ED Splitter

So sad, loved listening to his charming tones on his YouTube videos. So humble and informative. Sorely missed.

Scope should be cooled now. Time to get back out 🔭

Sounds a great outing and wonderful you got to share it with your daughter. Beehive is one of my favourites, on a clear moonless night it is superb.

I have a baader contrast booster. It works well with my televue eyepieces less so pentax. It seems to make little difference to my baader eyepieces but those are a zoom or Orthoscopic types which might have an impact on the performance of the filter.

Went out last night for the intention of just 20mins. Patchy sky conditions with our old celestial friends the clouds. Got the mount set up and went to retrieve the scope setup ready with a 27mm panoptic. Went out the doors to be greeted with a clear darkish sky (light pollution). Turned about and went back in, this would be the night that I tried out my recently acquired 31mm nagler. first object Jupiter, nice image presentation given the low mag, plenty of detail visible for small apparent size with the planet displayed in a nice background of stars. Next on to Orion. Low mag view so quite small but no less pleasant. Far more detail resolved than in a 35panoptic, I put this down more to the smaller exit pupil as much as magnification. With a bandmate applied I could see detail wider than the nebula itself. Not seen this before in such a wide view, could have been conditions, I didn’t do a comparison with the 27/35 panoptic as was having too much fun with the new eyepiece. Beyond this was quite underwhelming when viewing south. I then pointed toward Cassiopeia and cruised around, less affected by light pollution was greeted with a sky more filled with stars than space that was just wonderful. I then aimed for an old favourite the double cluster, wow just wow. I was floating in space for a long time looking at that and seeing improved further during that time as well. The twin targets were nicely framed and as I concentrated on each I fell into their respective diamond centres and stopped thinking. I don’t know if it was the view or the fact that I couldn’t feel my toes due to wearing flip flops (as this was only meant to be a 20min outing that was now well past the hour mark) but could feel my eyes watering. I cruised around after this. Tried to find a comet and failed. Then conditions approved at the top of Orion the pi stars were visible to the eye, assuming people were in bed at this point and turned off the needless outdoor winter lights. Decided to go for M1. Failed previously as didn’t appreciate that it’s not as close to Orion as I thought. Faint cloud like object barely perceptible but a good tick in the box. Then overreached and switched to a 13mm ethos and lost it. Gave up finding it again, moved over to Jupiter for a higher mag view, very pleasant in the 13mm then higher again in the Bgo 7mm. I couldn’t feel my ankles by this point so headed in. Too late for a chip butty sadly but you can’t have everything.

Have you ever tried a contrast filter? I had similar experiences before purchasing one, it confirmed I was seeing it but with it equipped there is no doubt what you are seeing.

Got 20 mins and a bit more between the clouds. Kept to a 27mm panoptic at the outset as was intending to comet hunt. Clouds put an end to that. Started on Jupiter, 27mm not typically planetary but it gives some detail with 4”frac and it resolves the moons as discs in an overall pleasing FOV. The sky Visibility looked good and clear as could resolve the trapezium in Orion easily at 27mm. Having obtained a degree of confidence following a watch of the sky at night YouTube video for January I then moved over to Sirius and increased mag. Using a 6mm bco I could detect something in the overwhelming light of Sirius, backed off slightly with a 7mm bgo which confirmed the something in a neater form. I went all in for mag with a 3.2mm starguider and waited for Sirius to rise a little, 20mins later there it was the dog and pup. No comet but will take that. Observed that wonderful sight until the clouds ruined it, all of 2 mins. Then packed up and went in for a celebratory chip butty.

Hi, welcome. think I’d take feral skies over clouds any day. 😎

I wonder if an ST80 has ever had such a fine mount before.

Arrived last week from Mr Spock. Tak prism diagonal. Very impressive it is too. Also realised I haven’t uploaded in some time so am in need of a catch up of some hard to resist bargains I acquired in the last 12 months or so.

