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Luke

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Status Updates posted by Luke

  1. Luke

    Wohoo! My replacement Quark eyepiece-side solar h-alpha filter is on its way from SCS Astro. Only been without the Quark for a few days and I am missing it like crazy! My fave scope to use with it for visual is the SW ED100, they make a great combo.

  2. Luke

    Wohoo, my replacement Quark solar hydrogen alpha "eyepiece" has arrived at SCS Astro! I have sent my faulty one back today and look forward to the replacement one. Big thanks to SCS Astro for letting me use the faulty one while waiting for the replacement :)

    1. haitch

      haitch

      Been mulling over a Quark so would be interested to know about the problem you've had.

    2. Luke

      Luke

      The main problem with my one is there are three little indents on the inside of the red filter (which I guess is the blocking filter?). I get some blobs in the view with the eyepiece. I think I just got unlucky, most folks seem to have a nice clean filter :) The device itself, wow, amazing! Bar the faults, best thing I have ever bought for astro :) There's an image of the main problems with my Quark here:

      https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14517687944_203dcf28e8_c.jpg

    3. Luke

      Luke

      PS Buy one! :D

  3. Luke

    Just a single cloud in the sky on Solar Sunday!! :) Long and thin and passing right over the Sun, boohoo!

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. Luke

      Luke

      Lucky you, Shaun! :)

      The cloud did shift after about half an hour, though I had set things up on the wobbly deck to try and start 30 mins early!! :D

      Hope you both got some nice views in, hope the bottle of wine was nice, Shaun :D I did try some vino and solar the other week, very nice! :)

    3. Pig

      Pig

      The wine was lovely :-)

    4. Luke

      Luke

      :D

  4. Luke

    Yikes, while I was having breakfast out in the Sun with the h-alpha scope, the cat sneaked in and ate my breakfast!! She showed no signs of remorse, it looked more like she requires toast with marmalade and orange juice tomorrow morning.

    1. Pig

      Pig

      Luke if you take her order before she is in bed tonight maybe you could have it ready on time...Just a suggestion :-)

    2. Stu

      Stu

      What's the saying, 'Dogs have owners, cats have staff' :-)

    3. Luke

      Luke

      Shaun, I don't want to encourage her :-o Stu, that is so true. While we ponder our place in the Universe, cats know their place, Masters :-o

  5. Luke

    Arghh! Why, when I order 5 small astro items, is the one item I really wanted the only one missing in the package? :( Boo hoo!

    1. hobsey

      hobsey

      Sods law I'm afraid.

    2. Luke

      Luke

      That will teach me not to pad out the order to make the postage not seem so much for the little thing I wanted! :D Oh well, at least I won't be running out of Baader Wonder Fluid and the magic Baader cloth any time soon! :D

  6. Luke

    Busted! Note to self: Next time, get the contraband astro gear sent to work, not to home... :-o

    1. Show previous comments  6 more
    2. Joe Wagner

      Joe Wagner

      LOL, been there!

    3. hadyn42

      hadyn42

      Hello Luke

      I hope you didn't get into too much trouble and are allowed to come along to SGL10? Best regards, Hadyn - IOM

    4. Luke

      Luke

      Hi Hadyn, I trust you had a good trip back? I'm not sure we'll be able to make it to SGL10 (sob!) with our son at school next year and it's a bit of a trek for us to go for the weekend only. I did joke to Sarah that I could still go for the week, but I was met with a somewhat frosty look :D

  7. Luke

    I now have a rival for my favourite eyepiece! The plucky challenger is the 3.5mm Delos, taking on the mighty (expensive) 21mm Ethos. Super lunar closeups with a frac versus wide(ish) DSO views with decent exit pupil with a fast dob. I think the 3.5mm may be ahead on points! :-o

    1. Pig

      Pig

      Nice position to be in Luke :-)

    2. Luke

      Luke

      Thanks, Shaun :) Which is your fave eyepiece from your set?

  8. Luke

    First light tonight for my 3.5, 4.5 and 6mm Delos eyepieces. I spent a fun 30 minutes on the Moon using my 85mm frac, the highlight being the complex area around Julius Caesar crater. Floaters were not too much of a problem with the 3.5mm. I can see all three will get a lot of use on the Moon.

    1. Pig

      Pig

      Excellent Luke, the Moon is excellent along the termination :-)

      I am glad you enjoy the eyepieces :-)

    2. Luke

      Luke

      Thanks, Shaun :) It's good to have a bit more oomph for the fracs now without the need to Barlow. It's amazing how much detail you can see on the Moon (and Sun) with relatively small scopes :-o

    3. Pig

      Pig

      I must agree Luke I was amazed just how good the small Fracs are. The Moon detail is stunning and I cant wait to use the 2.5mm on it.

  9. Luke

    Tonight I fitted a replacement part to my 400P Goto dob that Teleskop Service kindly sent me to replace a broken part. Although the scope was under warranty, I can see that some suppliers might not have agreed it was a warranty issue. So a big thanks to TS for helping me to get the dob fixed :)

  10. Luke

    Wohoo, 3.5mm, 4.5mm and 6mm Delos eyepieces have arrived. Hopefully, that's the eyepiece collection complete! For the third or fourth time!!

