John

56 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

Maybe, but they used to do that.

I brought my first Newtonian : an OO  250/1200  'Europa' model from Widescreen Centre back in 2003 back when they had a store in Nottingham.

Two more of their scopes were bought used, and my 12" F4 was the only one i purchased new and picked up from their premises in Newcastle-under-lyme.

I much prefer to buy stuff from there directly : and its always nice to see John and have a chat with him.

Quite a few dealers used to sell OO scopes a couple of decades or so back. Not so many in recent years. I don't know if that was a deliberate move by OO or the dealers decided it. That might be changing though.

No image at all - the challenge is to use the english language to describe the observation and the experience 🙂

(I'll get my coat ........)

Blustery winds plus thin hazy clouds here. I went with the 85mm Tele Vue just to get some fresh air, observe a few double stars and Saturn now that it's above my neighbours roofline.

Saturn can just be seen to the right of the chimney stack in this photo.

The Nagler zooms suit this little scope extremely well  (the 2-4mm is in the diagonal in the photo)🙂

20 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

While I appreciate the slightly restricted field due to the safety ring on some diagonals they don't bother me in the slightest. I like the WO dielectric 2" diagonals. They have a 1/12th wave lambda mirror and 99% reflectivity. As I don't own any eyepieces with a field stop large enough to vignette the safety ring doesn't bother me. I use the 30mm UFF as my wide field eyepiece and it works just fine. The diagonal wouldn't be suitable for owners of the Vixen LVW 42mm for instance.

Generally I agree on the quality side but I'm one of those weird individuals who does like to get the widest true field possible from an eyepiece barrel size from time to time so it's helpful if the diagonal does not get in the way of that. It also seems slightly odd that WO's largest field stop eyepieces can't be used to their full potential in the companies own diagonals.

Probably minor niggle rather than a show stopper though.

19 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

....It’s also easy to forget that observing takes practice. Beginners often think that looking through an eyepiece is like looking at a computer screen - one quick glance and you’ve seen it all. One reason that I spend so long looking at the planets (Mars is a good example) is to learn how to see more. The more time I spend looking the more I can see. And not just during that session. Once familiar with a target you can potentially see more and see more on another night. 

Very true indeed !

26 minutes ago, hal9550 said:

....On the subject of Tele Vue - Most of the time, when asking about anything Eyepiece, or Diagonal, related - i get the response the TV version is better, and its true! I believe it for sure; At this stage, i would say TV set the benchmark and everyone else competes! The trouble is i cannot justify the expense - im sure its the best, having checked out the price. It is more expensive to buy a TV 2" Diagonal, than it is to buy the 5" Maksutiv iv been eyeing up. And for me i couldnt swallow that. 400 euro for a Diagonal 2" is too much - and they have a higher 'everbright' version for nearly 600 euro. I cant justify it regardless of the quality, which im sure is impeccable 

Maybe there is one that could be recommended as a quality value version. Im not fussy on brand so

I nearly always buy used so I've managed to (mostly) avoid Tele Vue's high retail pricing.

Thinking back on of the best "value priced" 2 inch diagonals that I owned was made by GSO. It has been marketed under a lot of brandings over the years including Revelation, TS (Telescope Services) and many more. This is what they look like branded by Rother Valley Optics:

RVO Horizon 2" Quartz Dielectric Mirror Diagonal - Rother Valley Optics Ltd

I wonder if OO are contemplating stepping back from selling directly, establishing a sound network of reputable dealers (eg: FLO ?) and concentrating on the design and manufacturing side of things ?

Quite a few diagonals use a rather thick ring inside the eyepiece tube where it joins the body of the diagonal. This ring can cause quite noticeable vignetting at the field edges when eyepieces with the max field stop size. It's annoying because generally these diagonals are otherwise well made and of good optical quality. 

Although they are quite expensive I do really like the "machined out of one piece of alloy" approach that Tele Vue use for their Everbright diagonals in both the 1.25 inch and 2 inch fittings. No internal rings with those and no chance of either the eyepiece or scope end barrels unscrewing under the weight of a heavy load either.

I recently picked up a pre-owned TV 1.25 inch Everbright enhanced aluminium diagonal from an SGL member and it's a lovely little thing 🙂

9 minutes ago, hal9550 said:

....Swings, roundabouts, and Apparent Fields of view! Its all about optics i guess!

