John

My observing site is just a few paces from my dining room so the eyepiece case / cases and other stuff go on the table and I step outside to the scope with what I want to use. It works well for me because I can pop in to warm up / have a brew, consult the star atlas, change eyepieces etc, and then pop out again for the next targets. This is probably a rather unusual approach - I expect most people are observing further away from the house than I do. I'm not a very hardy astronomer I'm afraid - I don't like getting too cold ! Keeping the eyepieces and filters above the outside temperature works well for keeping them from misting up though.

I hope this is not a case of "if it seems to good to be true, it probably is" but even a budget half decent pair of 20x80's is usually £120 or so If they turn out to be decent then they are an absolute bargain

There is a classified section on this forum: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/217-for-sale-swap/ And the UK Astro Buy & Sell website which is very popular: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

I've owned this one for about 6, maybe 7 years now. Orion Optics 12 inch F/5.3 optical tube purchased pre-owned on a mount made by a forum buddy. My most used and best scope (I've owned around 30 scopes over the years): Pre-owned is the way to go with Orion Optics in my view. They depreciate quite quickly in value if you buy them new.

And the scope. In a 14 inch SCT the 20mm is a medium power eyepiece. In an ST80 it's a rather low power sweeper. Best policy is to have lots of favourite eyepieces

Same here. Everything capped or in it's case when it's not being used.

I wonder what the original owner of the filter has been doing with it Mine stay in their cases for the majority of their lives - the most I've had on them has been a few specs of dust.

The ring that holds the objective in place is shown below - the one with two holes in it. You can make a tool to tighten it slightly with a piece of wood with two slim nails though it. It only needs to be touching the objective enough to stop the rattle though. It should not be tight at all.

If you can keep a 6 inch F/10 hidden away you must have quite a lot of space available ! or is it just the objective and cell ?

Hello, I have responded to your private message

As above. Keep the ionised water for mirrors.

What do you want to use it for ?

If I had been able to mount it in in observatory like @Rusted has I would probably still have my Istar Perseus 150 F/12 As a free standing scope that needed to be setup and taken down each session it was just not a practical proposition

I have a Berlebach Uni 28 and a 2 inch steel tubed EQ6 tripod. The Berlebach looks fabulous but the 2 inch steel tube tripod gives pretty much the same stability I reckon. The Uni 28 goes a lot taller of course but the EQ6 is not really a "shorty" either.

21mm is my favourite eyepiece focal length with my 12 inch dob. Add an 8mm to it and I can be happy for a whole session of Ethos magic

The Orion Europa range had the "mirror cell" that you describe. They dropped that range when they moved to the VX series a few years ago. My scope was what used to be known as the SPX series.

+ 1 for @johninderby's recommendation. That's what I use on my eyepieces and filters along with a hurricane blower for the initial dust removal.

My OO primary cell could not be more ventilated really. There is a small fan there but I don't use it.

That's the nice thing about a zoom - you can try a range of magnifications out instantly and find what is working best at that time and on that target. On nights of very good seeing conditions you have more in hand, if you want to use it. The other great thing about the Nagler zoom in particular is that it gives very little away in performance terms to specialized fixed focal length eyepieces such as orthoscopics.

To be fair to Don, it was me who introduced that into the thread, and I wish I hadn't because it's not really relevant.

Yep, I realize that now ! I hardly used the things when I had TV eyepieces that came with them and that was quite a few years back now. Wish I'd not mentioned them .......

Good stuff ! With regard to the zoom, at 4mm you are at 200x and 3mm 267x. These are very high magnifications for an 80mm aperture scope to support so I think their usefulness will be somewhat more limited.

Ah, yes that's true. I didn't used to use the things but I recall that the instructions said that they should be used with the top section of the eyepiece raised ie: not close to the eye lens. It's been a long time since I owned a TV eyepiece that came with them - T4 Naglers and Radians I think. It is indeed to help find the exit pupil, hence it's name I'll get me coat ......

Should there be a link to and adapter or something Simon ? 2 inch diagonals do have longer light paths than 1.25 inch ones but that should not pose a problem for the mak-cassegrain because they have a lot of of focus travel.

I was thinking just that !