    1. michael.h.f.wilkinson

      michael.h.f.wilkinson

      That's what they all say ;)

    2. Luke

      Luke

      :D Much more eyepiece messing around and I will probably be buying some of the ones I already sold! :D Zoom eyepiece - must resist!

  11. Luke

    Yikes, BBC weather is showing rain for every single hour for the next 48 hours our way :-o

    1. Show previous comments  3 more
    2. David Smith

      David Smith

      Sounds like summer has arrived then :-p

    3. Luke

      Luke

      Ah, that's what it is! :D I have to say, the drive in was embarrassingly swift, I wonder if kids are off school?

    4. David Smith

      David Smith

      Mine are home for half term this week. Was like driving through a ghost town this morning!

  12. Luke

    Wohoo, new toys have arrived: Tele Vue Mars Type B filter and TV Planetary filter. I might even carry on observing thru Summer! :-o

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Luke

      Luke

      Will do, Shaun, I wonder if there will be a few gaps tonight.

    3. Pig

      Pig

      Its pouring down here at the moment Luke, I am soaked to the skin :-) The forecast does show gaps so we may be lucky.

    4. jabeoo1

      jabeoo1

      Please be sure to review the Planetary filter when you clock some hours in Luke, I am sure Pig & me won't be the only grateful ones. Clear skies !

  13. Luke

    First proper test tonight of Baader Sky Surfer V red dot finder. Very nice bit of kit! :))

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. emadmoussa

      emadmoussa

      Yes indeed. One thing though, I found it perfect for my fracs, but on the Dobs where you try to reduce weight on the front and use both RDF and optical finders it wasn't ideal.

    3. Luke

      Luke

      Good point, we're using our Sky Surfer on a frac and as you say, the Rigel keeps the weight down on dobs. It's so light!

    4. emadmoussa

      emadmoussa

      I've used the Rigel on 12" Flextube, now I'm buying a 14" and determined to use a Telrad. It might be heavier, but it's much better I found.

  14. Luke

    Rain, rain, go away, come again, when I visit my in-laws

  15. Luke

    A dream came true today: Sarah and my Tele Vue 85 has arrived. It is love at first sight! Hope to see the Moon through it tonight, hopefully the clouds are held up in customs.

    1. Show previous comments  13 more
    2. Pig

      Pig

      Should the need arise Luke I am going to the show and I could always collect it for you.

    3. Luke

      Luke

      Shaun, you are such a gent! Most kind of you. As ever, Lee at Green Witch is literally on the case. I should have a shiny new case and replacement screw on Tuesday. Awesome service as usual! :) They are such nice folk at Green Witch.

    4. Pig

      Pig

      That's great news Luke :-)and great customer service.

  16. Luke

    Hooray! Replacement part for my 400P dob is on its way via the folks at Teleskop Service. Thanks, TS! :)))

  17. Luke

    Very excited, Sarah and I should get our Tele Vue 85 this week :)

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Pig

      Pig

      What colour are you Getting guys ?

    3. Sarah

      Sarah

      Ivory. Thought that might be better for solar viewing! :)

    4. Pig

      Pig

      Great choice, Ivory is my favourite :-) mind you they are all great

  18. Luke

    Some clear sky at last, out looking at Jupiter, and fireworks going off down the road! :D

  19. Luke

    Today we received a lovely William Optics 1.25 inch diagonal in the post. About one year after selling a lovely William Optics 1.25 inch diagonal! :D

    1. Show previous comments  3 more
    2. Luke

      Luke

      Martin, we thought we didn't need a 1.25 inch diagonal. Now I realise they are handy for a grab and go setup or even with a scope that has a 1.25 inch only connector! :D Shaun, I am glad I am not the only one. Earl, your Tak looks lovely, have you had it long?

    3. Earl

      Earl

      Thanks it arrived just after x-mas from New Zealand

    4. Luke

      Luke

      Oooh, lovely, Earl :) Hope it serves you well. And I think you are using it for imaging? I'd love to own a Tak one day and see what they are like. Sarah and I are hoping to get a Tele Vue 76 soon, which we're really excited about, mainly for white light solar and as a grab-and-go scope.

  20. Luke

    Well last night was very interesting. I got out to image the Moon and gave up soon as thin cloud / fog sucked up most of the brightness of the view. Was about to pack away when I thought I'd try a 7nm H-a filter. WOW! It certainly cut through the fog a bit. Will be interesting to see how the images come up. I slowed the frame rate down to just 5FPS at one point.

    1. Spikey

      Spikey

      I've done that before Luke, pointed the CCD at the moon with a Ha filter on when I was waiting for an object to rise. Makes quite a nice, effective moon filter :)

    2. Luke

      Luke

      Interesting! I have used it before a few times and found it seemed to help contrast with a daytime Moon. But I was staggered by how half decent the Moon looked on the lappy screen last night with the H-a filter, it was really quite foggy! :-o

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