MAN or ASTROMAN

That 'Daily Telegraph ' chart looks very familiar.

I'm sure that I had a copy of it myself about 45  years ago.

Well, they ARE trimmed with the finest Siberian Ermine....................

3 hours ago, spaceboy said:

The Tal100 does seem to have gathered a cult following over it's time. 

Yes

Mine came with special robes to wear........(lol).

Seriously,it's their heavyweight 'industrial' presence,and extremely good optics for relatively little  money.

I'll not be selling mine soon.

When I was a teenager I had the 'Constellations' book by Antonin Becvar (I managed to get a  replacement used copy in perfect condition a couple of years ago),and I can remember always wanting a copy of the 'Atlas Coeli'.

Of course this was way before the internet,so books had to be ordered from a bookshop then.

Somehow,I doubt that my local bookshop could have sourced such a treasure in the 1970's!

Neck ache-the bane of Binocular Astronomers!

Pleased that I bought mine when I did (Dec '14).

And one of my first accessory purchases in early 2012 was my Tal x2 Barlow.

Very interesting.

 Thanks for sharing,Mak and Michael.

How do those venerable Carl Zeiss perform, Mak?

 Have they had any servicing/re-collimation?

I've just seen the ad on T.V.- My first thought was-it would be cheaper to buy the real thing (THE Solar System),2nd thought was,great-if you've got NASA's budget to spare!  You can probably gather that I'm not a fan of these build a part mags.

Re books- Burnham's celestial handbooks volumes 1-3 have extensive lists of double stars with co-ordinates.An extraordinary body of work for one man.These books may be dated now,in some respects,but I think that they contain a tremendous amount of still useful information that you just don't get from any other source,presented in an idiosyncratic style. A true  testament to Burnham's work.Easily found ,used, at very reasonable prices.

Thanks for the links,Ian.  However,I think that I must mention the 'Starsplitters site, here  https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com.          Gregg Stone and John Nanson have produced,and continue to add to ,an absolutely stupendous body of work.Long may they continue!

Some great tips here-thanks to all who have contributed,especially you Nick. I have considered getting one of those cheap digital recorders to keep running notes as I observe-easier than bits of paper for written notes (but NOT sketches!).

I currently own Prinz (Dixons) 10 x 50s- about 40 years old(!),replaced by Olympus DPS1's.Also, Celestron 15x70's, an Optus 20-60 x 60 spotter scope,via Aldi,as recently discussed on this forum,and a Helios branded 8 x30 monocular.This last instrument is stamped 'made in the USSR'. Still crave those Helios Apollo 15 x 70's though!

Good on you Damo! Those Helios are on my 'must have' list to replace my current Celestron 15x70's- when I have the 'spare' cash. I get the impression that the contrast is much better with the Helios (along with just about every other performance measure- Lol!). Thanks for the review,and also the pic of the monopod/ballhead set up,which we have Steve to thank for pointing both of us to! I'd recommend that set up to any would be bino Astronomer.

Very,very sad news-like losing a relative or a very old friend. Somewhere,I have a postcard, from c 1974,from Sir Patrick welcoming me to the B.A.A., with the words "May we meet ere long." Sadly,this was not to be. An astronomical guru. Don't under-estimate his great sense of humour.I have his book 'Can you speak Venusian?' A very funny ,book about alternative beliefs (flat earth society,Aetherius,etc) that never ridicules or belittles these alternative thinkers.I doubt that it's still in print.Going to order the autobiography now.