RobertI

2 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

You can also use the Baader Classic Q at 1.3x I believe by unscrewing the lens and screwing it onto the filter thread of the eyepiece.

How does it compare with other Barlows? 

I haven't tried the 1.3x element, but I notice it does have a long screw thread and many (possibly most) eyepieces don't have enough room inside the barrel to take it, but could be useful even if it works with just one eyepiece in your collection. It's my first barlow and I got it for use with my zoom primarily for looking at doubles and so far it has worked superbly. 

Sorry to hear that, very frustrating. I wonder if binoviewers might help a bit? I've no experience with them myself by wonder if (a) it might be easier to see more detail at x100 and (b) using both eyes might reduce the effect of floaters? Perhaps others with more experience of binoviewers can help?

Just out of interest, why can you go no larger than a C6?

Fantastic first light report and so glad you got to share it with your son. Lets hope he's got the bug too! Those 8" dobs work so well.

Yes it is is possible to barlow a zoom - I recently bought a Baader 2.25x barlow which works brilliantly with my 8-24mm zoom, and a snip at £39!.

It did look a bit dodgy for a sec there!

My new Panaview 38mm 2” courtesy of @HollyHound . It’s big, really big, comparison with standard 1.25” zoom eyepiece shown below. Looking forward to getting first light tonight with my Tal100RS. 
 

I am going to move heaven and earth to attend this one - very exciting. 

On 03/08/2020 at 17:55, Tenor Viol said:

I'm still waiting for the 'big' parcel... hoping it's soon (2 months now and some ominous noises being made by people - different supplier - about orders being cancelled due to inability to provide any delivery dates...). 

I’m waiting too. The order cancellation sounds worrying, although I guess I would prefer a cancellation to just being strung along. Good luck with yours. 

On 03/08/2020 at 19:02, wormix said:

Been after a Megrez 72 for a while and my wish has finally been granted,

I sold mine a couple of weeks ago - first time I have ever sold a scope and I’m missing it already!!

4 hours ago, vlaiv said:

We can run tests to see. Let me do that and I'll discuss the results

Fascinating results. I have also often wondered what effect a ‘four way aperture mask’ would work - now I know!

Still wating for the new scope to arrive!! Will be another two weeks according to the supplier, but I'm not holding my breath. But rest assured I WILL be doing this comparsion!

1 hour ago, John said:

Great result on Zeta Herc Rob and the other stuff. Proves that the 6 inch F/8 newtonian is still a top performing option

 

Thanks John, it is a joy to use. The only issue is the tube sometimes hitting the tripod legs (like last night as Epsilon Lyrae was virtually overhead) but can be rectified by lifting the whole setup and rotating (which has the advantage of keeping the RA and DEC cables in the right place). Bit of a faff though. 

Nice report Peter - looks like the 150ED is a winner for planets. 

39 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

, subsequent session ruined by wind turbine turbulence.

And I think that I have problems! 

Managed to get out with the 150PL Newt and the 66mm frac to have a slightly more scientific go at Epsilon Lyrae. I estimated the seeing as around Pickering 4/5 (fair to good) so just about ok for this challenge. Jupiter and Saturn were 'boiling' low dowon over the rooftops.

Zenithstar 66mm: At x75 the wide pair was split and the harder pair resolved and fleetingly split in moments of stillness. At x90 the harder pair was split most of the time.

150PL: Performance was actually not much better than the small frac, I guess down to the seeing. At x90 the harder pair was split fairly easily, but at x80 was more like a resolve.

Note: Most of the magnifications are approximate (possibly as much as plus or minus 10) as the zoom I was using has a VERY rough scale. The zoom was used with the x2.25 barlow.

Interestingly when I first looked through the 150PL at x90 I couldn't really make out the split of the harder pair, but when I went back to the scope 2 minutes later it was clear as a bell.

I subsequently had a go at Zeta Herculis with the 150PL. Using the zoom and the x2.25 barlow I couldn't see anything at any magnification for sure, possibly a brightening of the already broken diffraction ring. Using a 5mm e/p plus the barlow I could definitely make out the secondary and checking the position angle proved I had bagged it. But it took a magnification of x540 to achieve it - the star was fair galloping accross the FOV!! Backing off the magnification using the zoom showed that the brightening I had seen was indeed where the secondary is, but I wouldn't have been confident with that alone.

One point to note is that even at x540, the 150PL + Skytee (no counterweight) + 2" tripod arrangement was supremely stable, any vibrations dampening out almost immediately.

A mere six scopes here (soon to be seven). I have a lot of fun observing with different scopes during a session and comparing the views. And of course I use different scopes for different objects, different conditions, different occasions and different moods. And I have a scope for Sunday best. 🙂

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

1 hour ago, Pixies said:

John, is that the specific Hyperion Zoom barlow, or the Classic Q one?

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.  

20 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

I thought the pair looked quite fetching,

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

17 hours ago, Stu said:

I’m beginning to wonder why I have all this lovely, and expensive kit!

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.  

26 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Oh, I did not notice that - would have thought they have it in stock, but probably issues with supply at the moment.

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

49 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I would rather go for 38mm version as it provides about the largest FOV one can get from 2" eyepiece. Here is comparison:

I have ES82 6.7mm and 11mm. Both are excellent eyepieces and only drawback is that eye relief is tighter than stated - or rather feels tighter. 82 degrees eyepiece really requires one to get close to be able to see it all to the field stop so eye lens of eyepiece is recessed slightly and that makes it feel like tighter eye relief eyepiece. In any case, to me 11mm feels just a bit sharper than 6.7mm, but that could easily be down to seeing and optics used. When I compare 6.7mm to 6mm BCO on any given night - they render same level of detail and sharpness to my eye (well difference being magnification and FOV only really). I'm planning on adding 8.8mm so I guess that 14mm version can't be bad either (however I'm not 100% sure on that - I have not tried it). From a quick search on people's opinions on this EP - most consider it very sharp and often say it's their most used EP - I guess than it has to be as good as others in the line.

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