex in the UK earlier this year 

Course, I could have made something better from a Cornflakes box and some sticky backed plastic but I didn't have those available

Something old, something new, something borrowed ......

2 hours ago, Alfian said:

Ooooooo! I'll be surprised if you will get away with that!😉

I sort of agree with it actually.

And I have 4 refractors and just reflector

Spend time observing targets and re-visit them often.

The more you look, the more you will see.

Much of the detail that we observe and discuss on here are not obvious initially and need to be teased out. This takes time and practice.

If you saw Pluto you did really, really well. It's magnitude 14.3 at the moment and that will be diminished by it's low altitude.

Have another look, make a sketch, then come back again in a few days and make another sketch to see if the suspect has moved against the background stars. It's the only way to be sure

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

Thanks Gerry, good suggestion on the BCO, never had an orthoscopic; they seem perfectly suited to my needs and still well within budget with the Baader 2.25 barlow.

 

When we start to push our kit towards the edges of it's performance capability, small differences start to show and matter a bit more

A wise man (Michael Wilkinson I think !) once posted that the time to consider an upgrade is when you try something and see a difference that matters to you.

Once you have seen an improvement it is very difficult to "un-see" it

7 minutes ago, bsdsgl84 said:

Personally..,  (and this is my own opinion) I always felt the DM6 to be over-hyped and overpriced for what it actually is, does and how its packaged. 

I ended up with one of Larry Patriarca's last UniStar Deluxe mounts after the DM6 and I could not be happier - well until the Rowan AZ100, of course 😉

Best.., 

bsdsgl84

 

 

 

I'll cross it off my list then

9 minutes ago, bsdsgl84 said:

I understand the benefits of having choices, but if I had still owned my old DM6, I would have sold it on the day I got my new Rowan AZ100 - without hesitation.., 

Best.., 

bsdsgl84 

 

I know the AZ100's are very good - I have used a couple of them

I read so many good things about the Discmounts (particularly the DM6) elsewhere that I thought it would be good to have that option here in the UK alongside the AZ100.

2 hours ago, dd999 said:

Some great examples. Assume the second to last of the moon was through your dob?

Thanks.

I think it was - I ought to keep better records. The one of the straight wall was definitely with the dob.

The ones that I was most pleased with were the transit of Mercury, which I only managed to get a few minutes of due to clouds and getting the phase of Mercury when it was just a few arc seconds in apparent diameter. Both these were with my 100mm refractor.

I frequently use a 7.2mm  21.5mm zoom with the Baader 2.25x barlow on double stars. I has become one of my most used eyepiece combos in my refractors. I get a 9.5 - 3.2mm zoom which is a great range of magnifications for splitting double stars. 95x - 281x with my ED120 for example.

I was not fond of the Baader Fine Tuning rings myself, at least when used with the Hyperion eyepieces. Opening the optics of an eyepiece up frequently seems to me to be asking for problems with dust ingress at some point. I have found another good use for the FT rings but that would be off topic somewhat !

This is the zoom and barlow combo that I use:

My refractors have to come off their mounts otherwise our dining room would look like Ed Tings:

Personally I would be fine with that (except perhaps the Bear ?) but there are two of us living here so I have to compromise, a bit.

Fortunately where I observe is just a few paces away from where the scopes and mounts are so its just a minute or two to get one outside and setup

9 hours ago, Robindonne said:

Hm ok.   Because you are one the victims who suffer from a mouthwatering setup, how do you use that 100mm f/9?   

 

This was some time ago. I don't have either the Porta I or that particular 100mm F/9 now.

The Porta II is designed to be able to move between tripods. I don't think the Porta I was. Sounds like you have improved the situation somewhat though adjustment though ?

I use refractors when I want to observe as close as a "perfect" image that the aperture can produce as possible.

I use reflectors when I want lots of light grasp and resolution and to see things that a refractor (that I can afford) cannot show me.

The largest refractor that I can afford and handle is around 150mm in aperture. The largest reflector that I can afford and handle is around 300mm so 4x the light grasp and twice the resolution.

They are all proper telescopes and all have strengths and weaknesses. To become a devotee of a single design is a mistake in my opinion. You miss out on stuff

I'm pretty sure that the ones on top are 1/4". The camera mount attached to the rear ring in the picture uses a 1/4" screw up through the tube ring and though the knurled wheel. The front tube ring will be the same.

Here are a few of mine. The phone is an old Samsung S3 Mini. The scopes vary between 100 - 130mm refractors and my 12 inch dobsonian:

We really need a Discmount vendor in the UK

FPL-53, paired with the correct mating element glass (vitally important) can produce colour correction about 2x better than FPL-51, all other things being equal.

Some of the triplets using FPL-51 actually produce more colour than the Skywatcher 120mm ED doublets which use FPL-53 of course.

35 minutes ago, sputniksteve said:

Might we expect to see some surface detail on Jupiter with a 127?

I've seen surface detail on Jupiter with a 60mm refractor so 127mm is plenty. Sometimes the details take time to tease out though so  be prepared to spend time studying the planet carefully for some time to get the best from it. The Great Red Spot for example can prove quite elusive even when it is on "our" side of Jupiter.