GavStar

Yes I am. No decent clubs nearby and Wimbledon is rather light polluted hence my use of night vision astronomy which enables me to do some nice DSO observing. Best option for a darker site within about 30 mins to drive to is Ranmore Common imo.

9 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Have you tried pushing the Lunt to 60-70x with a binoviewer Gavin? Your LS60 should be capable of higher powers in good seeing - especially at the moment with so much surface activity. This should bring out better detail of proms and filaments, without dimming the image too much. I find that different magnifications are needed for different features. I start at 65x with 25mm eyepieces - often that is all the seeing will allow, but under better conditions go up to 100x, and sometimes 11mm eyepieces and 2.6x gpc for 135x with TV85 and 70mm filters. Obv at those powers the filaments aren’t as dark but still show new detail.

Previously I’ve preferred staying at around 30x for maximum contrast. But yesterday I moved up to 40x which was great. I do have 10mm and 12mm pairs which with my preferred 1.7x gpc will take me to 60-70x, so I’ll try that next time. 

Yes I generally just look at Cerro Tololo and Learmonth gong ha for indications of activity.

Yesterday I compared single eye observing (Pentax zoom) vs binoviewing with my mark v, 1.7 gpc and 19mm panoptics to give around 40x. Despite double stacking, the binoviewers gave nice bright views which clearly surpassed the monoviewing. The actual views I got surpassed the Cerritos Tololo gong image for surface and prom detail - amazing dark contrast on the surface. I guess seeing was pretty good - really looking forward to the sun showing even more activity going forward. 😀

I’ve just been observing the sun with my lunt 60 double stack for the first time this year. Some great views. 
For comparison purposes, I downloaded the current solar pic on ha gong - how close do your live visual views get to the images shown (both surface detail/contrast and prom detail)? example from today attached.

36 minutes ago, Stu said:

 

Observing with NV is not technically difficult in any way. 

Yes it is depending on what you are observing and looking for. Eg the extremely faint Eridanus Loop does require dark adaption, adjusting gain just so to get the best level of contrast, potentially also averted vision (which does work with nv). Also I often spend a long time observing objects such as the rosette which are easy to “see” with nv but not so easy to tease out the fine dark nebulae details.

On 27/03/2022 at 21:34, saac said:

Note quite , there is a search function and most people will trawl through threads opening what is of interest to them.  I seriously doubt there are many regulars on SGL who are not familiar with the concept of using NV.  A dedicated section I suspect would make little if any difference to hit rate; this has been discussed quite widely in the past.

Jim

I think the key point is that since the changes were introduced 3 years ago, night vision posts have really dried up on sgl. It seems like most Uk nv users do now solely post on cloudynights and nv astronomy Facebook groups, so there is little in the way of new nv info on sgl to search and find now.

5 hours ago, Stu said:

I guess there is tough visually, or tough with NV….?

Best view I had of Markarian’s chain was at SGL10 in my 16”. Got really well dark adapted and the galaxies were stunning.

It’s a bit off topic I admit but your observing report did get my brain whirring! 😀

Night vision is generally thought of as being best on emission nebulae and globulars, and not that good on galaxies. However, reading some of these galaxy observing reports, I think nv does give a big improvement on many galaxies, particularly edge on. For example, the dark lane of the Hamburger galaxy is quite straightforward with nv. And the spiral arms of m51 were significantly better when I did a direct comparison with my 16 inch dob at the Isle of Wight of glass vs nv eyepieces. Admittedly getting good image scale on galaxies with nv can be tricky and require largish aperture. 

14 hours ago, jetstream said:

Congrats Magnus!!

Not really, just easier to see IMHO. It is no challenge at all in my 24" under good conditions with and without a filter but it still appears as a thumbprint to my eyes, just bigger. The big challenge is getting conditions good enough to see it. The HH is more of a "rite of passage' than anything else IMHO.

Now if I can just get you guys to show me how to see the Eridanus Loop...

I’ve seen the Eridanus Loop with you know what a couple of times, but boy it’s faint, makes barnard’s loop look like m42 in comparison 🤣 With my equipment using both eyes is a big help but I don’t think that’s useful for Dob observing.

Stu, good to see the lzos getting used

Interesting that you couldn’t get the hamburger galaxy (3268). Gerry recently said the dark lane in this galaxy is reasonably tough to see. I always thought this one wasn’t that tough an object - it’s got me thinking a bit…

I had some great views of Markarian’s chain with my c11 from Ranmore Common last week, at least 7 galaxies in the fov but that was using my night vision monoculars. The whirlpool also showed its arms clearly which was cool.

