John

43 minutes ago, VNA said:

Hello, a Go-To only, so much simpler and faster to admire various fascinating celestial objects.

Besides, you don't have to readjust constantly the scope, and then you can use a lot more magnification as long as the image is crisp.

 

That is progress!  ;- )

Sounds ideal 👍

I had a GOTO system back in the mid 1980's (Vixen Skysensor) which did similar things, so they have been around a few years. Their function and capability has been improved a huge amount today though 🙂

I've tended to feel that the XW's are neutral in tone. Rather similar to the Ethos, for me.

I have one Delos (14mm) but can't see a strong difference in tone between it and my XW's. I don't think that I am particularly sensitive to tones though, not even particularly noticing the much talked about tones in the Radians and TV plossls when I used to own those.

I would have thought that the telescope optics must make an impact. Some refractors are known to be corrected towards one part of the spectrum or another. That has got to affect the tone of the image seen at the eyepiece I would have thought, as has the diagonal being used plus the observers eye sensitivity. So many variables !

I certainly had no bias one way of the other when I posted the question and nor have I now. With hindsight the wording "Simple Question ....." was somewhat optimistic of course 🙄

It seems to me that one of the great things about astronomy is that there are so many different ways to do it - all of them "right" 😁

Looking back at the poll (flawed though it was, I accept) the results are more or less what I expected I think. 

Thanks again for participating and apologies if some feathers have been ruffled - not my intention at all 😟

I think I'll leave until another time the polls I was intending to start on:

Is your attention span a) similar to a ferret, or b) similar to a goldfish ?

and

If we are not grinding our own mirrors and engineering our own mounts then a) we are not proper astronomers or b) we are proper astronomers, but awful crafts persons  ?

😁

Many thanks again for the poll votes and / or the interesting comments posted 👍

10 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Am I missing something with the vote questions John? Q) I often/always use go-to or push to.

Q) I do not use go-to / push to. 

I'm not sure if that answers how many do and how many don't use one or the other. If the latter question is ticked, doesn't it imply the scope doesn't move at all? Surely one or the other must be used, even when dialling in coordinates using setting circles? 

 

The term "push to" as I use it here Mike means a system that guides the observer to a specified target though the use of directions. The slewing power is human rather than motorised as it is with a GOTO system.

Apologies if the questions lack clarity. Feel free not to respond of course 🙂

It's an interesting question 🙂

If I lost everything that I have now and was given the cash value of replacing it all I would probably invest some of it in a 4 inch refractor and an 8 inch dobsonian. Skywatcher or Stellalyra / mira would be fine.  A simple alt-az mount for the refractor. I would get some Pentax XW or Baader Morpheus eyepieces plus a zoom and a Herschel wedge for the refractor. Decent O-III and UHC filters as well.

And that would be it I think. Still well in the hobby but with several £K in the bank for travel / other stuff 🙂

Thanks to the 49 people who felt they could cast a vote and I can also quite understand why others felt that they could not. The process has reminded me that a poll is a rather blunt tool on a forum.

As per the poll heading, I am interested where the balance lies these days.

Thanks if you feel able to respond 🙂

I have posted my vote.

9 hours ago, badhex said:

Hard to tell from the photo, what scope is that? I must admit I love my ZS73 for its ability to punch above what its aperture would suggest. 

PS. Nice to see you are back posting again John! 

Thank you Joe.

The scope is a little Altair Starwave 70 that I picked up recently. Nothing exotic by any means but it seems to have a well figured objective, CA is kept under reasonable control and the scope seems well put together, plus it's small and light.

A LZOS 130mm F/9.2 was one of mine. I bought one in 2016 🙂

A top class 4 inch refractor was another. I bought one of those in 2016 as well 🙂

I've never owned an Astro Physics scope. I do have one of their 2 inch Maxbright diagonals though 😁

Still having a great time here with my titchy 70mm refractor 🙂

Rigel, Eta Orionis, Alnitak, Castor and other nice pairs split. M42, M43, M78, M1 and NGC 2392 nebulae showing quite well.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) spotted quite easily at 8th magnitude.

Very happy with this little scope - good star test, little CA and one hand portable on the Slik Master Classic photo tripod 😁

Early start this evening. Out at 5:00pm with the 70mm F/6 to have a quick look at the Moon (Petavius and rille looking nice), Jupiter and Venus against quite a bright twilight sky. Best time to see Jupiter's surface details I think. The Mare Crisium is beautifully presented this evening.

Little scope on a standard photo tripod did well even at 131x 🙂

1 hour ago, HonestGazer said:

My mind.....is blown lol 😆  I went for the 13mm Nirvana as @Mr Spock mentioned! Aim is to get near a 2mm exit pupil which from my research I have read is a good intermediate for DSOs etc.

Good move on good advice - it's no surprise that the first Nagler introduced was a 13mm as was the first Ethos. A very useful focal length in many scope specifications.

I've really liked the Nirvana's that I've used 👍

22 minutes ago, Stu said:

Is that not what experience is though Mark? Some take a long time to build that experience (I put myself in that camp), others pick it up very quickly. I would agree that anyone sufficiently motivated to build enough experience to know what they are looking at will see the same (assuming similar visual acuity). 

