Naemeth

Completely agree with the previous posters here.

Worth noting that to safely view the sun with human eyes it requires reflecting 99.999% of sunlight, whereas it is around 99.99% for cameras.

If you let more energy than that to the camera you risk wrecking your camera sensor, or your eyesight if you look through it. 

Yes, I’ve used them and can say they are certainly worth the money - a step up compared to other plossls and worth investment as if treated with care will last you a long time. 
 

The two downsides to plossls are less eye relief (they aren’t uncomfortable, but usually don’t give enough for wearing glasses) and a smaller field of view - for that in the TeleVue range you’d be looking at much more expensive eyepieces.

If you can, I’d suggest seeing if you can find some second hand, if you don’t like them then sell on, and if you do you’ve saved the extra cost of getting new.

Actually there are a few around Europe too :-) one with Alan in Bulgaria I think, and one made it to Cyprus!

I'm sure I've got one or two of your ex eyepieces. I've also got a few of your scopes too  . 

How ?

Most of my astro equipment has been stored elsewhere for the past few months whilst building work has been going on and stargazing has been patchy at best (due to work/bad weather combination). I'm sure that will change when everything is moved back  .

It's not a course of treatment I'd recommend for anyone.  

Derek,

How could you, I haven't even got my 11mm & 15mm yet and you have a whole set. I think treatment is required.

Alan

I'm cured of my eyepiece buying impulses. At least for now .

Here's my latest incarnation. Recently sold 13mm Ethos to add 16mm T2 Nagler plus added a 40mm TV Widefield. I think I am done...

Famous last words... .

Used the forecast yesterday for deciding whether or not to wear a waterproof coat - got both there and back without getting wet - as forecast . Serves as a good day time forecast as well as a night one .

The other updates are related and are in anticipation of the return of astro darkness. 

The daylight bar now has more clearly defined darkness indicators. For example it shows astro darkness (black) returns here in Exeter Wed 16th. Hovering over the bar shows the duration of astro darkness is 01.07 - 01.45.

Cause for celebration we think 

For Southern UK astronomers, yes. For Northern astronomers.... we'll have to wait until the end of July / mid August.

Looks great as part of my signature .

Are you planning on doing an auto cut-off for the forecast based on time - in a similar way to how it's done on the BBC website? (i.e. If it's 1pm, only the forecast for 1pm and later will be shown)

Don't worry Stephen, we have the perfect solution 

Steve

You'd only want one .

Bravo chaps, bravo .

Bookmarked

Faulksy,

I have a space in one of my cases now and nothing seems to fit it. A very nice collection of glass there if I may say so.

Alan

Alan, that is probably a good thing. I don't think your wife would be very pleased if you came home with yet another eyepiece  . 

This is a good day for enthusiasts of Japnaese-made refractors

The Vixen VSD100 f3.8 APO has arrived and is available for delivery in 2-3 working days. 

The price is £4,995 

Vixen tube-rings are scheduled to arrive May (the OTA diameter is 120mm) and the optically-matched reducer and extender will be available around summertime. 

For those who are new to this thread the Vixen VSD 100 is essentially an upgrade of the Pentax 4-element SD100 with an additional lens element and new lens coatings for a higher level of optical performance. The 5-element design is made from Japanese Ohara glass and includes an SD and ED element for very high colour correction. New lens coatings have been specially developed for the individual glass types.

The flat, evenly illuminated field will cover even 645 medium format sensors! 

A large precise helical focuser is also included. 

Tim Jardine has been loaned one for testing with his Atik 11000 camera but the weather hasn't been good and he needed to return it recently so it could be displayed at Astrofest . But weather permitting we should soon see some real-world results. 

Thanks for the automated email about it Steve . I'd better start saving soon even though it's about £1k less than I was expecting .

It does make a nice little wide-field scope, doesn't it . I've got a clone of it that I use as my cycle scope.

I couldn't afford it now, but should the reviews be excellent I can see myself budgeting and saving for one for the future .

I bought a cheap 3x Barlow lens for my Skywatcher Heritage 5" - mostly to give it a shot (the 2x Barlow I bought is much more expensive and of better quality). I can't see anything at all if I point at the stars, but I expected this... I tried Jupiter and I saw a strange image! I don't know what it was.... First I had to collapse the tube because the magnification was huge.... And once collapsed that's what I saw (below). I don't know what it is.    It can't be a poor image of Jupiter because it doesn't look like Jupiter and besides the magnification was huge, much higher than it would have been for Jupiter with the eyepiece I was using, that's why I had to collapse the tube. I was using a 25mm eyepiece, so through the 3x Barlow lens it should have been like a 8mm eyepiece (approximately). With a 2x Barlow Jupiter was still relatively small, but I could see it clearly, and with the tube fully extended.

Sorry for the horrible quality. I just kept it out of curiousity, so it has not been edited or anything. Is it maybe just some sort of reflection of the light emanated by Jupiter on the mirror? This only happened while pointing at Jupiter. I also tried on another day and it was the same (but I didn't take any photo). I am just curious for an explanation, thanks!

It's way out of focus. By collapsing the flextube you don't have any hope of reaching focus, you need it fully extended when in use at all times .

I'm not being too serious - I've got 4 refractors, and only 3 reflectors .

Mirrors are for shaving

Lenses are for glasses .

Ah, now a 16 inch is what you CALL an SCT!

Olly

Super Cool Telescope?

Mind you, going to 16" of aperture weight becomes an issue, not 100% sure a AZ-EQ6 would handle it.

Lol, abuse the editing facility? how? the 30min limit is perfect, or until someone replies to you, but 250 posts, come on. it serves no purpose only for me to realise i've made a typo but can do nout about it! we're all adults here right? no more sexual abuse of the editing facility guys

Posting something inflammatory / offensive and then editing it out once it has been seen by the person it was intended to offend and before a mod can see it.

I'd go for the TEC 140 over them all for all but widefield views .

Hi all,

Hope all of you had a great Christmas!

Here's an update:

I received my new eyepieces as a replacement of the old ones. However, I am still getting blurry images.... even with the new eyepieces. I suspect it has something to do with the 'scope.

I also messaged the LA Astro Society, but haven't received a reply yet. I think they're on holiday break.

I'm really getting frustrated. I really don't want to return this 'scope. Help! Please?

Thanks in advance!

Could you take a picture of the tube from the front (showing the mirror), the focuser without an eyepiece in and an afocal view through the eyepiece (looking at a tree or something)?

Well, at some point one loses interest. Whatever 'Skywatcher' or 'Synta' is, they don't understand QC. I'll stop there for now. If you buy an Astrophysics product the buck stops at Roland Christen. If you buy a TEC it stops at Yuri Petrunin. If you buy a Takahashi it doesn't stop if you don't speak japanese. You just have to rely on their QC. Buy their optics but not their mounts.

Interestingly, EQ8 discussion on the French forum is very much along the lines of, 'Hey, it's cheap, what do you expect?' That is why I don't buy things in France. There seems to be no culture of, 'You are selling it so it has to work. If it doesn't, take it back.' The EQ8 I just bought cost 3/5 of the price of the new car I bought seven years ago and which has delivered seven years of solid service with no signs of not delivering seven more. For goodness' sake, this is not a tripod with a head motorized in two directions, it is a car with a turbocharged, fuel injected engine, ABS brakes, airbags, electric windows, sound system, catalytic converter...

Olly

A product should always work for the purpose it was intended for, one would expect it to last a long time too .

Hope you get everything sorted Olly .

I won't be so bold in making such claims in future

2013-12-20 21.21.32.jpg

Over two weeks. I'm impressed .