lw24

Hi all, As you may or may not have seen, I recently bought a used 7.4mm Televue smoothside plossl, mainly for lunar/planetary observations. Thankfully the clouds parted last night, so I managed to get some time observing the Moon, as well as Jupiter. All I had to compare it with were a 12mm Revelation plossl, and the stock 10mm eyepiece which came with my 200p. The eyepiece gave me a magnification of around 162x and for me, this was perfect. I think I'm right regarding the fact that this magnification should rarely be limited by the UK seeing conditions (compared to one over 200x). Initial impressions were great - views of the lunar surface were the best I've ever seen, with remarkable amounts of detail being resolved on the crater edges. The image stayed crisp, as far as I could tell, all the way across the field. Moving on to Jupiter, I was happy with the physical 'size' of the planet (I didn't look at it and want more magnification). The detail again, was far better than I'd ever experienced; the banding clear and sharp. Unfortunately the GRS was not viewable at the time of observation, so I look forward to viewing that. The eyepiece also managed to fit all 4 moons in the field of view, which made for a pleasant view. Regarding comparison to the other eyepieces, the real differences were seen on Jupiter, where the Televue blew the stock 10mm eyepiece away, and with a noticeably (although not hugely) better view than the 12mm Revelation plossl. Eye relief was not a problem for me. I used the eyepiece with a winged eyecup which was provided with the eyepiece, and this seemed to work well. The only problem was that due to the temperature, if I pressed my eye up to the eyepiece for an extended period of time, it would begin to fog up. All in all, a solid purchase, and I cannot wait to look at Saturn with it.

Ok, how much aperture do you think I'd need for the 200p; would the small hole on the telescope cap be too small?

Thanks for the advice, just to be clear, are we talking about attaching the DSLR to the telescope, as I no longer have my SPC900. I'm also tempted to buy a used ST80 just for solar imagery on a camera tripod if this would be a better alternative.

Were your solar images taken using the 18-55mm lens?

Thanks, as I expected. Would the 50mm end of the lens achieve anywhere near enough magnification for features to be discernible?

Hi all, I was just wondering whether Solar imaging with a Canon 1100D and 18-55mm kit lens would be at all possible/worth it. If so, I assume Baader solar film would still be needed? Thanks, lw24

They don't make smoothside plossls any more, but I'm not sure of the rarity.

Hi all, Just managed to pick up a used 7.4mm smoothside Televue plossl (mainly for lunar/planetary observation). Was going to have a look at the Moon tonight, but as per usual, the clouds rolled in. Now on the lookout for a 32mm lw24

I just picked up a used 7.4mm Televue Plossl for my 200p, looking forward to using it on Lunar/Planetary.

Hi all, Just a few pictures I managed to get of the Aurora in Iceland a few weeks back. Thanks, lw24

Had exactly the same problem; clear, but the sky wasn't dark.

RAW, which I then convert into DNG files which I open with Photoshop (my photoshop can't open RAW). Is this the right way to do it?

The first image is stacked, but others I tried stacking didn't work out so well. Going to have to give it another go some time. I do have Photoshop, and have adjusted the curves as best I could, but they never seem to actually do much, maybe I'm doing it wrong. Thanks

Hi all, Recently picked up a Canon 1100D, and have been taking some static tripod widefield images. I'm really just looking for any advice on how I could improve for my next attempts. They're all 20-25 second exposures, with ISO 800, 18mm end of the stock 18-55mm lens, and the largest aperture possible.

Hi, I'm looking to go on a family holiday in Europe this summer ideally looking for a location with astronomy facilities. Does anyone have any experience with this or any ideas/recommendations? I have seen a website advertising the COAA in the Algarve - has anyone been there, or know anything about it? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks