RobertI

Nice report, glad you’re enjoying your scope. I really enjoy using mine and with binoviewers it’s awesome for solar system. 👍

Good to hear a success story where street lights are concerned. Hope you can now enjoy your astronomy.

I think the main thing that got me into astronomy was a rivalry with one of my school friends! He bought Iain Nicholson’s guide to astronomy, so I just had to have it too. I was hooked from that moment on. I suspect I started observing with my dad’s Russian 7x50 binoculars, but eventually got my own 6” reflector which I used throughout my teens. I still have a soft spot for 6” Newtonians to this day. 🙂

I probably haven’t had enough scopes to develop a ‘brand loyalty’ (never liked that expression - loyalty is what dogs have - ‘brand preference’ seems more accurate) but I have certainly developed a ‘brand aspiration’ for Takahashi. I do like Baader for accessories though, they produce very well thought out and well made products.

Lovely looking scope. Love the Takahashi-esque single tube clamp. Locking dew shield is a nice touch, but that’s the longest dew shield I have ever seen! I’m assuming that the glass is on a par with FPL-53 given that this seems to be designed for imaging (and judging by the price point). Should sell well.

Paul should have got Brian May to sort it out for him. 🙂

Nice new Baader Zoom and dedicated barlow. Beautifully made. Had a quick comparison between the Baader and my existing Seben zoom and I think the additional FOV will make a big difference, and seems much more noticeable at the 24mm end (48 degrees compared to 40) than the 8mm end (68 degrees compared to 60 degrees). Looking forward to testing under the stars. May be ordering another for my binoviewers.

Well done on completing your project and sorry you have to sell it so soon. I hope your family and friends are safe and good luck.

Yes I also discovered how enjoyable this is. And also low power viewing of the FULL moon - who would have thought?

I’d missed this thread Alan, fantastic open air observatory. 👍

I’ve just realised you indicated further up that the Maxbrights didn’t show any noticeable left/right difference, which is probably what I needed to know. 👍

Thanks Mark, did you notice whether some of your binoviewers were significantly worse on left/right brightness than others? Did you find any of them bothersome in that regard? I can live with the issue in the WO’s, but I’d pay money to make it go away.

Thanks for the link, I shall have a read, looks interesting. Seems to retail for about £1000 so probably beyond my budget, but you never know….. Edit: Just read the article in full. It looks like Bill Paulini likes the CZAS BVs a lot, on a par with the Maxbrights with a very slight advantage at high powers on planetary. Does that sound fair? I imagine the CZAS’s are theoretically better when used with faster scopes, but Bill used an F8 triplet in this test. My scopes would be an F7 doublet and F10 SCT.

Superb results from a challenging location, well done.

Thanks for that, very interesting, I will have a look at my WO BVs in daylight just out of interest to see how obvious it is. Sounds like the Maxbrights have a similar design to other BVs but have managed to control the polarisation effect better? I certainly will.

Thanks @Paz good to know. Is there no polarisation at all, or is it there but doesn’t bother you?

Thanks @jetstream, @Highburymark and @Ricochet very interesting to hear that it’s polarisation and is fairly normal, it is annoying though. Given how much I like binoviewing it sounds like the Maxbrights would be a great upgrade. Shame about the stock shortage, I will check with FLO as suggested. 👍

Very interesting result and nice piece of investigation. Certainly looks like a smudge to me!

Superb!

I bought a William Optics binoviewer a couple of years ago and it has transformed by observations of planets, moon and sun. I have also recently tried it for deep sky and have found it very promising, but one thing that has bothered is that the right eyepiece view is dimmer than the left eyepiece view. For planets and moon this is less noticeable but for dimmer objects it's annoying. I've not seen many others commenting on this, but recently read this article by Bill Paolini that indicated he had the same issue with his WO BVs (indicating its likely to be a result of the design of the BV), and that the Baader Maxbright IIs didn't have the same problem. I'm seriously considering getting a pair of these Baaders Maxbrights now. Has anyone else had this issue with the William Optics BVs? Has anyone upgraded to the Baader Maxbright IIs and what did they think? Any thoughts appreciated.

365 astronomy claim to have two in stock, so I've just pressed the button, let's see what happens!

Yes agree about the 24mm view being narrow at 50 degrees, although if it makes you feel better my current Seben zoom is only 40 degrees at 24mm!! It's still useful to help find your way to an object, but generally I tend to use the 8mm-16mm range for serious viewing. The Baader has a very useful 68 degrees at 8mm which is a good step up from the 60 degrees of the Seben zoom. If I like the Baader I plan to get another for the binoviewer. Shame there appears to be a waiting list for them. 🙄

Nice report. Yes I love the peace and quiet of a nights observing. Those open clusters in Auriga are superb aren’t they? I understand what you say about the faint fuzzies. Darker skies are definitely the answer, although I find higher mags can help to darken the sky and increase contrast, and my zoom eyepiece works well for finding the sweet spot. I’ve been deliberating over what eyepiece to get next for my 102ED and concluding that a Baader Zoom is probably most useful.

Interesting Doug, perhaps I should try this next time out with my C8, I could do with sharper stars at higher mags!

I understand your dilemma, I am in a very similar position with the same 102ED and a C8, often side by side on the Skytee. The 102 is so easy to use, beautifully made, cools quickly, and fantastic on solar system and wide field, but seems a little puny when compared to the C8 for faint fuzzies. But the C8 lacks those lovely clean star images is not so good on doubles. If only there was a scope that could replace them both, one scope to rule them all ...... 😂 I have been tempted by the 125 too. Two things put me off (1) longer tube, my Tal100 is significantly less convenient to use, those extra 30cms of tube length make a difference (2) is 125mm enough of an increase and can it really replace 200mm for faint fuzzies? Would you end up using both anyway? I kind of concluded I was better off with two scopes. But I've never owned a 125mm refractor, so would really appreciate it if you could buy one and let us know how you get on. 👍😊