John

6 minutes ago, John said:

...I've used Rigel Quikfinders for the past decade now and I've been very happy with them....

 

Actually I've used one Rigel Quikfinder for the past decade. They are more robust and long lasting that they at 1st might seem.

I've changed the colour of your text - it was black on dark grey for me and practically invisible !

17 minutes ago, merlin100 said:

I suppose that the Rigel is top heavy? Not having a large surface area for the self adhesive pads to bond to is going to be a nuisance.

The Rigel is a very light unit. I've found that the pads work fine but my scope is stored indoors. If it was stored outdoors / garage / shed I would find something stronger. There is a hole in the finder base section so it can be screwed to the tube if you have a convenient hole. There are strong 3rd party pads available from DIY stores.

When I'm not using the scope I always take the finder unit off it's base. You can clip them on and off easily and pop then back on again without disturbing the alignment.

I've used Rigel Quikfinders for the past decade now and I've been very happy with them. I have had Telrads as well and those are great as well.

W is an odd one. Depending on the illumination, it can just look like another wrinkle in the wall terracing around that part of Plato's ramparts. Its diameter is 2.6km so its the largest in there but not always very apparent.

I've just picked the comet up with my 12 inch dob. Still does not seem that bright or striking to me even with a decent aperture. Transparency not that good though and a bright moon is over between Leo and Cancer.

Nice to see it again though. 

7 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

I had a good look at Plato tonight with my 102mm F15 Skylight. Would of been pointless with the 60 mm as it can't resolve detail that small, so I wouldn't of seen any craterlets. With the 102mm F15 I may of at time got hints of A. But again that should be theoretically impossible. Will have to keep trying when it is placed more favourably. I did spend a lot of time looking at Copernicus crater, and also Sinus Iridium. 

You should be able to get "the big 4" craterlets with the 102mm I would think under favorable illumination and steady seeing ?

D & C may well look like a single elongated feature though.

Great image Craig. I was getting similar detail with my 12 inch dob visually at 400x albeit with slight variations as the clarity fluctuated slightly - overall though the seeing was very good tonight !

Some 1 arc second detail in there - excellent capture.

Still quite clear here - I must have got lucky tonight.

Venus has dropped behind the trees to the W now so I'm on the moon for a while. Seeing is great - 400x is sharp. I'll have a go at comet Y4 Atlas soon.

I'm getting A through to G tonight with the 12 inch dob. G is glimpsed on and off though. Sections of the rille in Vallis Alpes showing too. Seeing supporting 300x - 400x with the 12 inch dob tonight pretty well.

Best views of the Venus - M45 conjunction for me were with the 11x70 binoculars and the Vixen with a 40mm SWA eyeiece in it. Both giving around 4 degrees of true field. Interesting to count the Pleiades stars in both instruments

Naked eye was nice too but Venus drowned out all but the brightest Pleiades stars.

Lovely, lovely sight

Very clear here.

Spoiled for choice with the 12 inch dob eyeing the Moon and Sirius A & B in the back garden and the Vixen 4 inch and 11x70's taking in Venus and the Pleiades on the side lawn.

Don't get this sort of situation very often

A good introductory 2 inch eyepiece would be the Skywatcher Panaview 32mm. You can pick those up for around £50 on the used market.

I'm thinking of using my Vixen ED102SS with the 13mm Ethos to get a 1.9 degree true field @ 51x.

I'll also have my 11x70 binoculars around for an alternative viewpoint.

You get the advantages of the 2 inch barrel format when the field stop (the internal ring defining the edges of the view) is larger than it can be within the confines of the 1.25" eyepiece barrel.

To use a larger field stop though the optical design needs to be relatively well corrected across the wide field that is created. The Kellner design is limited in this respect which is why they have not pushed the field stop diameter out as far as it can go within the 2 inch format.

In the 28mm focal length you can get an 80+ degree field of view if a large field stop is used but an optical design that can provide a reasonably well corrected image (ie: stars continue to look star shaped) over that view is required and that costs money to design and implement so such eyepieces cost more for us to buy.

The scope that the eyepiece is going to be used in also affects the degree to which the quality of the view is maintained across the field of view. "Fast" scopes (eg: F/4, F/5, F/6) are more demanding on eyepiece design than "slower" ones (eg: F/8, F/10 etc).

I find the "nudge- let drift-nudge-let drift" approach works well. I do use hyper wide eyepieces with my dob though.

Here is a detailed map of Plato and it's craterlets. The best I've managed is 10 of them with my 12 inch dob on a superb night

That eyepiece has a 56 degree apparent field of view according to the spec.

It's not going to show any more sky than a decent 1.25 inch 32mm plossl such as the Revelation does, a touch less in fact.

https://www.telescopehouse.com/revelation-32-0mm-plossl-eyepiece-1-25.html

I would get the book first

I have both types and love both types.

When I want aperture however its a reflector - I can't afford or house a 12 inch refractor !!!!!

Nice little area of activity this, though small. I've just taken a peek with my Vixen ED102 and the Lunt HW. Not steady seeing currently so around 90x is as much as I can usefully use. Novelty to actually see a feature in WL !

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The hardest thing is finding “Your” scope not someone elses choice.....

That is very true John

Despite having 4 superb refractors from 100mm to 130mm which I love using I find my 12 inch dobsonian just as quick and easy to setup and use. While it needs 30-40 minutes to cool for high power observing, low to medium power can be used with the scope practically straight from the house. And the vast majority of my most memorable views and "firsts" have come from the 12 inch dob

Its a close run thing though and, as all my scopes have been chosen and setup to be as easy and quick to setup as possible (because that's the way I like to do astronomy), none of them are really a chore or take more than a few minutes to get outside and ready to observe.

The refractors have cost me a heck of a lot more than the 12 inch dob has as it happens but then quality refractor aperture does cost a lot more per inch than reflectors

We could actually do with a spot of rain for the garden. Looking on the bright side here

Good luck with your craterlet quest Stu.

Just too much cloud cover here plus a large, dark bank of it coming across from South Wales now so I don't think I'll get a chance. There have been a few clear patches now and then but rather fleeting.

I might get a glimpse with binoculars if I keep them on standby.

You can only adjust the secondary on an SCT. There are no collimation adjustments on the primary.

There are no lock screws on the secondary - just 3 cross or hex screws. You sometimes need to loosen one a little to be able to adjust another one.