Naughty Neal

The Royal Mail over acheiving on a delivery , what ever next ? I was a bit surprised a couple of months ago when they knocked on my door on a Sunday.

I keep reading the very favourable reviews of the SLV so have decided to dip my toe in to the waters and try one, Mr Tim's unsold 12mm on the sales thread will be winging it's way to me next week. If they are as good as I read them to be then I may bide my time and get a few others in the range such as the 6, 9 & 25. To me the 15 & 20 seem an odd FL in the range and a 17 or 18 would have been a better FL. To me the step up from 12 to 15 then 15 to 20 are a bit to close in mags and in my fracs would only represent a 16/18x & 17/19x increase, a little to close .

The inheritence to SGLers is like a small Aladdin's cave.

Starlock and lx600 12" currently on ebay for nearly £7k so gives one an idea of possible value.

UK LX850 starlock with tripod price new is £7.9k. ES carbon 102mm ed is £2k new. Es Carbon 127mm ed is £2.6k new.

The Black ES carbon refractor in the long box will be quite valuable even as a used item, somewhere likely between £1500 - 2k. The Meade would have been valuable but depends exactly what you have there, If you also have a 12" Blue OTA in the tall cardboard box then you have some quite expensive gear there. All told you have some pretty costly telescopes/parts there and we don't yet know what eye pieces there may be, if there are eye pieces then going by the quality of the telescope /mount then one can expect the eye pieces will be top notch as well. Some one must have thought a lot of you to leave such a valuble inheritence. It certainly needs proper evaluation and pictures of everything left to you, a top notch used eye piece can be £200 or more. If one wanted to keep any of the items to use then ES carbon refractor would be a keeper along with any eyepieces.

My Zhumell Z130 gave some pleasing nice views of the Moon's sfc , however I haven't used it that much as I like my frac's so doesn't get much love. I should try and use it more as it is mounted on it's Dob base by rings and a Vixen size dovetail so would be easy to mount next to the frac on the Skytee 2.

My sketched view using a 80 refractor , don't expect to see much more with a 114mm funnel, what is seen is dependant on sfc activity.

If not wanting to make a solar film filter , I would measure the front diameter to see if a Astrozap size will fit. The 110 -120 or 120 -130 should fit over the front and tighten with the nylon turn screws, FLO sell various items. Alternatively the front cover often has a 50mm or so removable cover hole , simply securely stick a piece of baader film over the hole on the inside and replace the cront cover to view the sun. All caveate's need to be followed in checking any film damage before each use, never assume just because last time it was ok. We only get one chance with a pair of eyes, to check solar film filters just hold it up to the sun before using to check for the sun brightly glinting thru it. There is no harm done in holding up to the sun to look as one isn't magnifying the sun strength by up to 50x or so.

Successor to the f11 102ed , now with fpl 53 glass an upgrade form the fk61 glass previously used. Needs a sturdy mount like the Skytee 2 or simlar type design, HEQ5 etc,etc of mount along with a sturdy tripod to suppress the length issues. It looks pretty in Blue but agree with usual past comments White is better.

For a sun filter one needs the baader solar film, have a look on FLO or buy an Astrozap to fit on the end of the telescope. If using a finder scope this needs the end covered as well or simply leave the end cap on so as not to cause damage. Looking at the sun without the correct solar filter /film will cause serious eye damage and or blindness. Always check the filter before use for damage and stray light that may get through to cause damage, it only takes a pin hole to be dangerous. Sky at night how to make a solar filter. BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Make a solar filter

Bolt the Vixen dovetail direct to the wider Losmandy , then on gets max fixing on the OTA.

Not many in 22mm range, Oberwerk but only seem to come on pairs or the same ep under the Angle eyes brand name on Ali exp.

And postage rates have just increased again.

Deep sky one will want low mag ep' s so 30 - 18ish mm, for planets medium - higher power ep's so 12 - 5 mm ish. If you wear glasses then eye releif comes into play and one will want about 18- 20mm , if no glasses it will matter not.

Starguiders & Celestron Xcel lx 60 degrees fov. OVL nirvana 82 degrees fov . Vixen NPL 50 degrees fov Stellalyra /Founder optics ler planetary ep's 55 degrees fov. SV Bony uff ep's 10 , 15 & 18mm , 60 - 65 degrees fov. For high power one could kill several birds with one stone the very good 58 degree fov SVbony sv215 3mm - 8mm zoom ep , cost is approx. £100 - £130 ( Much on the subject on the ep in this forum).

Do you wear gasses ? At f10 any ep should work in the SCT. Starguiders are very well thought of but not the whole range. First decide on the low power ep to buy so anything in the 24mm - 32mm range. Your next ep will be approx . 1.4/1.5x higher in power or something about 40x mag higher, then one will want approx. the same for next one , Once one gets to high power then closer mags are an advantage to hone in on a target.

I'd love to peruse threw your note/sketch books Mike, just those few glimpses of sketches show some fantastic sketching.

Most of my NHS is now all paperless , any letters /appointments all on an online portal now.

The Hermes person delivered my book from Florida today. The earlier pages in the binder book lists New General Catologue Index and various other selected targets from indexs. As indicated it is an American publication and apart from some nebula naming it is very well suited for the UK and Northern Hem markets. Targets covered are double stars and targets up to mag 10, Galaxies, nebulae are listed and Asterism's etc,etc. Cost was a tad under £32 and is a new condition book. Page samples. 5 or 6 pages on the moon. All of the northern constellations covered with listings /positions of the major targets for each constellation. A sample of four/five.

I think it is horses for courses and any courier quality varies with post codes , here I have no issue with Evri ,Yodel, DHL ,DPD etc,etc and items arrive within 4 -7 days . I wait 14 days before contacting any company/seller regarding non arrival of packages when it comes to RM as they are very unprecictable.

I don't like folks saying or spelling Beetlejuice esp from pro's who should know better.

Mike your weights spray colour is a damn sight better match then the motors cover.

RAL 6011 & 6021 are too pale light. RAL 6013 Reed Green may be a bit closer. I need some old vixen grey/green so need daylight to check out the hue. I found this ebay seller where the colour is sprayed on a wall to better compare the differing hues. Green RAL Aerosol Spray Paint Repair Paint Custom Mixed Code Matt Gloss Satin | eBay

I have another read on it's way but the postman has a bit of a trek from Florida.