Space Hopper

I'm keeping my eye on this new wifi module which will mean i can use an iPad wirelessly in place of the hand controller. I believe its only available in Japan currently at present. I was under the impression both RVO and Tring were still selling Vixen gear....? Am i wrong ?? And i hope Vixen do have a future. I love the quality of their gear. New products are still appearing.......but it does seem to take them some time. They have a new imaging scope coming out soon : the VSD 90 astrograph. Deep prockets probably required though.....

Thats one they'll remember for a long time.....😀 What a stunning location to see it with the aurora as well.

Stunningly good capture and processing 👍🏼 I think its safe to say the seeing and other conditions are rather better in Serbia than they are here........

You mean this.......? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/ts-concenter-2-adjustment-eyepiece-for-newtonian-telescopes.html

Well done on reaching 10 years and heres to many more. I remember your website was a useful source of information when i was researching into a purchase of an APM 105 / 650 of my own. There's not alot of info around on these scopes. I actually traded the scope (purchased from Astrograph) a couple of years ago. Some regret there, but with me, scopes come and go. I was going to ask you about the AP 92 Traveller and the Baader TC95 which i remember you posting about over on CN.....? What did you think of them ? Both of them are rarely seen scopes, and again not much info about them for the prospective buyer.

Thankfully with scopes and mounts and eyepieces as well, i did my homework and research before buying, and thankfully haven't brought any lemons. Yet. I can be thankful for Stargazers Lounge and Cloudy Nights and all who contribute on there and pass on their extensive knowledge and experience for that. Some 'accessories' have failed miserably though...... This Kendrick 2 channel dew controller springs to mind. It cost £120 if memory serves. They should stock them in Poundland. A piece of overpriced crappy plastic junk. Blew up after only a couple of sessions. Not even Blue Peter build quality. Blue bin fodder, lesson learned.

Still too early yet ? I bet you have one of the first releases of the new Z8 ? I had a look in the new WEX (Notts) 2 or 3 weeks ago and they were still awaiting stock. Great looking camera by the way.....

I'm in a similar predicament with a Vixen SXP2 eq mount. Lovely piece of kit : beautifully engineered, but i never use it. I've thought about selling it many times. I'm also visual only in all honesty, and much prefer alt-az mounts, so thats what i use.

Back in 2019 i was looking for a high power set of binoviewing eyepieces and came across these 12mm 'Flatfields' from APM. They were about to be discontinued, so i was lucky to secure a pair when i did and they'd been reduced to £79 each. They are actually really nice ; despite 'only' having a 60º FOV, compared to my other APM 15mm Flatfields which are 65º. I really like the twist up eyecups so you can dial in just the right amount of eye relief. They don't actually get a whole lot of use as they give me quite a high power with my binoviewer set up : something like 212x magnification, which is too much most of the time. But last night, conditions were ideal, and they performed very well indeed. They are nice eyepieces, like their 15mm cousins at a good price point. (And yes, they had a good clean soon after this photo was taken ! 😁)

I think he's currently away in Spain 🔭, so if you have little response in the short term, that may be why.

I concur. Spent around 4 hours enjoying the 4 outer planets, with Lunar and a few of 'the usual suspects' thrown in for good measure. The seeing was pretty good tonight, possibly thanks to this high pressure system. Nice stable air, certainly a cut above what i've become used to. Jupiter and Saturn both excellent tonight, a treat to see them so good. We used a 125mm doublet on a motorised AZ100 and a 140mm triplet on a manual DM6, with me using Baader binoviewers ,Tv Panoptics, with back up from Vixen and Docter / Noblex in mono mode. A really good night 😁

My 7x50 are rock solid. No issues at all with these which date from 2002 A bit on the heavy side, but optically very nice indeed.

Thats excellent, thank you. Fascinating stuff. And yes, it would be a very quick eclipse : no time to see Baily's beads...! 😁

Sorry Mandy, my bad. Misread your post. But lets hypothetically assume Phobos was 3 times the size (its only about 20 miles wide but orbits very close to Mars) Would this 'transit' then become a total solar eclipse ? It would be interesting to watch one from Phobos though ; it would probably last a while ?

Well, sort of.

Not sure why anyone would want star spikes everywhere (just my opinion) but another scope worth considering, just for its sheer astrograph performance is the SW Mak Newt 190. We have a imager on our astro forum (EMS) who uses one and it produces some stunning results. It ticks alot of boxes.

I remember asking David Nagler himself about some dedicated binoviewing eyepieces to go with the already well established 24mm & 19mm Panoptics. Something in the 14/15mm and 9/10mm range. Televue actually used to do a 15mm Panoptic, but it wasn't their best and was short lived. But since the sad passing of Paul Dellechiaie it may be a long time before any new eyepieces come along.

Michael.....and you should know this After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. 😉

@bosun21 Nice. Do they have the 'twist-up eyecups' ? I purchased the 12mm versions shortly before they were discontinued, which have this feature. You sacrifice a little bit of fov, but they are nice eyepieces at a good price point. The 12mm give me 212x power, which is a bit too much most of the time, so they don't get used that often. I also have the 15mm 65º flat fields which are good also.

Looks like a nice scope, at a good price point. Compare that to the 107mm PHQ at nearly 3x the price. What gives....??? The option to remove the small section of the tube is good for binoviewers / imagers etc.

Totally concur, and reading this thread brings home the rather depressing reality of my own situation. With working shifts (alternating lates and early's) I bet i'm averaging only around 10 sessions a year. Should i have brought a cheaper scope ? Probably. With this dreadful weather here and my Bortle 7 location, were future astro imaging aspirations even a realistic idea ?? I have a Vixen SXP2 mount that i've hardly used, and maybe its time to re-home it. I've also sold some lenses and a camera body to raise funds for other things. I've also abandoned the idea of a second scope, and had been thinking of a smaller refractor (FC100?) to go with my 140mm. I still really enjoy the visual side of the hobby when i get out, particularly Planets, and will always love astronomy. But I really need to have a good think about where i want to go with the hobby. I'm not 100% sure to be truthful.

Not on an HEQ5 no.......

So sorry to hear about this. The eyepiece cover looks just the same as on my own Fujinon 7x50s They are a 2002 model ; built like a tank. Hopefully yours are ok.

Understood. It should be ok, but close to maxing it out with an 8" tube +all your imaging add-ons.

Aperture rules, but understand a 200P is a fair old size and may be pushing an EQ5 class mount a bit.