Moonlit Night

Or one’s ability to safely tear down one’s gear safely and transport it into the house?

Excellent book, probably the best and most recommended book for beginners

🍿

And so the flood begins…enjoy!

I don’t drink alcohol at all if I am honest, never mind a pan galactic gargle blaster.

One of these….. But be warned, After two of those babies, the dullest, most by-the-book Vogon will be up on the bar in stilettos, yodeling mountain shanties and swearing he's the king of the Gray Binding Fiefdoms of Saxaquine You have been warned

If you scroll down you will see the full range of focal lengths.

I will bite first (but wait for the flood gates to open). Best beginner up-grade representing excellent value for money are BST explorer/Starguider. Look here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-8mm-ed-eyepiece.html

In fairness the 6.7mm (from memory) wasn’t great.

Now that is what I call an eyepiece. I think I will stick to my Delites’ I don’t fancy that much weight hanging off the back of my little frac

I would think so, they were/still are very good.

I used to enjoy a 25 mm Tal plossl with my 100 R

That is actually a very good call if you have the funds available.

I think the 24 mm is really a very safe bet. I liked mine a lot, I should probably ditch my 32 mm plossl and buy one. TV plossls’ are very good mind.

The 52 series are over sized plossls as far as I understand. They don’t get great press on the other channel…

Yeah I have owned the 24 mm too. I have read reports on CN about folks preferring the ES over the pan. I have owned both, but years apart and not side by side. The 68 series are often considered to be the best ES (along with the 90s) they produced. I owned both but apart from the FOV I couldn’t really choose between them

I have a lot of time for ES 82 series eyepieces. I think they excellent eyepieces and very reasonably priced. I once owned a full set. You may notice all my gear is TeleVue, all of it. It’s a long and almost accidental story and nothing to do with anything remotely fan boy-ish. I would never buy anything new from TV, it’s just over priced and while they were absolutely the most innovative company back in the day there are other more re seasonable options out there these days. Have ES ripped off TV designs, probably. Have SW ripped off other designs, probably. Personally I think most of us would struggle to tell the difference between TV and ES in blind testing (yes I know that sounds ridiculous in a thread about optics). If I am honest I regret selling them and have often thought about selling the TV eyepieces I have and going back to ES. Others will vehemently disagree, hey ho.

I also think the churn has slowed on ABS. Some gear which seems reasonable or least what one might expect to pay for a second hand item seem to hang around unsold for ages. I have sold scopes and eyepieces in under an hour in the past. If I had to wait until the next day it was a rare and worrying thing

An entertaining thread I thought, absolutely classic CN topic.

Apparently yes it is, but not very: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/641828-is-flourite-water-soluble/

Incidentally, I thought fluorite was water soluble?

I cleaned my scope recently, first time in several years. It’s not a big deal really as long as you’re careful. I stop at Baader wonder fluid and a micropore cloth…

Anyway, 9 pages in are you any closer to making a decision? BST/Starguiders are another good call as far as eps are concerned. Excellent value.

AZ all the way for me, I could never get on with EQ mounts at all. Certainly AZ are far easier and less intimidating than EQ mounts for beginners. I do appreciate if tracking for AP is required they really are the way to go. Luckily for me I have zero interest in AP. what ever you buy, get the best quality you can, much cheaper in the end. You are going to love your scope btw. Everyone loves them.

Poor quality with only a couple of contact points. ADM clamps work like a vice and make contact with the dovetail the full length of the clamp