What targets are you trying to view? some may not be viewable in your scope or you may have seen them and not known what you were looking at. Start by looking up lists of bright deep sky objects. try to avoid bright moon nights for you the fuzzies. don’t get too worked up about seeking them out. It’s a whole lot of sky to get acquainted with, just cruise the sky and enjoy the experience. You will learn the constellations in no time. a relatively wide field of view eyepiece helps to navigate but you need to learn to star hop. have you tried the book turn left at Orion? Am sure someone in here is selling a used copy in the buy and sell section. It’s very good at teaching you to star hop. Object one, the Orion Nebula, is now in the sky, the easiest deep sky object to find and probably the brightest. If you don’t have a UHC filter I would suggest you invest in one, seek out a used one from the usual areas either an Astronomik or baader will serve you well. If you're reliant on a red dot finder I would suggest you look at a Rigel finder, the 5degree bullseye will assist you in star hopping. Joe jaguar had a good video on youtube that illustrates how they assist in star hopping. Happy hunting.

Thanks for the tips. Is there any risk of causing damage to the tube this way or affecting the collimation? As I understand it the collimation in the synta Ed line relies on the tube holding the elements in place rather than a screw or separate lens assembly.

Thanks for the response. I think this makes 5 examples where a synta scope has issues with an upgrade to the focuser. Very concerning I’m not the only one. QC an issue with synta, disappointing as they are far from cheap scopes these days. I have message FLO, will report back what they say for future reference should anyone else encounter such an issue. If anyone else encounters such an issue it would be good to get a response to record for future purchasers of synta products that may run into similar issues. Thanks all for the responses.

Thanks for the responses. Can confirm that yes the focuser has the detachable collar for fitting to the ota tube. This should fit as it did fit to an 80ed. Am told it was all purchased new in April this year and have no reason to doubt. windjammer I think I saw your post on the sanding unless it was another member. Got to be honest not keen on that. Think if that’s the only option I will sell the focuser on and put the money toward my next eyepiece. I realise the ota is made in china but really thought QC there these days would prevent these issues. grateful of anyone else with advice though suspect the horse I’m flogging is dead.

In need of assistance. I own a skywatcher f9 100ed. I recently purchased a used steel track and adaptor ring for my scope. This was fitted to an 80ed prior to my purchase. My understanding is that the 80ed and 100ed have the same tube diameter so it should fit my 100ed but it won’t. Given the former owner didn’t have an issue I am concerned that the tolerance on my 100ed is out. I have seen a review on FLO for a skywatcher focuser upgrade stating it was but snug to fit to an ED scope. So potentially that’s another example of this issue. Has anyone else had similar issue? I don’t want to force it and I’m not keen on lubricants given optics etc. any advice appreciated. apologies if this isn’t in the correct forum. Thanks.

Thanks chaps. You have convinced me to buy it.

In a 100ED F9 refractor XW5 T6N9mm* 13ethos 19mm pan 27mm pan * just edged out my UO12mm ortho

I have this on my wish list. Any chance of a picture showing what the inside looks like?

Cleaning a new telescope…. There’s someone committed to obtaining the perfect shot!

Saw this yesterday, again as others have mentioned always wanted to look but had no idea where to look. Just stumbled across it. Also managed to locate the area of the Apollo 15 landing site thanks to the duplex atlas.

Amazing what you can find on eBay for £20 these days 😇

I use SkySafari purely for information and reference. I am a visual observer only and have manual mount. I think it’s a great tool that compliments star charts well. In terms of giving you an idea of what you would see through an eyepiece, you can set up a custom FOV based on your own calculation or via a list of equipment which is useful. But it won’t give you an idea of the experience etc. by way of example a 13mm ethos has same FOV as a 19mm panoptic but they give very different experiences in terms of magnification, exit pupil brightness and overall experience of viewing. important to note that we value things in a strange manner. This is by no means a cheap hobby no matter your particular sub interest within it. Apps are one of the cheapest investments you can make and can greatly enhance your overall experience of those rather more expensive items.

Space industry is exactly that an industry. An international economy supplies it and we are a good part of that. It doesn’t start and end with rocket launches. Rocket launches take place at locations based on geography, the nearer the equator the better. It requires less fuel as the earth spins faster at the equator. Rocket launches chase every efficiency. We aren’t going to have a space x type outfit launching here. But we will continue to have incredible engineering outfits designing and manufacturing components to fulfil the supply chains to those rocket building companies and agencies.

Buy the 4” apo of your choosing. Great grab and go size, cools quickly, will serve you well under those skies. You buy the 80mm and you will forever be thinking about the 4” you never bought. Is the budget entirely for the scope or are accessories to be included? I’m sure second hand shipping accessory wise will assist in budget restrictions.

Show us the case foam…!!! ooph what a scope, congrats.