John

8 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Can you explain for the uninitiated (like me) what exactly we're looking at there John, mineral wise I mean. The orange/brown parts are iron based presumably?

Here is a lot more information on this particular meteorite Geoff. It was found near Dhofar in Oman hence it's name, Dhofar 007. It's basically an achondrite which cooled in a magma chamber within it's parent body way back at the formation of the solar system around 4.5 billion years ago:

http://www.meteoritestudies.com/protected_DHOF007.HTM

Through a variety methods of sample analysis, scientists can tell when the material originally formed, what it's constituent minerals and chemicals are, major events during it's life, approximately when it was ejected from it's parant body, how long it was in space and approximately how long ago it fell to Earth.

Each meteorite tells it's own story and helps to unserstand what was happening during the early phases of solar system formation and sometimes major subsequent events.

This nice little piece of 4.5 billion years old rock. It's a culmulative eucrite type meteorite sample which formed deep within an equilibriated body, possibly the asteroid 4-Vesta:

Another little piece from space. Carbonaceous Chondrite type CV3. Interesting colours. The irregular shaped white bits are Calcium-Aluminium Inclusions (CAI's):

A small relic from the formation of the solar system arrived today. Nice chondrules !

I do read about issues such as the ones that you have experienced quite regularly so you are not alone. They are why, long ago, I decided that I would use non-GOTO mounts, with minimal setup / tear down requirements and as little relaiance on tech as possible. Generally I find that has worked for me and I've made manually finding my way around the sky and star hopping to targets part of the experience

Pity that SV don't have any importers / dealers this side of the Atlantic.

I don't know anything apart from coming across this:

http://www.sharpstar-optics.com/index.php?l=en

FLO used to be wary of low cost triplets, probably for good reason. That was a few years back though:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/affordable-triplet-refractors.html

Interesting report John. I have wondered about these Bresser mak-cassegrains for a while. Thanks for posting something on this one

17 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Two eyepatches? What could possibly go wrong?

A similar idea was tried by Zaphod Beeblebrox - if you can't see danger, you don't need to be afraid !

He used Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses - available from all good Betelgeusian eyewear dealers 

I found this theory of why pirates wore eye patches which is QI (quite interesting)

I've got an older Telegizmo cover for my 12" dob. I've used it to overnight the scope outside a few times when I could not be bothered to pack it up and also as a quick coverup if a shower comes along when out in the field with the scope. It seems to do a good job to me. The right balance of being robust and weatherproof while easy to fit and it packs reasonably small - I keep mine in an old football boots bag but maybe they come with their own bags these days ?

Mines not the 365 one so I would not leave the scope out for long periods under it.

I got this little piece of the Moon in the mail today, and a few other meteorite bits too

Here is the official classification on this one (North West Africa 8277) for those interested:

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=59500

Good review Ben

I had the 4mm Nirvana (old shape) and found it an excellent high power eyepiece. I think the older style and your new design share the same optics because the eye and field lenses, and they way that they are mounted, look identical in both designs.

I think the new tapered eyepiece top shape and the thinner rubber eyecup look a better design ergonomically than the old inflexible twist up eye cup design. If they could just add a few more focal lengths to the range, they would really make an impact in the 82 degree niche I reckon.

Interesting feedback Ian.

I continue to be impressed by the Aero ED 40mm clone that I bought a while back - sharp and pretty flat field right across even at F/6.5. If you get a chance to try one, it might be worth taking the opportunity.

Meanwhile, I hope a 41mm Panoptic comes your way soon as well.

8 minutes ago, Piero said:

100 deg AFOV fever!

More seriously, I think you made a good investment. At that focal ratio, I would also have purchased a coma corrector.

For some reason it seems I don't get the 100 deg bug... although I enjoy my 20mm Lunt, I wouldn't mind if it had an AFOV of 70-80 deg. 

I keep trying to catch the 70 degree bug so that I can get rid of my Ethos's and stick to my lovely 1.26" eyepiece set. The trouble is, when the 12 inch dob is out and I compare the views, the 100's steal the show every time

5 hours ago, AdeKing said:

First outing for the ED120 in WL mode with Lunt 1.25" wedge. Will try with the BVs shortly. 

 

I did a double take there for a second - my ED120 is the same colour scheme and has the same focuser !. Your tube rings are more substantial than mine though.

Very nice setup

19 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

Hmmm, while I'd like to say yes I feel a little disappointed that my precious NPL seems to be a bit mediocre compared to the BST which is generally considered "a good quality budget eyepiece". And I had to save up for the NPL, so that is a kick in the pantaloons!

I need to stop reading reviews haha.

I think the comments on the NPL related to it's comfort not being the same as the BST's ie: the latter has more eye relief, a larger field of view and a larger eye lens making it easier to view with. The review does not comment on the optical performance of the 8mm NPL which from my experience is very similar to the BST.

The same comments could be applied to the Tele Vue 8mm plossl and indeed all other plossls and orthoscopics of that focal length - the smaller eye lens, tighter eye relief and narrower field of view (than the BST) are characteristics of the plossl and orthoscopic designs.

Just now, Stu said:

Yes it seemed to be a little wonky on the pad but safe enough.

I love seeing the amateur footage of them coming into land, complete with sonic booms. Incredible!

I saw the first launch where a booster came back down on land when we were in Florida in 2017. It wasn't a heavy lifter - just a single. Quite a quiet launch and a double sonic boom a few minutes later as the booster came back down. Only launch I've managed to actually see despite quite a few trips to Florida over the past couple of decades. I quite fancy a trip to see one of these heavy ones go off though - I'll have to start selling the plan to my other half !

Yep - the Skytee happened to be on the Berlebach and I couldn't be bothered to switch things around - keen to get out there !

Were you using the Mewlon ?

That was great to watch ! 

I thought one of the boosters that landed on land looked a little wobbly at one point but all 3 seem to have made it back down in good shape.

It's surreal watching the pair of them coming down onto the pads side by side

Lovely Fozzie

Got mine out tonight - the Moon is looking drop dead gorgeous right now

Glad it's working out well for you - bit of a step up from a Tasco 60mm

It's a scope with a lifetimes observing potential so you should have years of satisfaction from it once you have mastered it's "little ways".

You can't actually damage your eye by observing the moon without a filter with the scope but it will seem extremely bright so I'm not surprised that filtration is needed to make the view more comfortable.

I wish I lived closer to you - I could bring along my 100 degree Ethos eyepieces and an O-III filter and blow our minds with with the views of globular clusters, the brighter galaxies, planetary nebulae and the wonderful Veil Nebula

I've observed some of these targets with a 20 inch scope under dark skies so have some idea on what you have in store - you lucky person !  

I guess lens supports = the foil spacers between the lens elements ?

Some scope designs use spacer rings in place of foil spacers which would not be visible in images in the same way ?

On 30/03/2019 at 08:23, Geoff Barnes said:

Thanks for all your suggestions chaps! As advised I had a good look through my binoculars today and am pleased to report that I'm sure I was seeing with both eyes, which presumably means binoviewing is going to work for me...

 

 

 

I get on fine with binoculars but just have not taken to binoviewers. The ones I've tried work OK but I find that I prefer cyclops viewing with scopes.

3 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

only prob trying to get a large milk carton in plastic ours over here are 1 litre max so round..... Not like the uk 2 litre or even larger I do remember.

The washers that I cut are about 50mm in diameter.