John

Thanks for that link - I agree that globular clusters are fascinating and some of the most interesting objects that we observe 🙂

Just a quick point in case anyone else would like to try the Lunt 1.25 inch HW in this mode. I found the ND3.0 filter installed in the eyepiece holder of the wedge impossible to remove. The filter is screwed into the bottom section of the stock eyepiece holder. Luckily I had an ordinary 1.25 inch mirror diagonal available and the eyepiece holder from that screwed straight onto the Lunt HW body. So I was able to observe Venus just using the prism within the wedge to reduce the light throughput. It might be possible to unscrew the installed ND filter from the stock eyepiece holder but it would need more force than I was willing to apply. It may also be worth using the HW with the ND filter in place on Venus - it is a bright target. And I did put the original Lunt eyepiece holder and filter straight back onto the wedge once I had finished observing Venus - safety first !🙂

I tried this approach this evening with my ED120 refractor and the 1.25 inch Lunt Hershel Wedge, de-filtered. The resulting views of Venus were very crisp and glare-free. It made for relaxed observing and was an all-round pleasant experience. I'm not sure that I saw any more detail than using a mirror diagonal and a moon filter, tonight at any rate, but I think the overall view of the planet was "cleaner" if that makes any sense. Thanks for passing on this tip @Stu - I will use it often when observing Venus in future I reckon 🙂 I did take your advice and replaced the filters in the wedge as soon as I took it off the scope. With all this solar activity no point in risking an accident ! 😮

A few years ago Ed made some comments on the performance of an optical item which were based on his mis-understanding of the method of use. He admitted this when challenged and then withdrew from reviewing for some time. Personally I'm pleased that he started doing them again 🙂

I'm still not convinced that I've seen anything "real". Any similarities between my crude sketch and images could well be purely co-incidence. I will try some more sketching because I think it helps the observing process but it will take a few more that have something going on that can be confirmed in images before I'm more confident about seeing Venusian cloud features.

I found this image on another forum, taken on the 4th June from Seattle, USA. Comparing it with my rough sketch, there do seem to be some similarities:

I decided to take the policy of "if any contrast difference seems to show, sketch it". I highly exaggerated the contrast. The result was this, which looks nothing much like yours Nik !

Well, Venus is very crisp and clear this evening at 225x with my 100mm refractor. I've tried an O-III and a lunar filter and no filter at all but nothing, to my eye, that resembles structure or contrast variations on those dense cloud tops. It's still a lovely sight though. I hope any venusians observing Earth are having as much fun !

I wonder if you can see detail in the Earth's cloud systems from Venus

The slightly odd thing is that I felt as close to detecting some contrast changes in the cloud tops of Venus with my little 70mm ED doublet refractor as I have when using my 130mm triplet. Maybe aperture is not the whole story when trying to see this type of feature ?

A little white light solar with my travel 70mm ED. Sub-5kg including the tripod and mount so very portable and compact:

Excellent and encouraging report Nik 🙂 Seeing cloud detail on Venus is something I've struggled with despite having some decent equipment. It's good to know that I might eventually get somewhere if I keep at it. I have wondered if, like a few other challenging astro targets, it's possible to be seeing it without realising that you are ?

Why do well respected scientific organisations allow their branding to be used on such poor quality equipment ? You would think that a marketing department with no experience of a subject (ie: astronomy in this case) would find it fairly easy to contact somebody within these organisations who does know a little about it before making these branding licensing decisions 🤔 It's a pet peeve of mine I'm afraid 😒

Took a trip to a galaxy far, far away to see a cataclysmic stellar event that happened 21 million years ago. And all from my back yard 😁

Just a short session with the ED120 tonight. Short due to social engagements earlier this evening and an early start tomorrow AM. Managed to see supernova SN 2023ixf in Messier 101 again. I compared it carefully with stars in the same field of view and felt that the closest comparable in brightness was magnitude 11.4 so that is my estimate of the supernova's visual brightness this evening. Barely a trace of the host galaxy on show though, probably due to the not completely dark sky and a bright moon towards the south.

Even those AP accessories look wonderful 😁 I only have one item of AP kit - the Maxbright diagonal and it is an absolutely superb piece of equipment in both engineering and optical performance terms. If the Starfire 110 itself is of the same quality (which it will be, of course) you are in for a lifetime of astronomy pleasure from it, I'm sure 🙂

I feel the same. I did post a question on the forum some time back seeking to get an idea if purely visual astronomy was declining and I was actually rather surprised that the responses seemed to indicate that it is still quite a popular way of enjoying astronomy. I thought the ratio of observers vs imagers might be around 20:80 but it seemed closer to 40:60 or even 50:50 perhaps, judging by the responses I got. Of course quite a few folks do a bit of both so our hobby is not starkly divided by any means🙂

Last night I was clouded out here (apart from an early glimpse of the moon) so no SN. Tonight looks better so I'll hopefully be able to get another view 🤞

4 lens surfaces to figure, polish, coat, space and mount VS a single surface ? The slower chinese achromats I've had have generally been quite decent to be fair but there is quite a bit of variability, eg: I've had two of the 127mm F/9.4's - the Bresser branded one was good but the Meade branded one was very mediocre. The chinese ED doublets that I've had have been much more consistently good. I have the feeling that they simply take more care when more expensive glass is being used and of course they charge quite a bit more for the unit.

Thankfully this does not seem to apply on SGL but in some other places there is a sort of "if there are no pictures it did not happen" attitude creeping in 🙄 I think the odd snap / sketch / picture to illustrate an observation isn't an issue personally. It can be helpful for others.

That is pretty much my experience as well. If the CA is commensurate with the aperture and focal ratio then I'm OK with it but SA just undermines the performance to an extent that is frustrating.

or use a newtonian ? you can get several of those for the price of a chromacor 🙂

Just a quick view of the moon tonight with clouds dominating much of the rest of the sky. The few minutes I had were rewarding though with Aristarchus, Herodotus and the Vallis Schroteri looking great, the 4 largest craterlets on Plato's floor showing as bright spots and best of all perhaps the magnificent crater Pythagoras with it's impressive central peak casting a long shadow, the illuminated flanks resembling a giant letter "Z" sticking up from the crater floor under this evening's illumination. I doubt I'll see much else tonight but the above brief lunar excursion was worth putting a scope out for 🙂

I don't use Sky Safari. I use star charts such as these to locate the host galaxy, M101 (although I already knew how to find that) and then a detailed chart to pinpoint the position of the supernova in it:

The drawback with filtering of course is that it removes light that ought to be contributing to the contrast and sharpness of the image.