Gerry, nice report! Some of my favourite objects in there. Regarding your comment regarding the Hamburger galaxy - is the dark lane sometimes difficult to see through your 15 inch? I did have a recent galaxy session with my 16 inch dob on the Isle of Wight which I enjoyed a lot.

The Vixen lvw22 was my first quality eyepiece bought about 10 years ago. It’s so comfortable to observe with, I bought some others as a result. 
I’ve not used these for ages, but I think I should try them out again. 

3 hours ago, GalaxyGael said:

It might be just that, but I notice the focuser is closer to the front in this model, no gap between the front ring and the focuser. Mine also looks well collimated, and certainly the primary mirror ring is centered. A very slight asymmetry in the reflective ring from the tak cheshire, but there is a tiny shift in the visual adapter that could explain it. I wont tweak until I get first light, but using a well collimated laser with a screwed m48 connection to the focuser shows the beam hitting the secondary mark exactly and almost perfect int he center of the donut. The engineering of the primary and secondary are surprising in the flesh, ultra stable construction. I had heard about this sability, i can understand it now. I am unable to unscrews the secondary collimation screws they are on so rigidly fixed! The OTA diameter is slightly larger at 170 mm, same length at 460 mm.

So existing 166mm tube rings will no longer fit or have bigger gaps?

15 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Surprised you have not got another one to bino it on your panther aka this user with a pair of TOA-130’s. 😃

Actually Japan seems to have an amazing collection of bino kits for converting two APO’s into bino scopes, whereas in the west BV’s are more popular. Just cost I would presume….

Very happy with my William Optics 103mm Pegasus Binoscope 😀. Lifting that dual toa130 onto the Panther must be a two man job!!

A price bubble seems to have hit the Tak FSQ130. Hopefully this doesn’t happen to other premium scopes.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/809666-fsq-130ed-for-35k-why-the-craze/

Stu is correct 😀 - any of these would work I think (they are all great)

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Based on the new info I would either go TEC 160 FL or AP 130GTX depending on how big you want it. Panther TTS mount would be good.

Stu, now where did you get those ideas from? 🤣🤣

1 hour ago, Deadlake said:

This is a main factor for a decision. I’d then bring in a fast Astrograph into the equation as the NVD needs to be illuminated with a flat field to avoid EoF effects. 

Looking at an SCT first, the SCT will need adaption with a AP 0.75 reducer, not any faster as you need back focus. You will then need the usual TV 41 panoptic and TV 55/67 mm EP’s which creates a long stack but it will get you to around F4. I’d reach out to Ray (CN GeezerGazer), he has been thru this before and gave up on SCT’s as the view was not bright enough when using an NVD.

If you have an a AG power newt (F4 newt supplied with an ASA reducer) you can start at F 4 but can insert the ASA reducer to run at F 2.8.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4611_Boren-Simon-8--f-2-8-PowerNewton-Astrograph---Carbon-Tube.html

With a 3 nm H-alpha filter you need all the speed you can get in your bortle 8/9 environment. The advantage is that you can insert a Barlow into the power newt to increase the focal length. It’s aways easy to make a scope slower then faster. The Barlow will cover the ranges the reduced SCT would reach.

In summary it’s hard to have a single scope that’s covers visual and NVD usage cases. I would split them out as a power newt scope is a lot less then the above scopes you have mentioned, you could buy that and decide if you needed to go with an SCT for visual. The reason I suggest this is that NVD users I have talked to have the complete range of scopes from Takahashi etc (Even more then @JeremyS 😃) and in then end they sold them all as they just used a power newt. They also sold a large amount of there glass collection as well.

For visual usage I’d go with the Mewlon as for non DSO work as the  smoother mirrors would be a main advantage however it’s not as BV friendly as the SCT’s.

A good thread to read would be: What is the Ideal set of equipment for Night vision Astronomy?

 

It’s important to take into account that the OP has the Televue nv setup which is a pvs-14. This means he is doing afocal only nv, not prime. The USA nv users of the powernewt are in most cases using nv in prime mode only and hence need a very fast (eg f2.8) base scope to get the required bright views.

I use a c11 edge with the edge 0.7x reducer and with a 67mm used afocally with nv I get an effective speed of f2.8 which gives great views from my bortle 8 light polluted London back garden with a 3nm ha filter. I would thoroughly recommend an edge c11 for afocal use with nv.

