Ratlet

Ach, @F15Rules and @ScouseSpaceCadet yer both banned from my threads!  You're terrible influences! 🤣

Pistol grip does look like the way forward.  My tripod adapter turned up today and it is supposed to be clear so I'll give it a burl.  All going well I'll look at a pistol grip in the near future.  The extra height looks like it will be handy for higher altitude on a reclining chair.

I really enjoyed the binos.  It's not what I thought it was going to be and it's fantastic when you've got a bit of cloud rolling by.

I spent a lot of last year trucking about at x20 with the 130pds and the wide field is brilliant for some targets, like some of the open clusters in Auriga.  It's funny that going into astronomy you think you need all the power in the world, and then you slowly realise that actually no.

I'll need to have a look at the pistol grip, although thanks to long focal length achro fans (ahem) I'm also planning getting one of the Starsense achromats to try that out as well.  Only question is the 70 or the 80mm.  It'll be getting mounted on some spare rings, so the mount will be an afterthought.  

So many decisions...

My advice would be not to go all in on eyepieces.  It's real tempting to try and get everything sorted in one go, but I'd suggest a bit of patience.  You'll notice the difference between 48 and 60 degrees in my opinion, whether it bothers you is a another question entirely.

My suggestion would be to pick up a cheap plossl and one of the paradigms to see how you feel about the view.  For me I'd go for a 26mm or 32mm plossl for and one of the paradigms (something like the 12 or 15mm).

FLO do astroessential super plossls which are really nice for the price.  I'd imagine that you'll be able to get equivalents over the pond:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-eyepieces/astro-essentials-super-plossl-eyepiece.html

  If you find you're okay with the narrow FOV of the plossl then you can go all in on the Baader.  You'll be able to easily sell the paradigm to get some of the money back and the plossl will do for a beater eyepiece at worst.

Personally I love the paradigms, even at F5.  60° is the sweet spot for me.

On 21/07/2023 at 09:09, josefk said:

Spot on session it seems and a nice read. I really enjoy a binocular view of the sky myself (not least for the correct orientation of things as per others). I cannot effectively hand hold even light 10x42's though (not even for effective bird spotting) so always mount binoculars and use a video head on a tall tripod to pan around and up and down. It does take away the freedom for steep sweeping but at lower angles it pays back with all the resolution the bino is capable of. For steep sweeping it is possible to use two legs of a tripod in an "A frame" type arrangement and an old school layback deck chair in such a way where your own head and body act as the third leg of the tripod - a bit fussy to arrange yourself at different angles but effective once you're in position.

I think I'll give that a try once the bino mount turns up.  My carbon fibre tripod can splay the legs fairly wide.  I think I could get it to work with 2 of the legs spread out over the observing chair and the third on screwed right in...

Or the neighbours will think I've completely lost it.

The apps said no and so did the met, but it looked clear enough.  Not the best session but managed to split Zeta Lyra. 

There was some thin high cloud which washed everything out of the already somewhat illuminated darkness at 56 degrees North.

The dew was horrific and ultimately stopped play long enough (whilst I gently held a hand warmer to the secondary to clear it) for the cloud to roll in.

I think I should have taken the binos out again.  Still it was nice to get the dob out.  Gave me chance to get used to using the magnet as a counterbalance.

That's the 10x42 binos arrived.  Surprised by how much smaller and lighter they are than the 10x50s.  Had a quick play around and I'd say they also have less CA in daylight.  Will be interesting to get them both out and have a play.

2 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi Ratlet.

I'm glad you are discovering the joys of binocular observing! I too have a pair of 10x50mm binos and find them indispensable and showing me the broader context of the night sky.

I also use mine hand held while sitting in an office chair. I find that holding them near the objective lens end provides more stability. Enjoy!

Joe

That's a great tip and makes perfect sense!  I'll give it a try next time.

10 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Nice report. Thank you!

I think you can bag Albireo. I split it with 8x42s.

I think you are right.  I could swear that I could see the blue and orange, but I just couldn't resolve them individually.  It is surprisingly hard to hold binocs still.  Next time I might try panning with them.  It seems easier to slowly move at a steady rate than to try and hold rock steady.

About 4.  Just don't ask about the error bars on that number.

10 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Why if you don't mind?

I thought that I wanted to get into astrophotography, getting the perfect image and then spending the time to extract every last bit of data out of the image in post.  The reality is that I'm happy with something that is recognisable as the target.  I'm not really sure that I'm getting the full benefit of the larger sensor, cooling, etc to really warrant the extra money spent.  It's also smaller and a bit easier in terms of just dropping into an focuser for some quick and dirty imaging (say for the moon).  Certainly the images from the 585 sensor are spectacular and I'd be very happy with them.

But essentially I don't think that I needed the 533 sensor for what I'm doing with it (when I've managed to get out with it at all).

