ED Splitter

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

8 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

GREAT RED SPOT!

Just been out before 5.00pm with the lovely ED80 Triplet G'n'G set-up.  

Sky clear and still a bit lightish, Jupiter highish ESE.

The four moons and the two main belts were very sharp and clear.  Going up to x160, still good, AND I noticed a small pale curve in the SEB,  just off-centre - the top of the GRS!

Fabulous timing, and Stellarium confirmed the observation.  In after a cold but very satisfying 20 minutes.

Doug.

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

26 minutes ago, Bugdozer said:

Daughter alerted me to the patchy clouds having cleared around 11.20pm last night, so we quickly set up in the garden. The sky was darker than it often is from our house, I don't know whether some of the streetlights had gone off or something, but I wasn't complaining. Daughter was campaigning to look at Jupiter but it was directly above next door's chimney which had visible smoke coming out! So instead we had a look at some features in Orion, spotting Rigel's companion, checking out the fantastic colour of Betelgeuse (once again, it failed to explode. I am starting to get impatient with it) and then M42, which I was viewing through my new 32mm eyepiece for the first time. 

Then we turned to the Pleiades, and I wasn't sure if I could actually see some nebulosity around Merope and Alcyone. So for an objective test, I got daughter to look at the view and without telling her what I thought I saw, I asked her what she could see. Likewise, she said there's "glowing bits around the stars" so hurrah, I wasn't imagining it. 

We had a quick look at M82, which wasn't well seen as it lay in the direction of a local streetlight. We finished off with a view of the Beehive, which was beautiful though the 32mm eyepiece. 

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. 

16 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

Thanks for the suggestion! With 127mm of aperture I don't have too much to work with, so a contrast filter could be a great suggestion. I had not considered buying any filters before upgrading my basic eyepieces, but now it might be a good moment to start looking at them. 

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. 

10 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

I was greedy tonight and I put my Mak outside for a quick look after an evening at my in-laws. Helas, I didn't give it enough time to cool down properly, and/or the seeing wasn't great. Still, I think I managed to see the GRS at 166x, that would be a first. Wouldn't have been able to without knowing where it was so... jury's out on whether I actually saw it 🥲

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. 😎

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Two mounts delivered back to me this week from the Rowan chaps. My AZ100 has been upgraded with the Goto kit, and I have a an AZ75 to open on Christmas Day as a very generous pressie from Mum and Dad 🙏😊.

I’m looking forward to getting the FS-128 onto it for a decent session sometime soon, and also to do some side by sides with the LT80AZ and ST80 to see how they compare.

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. 

1 hour ago, Shimrod said:

I fitted a Steeltrack to my 80ed a couple of years ago and remember it being problematic. I had to drill out  two of the screws holding the Skywatcher focuser in place, and then the Steeltrack adapter ring was a tight fit. I have been very pleased with the focuser since it was fitted - a definite step up from the standard focuser. 

If you haven't thought about it, check how much you can sell the stock focuser for - my sold for around £85 which was a welcome discount on the Steektrack purchase price!

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

On 29/07/2023 at 12:32, JeremyS said:

Somebody mentioned the new 4th edition the other day so I ordered

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. 

16 hours ago, John said:

Filters are probably the easiest acquisitions to assimilate without too much 3rd degree from the budget manager. I mean, who would believe that a simple glass disk with a naff branding like "Tele-something" might cost 250 quid ???

Got to be twenty quid at most ! 😉

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.  

8 hours ago, Dark Raven said:

More here: 

 

 

Show us the case foam…!!!

ooph what a scope, congrats.