John

I have used a few of the plossls like the Astro Essentials, Revelation, GSO, Skywatcher ones. They are a modest step up in performance from the "stock" eyepieces supplied with scopes. They can be bought used for £15 - £25 apiece.

That is a very nice setup 🙂 Is the scope a Ceravolo ? The "little thing" that makes my observing much more enjoyable are the double glazed french windows between my usual observing spot on the patio and our dining room. 95% of my observing is done within 2 metres of this warm room which I can easily pop in and out from to change eyepieces, consult a star chart, post on SGL, have a warm drink etc, etc. The scopes live in the room as well so that makes putting them out and popping them back in easy as well. Without this I would not be in the hobby I reckon 🙄

I'm not one to name things but frosty would be appropriate this evening 🙂 Anyway, "frosty" came in earlier as mentioned above but the fog has eased so I've been tempted out again, this time with the Tak 100. How can a scope go from a centrally heated room to -2 degrees outside temperature and deliver sharp and contrasty views of Jupiter at 180x within a few minutes of being put on the mount 🤔 I don't know the answer but the FC100-DL manages it 🙂 I've also just been able to see E & F trapezium in Orion as it rises above the rooftops. That was with the Svbony zoom at the 6mm (150x) to 4mm (225x) settings. Clearly tonights "goldilocks" magnification for this target / scope.

The more I use it and hear what others think of it, the more I think that the Svbony 3-8 zoom sits pretty much in the niche that the Nagler zooms occupy. Not the absolute top tier planetary eyepiece performance but close enough to it, and coupled with the zoom facility plus reasonable AFoV and eye relief for the non-glasses wearer, that it becomes a very useful addition to the eyepiece case. The big bonus is that the Svbony costs around 25% of the cost of a Nagler 3-6 zoom so will find a place in a lot more eyepiece collections 🙂

I've packed in for tonight. There are still a few patches of clear sky around but mostly I'm surrounded by banks of freezing fog. Some pleasant views of Jupiter and the moon as it is rising but the seeing is not too good now even in the clear patches. Hope others get a longer session 🙂

Yes, I have that as well. Jupiter seems to be just above it, Saturn though, more or less a lost cause now. Being close to the estuary we do get these fogs that rise up from the river (Severn) even though our house is 300ft above sea level 🤨 When I can hear the fog horns sounding in Avonmouth docks I know that my observing is soon going to be cut short 🙄

That's a lot of AR's wookie 😁

The seeing seems better than it was same time last night, judging by the views of Saturn at 225x and 300x.

That collar is not used on the T2 zeiss prism. I guess that is how it has the larger clear aperture ?

I've chosen the ED120 (un-named) this evening and it's eyeing Saturn already 🙂

I've been aware that this could happen and a couple of my 1.25 inch eyepieces do have longer than average 1.25 inch barrels. Being aware of the potential the only 1.25 inch diagonal that I use (a Baader T2 zeiss prism) has a T2 15mm extension below the eyepiece holder so eliminating the possibility that an eyepiece barrel or barrel + filter could come in contact with the prism. My other diagonals are of the 2 inch variety and when the 1.25 inch adapter is fitted the clearance (from the mirrors) is comfortable. I guess the other instance when this could happen is if one of the eyepieces with a 2 inch / 1.25 inch hybrid barrel is used in 2 inch mode in a diagonal 🤔

Posted in error.

I have not noticed colour fringing with the Svbony 3-8 zoom, even at the shorter settings. I have let Saturn drift right across the field of view a few times at the 4mm and 3mm settings and the image remained sharp and well defined even as it slipped behind the field stop edge. Similarly with the tight double star Pi Aquarius. My scopes are not that fast though - F/6.5 - F/9.2. I don't tend to spend time looking for faults in optics these days though. If something pops out I notice it but while the image remains good, I'm good with the eyepiece 👍 I will be interested to see how the Svbony 3-8 does on Sirius and the Pup star later this year though 🙂

Good write up @Franklin 👍 I used the Svbony 3-8 zoom with my TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 last night. I did compare it casually with the Nagler 2-4 zoom and the 3.5mm Pentax XW but didn't notice any significant differences, apart from the AFoV. With the somewhat variable and cold conditions for observing last night detailed comparisons, when using magnifications of 300x plus, were a little futile I felt. Perceived differences could be just as much caused by variations in seeing, local heat emissions, thin high clouds or even a watering observing eye (due to the cold). I might also not be such a fussy observer these days, having not been able to notice any difference between a Tak TOE 4mm and the Nagler 2-4mm zoom on the occasions when I compared them back in the summer, despite a number of other folks assuring me that there is a noticeable difference 😉

That is a challenge when doing outreach or leading a session - you don't get much time to observe yourself 🙄 Good for you and your accomplices for turning out though 🙂

There's another nice potential niche for FLO - tried and tested astronomy observing clobber ! 🙂

Clouded out here so I've bought things inside. Probably for the best - the good stuff was getting very elusive and the cold was starting to bite 😬

It's been really mixed here. Some glorious moments, lots of clouds (a proper invasion now !), short wind gusts and quite a bit of seeing unsteadiness as well. In the good moments Jupiter looks superb with so much detail it's difficult to take it in. Then there is a wobble and it's as if a wet sponge has been wiped across the planet, smearing the details. Then some cloud cover and then a brief few seconds of brilliant stuff again. All this to take in while your warmth gradually seeps into the night air. And yet we stick at it !!! 😁 "You don't have to be mad to be a visual astronomer in the winter ....... but it does help !" 🤪

Same here and why I was a bit puzzled by the poor seeing 🤔 Cold here as well 🙄

It is a 130mm F/9.2 triplet so 1200mm focal length. The OTA is made by APM in Germany, the objective and cell by LZOS in Russia and the optical design by Thomas M Back of the USA. Mine is an older version of the one reviewed here by @DirkSteele (Matthew): The APM TMB LZOS 130-1200 f9.2 apo review | Alpha Lyrae (alpha-lyrae.co.uk) The seeing seems steadier now but that could be because Saturn has risen more and I've been using that as a yardstick. I've just managed to see Neptune and it's brightest moon Triton, which is always a nice "catch" 🙂

I find that I use down to 3 mm quite regularly with my 100mm, 120mm and 130mm refractors. 2.5mm from time to time and it's nice to have. 2mm - not often. I also now have the Svbony 3-8mm zoom which is becoming a regular fixture in the diagonals of my refractors.

Very interesting. That is a very useful reference tool - thanks for posting it.

Lovely and clear here but, currently, the seeing is rather poor 😒 Blustery wind as well so wind chill is a factor. I'm clear of the jetstream, if the forecasts are accurate, so it must be more localised issues. Hopefully, it will get better 🤞

I had cloud cover all night last night 😒 Hoping for better things tonight though 🙂

I find that one superb with my scopes, although I don't use it much with my 70mm F/6 travel scope. The Nagler zooms are not really complex eyepieces - 5 elements. Clever design though. @ollypenrice's point about travel scopes majoring on the widefield is an interesting one though.