John

I've had two versions of the mount to test. The 2nd one had the new tension knobs - 2 to the alt axis and 1 to the azimuth axis. I also upgraded the worm bearings on my 2nd mount using a kit provided by Rowan. The end of the year seems realisitic for sales to commence I reckon.

I like this roll-on-roll-off one. Bigger on the inside than it seems apparently ,,,,,

My TMB/LZOS 130 refractor is "binoviewer ready" and has an extension section that can be retracted to allow binoviewers to come to focus without the need for an amplifier / barlow / etc:

The Rowan clamps are beautifully made. I did try an ADM clamp on the AZ100 briefly and it fitted but it didn't look right compared with the finish of the AZ100 so I took it straight off ! I've just recognised the Rose lads - from Robot Wars ! This was their creation back then:

Yes, very much so. And it's free ! Cartes du Ciel is another great freeware Windows planetarium.

Good to see the AZ100's again. Thanks for posting your views and the photos Alan

I've been wanting to try out the Explore Scientific 92 degree series eyepieces for some time. They seem to get overwhelmingly good feedback from those who have used them and are reputed to be the companies best eyepieces to date. Not many eyepieces out there that are larger and a touch heavier than Ethos's. Just look at those eye lenses So some dark winter nights with my trusty 12 inch dobsonian are called for to see how these beasts compare. Should be fun

Hi and welcome to the forum

Nice to see those photos Michael - thanks for posting them I spotted Lockie in one I think. Lots of refractors around aren't there ? I'm sorry that I could not get there. Hopefully at the next one or even Astrofest perhaps ?

The Baader Neodymium is a useful filter but is not a narrowband (eg: UHC) or line (eg: O-III) filter so does not have anywhere near the sort of impact that those do on nebulae. If you find observing the moon rather bright a neutral density filter might help or alternatively a polarising filter. I don't regard the Neodymium or a neutral density / polarising filter by any means essential but I would not be without a good O-III filter

My 130mm F/9.2 LZOS/TMB triplet is probably about the same age as your 105, maybe a touch older ?. Mine is #20 and dates from April 2006. I allow it to warm up uncapped as you do and that seems to have kept the objective nice and clean. Mine seems immune from dewing up while outside - I believe that is the effect of the Kruppax tube. I agree re: not being tempted to tamper with these triplets. The elements are very carefully and precisely aligned in the cell and I would not want to try and replicate their positioning. Great scopes

Is the AZ100 actually on sale now ?

I'm just the same John. I have tried them (various brands) a number of times over the years and with a number of different scopes but just didn't feel comfortable or relaxed when using them. I've now realised that they won't add anything to the hobby for me (apart from a little frustration) so I won't keep on trying them. I do urge others to try binoviewers though - they clearly do provide much observing enjoyment and satisfaction to many

If it's one of the Japanese made ones, they are very decent plossls. Better than the 4000 series IMHO.

Looks like the one that I had and the one that @Stu had for testing are drawing admiring glances

I could not get to the show as planned so I'm sorry that I missed out. Hope all those attending had a good time though

Get back to the vendor and I'm sure they will put things right. The dew shields on ST80's do slide off quite easily though. They are just held in place by thin felt pads so you could add slightly thicker felt. I don't think there are special imaging solar filters but it should fit the scope that you specified it for.

Sometimes people use tube rings with these scopes so that they can rotate the tube so that the finder is in a more convenient position:

If you want to try a low / wide 2 inch eyepiece for a smallish outlay, this has just popped up in our classifieds and seems a decent deal:

Sorry you could not make it Dave and hope the back gets better soon. If it's any consolation I didn't make it either

It is an issue with equatorial mounts. I believe that having the eyepiece pointing at the ground when the scope and mount are pointing toward the pole star minimises the issue although it does not remove it completely. This may sound odd but I think it might help. Like Robin, as I don't image, I use alt-azimuth mounts for the vast majority of the time for this reason.

For astronomy I feel that the ones that are not fully corrected generally deliver better image quality (there are exceptions but they are very expensive). You just need to get used to the reversed left and right.

I have owned and used a Hyperion Aspheric 36mm. I was disappointed with it's correction to be honest with you, even in quite slow scopes such as my ED120 F/7.5. I didn't have the chance to compare it with the Aero ED 30 though but my guess would be that the Aero ED 30 is better corrected. I did not keep the Hyperion Aspheric 36mm for very long.

Does the prism diagonal give a correct image like the eye sees it or one where up and down are corrected but left and right are reversed ? Usually, the ones that give a fully corrected image have a flat top on the prism housing:

The edge distortions will depend on the spec of the scope that the eyepiece is used in. In an F/10 or slower scope, most eyepieces are sharp to the edge of the field of view. At F/4 most will show some distortion. Scopes also have some distortions of their own to add to the mix eg: coma with a newtonian and field curvature with refractors. I don't know what spec of scope Louis D's field photos were emulating. It would be interesting to know