At least with your long-ish focal length scopes, most eyepieces will be sharp pretty much right across the field of view.

1 hour ago, Telescope40 said:

.....Goes to prove that the night sky is happy to wait patiently for us..... 

Pleased you got some observing in again John 🙂

I agree very much with your sentiment above though - I'm having a night off despite the clear skies. It's a hobby, after all. It will all still be there another time 🙂

14 minutes ago, josefk said:

Don't set me off on the 10mm @John - 10mm is a really useful FL for me and i have a bit of an on/off relationship with a 10mm Pentax XW in that slot. The Pentax is optically superb - really nice tidy stars even at the field stop, lovely subtle star colours and i think it's really transparent to boot, unfortunately some nights i just cannot find and hold the exit pupil reliably, other nights i get on with it fine - i need to jury rig a few mm of extension to the eye guard i think to hold me off the eye piece top a little bit. Thankfully for my bank balance I think my current and future astigmatism kind of rules out all the ethos above 8mm (with their corresponding larger exit pupils).

I'll keep you posted on the 4.7mm (i read you had it before and rated it) 😉 - it's a lovely x96 and >1-degree FOV in my little scope and x213 and half a degree in my TOA. In this latter case it gives me double the drift time i have with a 5mm ortho currently so will be nice for Saturn and Mars in particular and hopefully Jupiter too on steady nights. The 6mm is with Jupiter in mind at a slightly lower magnification. (I have an undriven mount otherwise i wouldn't be bothering).

The power mate was my unsuccessful attempt to avoid all these shorter focal length EPs - it's optically excellent but BIG, fine in combo with small EPs but huge in combo with tall EPs.

I've settled now on the Pentax XW's at 10mm and shorter "bookended" with a 24mm Panoptic and a 14mm Delos and at the other end the Nagler 3-6 and 2-4mm zooms. My Ethos set was pretty much exclusively used with my 12 inch F/5.3 dob so when that scope went, the Ethoi started to gather dust, metaphorically speaking.

I compared the 10, 7, 5 and 3.5 XW's to their Ethos counterparts quite often and found them pretty equal in all but that massive AFoV gap.

Have fun with your green and black hyper wides 🙂

54 minutes ago, josefk said:

The 6mm courtesy of the Widescreen Centre & DPD today - a purchase finally set in train by the 4.7mm new at IAS on Saturday.

I've "suffered" more than 18-months of analysis paralysis re. the 6mm focal length, I *think* i prefer Delos to Ethos though i'm not sure and didn't know which way to go at this FL where i can anyway make a virtual 6mm Delos from a 12mm with a power mate but often don't like the unwieldiness of the resulting stack. It's also a FL where i could end up needing glasses at the EP a few years down the line.

"Unfortunately" I found the 4.7mm at the weekend to be a very friendly view and i really enjoyed the dark sky/wide FOV combination it's characteristics delivered so i decided to act on the 6mm and enjoy it before i talked myself down from 100-degrees and 15mm of eye relief at 6mm again! 

The little bit of IAS show discount feels expensive right about now so hopefully we have some clear nights in the short term to temper any buyers remorse that may creep in if it sits unused for too long...🫣

For a while I used a 2x Powermate with the 8mm and 6mm Ethos but eventually gave in and picked up the 4.7 and 3.7 Ethos SX. 

I never quite had a complete set of Ethos though - I never owned the 10mm. Shame really as I believe it's considered one of the best in the range. Not that there are any "bad" ones as such 😁

I'll start missing mine if I keep hearing tales of how much you like using them ! 🙄

Cloud has thinned quite a bit now leading to some decent views of Jupiter (4 cloud belts + 4 moons), Uranus (near the Pleiades) and Neptune's tiny blue disk. 

Good night when you see all 4 outer planets again 🙂

Hi,

Welcome to the forum 🙂

I don't know much about your scope but I believe this is the instruction manual for it, which might help (it is in PDF format):

ds114at.pdf

After a rather long break in observing for supper and a bit of rubbish TV, I'm out again observing Saturn and the moon. Thin cloud is acting as a natural filter although it's a touch thicker than I'd like at times. Despite this Saturn and it's rings are looking rather exquisite. Enceladus would be well placed to observe at it's current elongation but the cloud is thick enough to keep it below the threshold of the 120mm aperture tonight, alas.

