KevUU

(Well this is weird... I've just logged in after a 4 year absence to find recent activity flagged on this old thread of mine!)

And BOOM, Qualia strikes again

As someone who thinks he knows a bit about some of this stuff, I'm flabbergasted at how much information you have packed into here and how much of it was either new to me, or more coherently and cogently explained than I've seen before.

And I know how much time it takes to write technical things down properly, how much effort it takes to convert it from a jumble of details to a coherently narrated guide which is easy to read and leads you through the material gently and neatly.

So once again, thank you. I tip my hat to you, Rob.

And +1 to the idea of you collecting these into a book - I would buy 'The History, Science, Observation and Poetry of the Universe, by Qualia' in a heartbeat

Iv heard mixed things about the 25mm in fast scopes, think mine is f4.7 (10" dob) has any1 used the 25mm in anything similar?

FWIW, AstroTux has the same (1200mm fl 10" dob) and I think said he had heard something similar, but he bought the full set of BSTs for his and rates them well

Blimey I'm late to this party. Good summary Nicko, I'm glad it got pinned it should be very helpful to people. Anyone who's looked at your books at a star party can attest that no-one does planning and notes like you - plus some great sketches

Now I have stepped into the world of serious scopes any tips for someone recently upgraded to a Skywatcher 250px, what are the 'must see' 1st without getting to complicated just yet.

I know I'm late but I thought I'd answer anyway:

Globular clusters.

I mean really, anything and everything: familiar objects look totally different, things that used to be too faint will suddenly be attainable, so just make like a kid in a sweet shop. But the biggest step change for me when I went from my ST80 to Jeffery (8" dob) was globs - just WOW

That was on Nick's advice too, thinking about it!

Another top class guide Rob, thanks for making the effort once again.

I'm sorry to hear about your problems (I haven't been around much myself so I wasn't aware before now) but I hope things are gettimg back to normal for you.

Good job!

Thanks for clearing that up where's the best place to look for used bst eps? Thanks again

Yes, as the others have said it's the Explorer /Starguider EPs I reviewed.

They're fairly rare second hand as people tend to hold on to them, but at £49 incl. delivery they're very good value new, especially as many consider them to be in the same league as eyepieces in the £100-ish price range

Thanks Garry. I don't think I've used them in the ST80 at all, I've only used it once since I got the dob. Still love 'em in the dob though

Thanks to everyone else for your recent round of comments too. Quite a surprise to see this thread spring back into life

Found it:

"It's a long road and on the portal of every entry into astronomy ought to be inscribed: You will suffer for this and be grieved but there will be adventure and wonderful times. If you hang on in there, the sky will be a trusting and good companion. The years will tick by, so much will happen and on one of those days there will be Jupiter, back where it was originally all those years ago when you started out a younger man. The passing of a companion will be dated by the stars that were in the sky that night; the phases of the moon will mark a trying time and its soft light will blanket a tender evening you spent with your loved ones. The evening sky will be there to console you when the hustle and bustle of daily life has taken its toil and when we become a little too much of ourselves and others, begin to believe in our own self-importance there will be the ancient galaxies and stars to gently nudge us back into place. And when we are older and looking back, those cloudy, uneventful evenings will appear to us as a singular, non-descript event, yet shining from them like a host of gleaming stars will be those stargazing evenings where everything just seemed perfect and the universe at last could murmur its secrets."

--Qualia

I still go back to this, when I'm fed up with things. So once more, thanks dude

If we don't appreciate or understand the wonder about us, don't quite grasp that we are all riding together on a tiny spinning Earth hurtling about a "sun that is spinning in a whirlwind of a trillion stars, sealed in an envelope of mysterious dark matter" and that against all the possible odds, a tiny group of atoms have grouped together to create you and I, and here we are, together, at this exact moment with a tiny bit of glass gazing up at this immense wonder, then we are left with nothing, nothing but a dull feeling of 'is that it?' 

Another perfect piece of Qualia profundity I've started a collection, if I can find it I may post the first one (first to me, that is).

In the meantime, this seems appropriate:

Another knock-out blow from you Qualia, really well researched and constructed and delivered. Thanks for making the effort on our behalf

Pin pin pin.

