johninderby

It’s curious that Celestron SCTs are seen as much more desireable than Meade although the lower weight does make the Celestrons easier to mount which is part of it. The later Meades are quite good but seem to have slipped off the radar of potential buyers. Nowadays it seems like SCT = Celestron. 

Where did it all go wrong for Meade? 🤔

Hi

Worth going to the Nexstarsite as they have loads of useful info and guides for using the Nexstar scopes. 

https://nexstarsite.com/

Nexstar users guide

https://nexstarsite.com/NUG2.htm

1 hour ago, Ruud said:

NO!! Visual observing is so last century! 

Sell your gear before it is too late. Don't ask more than 1/3 of the new price, or you won't be able to get rid of it.

SELL NOW!!

And Ruud will take all this out of date gear off your hands. 😁😂🤣

Visual observers just get on with it. 😀

I like my old Telescope Express one. Fits into a 6x30 finder bracket. Not illuminated but better optics than normally found in a pole scope.

Have been giving this a bit more thought. 🤔

I think that yes the imaging side is growing quite a bit but as alluded to in some of the earlier posts it’s the overall hobby that is growing rather than the number of visual observers decreasing.

Also it’s not surprising that thee are more posts re: imaging as first of all they have images to post whereas viusal observers simply don’t bother to post their observing experiences as often. Also imagers need more help than visual in getting things working so more requests for help and advise and sharing of experiences.

Things may differ in the US compared to the UK and EU but I wouldn’t imagine there would be a huge difference.

Conclusio:  The astronomy hobby has never been healthier. 👍🏻

Worth using the Televue eyepiece calculator which will give you the fov and mag etc for various Televue eyepieces but you can find cheaper eyepieces that are about the same as the Televue ones.

http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=212&plain=TRUE

Thanks 👍🏻

Given the limitations of a dob and a smartphone quite pleased. Impressed with the optics on the new Bresser 10” dob. They do seem rather good for a mass produced scope. 🙂

Do I go visual or imaging? 🤔

Might be different in the US. 🤔

5 minutes ago, John said:

Perhaps I'll tell the poster on the other forum that he might be mistaken ?

He is a dealer though so I wondered if his comments were based on sales trends.

FLO made the comment earlier in the thread that the visual side seemed to be doing OK. 🤔

Could the dealer be more of an imaging specialist?

I think the main point to come out of this thread is that while imaging has grown it hasn’t been at the expense of visual observers. They are not waning at all. It has increased the total number in this astronomy hobby not taken away from the number going the visual route. 

Pity you can’t try a few prisims first to see what suits you best in your scope. No two people are the same and while one will say this one is better than anything else the next may say another is the best. Eyeballs differ. 🙂

Interesting discussion on the matter. There is someone who compared the Zeiss and non Zeiss on a small mak and couldn’t see any difference.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/480944-baader-t2-prism-vs-t2-zeiss-prism-on-planets/

Or 365Astronomy. They carry all the Baader stuff.

https://www.365astronomy.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1&keep_https=yes

Now first win the lottery, buy the villa in Tenerife and build the obs with a 1m scope inside then do a bit of imaging. 😁😁😁

Perhaps the solution is to have one scope doing the imaging while you look though another scope. 🙂

On the mak doubtfull that you could tell the difference between the two different prisims. The T2 has a shorter light path which can help with a mak. 

The Starbase achro refractor is an 80mm f/10 so not very demanding on eyepieces. Probably OK in such a slow scope.

Think I’ll be passing on these orthos. Bet they are available for half the price under other brand names.

4 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

By then we'll have VR headsets linked to electronic eyepieces to give real time technicolour views of the heavens  😂

Dave

You mean “Remote imaging module” not electronic eyepiece don’t you? 😁

Discussion in the pub ten years in the future.

”Ah but you’re not a real astronomer until you’ve actually looked through an eyepiece”

Reply

”What’s an eyepiece?”

🤔😳

They aren’t actually Tak eyepieces but are bought in from an outside supplier  Daiichi Optics in Japan. Apparently quite sharp on axis but not so good off axis. Think they are really intended to go with the Starbase achro which again is made for Tak as a “beginners” scope but the Tak name isn’t used on the scope.

The same eyepices are made for other brands by Daiichi. 

I used a Skywatcher crayford which worked just fine and not too expensive. New mounting holes for the Skywatcher base plate will probably be needed and of course removing the corrector plate.

Just now, Geoff Barnes said:

It wouldn't surprise me at all if it already exists in a Chinese or Japanese factory somewhere!

It's when you see them next to a checkout in Tescos or Morrisons that I’ll worry. 😂

I wonder how  future developments will change the observation vs imaging discussion. In a few years you’ll be able to buy a completly automated remote observing setup that you just bring home, open up and plonk down in the middle of the lawn and it sets itself up leaving you to go inside turn on your TV and select whatever you want to look at and just press a button to capture images with no technical knowledge or effort needed. 

Hmmmmmmm 🤔

Gosky smartphone holder arrived yesterday.

Wasn’t expensive at all on Amazon but really like it. Such a simple but effective design. A solid clamp to hold the phone and aligning with the camera couldn’t be easier. Centre the lens in the hole in the clamping head on the holder then drop in an eyepiece and twist the clamp lock and ypu’re ready to go. Makes it easy to swap eyepieces as well withput having to readjust. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Had an expensive Altair smartphone holder and honestly this is far better and easier to use. Identical to the Orion Steadypix but cheaper. There are some similar looking but slightly different super cheap ones on eBay but not sure how good they are.