John

That is pretty expensive. Here is one currently for sale for considerably less: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=152609 PS: I've nothing to do with the advert.

Oh the Universe and the planet will still be here. It might not be such a suitable habitat for us though.

A good quality zoom eyepiece such as the Baader 8-24mm can work very well with these SCT scopes. In your 9.25 inch the zoom would give you from 97x to 294x all in one eyepiece. Add a longer focal length eyepiece, such as your 40mm, for lower power observing and you have a really useful range of magnification in just 2 eyepieces. All you need for most observing circumstances.

Hope you had some good views Alex

It's OK to give it a miss sometimes you know ?. Thats something that I learned a while back when I got to the point when I was almost disappointed to see a clear sky. It's a hobby - if you feel like doing it, great, but if not, do something else instead. You are in charge, not the hobby ! If you are feeling like that sometimes the forum can seem a little daunting with folks all apparently rushing outside each and every clear night. But it's fine not to actually observe sometimes, good for your overall enjoyment of the hobby in fact, IMHO. The Universe will still be there for you when you do feel like having a peek at it, thats for sure

I've just noticed that - sorry I got that wrong but even more impressive !

Nice report. Amazing what 70mm can pick up when used with a bit of skill and thought

Glad you got some observing in too Mark. I found the transparency reasonably good here until about 1:00 am when a bank of fog rolled up the River Severn and suddenly all I could see were the brightest stars then a few minutes later, nothing. @jock1958: perhaps you were getting some of the foggy stuff a bit earlier than I did ?

Your secret is safe with me Mark I find it quite a thrill to spot Triton - it's the most distant rocky / icy world that I've seen as far as I know.

A decent night tonight without a moon. Naked eye limit around mag 5 towards the zenith. Milky way visible faintly through Cygnus and the Andromeda Galaxy just about naked eye visible with a little averted vision. Not the best I get here but not too shabby either. I've been giving my favourite deep sky object, the Veil Nebula, some scrutiny tonight with the help of my 12 inch dobsonian and trusty Lumicon O-III filter. The 21mm Ethos and 31mm Nagler eyepieces show big enough chunks of sky to take in large segments of this complex network of related nebulosity, but not the whole thing of course. To get much out of the Veil Nebula a narrowband (ie: UHC) or even better a line (ie: O-III) filter is required it has to be said. The main segments of the Eastern and Western Veil and Pickerings Triangular Wisp are bright, extensive and well defined tonight. As my eye becomes more fully dark adapted fainter elements have become visible giving 5 NGC objects in total and a few other bits and pieces too. On an even darker and more transparent night I think I could go deeper still but pulling out what I have of this marvellous object has been very satisfying I've marked this chart of the Veil Nebula with my definite sightings so far. Yellow ovals are the easy portions, green ovals are objects that took a little more time to tease out. I have also had fleeting glimpses of other ill-defined patches as well but I've just recorded the stuff I'm sure of currently. My view through the newtonian is inverted with east and west reversed of course. The chart is the normal orientation view that our eyes see. To give an idea of the scale, the chart covers an area about 3.5 degrees by 3.5 degrees. With the 31mm Nagler I can get in the whole of the NCG 6992 / 6995 / IC 1340 segment in the field of view. With the 21mm Ethos it's a touch less. This really is such a complex and rich object - you can easily spend a whole session exploring it (I've spent over 2 hours on it myself this evening). Here are some links to articles which help delve deeper into the Veil Nebula: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/explore-veil-nebula/ https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/beyond-the-familiar-veil/ https://www.astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/Dissecting the Veil Nebula.html

I'm all setup with the 12 inch dob. I've bagged a few doubles, Saturn and good old M57 and M27 while the sky darkens. Hoping to have a good long session on the Veil Nebula when the sky is fully dark.

M27 (Dumbell Nebula) in Vulpecula looks good in smaller apertures and is a bit lower down than M57 currently. Later on in the night, M5 (globular cluster) in Pegasus is a nice target.