All that said, I can guarantee that if I bought the 585 I'd be sat here saying I wish I got the 533.

31 minutes ago, MonsterMagnet said:

I've just taken a look at the 585MC and it looks like a great camera - hopefully you'll get some clear skies to use it once you've purchased!

MM

Going to be honest, I bought the Altair 533C and part of me thinks I should have gotten  a 585MC

Last night was a bit of a surprise.  Apps all said no and the met said good luck on getting some clear skies, however a quick peek out the bathroom window at about 23:00 showed some rolling clouds but some nice clear patches.  Not enough for the dob, but with a pair of SV202 10x50 binoculars sitting in the kitchen waiting to be tested I figured it would be worth a quick 10 minutes to check for chromatic aberration.  I had noted some during daylight testing, but I've never looked through a refractor at the stars so I didn't know how it would affect things or if CA in daylight would translate to CA at night.

I also wanted to use my Geoptik astronomy chair as you can apparently adjust it for binocular use.  I'm sure you can, but the first big win of the night was the slow realisation whilst struggling with the strap was that I could just unbuckle it (the strap is a loop with one of those back pack type buckles).  Popped the seat on the lowest rung and gave it a test.  Quite comfortable, although I should have taken the cushion out and used it as a head rest.

Vega was quite prominent so that was my first target.  It was easy to find but hard to focus.  I have no mount and was quite surprised at how hard it was to hand hold the binos.  I think it was perhaps a bit easier to allow a small amount of drift around the target rather than to remain locked in.  I moved Vega around the field a few times and couldn't see any real chromatic aberration, at least to my eyes.  

I was a bit surprised to see Epsilon Lyrae to the top left, but remembered the image is the right way around.  It's was a beautiful split with both stars looking pure white.  I panned around Lyra a bit and just looked at the constellation and the arrangement of the stars.  I've often found it a struggle to relate star charts to what I'm seeing.  With a 5" and 10" reflector you see so much that it makes it hard to put stuff in context.  Not so with binoculars.

Clouds rolled in and were putting an end to play, but I could see The Plough chilling above some flats, I vaguely remembered that one of the handle stars should be a nice double for binoculars and quickly found Mizar.  Having made the split I could swear with averted vision that I could see Alcor without the binos.  The clouds descended here but before they ruined everything I spotted a beautiful orange star.  I struggled to figure out what it was until the clouds cleared a bit and I realised that it was Dubhe.  I'm not sure if I've ever looked at it before, but I really like red/orange stars.  They just seem rare.  I'm not sure how faithful the colour accuracy of the view was but it sure looked good.

By this point the clouds had cleared completely.  The horizon was still quite bright but the zenith was dark.  I swung to Hercules and very quickly found M13.  It was quite faint (compared to a scope) but definitely there and very round.  M92 was a bit more of a challenge, with there not being quite so many bright stars to easily reference to.  M13 looked better to my eyes, but it might have been the lower angle making it more comfortable to look at.

I tried to split Albireo but that I think was wishful thinking.  Maybe if I had something to mount the binos on, but otherwise, I couldn't get a split.  I'm sure I could see a whiff of blue at the edge of the orange though.  I tried a few other objects (M57, M27, M71) but M57 was a complete bust and the other two I didn't really have a size reference to tell if I was seeing a DSO or if I was just seeing some dim, shaky stars that were particularly close together.  Panning from Altair through Cygnus and it is an incredibly busy area and frequently had me questioning if I was seeing something or I was just seeing more stars.

Before I packed up I remembered that M31 was in fact a thing.  Pretty low down (30 degrees or so) but allegedly a large target well suited to binoculars.  Which it was.  This is another target that is hard to put in context when you've only looked at it through a scope but it's honking large through the binos!  It was still in the twilight section of the sky so I'm sure it could be better but was still well worth the look.  From my location I can see it with averted vision on a dark night so I'm looking forward to seeing it with the binos when it is further up.  I got packed up, although the sky still looked very clear (should have stuck the dob out to cool!), in truth the observing chair and the skyscape is incredibly relaxing and if someone had thrown a dust sheet over me I would have fallen asleep.

A decent session and I managed over an hour in the end.  I think the binoculars did well for £80 although I don't have anything else to compare them to and perhaps my shaky grip helped hide any chromatic aberration but I couldn't see any.  The eye relief is 17mm and I could easily use them with my glasses (my old Porros eye relief was too short to use with glasses and without glasses I couldn't get focus) and the focus control is swift and easy to use.  The stars looked good, though I'm not sure I could say point like, mostly due to the shake of hand holding.  I'll look into getting a bracket for them so I can stick them on a tripod.

I know it gets said a lot that the binoculars are the best thing to start with, but honestly they're great even if you've only used your eyes or a scope.  It found it helps provide context to some objects and helps build your mental map of the sky far more easily than looking through the eyepiece.

