RobertI

Nice images Reggie, looking forward to seeing next couple of months instalments!

I believe John uses the Classic Q Barlow , I have just bought one on his recommendation to use with my zoom eyepiece, and it works very well, perfect for doubles.

‘You’re being modest - ‘stunning’ would be a better description! 🙂

Don't say that Stu, I've an ED100 on the way! Nice review. The H150P seems like another great performer, I suspect it's light enough to ride on my SkyProdigy mount quite easily, so could be a good replacement for my H130P, which I was planning to give to my Niece. Trouble is I would then have two 150P's (an F5 and an F8) - but I guess to very different scopes in reality. BTW it's kind of amusing to see a 'beginner's scope' with a premium Televue eyepiece in the focuser!

Nearly 9 years for me. SGL has been responsible for rekindling my passion for astronomy - it's a special place, full of knowledgable, passionate, friendly astronomers, expertly moderated and always full of new and exciting stuff. Thank you to eveyone involved - members, moderators and sponsor. Oh and congrats @Helenon 14 years!

By the way I can’t read your report on my mobile (uses ‘simple’ theme) as the text is white on white.

Nice report, good catch of the ISS. Did you really mean Capella is made up for four stars?!

From memory I believe I managed to just split* both pairs last week with my 66mm frac at around 110x (zoom ep at 8mm + 2.25x barlow). The split was very easy at 174x. Next time I will ‘zoom out’ to see how low I can get. * I will have another go to confirm whether the closer pair was really split or just well resolved.

Apologies but who is/are Singbo Sunny? Edit: Just found out, the parent compant of Meade, Ningbo Sunny!

Well done on the nebs you have seen so far! From memory I can't say I have clearly seen the whole outline of the NA Nebula through a scope, but the area of the nebula is clearly brighter than the surrounds and the area around 'the wall' is clearly defined especially with a UHC filter. I have seen entire nebula clearly defined through binoculars though, with a UHCE filter held accross the eyepiece and at a very dark site! I have never successully seen the crescent - I tried to see it recently (with my 150PL I think) , and know I was in the right region from the field stars on a finder chart, but I could only glimpse a faint wisp. The summer skies were too bright unfortunately so I am going to have another go when the skies are darker. It responds well to a OIII filter I believe.

No matter, the scope is probably going to take that long (they have said 2-3 weeks, I am expecting longer!).

Thanks Vlaiv, very informative.Yes the 38mm sounds awesome for wide fields. The only downside is my 1.25" OIII and UHC filters wouldn't fit, but no matter, it would be great to experience wide field views with the ED100. I'd also be tempted to travel out to a dark site to make the most of it. The ES seem like quality eyepieces, worth the 20 - 25 day wait

Very well considered suggestions Vlaiv. A 2” eyepiece would be great, never had one and would be good to experience wide field views of a 32mm with a quality ED. As for the ES, they sound great. Do you think the 14mm would be the same quality as the 11mm? The 11mm is close to my 10mm Hyperion

Thanks Rob. Yes, that was my first thought to be honest! Perhaps a 13 or 15mm Delite. I was also thinking about a Vixen SSW, to experience some wider 82 degree views, possibly the 14mm.

My reward money? It’s the £200 I have promised myself for getting through an unpleasant Medical procedure today. 😖 So I have a Skywatcher ED100 on the way (apparently) and I was thinking something to improve or complement it would be nice. I’m unlikely to use the scope for imaging, mostly visual observing of DSOs, lunar and planetary. So current thoughts are for an improved focuser, possibly one of these, or a premium eyepiece (I’ve never never owned anything better than a Baader Hyperion). Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks for the further thoughts. That's an excellent point John, and reassuring too.

Great vid Chris and entertaining as always! I need to re-instate my light shroud, the last one (not as well constructed as yours) came apart! You've inspired me to buid another. I also think it's work having a small dew shield at the front of these scopes to stop extraneous light coming in from the front of the scope - I think this is caused by the eyepiece drawtube being so close to the front of the scope. For example, if I am observing something which results in the eyepiece pointing towards a window or street light, I get light coming into the drawtube. A homemade dewshiled seemed to sort this. Not a problem if you have a dark site though.

Thanks for your thoughts, good to hear. I’ll stop worrying!

I hesitate to pose this question, but I’ve been wondering whether the huge increase in demand for astronomy gear over the last few months will lead to certain manufacturers cutting corners on quality control. Remember the slew of poor quality Celestron C8’s (and probably others) arising from Halley Hysteria of 1986? I placed an order for a new Skywatcher ED100 a month or so ago but now wondering whether it’s such a good idea at the moment......

Cracking captures, M27 is very sharp.

Very nicely capured. You've done well to get so few edge abberations at F2.8!

I love Sky Safari and eventually upgraded to the 'Pro' version. Why? Because it's just so feature rich, tactile and fun to use - I sometimes just browse the sky in SS on a cloudy day and explore what the app can do. I'm still discovering features years later.

Nice one Chris, a very useful resource.

I agree with your logic Chris. So say the secondary ends up getting only 80% of the width of the full light cone, then I guess you have suddenly got an 80mm refractor with the same focal length (so F5 becomes F6.4), which is photographically slower, and visually has less resolving power? My best guess!

Pretty good Chris! Some surprising detail on Jupiter. Is the yellow cast due to the achromat or is that a fairly accurate colour rendition? On the subject of dropping the trusses, presumably this would cut off some of the light cone? I'm assming it would not have much effect if dropping by one inch, but say you dropped by six inches, would this theoretically reduce the resolution or just the image brightness (or both)?