John

Sounds like the Aero ED 40mm. Its surprisingly good I guess the 41mm Panoptic would be slightly better in the F/5.3 dob but a used one of those would cost me 7x what I paid for the Aero ED.

Nice session Ciaran You did well to get M1 with your binoculars - I expect your sky was darker than mine normally is. I've always struggled to see it convincingly with binoculars, even my 11x70's.

Having owned a pair of straight through 25x100's I agree 100% with the above. Even with a tall and sturdy tripod I found them unwieldy and not that easy to use. My largest binoculars now are 11x70's which can be hand held reasonably well although a tall tripod extends their reach somewhat. If I owned anything larger I would go for a pair with 45 degree angled eyepieces on a stout, tall, fork mount. Something like this:

It unthreads from the silver connecting flange. You need the tube clamped firmly so that you can get your hands around the dew shield and apply gentle pressure.

Same here.

Great find Doc They used to have a whopping great brass refractor on one of those in the BCF showroom at Telescope House (London) in the 1980's. Like a few others who have posted I've lusted after one a few times in the past. I would have liked one when I had my Istar 6 inch F/12 refractor - it would have done a better job than the EQ6 did I'm sure !

If you bought it new you might be able to get it replaced if it's just a bit out of warranty Mike ?

Rainy night so I've been playing with my Tak FC100-DL and thinking about the Mars opposition later this year to cheer myself up I do think it suits the Ercole mount and my Oberwerk hardwood tripod rather well

No problem Baz. Its actually a short movie

I have one of those units - I'll have to watch out for that switch. I don't use mine much so maybe it will last a bit longer ? I thought that the Bresser Mon-2 drives might be compatible with the GP mount ? https://www.bresser.de/en/Astronomy/BRESSER-RA-DEC-Motor-Kit-Duo-for-EXOS-2-and-EQ-MON-2.html Don't take my word for it though - see if someone who has tried one pipes up.

I think individuals do have different optical characteristics and that these do vary as we age. Different strengths and weaknesses, sensitivities, etc, etc I've noticed when I've done outreach sessions that young eyes are generally better than older ones at picking out star colours. I can't see much in the way of cloud contrast variations on Venus but other observers clearly do see them. I believe that might be connected with UV sensitivity or something similar ?

Nice little piece from the BBC by NASA Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan on getting the HST up there and then making it work properly: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-51928973/launching-the-hubble-space-telescope-our-window-into-the-universe

No light is the best way to preserve night vision. That's what I've found when observing the more challenging objects. Some of the red light torches that I've seen at star parties and other events are far too bright. When you are full dark adapted even an illuminated watch face is rather glaring !

I tend to prefer more magnification than 40x as well - hence the value of my Ethos 21. 43x and 2.3 degrees of true field with my ED120. Sometimes it is nice to go lower though and I do enjoy the "context" views

You don't see that term used much these days !

I find the 8mm Ethos fantastic for observing globular clusters. With my 12 dob (199x) the views of the brighter globs can be similar to the images of them. I'm sure the 9mm APM will deliver similar glorious globular views for you

I find I skip happily from 31 to 21 and then to 13mm or sometimes even straight to 8mm with my 12 inch dob. That's why the 17mm Ethos didn't get much use. I still have the ES 92 / 17mm but I expect that I'll move that on in due course. Great eyepiece but like the 17mm Ethos, not used enough to justify having it. I don't use the 31mm anywhere near as much as the 21mm Ethos really. My skies have a bit of light pollution so the higher magnification gives a darker background sky. Its good to actually try these things out if you can. What suits one person might not suit another

Interesting report of some fine eyepieces I'm happy with my Ethos's now. I have tried a few other 100 degree eyepieces and many others but not the APM / Lunts. It's possible that they have the same optics as the Myriad 100's though in which case I have tried them I also tried the Leica ASPH zoom for a while but, unlike some, I didn't really take to that, nice though it was. It took me about 6 months to decide that I slightly preferred the Pentax XW 5mm and 3.5mm to the Ethos SX 4.7 and 3.7 so I've not held onto all the Ethos's that I've had. Also tried the 17mm for a while but found it a focal length that I didn't use much. I do the vast majority of my observing at home though. If I braved the wilds as much as you do I guess I might think about a lower cost "field set" to avoid risking the pricier ones. Glad you have a set which you are happy with now

Another one in this series if you are interested - Have we already found aliens ?. What should we do if we ever find them ? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000g4z3

Interesting BBC radio cast on this topic https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gcvs

This is where Cartes du Ciel puts C/2019 Y4 Atlas. It was spot on last night:

Thats why I used the word "possibly" with regard to the ED120. Quite likely it is too large. As I now see that the balcony being referred to is just 1x3 metres I think maybe a maksutov-cassegrain or schmidt-cassegrain on a pedestal mount would be more suitable ?

The ED120 is a superb telescope. I have had one for a few years and thought it was good but more recent purchases of a couple of much, much more expensive refractors have demonstrated to me just how good my Skywatcher ED120 is I think your most important priority is to get a setup that you can use easily and conveniently in your circumstances. That might be an ED100 or possibly an ED120. I agree that the ED150 is probably not practical. Here are the ED120 and the ED150 side by side so you can see the difference:

It depends on the sky and maybe the observer experience I think Stu. I didn't find C/2019 Y4 Atlas easy with my 102 refractor - pretty hard in fact. The 12 inch dob made it stand out somewhat better of course. Neither this or Panstarrs are striking objects IMHO. Rather modest and small. I can understand why newcomers to observing would struggle to find and see them.

Turned out nicely in the end. Saw two of the comets plus lots of galaxies in Leo and Ursa Major. Lovely to be looking through the eyepiece at things millions of light years away and taking my mind off current affairs. Ended with a nice view of Messier 13 as Hercules rose into the sky