Space Hopper

Worth noting that the Clicklock bit itself actually adds around 10mm to the lightpath, so yes, that could be helpful. The flipside is of course, it can be detrimental, say if you want to try binoviewing where every mm can count in the focusing challenge.

I use the Baader BBHS mirror diagoal, with 2" clicklock which has always impressed me greatly. Beautiful build quality, and excellent performance. Item number is #2456115 The bad news is its gone up in price by a crazy 50% since i bought mine 4 or 5 years ago Nearly as good, but for a bit less is the white bodied non BBHS version #2956100. Incredible build quality again. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/diagonals/baader-clicklock-2-dielectric-star-diagonal.html#about_this_product But whether it be mirror , or prism, you won't go far wrong with Baader.

An excellent and very interesting post from the one and only Dr D 👍🏼

The monkey grip / and shelves look great, but they are rather pricey..... Here's my offering, a Planet brought second hand (Facebook marketplace) for only £300. There wasn't a mark on it. Bargain of the year, that one was 😀

Most recently a packet of 50mm metal washers i was going to fit above the spikes of my tripod, to stop the legs sinking in the ground / getting muddy etc. Worse one for me was a Tracer 12v 10Ah Lipo battery. Totally disappeared a few years ago. Cost £200 or more. I've started to think, sadly, that it may have been stolen 😞

You'll not be first in the queue for the 185 model then Michael....?? 😉

................and to add on a little bit more, if i do have a regret, it was selling my smaller 105mm LZOS refractor. I sold it on a whim, without really thinking things through properly or planning ahead. And these scopes are no longer available. But at the end of the day, there are other excellent options in the 90-110mm class, so all is not lost.

Interesting topic thread Mark. Some of my gear is second hand like the tripod (a BB Planet at a bargain price) and a few of my eyepieces so no regrets there. My mount is American, and very rare over here, so may retain some resale value. Although you could argue its been superseded by the excellent AZ 100 its still a very fine mount and so simple to use and is excellent with encoders and the DSC Nexus. I really don't need motorisation, though it would sometimes nice to have it. Motors and alt-az mounts don't always play well together though. But i can happily track objects manually and quite smoothly at anything up to 200x using the mounts handle. Its very smooth and doesn't really need slow motion adjusters. So no regrets there either, and although an expensive purchase, I was lucky that at the time 10 years ago we were getting $1.70 to the UK £. So a good saving was had. With my scope yes, one could argue that that was an extravagance. Could i get 90% of its performance from something else ? Quite possibly. Would i buy it again if i could wind the clock back ? The jury is out on that one. But its a unique scope, very rare and sought after which i like, and something that should retain it value and resale price very well. So, for me, no major regrets at all. Life is too short anyway to worry too much about that

I consider mine 'cured' at 140mm, and certainly wouldn't consider anything bigger now, and neither could i realistically manage it size-wise as it more or less maxes out my mount as it is. I'm also at an age where i'm struggling at looking at very high up objects : even with a sub 1 meter focal length the eyepiece can get uncomfortably low. One of the few pitfalls of alt-az mounts i guess.........ok, so i can extend the tripod legs a bit to mitigate, but then i'll end up needing a step to view lower down objects, so its a bit of a balancing act at times. Heres my offering from downtown Colorado, and its mounting partner from a few states away down in Florida. This snapshot is from our local darksite in Leicestershire last August just waiting for it to get dark before commencing a Lunar and planetary session. The tripod is a Berlebach Planet which has made a huge improvement to stability and dampening times. Potential tipping hazards are no longer a concern, which had always been a worry with having no counterweight if a big gust of wind came along. I'm now what i consider to be a 100% visual viewer aside from the occasional lunar / solar prime focus image with a dslr. I had intended to try a bit of imaging, but feel less inclined now given advancing years, shift work commitments and everything else like needing a big heavy mount, with the set up / take down, and dodgy UK conditions. I'm more inclined to look at getting another 90-110mm class scope with a shorter focal length and pair it up with an AM5 etc if i were to go down the imaging road. Maybe when i have retired.......😀 But i love my current scope. Its an excellent performer, only limited by UK skys and the users eyesight. I've also 'deleted' the issue of collimation, and cooldown from the worry list. Regarding cooldown, and it being a big triplet, with it being 'oiled' and the elements being in contact with each other, it actually behaves like a 'singlet optic' and will reach cooldown quickly and as fast as any other doublet or similar. At the very most the scope will give its best in as little as 30-45 mins. Thats a big plus for me.

Yes, and also a 160mm model (F/11) if you can't run to the 200. But its yellow..........😳

Don't underestimate the size / weight of a 5" refractor. I would say theres not that much between that and a 200mm Newt, the refractor probably heavier too, and of course it would require a suitable mount. Forget the AZ GTI.

I couldn't agree with you more 'Sunshine' I've always loved them too and have had my current scope for over 5 years now, and it will be with me till I have to give it all up. I'm a bit of a traditionalist (is that the right word?) and like to keep it black and white ; i'm not into all these garish colours and tube rings etc just a nice white aluminium tube, (i don't even like carbon fibre) a well designed high performance optic at one end, and a Feathertouch at the other. Thats all i require. Maybe someday i'll get a 4" to go with the 5.5" i have now, we'll see. I've always fancied a Televue scope or something from Stellavue or Astro Physics over in the US. I've always liked American gear, and have certainly done my bit to help keep the US economy ticking along !! 🇺🇸

And crikey : the conference tickets are £50 each now !! Prices must have doubled since i last went in 2016 😲

I went 12 years straight between 2005-2016 but have not been back since then. I was disappointed with the 2016 show ; hardly any vendors there and the speaker line up had seemingly been hastily arranged. I much prefer the PAS / IAS shows and they are a lot closer for me to get to. I like a day out in London though. * One thing of note ; I believe the train drivers are on strike on Saturday 3rd so if you are planning on taking the train, it may put a spanner in the journey plans.*

like @bosun21 i use the Baader Hyperion case : I like the precut foam option. It fits my new (old) Vixen LVWs and a couple of others very nicely

Click on your forum name (top right of page) then account settings , signature, and add what you need.

Amazing images Goran. And you are a warrior for braving -25ºc Respect.

M11 (Flying duck) & M37 are another two to add to the list of showpiece objects. See if you can spot the orange / red star in the centre of the M37 cluster ? It will be a few months possibly before you can track down M11, but it will be worth the wait.

Second time around for me......😀 I'll hopefully get a crack at it in the next 2 or 3 days as we should have some settled weather on the way.

Arrr, the proverbial glitter ball, and the futile hunt for its hidden companion !! I've spent many an hour trying to spot it, with no luck so far even with 140mm aperture. I like to think my scope and eyepieces are decent enough, but poor local seeing, Sirius' low elevation and my own failing eyesight tip the balance the wrong way. One thing of note : I don't think i've been using enough magnification. I've read you need around 300x but i've been using only half that as i routinely tend not to over magnify things by preference. So i will try my newly acquired 3.5mm Vixen LWV (280x) and my personal favourite Docter 12.5mm + quad powermate (313x) and see if i have any joy......

An excellent and inspiring result. I bet the Apollo astronauts view on approach was much the same.

Driving from Liverpool - Sheffield - Nottingham. Lots of rain clouds and plenty of precipitation 🙄

Blue Origin NS-24 (unmanned) blasting off shortly. Well hopefully : currently on hold, T-10min

That makes my scope seem like great value. Especially at one quarter of the price of this (ok it was 5 years ago, but still)

Good question.