Grump Martian

Thankyou all for the information. I have decided not to go this route.

I am considering the purchase of a Televue 5 mm Nagler eyepiece. This would be used primerily on my 102 mm Starfield refractor. One of the reasons to choose a Nagler is that a Tele Vue Dioptrx Astigmatism Corrector can be attached. I would be interested to hear comments from others who use the astigmatism correctors. I have not been able to see the Cassinin division on Saturn the last couple of apparitions and wonder if these will improve the views.

I had a quick session with the 4 inch. Venus and the moon. Clouds rolled in. Manual mounts excell in such conditions for brief opportunities.

Which one is the guilty culprit. It looks like a police identity parade. Lol.

Hi Stu. That's probably the chap that I had in mind. My friend travels abroard. He has a Williams Optics zs 66mm. But is now considering upgrading apature and quality. He mounts the scope on his various video tripods. So really looking for something lighter in weight than standard. Also 80 or 90 mm.

A friend is considering a Takahashi refractor. I believe that there was a man who gave advice and supplied these refractors. But I cannot remember his contact details.

Hi Zermelo. Thankyou for taking the time to produce such an informative response. I shall read it and the links properly this evening

I am interested to know how these two mounts compare. Both have 5kgs payloads. But the mounts look quite different. Do they both have the same gear sets, motors & bearings? One review of the Sky-Watcher Star Discovery the Orion branded version in the USA says that it would handle 6.5 kgs.

Just an after thought. There was a 30 mm Skywatcher Aero 60° does anyone know if this is similar to the Celestron 30 mm 68°?

Thanks for the replies. Very positive reviews for the Celestron indeed. Even if the opportunity comes up to get the Nagler,I could never justify it in current circumstances. The ES 82° is very good, but differculty with the weight. Celestron does look a good option. The Celestron 82° look uncomfortable for eye placement and nose position.

I have a number of old 1970's telescopes which have been decommissioned. But the war department still include these in currently used assetts. So I attempt to persuade her that these are not to be included in my current list of three refractors. This is a negative slant on more purchases. I could always just buy one and would probably return home to changed door lock. Lol

My low power,widefield eyepiece is a Panaview 32 mm 68°. It performs surprisingly well on my refractors. But I feel that upgrading would improve my viewing experience. I once had a 35 mm Panoptic. Very sharp across the field but always felt that the sky was never totally black. I have recently mentioned that I may be able to get a 31 mm Nagler. But can I pull the trigger on 700 smackers? I also owner an ES 30 mm 82°. A lovely eyepiece. Does what it says on the box. Good sharpness across most of the field and very good contrast with black sky. I do like ES eyepieces and will continue with my higher power ones. But I let the 31 mm go due to it's heavy weight of approx 1.4 kgs. Just wondering what eyepieces of 30mm would be a good upgrade.

I did have an AZ GTi mount. It was very good. But probably not designed to mount longer 4 inch refractors. So interested in the newer AZ GTix. Yes it has to ability to mount two telescopes. But still unsure if it would handle the 4 inch refractor with it's length. I have only ever seen pictures of this mount with shorter compound telescopes. Those with small apertures. I'm never really comfortable using equatorial goto mounts. I appreciate you trying it out cajen. Hope it goes well with your Starfield. May well try it myself if your findings are favourable.

I to have a Starfield 102mm. I would love to be able to use an alt/az goto mount with the Starfield. But I was of the opinion and advised to be wary of mounting a long tube telescope with this mount. Even though it's within the stated payload. I would be interested to hear how it performs.

You must know that the sun always shines on the righteous Steve🤩

The end caps from my Explore Scientific 6.7 mm 82° eyepiece were mislaid. I enquired with Bresser UK as to replacements. I think that I spoke to Kerin at Telescope House. He kindly arranged for a set of end caps with the E S logo to be set to me from Bresser in Germany. Thanks to Kerin at Telescope House and Bresser. Really good after sales service.

Sunrise this morning . Taken with my bog standard Samsung android mobile. It does show the Earth's rotation as the Sun pops up. 20230411_061905.mp4

Looking forward to it. Thanks for posting.

Old school storage box. Fantastic.

Calling Starfield 102 mm f7 refractor owners. What do you use to store your telescope in.

What a loyal servant. Feel for your loss.

I looked forward to this evenings event with the Suns light shining through the wall of Hesiodus crater. Thanks to the heads up post by Nyctimene. I studied my Hamlyn Atlas of The Moon. But found that my understanding of the phases and how to locate craters through a refractor were poor indeed. I wounder if there is an Atlas of The Moon that shows maps with a particular phase with the correct orientation as seen through a refractor.

Thanks for your post Stephan. I call myself a visual observer. Having looked at your picture of Hesiodus crater and trying to find it in my Hamlyn Atlas of The Moon, failed to correctly locate it. Clouds swept in and that was it. I will do some more learning before the next event.

I use an EQ5 tripod. An AZ4 or modified Berlebach Castor mount and hight extension. It is very stable at higher magnifications. The height extension works for me being six foot. You would increase the stability by pushing the lower tripod leg sections in. If you are near Hertfordshire you would be welcome to take a look.

I am fascinated by this eyepiece. I don't usually like the normal zoom eyepieces 6 - 21 mm etc. What do owners of the Nagler 3 - 6 mm zoom feel. Does it perform in such a way that you don't need several individual high power eyepieces. Or do you pocess individual eyepieces aswell as the Nagler zoom.