Agreed. I've been a "slow developer" in astronomy skills but I've seen folks on here move from novice to really pushing the boundaries remarkably quickly. Good for them and I hope SGL helped them in their journey 👍

We have had quotes from notable astronomers of yore in this thread but one that puts a smile on my face is from the golfer, Lee Trevino. Back in the 1980's Trevino was playing in the British open in Scotland somewhere and he chipped from a rather nasty bunker to within an inch or two of the hole. Some wag in the gallery shouted "that was a bit lucky Lee !" and Trevino immediately quipped back "well you know, the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get !" 😄 

I think my observing skills peaked a while back......... at a level someway below what my scopes are capable of 🙄

I think I will remain a large man of small observational capacity, but still enjoying the hobby 😀 

3 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

...."Each observer, as he becomes habituated to his instrument, learns to correct, to avoid, or perhaps to overlook its defects, while he perceives the inaccuracies of other constructions in too strong a light".....

 

I think there is a lot of truth in this but on forums such as this, the vast majority can only comment from the perspective of equipment that they own / use / have owned. I am guilty of it myself I'm sure, where my own equipment choices are concerned 🙄

I felt very fortunate during the period when FLO would loan me equipment to try out, compare and report back on to the forum. Not having invested in it personally (other than putting in the time to test it and write about it) created a freedom that enabled, I hope, a more dispassionate view of characteristics and performance. I know that is still happening with other folks on here, which is a great benefit to the forum 🙂

Great report Neil 🙂

12 minutes ago, Starlock Holmes said:

Hi All, I'm hoping someone can tell me the model of this telescope, i just bought it and the motor in it is dead and i was hoping to replace it but i don't know the model and its original information is gone so i can't even get it programmed without knowing the model ......

 

 

That one is a Meade StarNavigator 90 I think:

StarNavigator90-Audio_flyer.pdf (meadeuk.com)

In the UK these people might be able to help with the issues you have with it:

Meade telescopes @ Meade Instruments UK (meadeuk.com)

Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂

The scope looks very, very similar to the dobsonians made by GSO and sold under a number of brandings over the years, including quite possibly the Orion (USA) dobsonians that @Louis D has linked to above.

Here is a link to the (rather basic) instructions for the GSO 150mm dobsonian:

N:\圖面-12\( D 作業指導書 )\C\580C\GSO-580C_01 Model (1) (teleskop-express.de)

and here is the same for the 200mm (I can't quite work out which model you have) which is a little more comprehensive:

gsdxxxc.pdf (teleskop-express.de)

You will probably find that the Orion instruction manual in @Louis D's link more useful though - Orion have always provided decent instructions with their equipment, which is not something that can be said of all brands.

8 hours ago, Stu said:

Just to re-start a fun thread, this is my set of four Circle V 0.965” orthos. Just picked up a case from Dave so they all have one. 6, 7, 12.5 and 18mm. When I say set, I suspect there may be a 4 and 5 as well but not sure. Nice and sharp little things these are.

I used to use a set of those with my Astro Systems 150 newtonian and then the Vixen SP102M refractor many years ago. They are very sharp eyepieces.

I had to take a couple of them apart to clean the lenses and found that they were a 2+2 element design rather than the 1+3 element classic abbe ortho optical layout. Excellent performers all the same.

My oldest eyepiece is probably this one which I suspect is 20 years old at least now (they were launched in 1999). More of a vintage lump than a jewel though !

30 minutes ago, Moonshed said:

I am amazed at how much these specimens used to cost.
I used to enjoy watching a program a couple of years ago about two guys who were professional meteorite hunters in America, they would tow this large home made metal detector array behind their SUV over an area of land that their research indicated a meteorite had landed. Some examples they dug up were huge, they needed lifting gear, and they sold them for thousands of dollars. Not seen that program for some time now which is a shame because it was so interesting how they hunted them down.

I think that was called "Meteorite Men". It starred Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold. Here is their website:

HOME | Meteorite Men

My mars specimen, NWA 6963, was supplied by Steve Arnold.

I've been interested in meteorite collecting for over 20 years now and it's amazing how much more reasonable acquiring lunar and martian specimens has become. The total known weight of these meteorites has been boosted significantly by finds over the past decade so the market price has dropped accordingly. When I first got seriously interested recognised lunar or martian material commanded a price of $800 per gram at least, often as much as twice that. Recently I've seen 1 gram specimens priced as low as $100. 

The UK falls are still very expensive per gram though. We don't get many !

4 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

 Does this mean that your lovely DL has been relegated to a kennel at the bottom of the garden John? 

No Mike, the DL is still in it's comfy quarters in a cupboard in the corner of the dining room. It has a Vixen for company 😁

1 minute ago, Moonshed said:

That is some collection you have there, that must make you a rock star!

Over the years I've had a few collections of meteorite specimens. I have around 20 small bits and pieces currently.  Nothing big though - soaks up too much of the astronomy budget !

1 minute ago, Franklin said:

A tad on the small size by your usual standards John.

Yes it is but I wanted something that is really portable and compact. This seemed to fit the bill for a reasonable cost 🙂