Ratlet

Very slightly related, but do you think the 16mm would be improved with a slower scope?

I think barlows extend eye relief. Don't remember by how much though. Can be useful if you have a set with short eyerelief, though it can make a long eyerelief eyepiece awkward to use as it can get so long you need to hover to avoid blackouts.

Often safest. Nothing like thinking you got a bargain on an expensive bit of kit to only be hit with a massive bill from customs when you it arrives in country.

You're doing it the correct way imho. Vintage glass can be had for buttons if you know the ones to look for and are patient. SMC super takumar m42 mounts are usually all good and cost about £40. To get better quality you'll be spending X10 as much.

Not sure about where to get it valued, but are you sure that you've got the 12" scope there? I see what looks to be a massive refractor in one of the boxes. Maybe ENS or either valley optics can help? Depends on what you are looking for in terms of money. If you want to move it on quickly a reseller can probably help but you'll get less (as they'll need to make a bit of money of it when they sell it). Alternatively you could see if there is someone who can help appraise it and you can sell it on yourself.

I'm curious to see your opinion on it too. I think for the price it's at, if you don't like it you can probably sell it on for the same you paid for it easily enough.

There is currently a sale on the official svbony website. There are a few shipping options but I usually go for the one that includes customs and taxes which is more expensive but avoids hassle. Using this option you can pick up the eyepiece for under £100 including delivery.

Kind of related, but SAEP is kidney beaning? Which is often confused for the effect you get when you have your eye too close to an eyepiece with a long eyerelief? One is a design issue, the other a user issue?

I'd be quite interested in hearing people's opinions, even though I just got the 102/f7 what I really want is a Megrez 90 lol. Strikes me as the perfect balance of correction, portability and quality. The Megrez can be taken on an airline carryon without disassembly, whilst the 102 would require the focuser to be removed.

All the chat of camera holders in the other thread had me wanting to take mine out. Had to 3D print a spacer so my 130mm solar filter would fit, but took the 102/f7 ed out to try on the sun. Very sharp views. I say more detail was apparent than with the 130pds. Just a quick look whilst I was supposed to be at the dentist (oops). Image using pixel 6 and Morpheus 17.5mm

Good news is they cost less than £5 from amazon/ebay. Not often you get useful astro kit for that price!

Out again with the 102/F7. Only a very quick session on Jupiter. The AZ5 is at it's limits with the scope, but is acceptable with the 8mm BST for 90x and the vibrations calm down quickly. Manual tracking with it though is less fun than with the Newt because I sold of the slow mo extensions. Scope didn't have enough cooldown time so the view wouldn't take much more. Still it was a nice view. I've left the scope up the shed for the time being to cool in the hope that I'll get out again later on and get to try it on the GEM28. You might be thinking that this wasn't too great of a session, however I was joined by the 5 year old who was thoroughly whelmed by the view but managed to count Jupiter's moons and describe some cloud bands. To top it off I spotted that Starsense rolled out an Android update which "Solved issue for Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro where the device was unable to identify the telescope location". To put it mildly, this is what I imagined it would be like when I got it. My old Honor 20 was pretty ropey and would take ages to identify its location and would frequently get lost. Not so with with the Pixel 6 post update, quick to find the target and remained pretty darn close whilst slewing about. Now to make a screen for it to cut down the brightness and we'll be cooking on gas. I would have tested it earlier but a design flaw in the starsense dock I made meant it wouldn't fit the finder shoe! I updated the design and printed a new one and it fits like a finger up an ar...glove.

When I was looking at eyepieces to fill out my set it felt that the 16-20mm sort of region seemed every hard to get well figured optics at a low cost. It's why I went for the 17.5mm Morpheus, despite it's cost. Also to try and understand what something that considered good is like.

I heard Sirius B was made up by Big Telescope™ to keep us buying new gear.

I don't think it is nostalgia. I didn't start watching the old ones till last year (some are up on youtube) and found some of them fascinating. I think you are right though about scheduled programming. I think networks are stuggling to find the correct audience to try and maximise the number of viewers. I think S@N is suffering for it because by trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible they've made it into something that doesn't really satisfy anyone. If they made it more old school (More observing/imaging than pop science) I'm pretty sure it would reach a fairly consistent, broad audience globally through streaming.

I've not had any issues with the mount that weren't user error. I often use a side by side mount which means the vixen saddle is 90 degrees from the normal position (if you consider normal as being pointing along the axis of polar alignment). I didn't zero the position after swapping once and I came very close to crashing my camera into the tripod. Entirely my own fault. I now always set the zero position at the start of a session.

I've never believed the delivery times, but I live quite far north so I'm usually just grateful to not be charged £20 extra because my postcode starts with AB3 rather than AB2.

I like slo mo when using my 130pds newt. It's all just in front of you and it's like giving the scope a cuddle. Tried it with the refractor today and it was less fun. Going to try taking out the gem28 later if it's still clear. See how I get on with that.

Managed to get out for a cheeky half hour with the 10" dob and the 102/F7. Very impressed with the new scope. It's a different beast to the newtonians. The view is definitely better than my old 130pds, but the dob is definitely able to show more detail. Kind of delighted that it confirms that I can in fact collimate a scope. I am now slightly regretting selling my slow mo extension cables lol. Jupiter was an interesting study. The view was pleasant in both but the frac had better contrast and the planet actually looked round in it if that makes sense. I'd also swear that there was a bulge pretty much dead centre on the SEB on Jupiter around 1930. Pretty much dead centre Couldn't find my 32mm plossl so didn't have a chance to try truly wide field views (which is why I wanted it) but I did hand hold my 30mm superview of the end of the focuser and actually got focus with a 2" air gap (sldo not recommend) whilst looking at Orion and I was very happy with the result. Hopefully get out again later for some more.

It's great. I like to terroise my family with WhatsApp calls live streaming the moon

Been threatening it for a while now and the one in the for sale section was too good to turn down. Packaged to withstand a nuclear bomb blast too. Bigger than I thought but still quite small. Hopefully get some clear skies tonight and give it a burl on Jupiter and Orion. Delighted. Edit: please don't make direct eye contact with the bunny in the pokeball. My daughter made it and I'm pretty sure it'll curse you.

Should probably also say, I've used this a few times. Sticks like... Well it keeps a solid grip of the camera when used with my vintage glassm

Getting back on track, sounds like a good session overall. I don't wind when things go wrong (so long as nothing breaks!) As you normally get towards a better session next time. I love M36 etc al. It's one of those clusters that looks amazing at low or high power, nice cluster of stars at high power and at lower power you lose the detail but it takes on almost an organic quality.

Good Gawd Almighty, HE'S GOT A STEEL CHAIR

It's quite an interesting story. I was a fan at the time and it was kind of a fascinating look into the kind of mindset the company has/had. Still think Mick Foley is the greatest of all time. His autobiography is fantastic.