John

Just going to take a peek with my little Vixen 4 inch. Thanks for the "heads up" @Stu 🙂

Thanks for posting that 🙂 It was interesting that Vixen moved from the two model ED102S / ED102SS at F/9 and F/6.5 respectively line up to a single model SD102S at F/7.7. I understood this change was due to problems with the lead content of the non-ED element used in the ED102's forcing a re-design of the doublet objective resulting in a slight clear aperture increase and the mid-range focal ratio of F/7.7. Vixen didn't state the ED glass type used in the ED102's although I was fairly sure it had to be FPl-53 from the CA control they achieved in even the faster F/6.5 version, the SS model. My own ED102SS dates from around 2000 and I've owned it for 16 years. It's a great "all rounder" 🙂 I'm going to have a look at the Moon and Venus with it right now in fact !

One place that did have a "pilgrimage" feel to it for me was Sir Patrick Moore's house in Selsey. We visited the town in spring last year and I could not resist finding the house even though Sir Patrick's scopes have now gone and it (I believe) has moved to new ownership. So many photos in his books were taken there and some "Sky at Night" episodes were filmed there.

I've just thought of one quite local to me - the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, 19 New King Street, Bath. Fascinating place and Uranus was discovered from the garden 🙂 Herschel Museum of Astronomy Bath Astronomers hold their meetings there.

Personally I love the 31mm Nagler even though I don't use it that much. The Ethos 21 is more effective under my skies, usually. I didn't get on with the ES 92's (I had both the 12mm and 17mm for a few months) although optically they are excellent I agree. Lucky that there so many choices around today 🙂

I agree with the ones you list 🙂 I'd add the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth, Devon to the UK ones. A few years back we travelled to northern Arizona and I was able to visit a number of astronomy / space connected sites including Meteor Crater and the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff. There are also plenty of places around there that the Apollo astronauts trained for their lunar excursions which are fun and interesting to visit such as Sunset Crater and of course the Grand Canyon. Add some fascinating sites formerly inhabited by indigenous people, plenty of sunshine and amazing landscapes and geological features and you get a fine place to spend a couple of weeks 🙂

I've owned a few mounts with GOTO capability but beyond a little playing around to check that it works, I never actually use the GOTO function so now I stick with mounts that are much simpler. Manual slow motion controls are nice (though not essential for me) but I don't want to be messing around with setup routines and power supply provision, however simple they are. I stick to this approach now for all my setups from the travel one to my larger ones. Suits me but I appreciate that others will have their own preferences 🙂

I got one of the Starwave 70 ED's a few months back as a travel scope. I've not been that impressed by small aperture refractors that I've owned in the past but the Starwave 70 has changed my mind on such scopes. It really is a surprisingly capable observing tool 🙂

Again tonight with my 100mm. Perhaps a touch fainter again - magnitude 11.9 / 12.0 maybe ?

Also tonight, a rather neglected planetary nebula in Hercules - NGC 6210, The Turtle Nebula. Small so it needs 100x or more to clearly differentiate it from the stars in the same field. Pale blue tone perhaps ? Planetary nebulae like this make good targets in the summer skies even if the sky is not completely dark. Nice piece from Stewart Moore on the British Astronomical Association website on this object: v132i02ja (1) (britastro.org) Here is the Deep Sky Corner page which shows how to find it: Turtle Nebula (NGC 6210) | Deep⋆Sky Corner (deepskycorner.ch)

Antares split with my 100mm refractor at 225x. Seeing not as steady as last time. Secondary star seen briefly but consistently during moments when the seeing settles then it merges with Antares diffraction effects during the less steady periods, which it has to be said outnumber the brief steady ones this evening🙄 I tried a couple of ND type filters which helped get a steadier view of Antares but the secondary star could not be seen with those. A pretty challenging double star !

Now it's back but with no photos 😕

I've reported it to the webmaster and it's been removed promptly. Makes you wonder how many other dodgy ones are out there though 🤔

I've found that you can get decent low to medium magnification views from most scopes quite quickly after setting up, even with my 12 inch dobsonian. For higher magnifications though, allowing the scope to adjust to ambient temperature delivers sharper views, more contrast and less light scatter. 30-45 minutes was usually sufficient with my 12 inch dob and my 130mm triplet refractor. Less time with my smaller aperture refractors.

Here is a recent UK AB&S advert: U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell (astrobuysell.com) This "barely used" scope bears a remarkable resemblance to this one reviewed on the CN forum 11 years ago: A review of the Celestron CPC 1100 telescope - User Reviews - Articles - Articles - Cloudy Nights

I felt that coming through in the report you posted comparing the two scopes when you got the Tak 😟

There are quite a few options that are very close to TV performance these days and often for quite few less £'s 🙂

Having visited Meteor Crater a few years ago I would not want to be anywhere near when a largish chunk hits the ground 😲 Incidentally, it ought to really be called Meteorite Crater I think, as the thing that created it actually got to the surface. That hole was created by an iron chunk about 50 metres in diameter (pre-disintegration) they think.

Barlowed laser collimation is worth a try: Rear View Barlowed Laser Collimation (smartavtweaks.com)

No problem at all 🙂 Thanks for sorting things out @Stu 👍 NEO's deserve a thread of their own 🙂

One of my favourite lunar targets 😀 At high powers you can see the dark "tyre tracks" that appear to run across the floor of Messier. Alas too much cloud cover here this evening to observe anything 😒

I've no argument that NEO's pose a significant risk however this thread is about supernovae prompted by the current such event in another galaxy. By all means start another thread on the NEO threats though 🙂

Did you buy it new - is it still under warranty ?

Yours has the same focuser that mine does I think - the 2.5 inch inch ? Was the action OK before the MEF-3 was fitted ?

Not only "whoops a big scope" but also "whoops a big scope case" with that one if I recall correctly 😁