Spoilt for choice!

Absolutely love my 3-8mm svbony, without a doubt the best bang for buck out of all the eyepieces I've bought.

I feel the 8-24mm svbony would be an interesting one to get in the mix, it would round out the low cost side of things.  I could sling mine down to you, but I feel I might miss the boat with timings.  Personally I didn't initially get on with the very tight FOV, but the view through that straw was pretty good 🤣

Hope the move goes well.  Looks like the majority of the UK will be covered in thick cloud so I don't think you'll miss much for the next few weeks.

I've been consoling myself with the fact we basically roll from dusk to dawn right now, but we've got nautical darkness back now and I know the observing can be good then which is making it a bit unbearable.

I was looking to get a nice big refractor later in the year, however something has come up and I need to put the money elsewhere (more on that later...)

So instead I picked up a set of the well regarded 10x50 SV202 ED binoculars, my own hand me downs from my dad having developed fungus.  The fact they arrived today blows my mind a bit as they were ordered on the 12th!

Having played with them a bit in the daylight, I'm very impressed!  The IPD is quite large and I can just get them to 'fit' if I remove the rings that hold on the rubber eyecups, but the image is very sharp and the collimation looks great.  The eyerelief is stonking and I can easily use them with my glasses on, but without glasses the adjustable eyecups are brilliant and have a halfway click, but even at an intermediate setting hold position well.

I picked these up on one of the choice deals from AliExpress for the princely sum of £83 which is pretty decent considering Neil English thought them a bargain at almost twice the price.

I've also ordered a set of 10x42 (£72) on the same deal, although they are still on route.  One of the sets will go to my sister who is after a good set of binos.

EDIT:  had a bit more of a play with them in slightly brighter light, there is some chromatic aberration, red fringing, towards the edge of field.  Noticeable, and I'd say worse than my old pair of porro 10x50, but the image in the svbony seems sharper.  I'll get them out in darkness and see how they do.

I've not tried an ortho, but I'd give it a shot.  I've had loads of fun testing out different eyepieces and it's great to find out what you like when viewing.  I quite like a narrow field of view myself so I should probably looking at a set myself!

Just wondering how you were getting on with the tripod?

I've found a 130pds works well on an azgti, so the heritage 130p will work well.  I think it's the shorter focal length reduces the movement arm.

I have found though that the tripod makes a huge difference in stability, I'd it's the cheap aluminium tripod I'd consider upgrading it to the 1.75" steel tripod.  Makes a huge difference in stability although it is much bigger and heavier than the aluminium

I've got that guidescope.  Good bit of kit.

Personally, for me dew shields I always go for craft foam since they can be squished.

That print looks really thin, I'd be concerned with the strength, depending on the plastic you use.  If @RolandKol can't help I can have a stab at it. 

Can I ask what the issue is with the view you are currently getting?

I had awful views of the planets with my 130pds.  If I had to describe them it was like someone had printed a picture on thin paper and was shining a light behind it.  I could see the planet but it was like someone had turned the brightness waaaaay up.

If that's the issue you are having, you should try stacking a cheap yellow filter and a moon and skyglow filter (so screw them together and use them with your eyepiece.  @Louis D suggested this to me last year and it made a massive difference.  I jokingly call it a 'Baargain Contrast Booster' because it massively improves the contrast of the view but costs very little (unlike the Baader contrast booster).

And to be clear, when I say cheap I mean cheap.  I went for the cheapest filters I could find on eBay that had threads on both sides of the filter.  Think it cost £10 for both.

The only downside is a slight yellow cast, but it's very subtle but personally I find it a small price to pay for the massive improvement in views.

I picked up some large ones for putting in your car last year from Aldi.  They say to microwave for 6 minutes (!).  They work great.  I keep one under my oklop cover up the shed and another lives in my car where it does a great job of stopping the windows misting on cold mornings.

Need to get some more when the offer cycle gets back to them.

I wonder if you could get chatgpt to go through that entire thread and tally the cost of all the items...

That's a

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

Think I may have found a ready made option 😊

That seems a good price.

If you are using android, I highly recommend proshot.  You can adjust every setting imaginable and ,importantly, turn off autofocus as this can cause the focus to chase itself as you're trying to focus the scope and the camera is trying to adjust its focus.

Edge of the moon looks good and sharp so you could probably just reduce the 'shutter speed'.  This will reduce the brightness of the image and minimise blurring.

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

That’s great, thank you. Would be good to print the SS holder on top of that adaptor so you didn’t need to source spare holders, is that possible?

Do you mean the actual Starsense mount (the bit that hold the phone?)  That would be an interesting wee project.  You'd need to source a suitable mirror for it but would in theory be possible.

I'm sure I saw someone using a mirror diagonal for something similar.