RobertI

That’s a real beauty, looking forward to hearing your forthcoming observing reports. Some nice winter targets out there for you. Good things often come out of friendly chats with people - years ago I had a conversation with the organiser of the Norfolk Lotus Club, I mentioned that I was looking for an original Elise in good condition, and he said “one of our members has just bought a new one and might be interested in selling you his old one”. Well, he was, and it turned out to be in pristine condition and the colour combination I wanted. A very rare opportunity so I took it and fifteen years later I still use it regularly! Still can’t believe my luck really. I’m sure your story will be the same. 🙂

I’ve done a bit more on-line research on my targets. Looks like I missed the Kies Pi dome completely (anyone know why some some domes are called ‘Pi’?) and my sketch of the Hortensius domes bare a passing resemblance to the images. It appears that the position of the terminator is critical to picking up domes. This whole area is part of ‘Domeland’. There’s an interesting article about them here: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/a-little-guide-to-lunar-domes/ In fact the American Lunar Society have a ‘dome’ section (and no doubt the BAA).

I’ve just come in from a fantastic couple of hours observing Luna. I decided to have a go at some targets from the Lunar 100, and so glad I did - finding those little gems was really exciting and added a new dimension to lunar observing . Using my binoviewers with the 102EDR was a dream, so relaxing and easy on the eyes, they’ve really transformed my planetary and Luna (and possibly solar) viewing. Anyway tonight I managed the following targets, and please forgive my childlike sketches, not really intended for sharing, but thought they might bring the descriptions to life. Also note I haven’t researched these properly yet so I’m hoping I found the correct targets! Hortensius Domes (Lunar 65). A series of volcanic domes near the crater Hortensius. Hippalus Rilles (Lunar 54). Three very distinct and long rilles stretching across craters and mountain ranges. During the time I was observing the visibility of these features seemed to change quite a lot. Nearby was another feature - Kies Pi (Lunar 60). A volcanic dome on the edge of the crater Kies. Looking forward to the next session. Thoroughly recommend picking a few targets from the Lunar 100. 👍

Fantastic report, your enthusiasm shines through. Well done on seeing those objects with Luna around. 👍

Really enjoying the new look and features on the mobile version - thanks Grant.

Reassuring to hear, thanks! 🙂 Never even considered binoviewing the sun, will give it a go. 👍

Looks likes a promising App. Seems to be Android only? 🙄

Thanks for sharing John, good to know there’s something worth seeing. I have been thinking about some white light solar with my ED102R and you’ve encouraged me to give it a go. I was a bit concerned about pointing my lovely new scope at the sun, but I don't think I should worrying about that. 👍

Very useful graph Stu. Shame about Saturn but Jupiter is improving rapidly, so something to look forward to.

A mini star party with my son tonight. He seemed to enjoy viewing the moon through my little 66mm refractor. 😊

Sorry to divert thread slightly - interested to hear you have done a belt mod to the CG5-GT. Was it easy to do and did it make the mount quieter?

Lovely sketch!

I use the Altair RACI finder which comes with base. Not the cheapest option but works well. 👍 Like Carl I find the RDF is fine for most targets on most nights, although the finder is very useful on moonlit nights or in areas where there are few guide stars.

I guess it’s unlikely to be a motor problem, but you could try swapping the motors round to see if you get the same problem in RA (Dec motor at fault) or Dec (motor not at fault) ?

The scope looks perfect on the AZ4, a lovely simple, but quality set up that will get a lot of use I’m sure. FYI, I found having the RDF or straight through finder attached to the focuser drawtube involved too much neck twisting, so I ended up putting a nice RACI finder there, and attaching a Rigel Quickfinder further up the tube. I’m sure you’ll find your own solutions if it’s a problem for you too. 👍

Welcome to the club! Great choice.

Looking forward to the report. Also interested on how you get on with the scope on the AZ4, I was thinking of a lighter mount for my 102ED-R and the AZ4 or AZ5 looked ideal. I'm still on a journey of discovery with mine - I bought it last September and have had amazing views of Mars and Luna (especially with binoviewers), far better than I would have thought with 4" of aperture, and am enjoying doubles and deep sky. Sadly not enough clear skies recently.

Well done! 👍

Nice resource thanks John.

One final thought, then I’ll shut up I promise! I have been pleasantly surprised by how much easier the 102ED F7 is to mount and use than my 100mm F10 achro (714mm FL versus 1000mm FL). The longer achro is more prone to wobble, eyepiece is less easy to reach on smaller mounts and slow mo controls can be harder to reach. Probably not a huge difference between the StellaMira and 102ED, but possibly something else to consider given your current mount.

Now you’ve really confused things. 😂😂 Do you mean the 120ED?

Having done a lot of research, I’m 99% sure the three FPL53 102ED scopes are the same and have the same Lanthanum glass. Why some providers choose to mention it others don’t is a conundrum to me, as an example the suppliers of the Tecnosky in the UK (Astrograph and Widescreen) don’t mention Lanthanum but the Tecnosky website does!! There seems to be some debate as to whether Lanthanum is actually a feature worth having anyway. 🤔

Yes it is the same as the TS Optics Photoline 102ED and the Tecnosky 102ED. That was my understanding too.

I am liking my 102ED-R more and more. So easy to use, quick to deploy, always seems to perform optimally, amazing for high power planetary/lunar/doubles at one extreme and wide field at the other. I’m still learning about its abilities, but I am increasingly impressed as time goes on.

Just be aware that this version of the TS Optics scope has lower quality (I can’t think of a better word) glass than the StellaMira and will show more slightly more chromatic aberration as @Lockie said, which might make things more even between the two scopes for high power planetary. I think Altair Astro also do equivalents of both 102 scopes.