John

The Baader Click Lock that I use is the T2 - 1.25" Baader one and it works brilliantly IMHO. It uses a different gripping system to most adapters with longitudinal rods that press against the whole length of the eyepiece barrel. No snagging on undercuts. I have used the 2 inch Click Locks but also felt they were rather bulky although they worked well enough for me.

I have had quite a few sessions over the past few months but most of them have been quite short, some very short indeed. It seems ages since I had a really long observing session (ie: several hours) covering numerous targets. To balance that, the outer planets have been much better placed this year and some of the views of Jupiter in particular have equalled some of the best I have seen in many years. I'm fairly sure that I'll stick at simple observing though. I don't fancy that EAA is for me and I don't feel drawn to imaging.

When I was playing with Chromacor CA/SA correctors in refractors a few years ago, centering of the Chromacor on the optical axis of the scope was an important part in securing the maximum impact on CA and SA reduction. To achieve this the recommendation was to use an adapter with 3 set screws set at 120 degree intervals so that you could fine tune the centering of accessories. Moonlite adapters have 3 set screws but there might be others around as well. Chromacors may have been a bit fussier over centering than a laser collimator or cheshire eyepiece though 🤔

I've owned 2 Orion Optics newtonians, a 10" F/4.8 and a 12" F/5.3. I am just an observer but didn't find tube flexure an issue with either scope even with very heavy eyepieces such as the ES 17mm 92 degrees which weighs over 2.5 lbs. I have occasionally read that imagers have had issues with tube flexure in OO newts though. I didn't find the primary springs an issue but mine were older scopes which did not have OO's current mirror cells fitted.

I was very tempted and I already have the F/6.5 Vixen version and an excellent F/9 fluorite by some other brand 🤔

Likewise Takahashi and Tasco 😁 I don't get any pleasure from the ownership of quality stuff unless it's used frequently 🤔

I can't be the only UK based observer who has been wondering lately what the point of a fleet of nice scopes and a couple of cases of good eyepieces is, given the weather that we have had over the past few months 😬 I guess I'm starting to wonder if these conditions will become more "the norm" here 🤔

Given the eyepieces you already have I think I would be considering a good fixed focal length 6mm eyepiece for 250x which is likely to be the upper end that is useable reasonably often with the scope. Something like a Vixen SLV 6mm would cost no more than an ES 2x focal extender (possibly less) and provide excellent high power performance.

After rain pretty much all day today stars started to show though thin hazy clouds at around 10:30 pm tonight tempting me out with my 100mm refractor to clear my head following the usual Xmas excesses. The seeing was surprisingly steady and the Orion binaries put up a good show and I also panned the scope a little eastwards to catch that magnificent triple star Beta Monocerotis. What a superb sight ! Beta Mon is well worth searching out even with a small aperture scope. The 3 components are readily seen at 80x and upwards magnification and 150x shows them really well. Here is how to find this binary star: It is a cracker, I promise you. Herschel called it the "wonder star" 🙂

Phew !!! - I was worried there for a bit 🙄 Seasons greetings Don 🙂

We have nauseous clouds down here - I'm sick of the sight of them ! ☹️

A hyper-wide eyepiece such as the APM 20mm 100 will show very nearly as large a true field as the 30mm UFF does but with 50% more magnification. This can be very useful under skies with some light pollution:

Over the years I have found my 21mm much more use for observing fainter DSO's than my 31mm under my bortle 5 skies. The longer FL eyepiece is not often used unless I want the widest possible true field. The above applied to my F/5.3 12 inch dob and my current F/5.9 8 inch dob. I have owned 40mm wide field eyepieces but found them more useful with my refractors which have slower focal ratios.

Those observing chairs look really excellent 👍 I prefer to stand while observing though. Odd probably but there you go 🙄

Agreed and your guide is great 👍. Slight Mis-collimation has even more impact with SCT's I believe.

Thats the challenge with outreach type events - inexperienced eyes getting quick glimpses. Even with the "showpiece" targets, with the exception of the moon perhaps, I suspect participants can be a little underwhelmed at times. Most are too polite to say so though 🙄

Since posting this I have bought 6 eyepieces and sold 6 so the number overall has not changed. The bank balance might have though 🙄

I found the performance of the Radians that I owned varied slightly. The 2nd series 3mm was the best. I had a 1st series 3mm before it which was quite nice but the 2nd series one showed a brighter image and less light scatter - it seemed to have more effective coatings. The 4mm (a 2nd series) was good but it did show a faint halo of light extending out from the lunar limb, which was a little distracting. I didn't notice this halo when using the 3mm in the same circumstances.

Spending time observing a single target really does pay dividends even if you are an experienced observer. With Jupiter, observing it where there is still some light in the sky helps as well. I've had some of my best views of Jupiter in quite bright twilight conditions. Dark adaptation does not help with planetary observing. Because the seeing conditions vary all the time (often minute by minute) spending time observing allows the eye to adjust to the brightness / contrast levels and the extended viewing allows these moments of really good seeing to register. I've been observing Jupiter for 50 years but still often get a session where all I see at the outset is the cream disk and the two major cloud belts. 30-45 minutes later, seeing conditions allowing, and I'm seeing much more detail, more cloud belts, the GRS if it is on the disk and other features as well.

I believe the Delites are better performers overall but, if the eyepiece case is already full of Radians .......

On the other hand, if you want a Radian, you want a Radian 🙂

When I had a set of TV plossls (well, all but the 55mm 2 inch one) I added a Nagler 6mm - 3mm zoom to them to get a wider range of higher powers. I figured that the AFoV would match, the zoom is par-focal with the plossls, the additional eye relief would be welcome at higher powers and the optical performance would be very similar. That set did quite well for me for a while. I've only owned the 3mm and 4mm Radians and found them pretty good. I only have two 6mm eyepieces now - the aforementioned Svbony zoom and the Ethos 6mm which is superb but also eye wateringly expensive these days, which is I don't usually recommend it. With my scopes, currently and looking back over the years, falling mostly into the focal length range from 650mm to 1200mm, a 6mm eyepiece is a very valuable tool. I have tended to think of it as the first step into the high magnification zone. Of course, if SCT's and mak-cassegrains had dominated my scope choices then 6mm might have been the last step in that zone and only used under particularly favourable conditions.

Mostly with my Tak FC100 or Skywatcher ED120. Both 900mm focal length so 6mm gives a very useful 150x. The Vixen is due a run out soon though 🙂

I have been using the 6mm spot on the Svbony 3-8mm zoom a lot recently, especially when observing Jupiter. It works very nicely. The AFoV is 56 degrees and the eye relief 10mm (a bit less actually useable). Not great for glasses wearers but quite comfy for others.

I can think of quite a few. The Vixen SLV 6mm is excellent for example, if that is the sort of spec that you are interested in.