Fun stuff though I think the gradually thickening cloud is going to put a stop to things soon 🙄 

Lovely splits of Pi Aurigae and Lambda Cygni with my "oldie but goldie" ED120 refractor. Hazy, thin cloud around so it's not a DSO night but it does seem to be a good doubles night 🙂

300x seems to be no trouble to the scope this evening for these high resolution targets.

Personally I've rarely found that Jupiter responds well to really high magnifications even when using my old (and very good) 12 inch dob. Somewhere in the 180x - 220x region usually resulted in the sharpest views with the best contrast variations between the surface features. I was always happy to sacrifice image scale for sharpness and clarity of features.

Saturn, Mars, Uranus and Neptune were usually better targets for using really high magnifications on. 

The magnification given by a 3.2mm eyepiece might be suitable for those latter planets under really good conditions (and assuming a well collimated and cooled scope) but I suspect that Jupiter might not reward you so much at such magnifications.

But by all means try it though - the BST Starguiders are not too pricey. 

Personally I've not found that a filter helps particularly with NGC 604, at least for visual observing. I have read that a good UHC might assist but I've not found that myself.

I used to take my 12 inch F/5.3 solid tube to star parties. Around 100 miles was my longest journey. The bumpiest part over the camping field usually ! The optical tube on it's side resting on an old sleeping bag and with a rear seat folded. The mount base stood up in the other side of the boot space. 

I used the primary cell locking screws on those occasions to prevent major collimation shift but still needed to check and fine tune collimation when the scope was set up. It's part of my routine with dobs anyway so no real hassle. With a flexi tube you might be able to fit the tube into the boot space upright.

Assume some collimation adjustments will be needed when you reach your destination.

You can test for focuser alignment with the optical axis of the scope in a refractor with a laser collimator (a collimated one). Pop the laser collimator in the drawtube (no diagonal) and see where the beam exits the front element of the objective - it should be in the centre.

It's the first stage in refractor collimation. If the focuser proves to be OK and aligned with the optical axis of the objective, a cheshire eyepiece can be used to check the tilt of the objective. With a triplet objective though, de-centering of the central objective element can also be the cause of mis-collimation. Collimation of a triplet objective and, if needed, re-centering the elements, is a job for a professional though, as far as I'm concerned.

I'd like to see a detailed comparison on visual DSO's between these 2 scopes. The paper advantage of the newt is 30mm of additional aperture plus it's free of false colour but the secondary and it's supports plus the lower light transmission of the reflecting system tend to scrub away at that aperture advantage I reckon. Then there is coma in the newt if you want wide views which are sharp right across.

Refractors are noted for their contrast due to the unobstructed optical system and that benefits DSO's as well as solar system targets. The 120mm F/5 achromat is not a great solar system performer though due to it's CA.

The newt might be the better all rounder but I seem to recall that you have a 6 inch SCT as well ?, so it's possible that the 120mm F/5 refractor might make a better companion for that scope, if it's allowed to play to it's strengths.

If I was looking to replace the SCT and have something of an all rounder / one scope solution I might think along the lines of a 150mm F/6 rather than the F/5 versions.

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

The only way I know of making sure collimation is spot on is to do a star test. 

Yep, that's my "acid test" as well.

I tend to find my cheshire more accurate than my lasers when I star test the scope. 

How to star test a telescope | BBC Sky at Night Magazine 

11 hours ago, GasGiant said:

If I can find em 😀

Neptune needs a fair amount of magnitude to make out it's disk - it's just 2.4 arc seconds so about the same as the star pairs separation in Epsilon Lyrae (the "Double Double"). With a 5 inch or larger aperture and high magnification (like 250x or more) it is possible to see Neptune's largest moon Triton under good conditions. 

A few of Uranus's moons can be spotted as well, with slightly more aperture again.

5 minutes ago, GasGiant said:

........ I didnt get to see Saturn very well last year but tonight shes out !  First time ive seen it properly. How long before discs start 'coming back' ? 

 

 

The last 6 frames of this give some idea:

41 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

....If you're doing it from work then I would discuss this with your IT team.  Finding an unknown remote connection software suite on a work endpoint is a cyber security manager's nightmare (ask me how I know) and will likely result in trouble.

As a former Head of IT in a medium sized organisation, I would heartily agree with this suggestion and also I would suggest discussing the proposition with your line management.