John

I've owned at least 3 Vixen GP's and an SP and a GP-DX over the years. I use them for a bit, get frustrated by them, sell them on and then see some pictures on here of scopes (especially refractors) mounted on them, and the desire to have one is re-ignited all over again 🙄 "Rinse and repeat" as the saying goes 😁 Having also owned GP copies such as the EQ5, CG5 and the LXD55 / 75 from Meade, I appreciate how well the Japanese made Vixen stuff is made. Much more precise machining and casting which results in better carrying capacity and more pleasure in use 👍 (scurries off to check out the for sale boards.....)

I currently have 3 zooms. The Nagler 2-4mm is not one that I would suggest for outreach but the Hyperflex 7.2mm - 21.5mm and the Baader 8-24mm Mk IV (a recent acquisition) would seem suitable for this purpose. They are easy to use and reasonably comfortable with regards to eye positioning. People who have not used scopes before find the zoom capability very interesting and it helps the flow of an outreach session not having to change eyepieces. The only slight drawback that I have found with the Baader zoom is that it is not par-focal and the focus needs some adjustment (perhaps more than I expected ?) after changing the focal length. The field of view that the Baader offers is appreciably larger than the Hyperflex throughout the focal length range although the latter is a pretty sharp eyepiece for it's cost. I have used the Hyperflex for outreach in the past quite a bit but I'll try the Baader this summer (solar outreach) and see what the punters think of it 🙂

I started visual. 50 Years later, I'm still visual 🙂 Never been tempted by AP, bar the odd mobile phone snap through the eyepiece. I do love seeing the results from the many that do image though and some really impressive results are now within reach of the amateur👍

I used to have a Vixen GP-DX. It was rock solid with my Tak F/9 100mm and my ED120 F/7.5 but my 130mm F/9.2 triplet was just a little too much for it, when high powers were being used. Shame really because the 130 / GP-DX combination really looked nice 🙂

Personally I would probably make that move for the optical quality rather than the focal length, but whether I would notice the difference, I don't know because I have not yet used a Delite. I have owned some Radian eyepieces and enjoyed them. I did notice the difference in optical quality between the Naglers and Ethos when I (over some time) made that move. I thought that the Delos were a subtle improvement over the Radian's as well and the Delites are reported to be at least Delos good, if not a touch better. Whatever you do, the differences will only be slight and what you have is already a pretty darn decent eyepiece set 🙂

Yes, I can understand the media getting confused by the terms "fall" and "find". I just thought that the National Museum of Wales information was not quite accurate. Witnessed falls are definitely rarer and more collectable, especially in the UK. I used to have a 1 gram chunk of Barwell which was worth more than many other, scientifically more interesting, specimens in my collection back then 🙄 I'm probably just being a "Metorite Pedant" 😏

Actually, their information is a little out of date. There has been another meteorite found within the past 30 years - the Hambleton Meteorite found in August 2005 in North Yorkshire. Before the Winchcombe fall, the last recorded fall was at Glatton, Cambs in 1991 so that was 30 years earlier. The BBC forgot about the Hambleton Meteorite as well, to be fair, despite reporting it back in 2009: BBC - York & North Yorkshire - Rare meteorite being analysed

I'll have to pop over to Cardiff and have a look at that 🙂

It's a bit contrived but I guess the people behind the mount were very excited about it. Sadly, the production of the T-Rex ceased in 2016 when the sole engineer passed away.

It is, but not last night. I got clouded out about 30 minutes after I took that pic 😬

Well, I can see the cat clearly ....... 😁

Excellent report and result Nik 😃 I tried Antares with my 130mm refractor last night (about all I did try before being clouded out) but it was very unsteady. I had much more luck a couple of weeks or so back with my 100mm so seeing conditions (both local and more widespread) are vital I think. My view of Antares is similar to yours with regard to altitude and using a gap between a house and trees to see it: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385898-what-did-you-see-tonight/?do=findComment&comment=4389314 Very satisfying when it comes together though 👍

No electronics involved here but it suits me just fine 😁 Waiting for darkness on a warm summer evening.

Great stuff ! I've got some solar outreach events coming up with Bristol AS. Hope the activity remains exciting so that we have some nice stuff to show the punters 🙂 I did some a couple of years back when the solar disk was completely featureless - I think the public thought we were nuts ! 🙄

It's the most loved that counts in this thread 😉 The one I posted was my oldest and one of my least expensive scopes. But I'd not be without it 😁

Just us visual folks left to continue that now. A dying breed I reckon 😬

That looks like a nice one 🙂 We discussed in another thread the potential for variability in these lower cost achromats and I'm afraid that I have one of the 90mm F/10's that is not so good 🙄 Glad you got a good one 👍

Me too. I seem to have to refresh the screen each time I want to view a new page. I'm getting this quite frequently: I didn't notice this before tonight.

I didn't think my 2-4mm Nagler zoom would get much use but I'll wear the thing out at the rate I'm going !

An excellent approach I find.

I've never found anything closer than, say, 1.2 arc seconds is what I would call "easy" what ever scope I've been using. I have always found splitting sub-arc second doubles very hard to be honest.

I've struggled with sub-arc second splits even with my 12 inch dob. I think it must be my eye and / or local seeing limitations perhaps ? I have got a few but mostly with the 130mm refractor which shows very "clean" star disks even at stupidly high magnifications. I've not managed anything below around .8 arc second as far as I recall. On the other hand, I seem to do quite well with the highly uneven brightness stuff like Sirius and Anatares. "Swings and roundabouts" I suppose 😏

Yes I did and it was an excellent refractor. My first taste of a "big" refractor 🙂 There is a pre-owned one on a certain vendors website at the moment for just £200 which seems an absolute bargain to me. Interestingly, I also had the Meade branded version (the AR5) of the same scope a couple of years later. The optics on the Meade one were just not as good not matter how much I fiddled with the collimation.

Again, speaking personally, I find apertures less than 100mm a little limiting for double stars although they do present them really well and many resolve fully up to their theoretical limits of course.

For me a 100mm-130mm refractor is the optimum double star scope. Larger apertures have the potential to resolve tighter splits of course but personally I prefer the clean, almost clinical presentation of the star images that refractors give. I have used mak-cassegrains and mak-newtonians that have given very good results as well I should say. Almost "refractor-like" 🙂