Moonlit Knight

If I was starting out and in the market for such things I would buy a set of these. I like the understated livery too.

20 hours ago, Neil H said:

Santa came early got fed up standing up

I had one, brilliant things, changes the observing experience completely, you will love it

I use a blub blower for eyepieces, works in seconds every time 

Utmarkt, jag alskar Sverige. Jag maste ta en bersok nesta gong vi aka pa semester till Sverige.

Apologies for my terrible Swedish in advance (It’s been a while).

I don’t know where you guys live but I have been out at least once week since September, twice this week (last night was so clear with excellent seeing).
 

Wednesday through to Saturday next week looks great too.

Weather on Mars must be rubbish, a lot of the detail has disappeared in the last few days…. Sandstorm season I guess 

It would work very well on the highly underrated but rock solid steel legged AZ4. A fine mount for short tube 4 inch refractors.

Cheap too…..

The Starfield is an outstanding refractor, and very versatile too. I have owned the Altair Astro version and have done for 3 years, it’s a keeper. A very well regarded telescope 🔭 on this forum I think you will find.

FOV discussions in original post

How well I remember the noise and heated debate from our cousins across the pond regarding the APM zoom. Virtually none of the predictions were correct and the waiting went on and on and before someone actually held one in their hands. 
 

I am not in the market for a zoom, but even if I was I would be waiting for lots and lots of positive reviews on here or CN

7 hours ago, 900SL said:

Faster is better given my current location, and seeing likely to be poorer as I'm close to the sea. Best regards

Really, is that a thing?

I live near the coast myself, near enough to be able to gather seaweed for the garden and walk back with it anyway.

Hi all

I am thinking about buying a simple 4 element eyepiece for white light solar, an ortho or plossl probably.

And so now the question, what focal length would you advise for use with a fl7 refractor. 

Neither, have a look at a WO RDF. I aligned mine 3 years ago and haven’t touched it since

On 29/11/2022 at 08:54, Coco said:

Celestron SLT105  f/6.47/660mm  found on ebay 90 quid, its a real gem of a wide field scope, pin point stars to better than 90% through a cheap Starguider 12mm, using a range of SV Bony 1.25 filters ive had hours of fun. Yes false colour on the planets.

I'll order a decent focuser for it one day so I can use some heavier eyepieces, maybe I'll paint it or vinyl wrap it also   The optics really deserves to be in a better tube. Ive had fancy triplets (imaging days) that cost 25x more and for little gain visually.

 

 

I had one of those years ago. I thought, deep in my memory that they were fl7.5, but happy to be wrong. The optics are indeed very good for a short tube achromatic refractor. 

This is true. I have a sprit level bubble built into my mount. Just a gimmick, doesn’t really matter much of the time 

The ST 80 often associated with Orion is made by a number of different companies, most notably SW. I observe in bortle 4 once a month on average, a distinct advantage over my bortle 5 back garden. A ST 80 will show loads in bortle 4 skies, perhaps as much as a 8 inch dob in bortle 5/6 skies. I use exclusively a 102 mm retractor. In bortle 4 I can see the veil and the whirlpool no bother, but I can’t see either in bortle 5 and even my old OO 10 inch dob struggled to see the whirlpool and never the veil. 
 

Hello and welcome, nice place they have here 

2 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

I agree with you, however, I bought all mine at the early US prices from Agena Astro, they were a real snip when they first came out.

Nice one ☝️ 

I think they are astonishingly good value for money in the UK at least, check out the FLO website 

4 hours ago, Piero said:

Some very pretty telescopes in this thread! 

Not sure whether my dobs are considered pretty, as I focused more on their function, but I like them.  

 

Now that’s a telescope 

2 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

Me too, and I completely agree, I’m so glad I bought mine. The focuser on them is really nice to use as well. Still can’t believe I got such a nice refractor for that price!

I know, you almost wonder where the catch is, except there’s none. I know it’s 900 quid for a naked scope and there’s still a finder and diagonal to find, but it’s still a lot of scope for the money.

You could do a lot worse than looking at Explore Scientific 68 or 82 degree eyepieces. FLO seems to have them cheaper than anywhere else 

5 hours ago, Kluson said:

Lovely people indeed although I was not a great fan of Phil Collins as a man. Tremendous drummer. I worked in the Music business and used to come across these guys regularly. Some pals of mine were recording recently at PG’s place 😀😀

Phil Collins bought me my first pint of beer 🍺 on the 3rd May 1980 after a gig in Liverpool at the Empire. PG used to live in Box outside of Bath, but that was mid 80s I think 

I own the same scope by Altair Astro, a Starwave 102 EDR with fpl 53 glass. An excellent telescope optically with a super build quality. Absolutely remarkable value for money. I have had mine for 3 years. FLO have them in stock for 899 quid. But you need a finder and a diagonal on top, and I might suggest a case also. 

56 minutes ago, Kluson said:

Welcome, love that album in your profile pic. Remember seeing them at Southampton Gaumont when this album was released , great show. I first saw them supporting Lindisfarne , who in turn were supporting Van Der Graaf Generator, way back at Birmingham Town Hall 🙂

 

Very cool. I have met them all several times over the years, mostly 70s and 80s. Lovely people. 

On 20/11/2022 at 19:23, philj said:

Still a big favourite scope of mine, 80mm f15 towa 339 heavily modified and modernised Just looks classy in my eyes

I had one too, amazing optics for a scope of its age