The tips and techniques you mention are well worth trying out On filters, having owned a few lower cost filters I agree that the % peak transmissions make little difference but the lower cost ones also tend to have over-broad transmission (ie: admit too wide a range of wavelengths) and also lack the sharp transmission cut offs that the better quality filters have and those things do reduce their effectiveness from what I've experienced personally. The lower cost filters do make some difference though and sometimes that is the difference between seeing something and seeing nothing or very little. Ending a session with something easiy and rewarding is an excellent plan too

40 years in the hobby and thats the 1st time that I've heard of the term etendue Back to school for me ........ I'm not keen to get an F/4 or faster dob but my 21mm Ethos sure does work well on faint DSO's even with my LET (lowish ettendue telescope) F/5.3 12 inch. I guess if I was looking for an 18, 20 or larger dob though, it would have to be F/4 to avoid needing a ladder ! Thanks for the link Gerry - I'm sure it will generate much interest and discussion

According to the "Clear Outside" site my sky is Bortle 5. I can see down to mag 5.5 stars around the zenith and a good chunk of the Milky Way plus the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye on a good night. I've spotted the Eastern Veil segment with an aperture as small as 70mm using a UHC filter. Both segments and the triangular wisp between them are visible with 102mm and the O-III filter. With the 12 dob, the 21mm Ethos eyepiece and the O-III filter (a Lumicon) the Eastern Veil looks like this on a decent night

Tis the season of the Veil Nebula Grab a UHC or O-III filter and your very lowest power eyepiece and find the star 52 Cygni to pick up the Western Veil Nebula running like a pale river right beside it. The more obvious Eastern Veil Nebula is 3 degrees to the East. One of THE very best summer deep sky objects IMHO

Thanks - Last night was no go here too. I didn't even set a scope up.

The 56mm plossl will show you as much sky as a 2 inch eyepiece can (as does my 40mm / 68 degree) but the background sky might be a bit washed out because of the lower magnification. Worth trying though to get a feel of the max field that a scope can show. My favourite "big field" combo is my Vixen 102 F/6.5 and my Nagler 31mm. 3.8 degree true field but a little more magnification to darken the background sky a bit more. I have a totally clear forecast for tonight and no moon until the early hours so I think I'll get the Vixen 102 and the 12 inch dob setup side by side and compare the views of the Veil with those

The widest I've got with my Tak 100 DL is 3.1 degrees using a 40mm 70 degree eyepiece in the 2 inch fitting which is not quite wide enough to squeeze in the E & W segements of the Veil nebula. I rarely use my DL with 2 inch eyepieces though probably because, as Stu says, my Vixen 102 ED F/6.5 is a more useful wide field scope.

Hi David, It should not make much difference but when buying and selling used but expensive eyepieces, I've found that having the original box, internal packaging, paperwork and original dust caps does make a difference to what you can actually get in practice. Obviously optical and cosmetic condition is of more importance though. As to how much of a difference in the price, it's difficult to say precisely. In the case of Ethos and similar eyepieces, the market is not saturated with them so, if it's one that someone is particularly looking for, the impact on price might be small.

Looks like you got Uranus there. It does not vary much in apparant size - it's always a long, long way away ! There are 4 Uranian moons that it is possible, though challenging, to see with amateur telescopes. I've managed 2 of them with my 12 inch dobsonian - Titania and Oberon. Neptunes disk is smaller again but it's largest moon, Triton, is visible with moderate aperture telescopes at high magnfications. Triton is a little easier to see than the brightest Uranian moons.

You don't need a filter for NGC 604. I can see it with my ED120 without a filter. It's away from the core of the galaxy that is visible visually and next to a prominent foreground star: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/triple-treasure-in-triangulums-pinwheel110320150311/ Nice report of your haul - thanks for posting it

Yep - all slightly nuts, but in a good way !

Interesting. Is the white stuff PTFE I wonder ?

I had that wispy cloud issue as well. Dodging those showed some nice dark skies though. Your description of a nearly split zeta hercules sounds right.