Wow. Life has kept me away from the forums for a bit, so I've only just caught up... This is an awesome post Qualia, spectacularly well written and giving just the right mix of realism and enthusiasm.

Sounds like another good ebay find Nick

The 8mm BST arrived last week, and I had a brief look at M3 with it in between clouds a couple of nights ago.

My impression was the same as for the 12mm before it: well made, easy to use, you quickly forget it's there.

In my earlier post I commented that I found the change from the 12mm BST to the 8mm Vixen NPL to be jarring. This time going to the 8mm BST was just ... fine. I wanted more power so I changed eps and got more power, no trade-off involved, it felt just as nice and comfortable to use as the 12mm which is exactly what I'd hoped for

Wow, I seem to have struck a chord here Thanks for the comments all.

i had 8,12,18 bst explorers ,which i eventually moved on for x-cel lx eyepieces. [...] i honestly could not see any difference in sharpness,contrast or distortion. [...] the bst's felt more comfortable to use .

id recomend them all day long. ive never been satisfied since selling them .

Okay that's interesting, sounds like BSTs all the way until a 'serious' upgrade (if ever), rather than creeping up gradually through the ranks. Cheers rory

Don't be too harsh on those vixens - they are very nice [...] I would not change the 30 vixen for the BST, but the 8mm BST could be a good choice .

Thanks andrew, I'll bear that in mind.

I'm looking forward to a clear sky to try the 8mm in, once it arrives

There are some very good technical reviews on here, giving in depth details and comparisons. Well, this won't be one of those, sorry

I've realised that, although I'm a fairly geeky nerdy engineer type doing a technical engineering job, I'm absolutely nothing like that about my astronomy. Oh, I spend far too long looking at all the options before I make the smallest kit purchase, but when I'm outside it's not about the details and the specs, it's just about the experience. It's about staring at amazing things and just enjoying the view and being at one with the universe. I guess it's an antidote to the work side of my life: I'm a hippy sort of a stargazer.

So, back to the point. I recently bought my first BST eyepiece. I had 30mm and 8mm Vixen NPLs for my ST80, but they give x40 and x150 in my new 8" dob so I wanted something in between.

The BSTs get uniformly good reviews on here so I got the 12mm to fill the gap, giving me x100.

The price was great at £47 delivered, the purchase from Sky's the Limit was straightforward and it arrived next day. First impressions were good, it just felt comfortable and looked well made.

I got it in the scope last Friday evening, and wow!

The view is clean and well defined, and the 60* afov makes for a very nice view. But the thing just feels nice. It's easy to handle and feels very natural to look through. It really just falls into the background of your consciousness, like any good tool should, so you can concentrate on what you're looking at.

After using this ep for a while I dropped the 8mm NPL in for some more power, but it didn't feel pleasant, it felt like I was working around its shortcomings. It's hard for me to say why that is (I did warn you this was 'impressions of' not a detailed technical analysis); I guess eye relief and afov play a part but in practice I find the small peep hole offered by the vixen to be hard work, squinting in close to it, whereas the BST has a nice wide front lens and you do need to use the twist-up eyecup to get the best view, it's so much more comfortable and satisfying.

I really like this eyepiece, and am going to replace my 8mm vixen with the 8mm BST.

I'm tempted to replace the 30mm vixen with the 25mm BST too, but that move feels harder to justify and I know it's just because I like the BSTs, not due to any shortcoming in the 30mm vixen.

If anyone has any doubts, don't. Optically the views were better than I'm used to, and the experience was far improved too.

Of course the more advanced members will have moved onto better (more expensive) brands but if you're not at that stage yet, I don't think the BSTs would ever be a bad choice. I wish I'd spent the extra £20 when I bought my two vixens to get these instead, it would have been far better in the long run.

I hope this has been of interest or benefit to someone, as I say apologies for the somewhat abstract approach.

My Very Easy Method: Just Say "Universe Nine Planets"

So this is no use anymore either. I only just realised it's wrong too since it says "universe nine planets". Tut tut, lies to children.

The only one I know is for resistor colour codes.

I was lazy here. My bro had a long and convoluted one, I just remembered it as "Big Bloke (richard of york gave battle in vain) Silver Gold". I think...