RobertI

I bet it did! Nice report, some things to motivate me there. Thanks.

I think some non-astro folk sometimes confuse Newtonians with Bazookas. Easily done. Stroking it definitely won’t help though.

Here are some examples of observing chairs: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-observing-chairs.html

Good for you! I think we astronomers can sometimes forget to appreciate the simple things like this. There was a recent discussion that had some good thoughts that you may find useful:

Welcome from North Essex. 🙂

As always I guess it depends what you want to observe and also it sounds like your mount is possibly not the most stable? But the ED80 is very capable and you have some nice eyepieces (apart from the 3.5mm) so you should be able to do a lot with it. Some thoughts are: - A nice 5mm eyepiece for doubles, planets and Luna - A Herschel wedge for white light solar - A focuser upgrade with a two speed focuser - A UHC filter to enhance faint nebulae I’m sure you’ll get others chipping in. 🙂

I generally use around the 180x - 200x mark on a typical night for planetary. The exact magnification is determined by my limited range of eyepieces, so I haven’t been able to experiment much, but my 4” refractor plus BVs gives around 180x and is just about perfect on Jupiter and Mars, and my C8 with my 10mm Hyperion gives 200x and also seems to hit the sweet spot.

Drool.

Being so short of time at the moment, I have been storing a my ultra-portable visual setup in the office (the additional step of going into the garage seems a bit too much for G&G!), ready to carry outside for a quick session before bedtime. This comprises a mini-giro on a horizon tripod carrying either a Heritage 130P or a Zenithstar 66SD. They are both great setups, but I had always given the Heritage the edge for G&G due to its greater aperture and the fact that its easier to observe standing up (reducing an additional step of finding a chair). But when storing inside I was amazed to find that the Heritage needs at least an hour to cool properly on a cold night - after 45 minutes I was still seeing slow heat plumes over a defocused star - really surprising. The Zenithstar on the other hand seems to cool almost instantly. The other thing is I am always surprised by the joy a small refractor can bring. Exploring the pin-sharp moon at 50x was great fun and the star colours really seem to pop in a small frac. I stumbled upon a beautiful asterism in Auriga with orange, blue and yellow stars. Sweeping the milky way is a joy. So the little Zenithstar is back in my good books.

I really feel for you, they’re just popping up everywhere. Grim.

I’m really confused!

Nice gesture. Where did you see the campaign?

Nice report Steve, shame about the Skytee though - I'm sure its fixable. Where did you get your laser from?I bought a set of mini-rings years ago but never got around to the laser for it, so would be good to know.

Well done, a really nice piece and your enthusiasm really added to it. 🙂

Lovely looking combination Doug, must be great fun to use side by side. I notice you are only using a slo-mo cable on the altitude and not the azimuth - I’m assuming that’s because the azimuth cable gets in the way when moving the scope around (as the az cable doesn’t move with the scope) - it’s something I have found annoying too. Do you end up pushing the scope in azimuth or reaching up to use the knob? Curious to know how others use the mount.

Something to be proud of @FLO, good on you.

Beautiful scope, the stuff of dreams. You’re very lucky to have used it on a night of such good seeing.

Is your refractor in disgrace Stu? You have put it in the corner facing the wall! 😁

There’s nothing as handsome as a long white refractor pointing skywards. 👍

It looks like it’s hoping no one will notice it!

Conveniently, with my hearing not being as good as it once was, I can no longer hear high pitched squealing! 😄

LOL, yes I find it useful to have the Jim Beam ....... nearby!

Same problem here. The cloudless, crystal clear cyan twilight sky promised such a clear night, that I actually pre-prepared a list of lunar targets, but alas by the time I was ready to go out, I was clouded out.

I think it looks superb - such a simple, elegant, classic design - it’s a piece of art. I recently bought my EAA rig into my ‘study’ from the garage so that I could work on it in the warmth, and I have actually grown rather fond of it in the corner while I work. A refractor would look nicer though - I’ll see what I can do. Fortunately my wife is very supportive of my strange astronomical activities. 🙂

Nice lunar session tonight with the 102ED-R and binoviewers.