However, for standard visual use, I’m less convinced by the c11 and would generally use my 130mm or 160mm refractor. For most DSOs aperture is needed and from a lp site, nv can really help with emission nebulae, globular clusters and many galaxies (particularly edge on). For open clusters I prefer my refractors with normal glass. And of course for planetary/lunar it’s my 130mm/160mm refractors every time for me. 

The OP has a very nice 140mm refractor that can be used for lunar/planetary and also with nv for the large emission nebulae such as the North America, California or rosette. So in my opinion the c11 edge would be a great addition. However, I’ve never used a Mewlon so can’t really comment on that (although I think for nv the c11 would be better where speed/aperture is more important).

Here’s a couple of recent phone pics of the horsehead taken through my c11 and nv monocular at my London back garden to give an idea of the live visual views possible with this setup (one with 41mm panoptic and one with 67mm adapter Televue plossl)

6 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

Thanks, Gavin, I'll have a proper look shortly.  Are these better than the cheaper models that Joko and others sell?

Any other suggestions? I'd need one that will take the Televue 55/67mm Plossl as well as narrower eyepieces.

Yes. I’ve tried those cheaper ones, but much prefer the Orion/Televue fonemate. I only use these phone mounts for my phone pics which hopefully indicates they work well. If you are using it for nv, then which glass eyepiece you are using isn’t an issue since it’s the ovni-m you will be clamping it onto. However I do use my Televue phonemate one for non nv work with Televue eyepieces and it also works well.

23 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

What smartphone adapter would you recommended and why?  If it makes any difference it's for an OVNI-M.

Cheers.

I used this one with my ovni-m (when I had it 😀). Seemed to work well and in a similar way to the Televue fonemate.

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/orion-steadypix-ez-smartphone-telescope-photo-adapter.html
 

It’s in stock at amazon.

Lots of Taks out tonight. I was out with my largest one, an fsq130 on a Panther TTS160 mount

On 10/01/2022 at 17:47, AstroKeith said:

I'm going to stop here as I'm not going to get drawn into an argument.

I've said NV has its place and can be better for some people and tasks. Not for me on my current lists where x400 is usually needed just to resolve the object.

Agreed that NV has its place and better for some tasks and completely unsuitable for others. High quality units are obviously expensive as well.

However, I think it’s important to recognise that there is a very wide range of quality with night vision monoculars and the views given will differ greatly as a result, so your experience with night vision is likely quite different to mine. I note from a comment you made on another forum that the nv eyepiece you used did not have manual gain control - that would explain why you got grainy, sparkly views and were disappointed with what you observed.
 

Hopefully it’s clear from the phone pics I have posted over the past few years on sgl that high quality night vision units can give very natural looking views.

1 minute ago, AstroKeith said:

Its Gen 3.

Do you know the specs? There is a wide range of quality of gen 3.

I also find having manual gain is critical to be able to remove the scintillation and get that natural glass eyepiece experience (not grainy or sparkly and absolutely loads of very faint wispy nebulae visible which are invisible using glass eyepieces)

32 minutes ago, AstroKeith said:

Mine is home made (I used to design military optics). Its fine on stars, but no help at all on my current list of Arp galaxies.

I think its down to dynamic range, the eyepiece view may have a range of 10,000, but a screen (photographic or NV) can only achieve say 1000 at best.

Is it Gen 1 technology? The gen 3 technology shows a really good range and resolution, and picks up faint galaxies nicely. In particular, it really shines on nebulae with an appropriate ha filter.
 

I’ve recently posted some phone photos of an observing session I had at the weekend on the EAA discussion section.

7 minutes ago, AstroKeith said:

Ah, but sometimes 'less is more'.

I think today comparing direct visual with NV, is like comparing a live concert to a phonograph. Its all possibly there but not quite as nature intended. However given time I'm sure the fidelity will greatly improve.

But on the the hand, my eyes are deteriorating quite fast, and so I may yet use more NV. For outreach and the visually impaired NV is a great boon.

(and yes, I do have an NV eyepiece!)

Interesting- what NV eyepiece do you have? Mine do provide a very natural “glass-like” black and white views with very good resolution and sharp stars.

10 hours ago, RobertI said:

Really wonderful views. Don't recognise them all, but stunning nevetheless.

Thanks Robert. Yes I should have labelled the pics. 
In order they are

Barnard’s Loop

Seagull 

Horsehead 

California 

Monkeyhead 

Rosette 

Jellyfish 

Pac-Man 

Soul 

Tadpole 

Heart 

Flaming star